Korean Company UMID Announces Mini-laptop - Much Smaller than Netbooks

Korean company UMID has announced their entry into the burgeoning sub-netbook category of computers. This laptop weighs just 315 grams (a little over a half-pound) and is just a shade bigger than the Nintendo DS.

Korea enters space race, reveals first orbit-capable rocket

South Korea has unveiled it’s first space launch vehicle, imaginatively named the KSLV-1. From an aesthetic standpoint, the thing is definitely a rocket. If you were to doodle a rocket in the binder of your eighth grade notebook, it’d probably look something like the KSLV-1.

Korean tech makes hydrogen on the cheap and maybe solves problem of clean energy

Dr. Sen Kim of the S&P Energy Research institute claims to have achieved the separation of hydrogen using just 0.1kwh of energy compared to the norm of 4 - 4.5kwh using the electrolytic method. Dr. Kim says “manufacturing the H2 by our method will lower the cost of H2 as much as 20 - 30 times” compared to the standard method.

Robot Theme Parks

South Korea is planning two robot theme parks by 2013 - one in Incheon and the other in Seoul. The Commerce Ministry "announced a proposal to build two parks by 2013 for $1.6 billion" but there seems to be a bit of red tape (isn’t there always?).
If you can’t build them there, bring them to [...]

iRiver NV PMP Is Nifty, But Will it Ever Hit the States?

Just released in Korea, the iRiver NV PMP is a beautiful example of consumer design. It’s specifications are pretty nice as well:

GPS via SiRFStar III chip
T-DMB (for those who get it, of course)
7-inch, 800X400 screen
Small display on the control wheel
1.3-megapixel camera
Great format support (OGG, MP3, WMA, XviD, AVI, AAC, etc.)
Two SD slots

It’s going for $536, [...]

SAFA’s DIA

SAFA has launched its mp3 player ‘DIA’ in Korea market, which features diamond shape touchpad. With a 2.4-inch LCD, it supports video file playback, eBook function and has a mini SD slot, so you can expand memory up to 2GB. Other features include repetition mode for language study, voice recorder, FM radio, portable disk [...]

GPS + Black Box

Korea’s Mercury Company has integrated a camera into a GPS turning it into a Black Box designed to do what it does for airplanes - collect data in the event of an accident. It will store 12 seconds of video before an accident and six seconds after, assuming it isn’t crushed in a twisted ball [...]

70-inch Computer

Oh, let me stare at this a while longer…
Korea has this sweet 70-inch all-in-one PC that would look so perfect in my den! It will be produced in both touch-screen and standard LCD models featuring a 1080p capable, 70-inch Samsung LCD with an 8,000:1 contrast, 8-ms response, and 700cd/m2 brightness. No word on that error [...]

A Mouse for Treasury

Meet Korea’s counterfeit money detecting mouse. Aving