China :: Science & Technology

10 years ago, everyone on the street was doing a start-up, says Sean Park of Seoul Space . Like much of the world, after the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s, many Korean tech start-ups retreated from the market. But now Korea is experiencing a new resurgence in start-ups. I recently travelled to Seoul to scope out the start-up eco-system there. I was only there for a few days, I thought that the Korean tech start-up scene was still relatively nascent, but the right elements are starting to form. To better understand the position of Korean entrepreneurialism and the direction it is heading, I talked with a few locals about their perceptions. Conglomerates rule, start-ups are too risky Korea, an Asian Tiger economy has been one of the most impressive, fastest growing economies since the 1960s. Hit very hard during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, the country experienced a phoenix like rebirth to achieve the worlds 15th highest nominal GDP. Like its neighbour, Taiwan, much of this

Big box retailer Best Buy has been selling connected TVs for years now, but until recently its been reluctant to jump in with its own products in the fast-growing segment. That changes Monday, as the company is introducing two models of connected TVs from its Insignia brand of consumer electronics devices. While other consumer electronics manufacturers are betting big on Internet-connected TVs, Best Buy is treading a little more cautiously. It will sell 32-inch and 42-inch models of the new Insignia-brand TVs, which will retail for $499 and $699, respectively. According to Patrick McGinnis, Best Buy VP of Product Management for its exclusive brands, the retailer decided to go with those model sizes, at least initially, because they were its best-selling TV models. The new Insignia TVs are equipped with a TiVo-powered user interface (UI), the result of a partnership first announced a year ago . The look-and-feel will be familiar to anyone whos ever used one of TiVos DVRs. And in additio

Newspapers and magazines used to publish content into a kind of void: they knew how many people subscribed, but that was about it everything else was guesswork based on consumer surveys and other mumbo-jumbo. But online, every click and interaction can be tracked and charted and graphed over time, to create a picture of what is happening at any minute of the day. Is that good or bad for the news business? Tony Haile, general manager of Chartbeat, is convinced that the more information a publisher has, the better job they can do, and he has just launched a new service called Newsbeat to help provide that data. Chartbeat which was launched in 2009 by Betaworks, the New York-based incubator run by John Borthwick provides real-time analytics for websites of all kinds , with a dashboard that shows how many people are reading a particular page at any given minute, as well as where they came from and how long they have been on the site. But in an interview with GigaOM, Haile says he want

The YouTube Breakout Room stage at VidCon 2011. The defining image of VidCon 2011 , for me, came from a video shown during YouTubes keynote presentation on Friday morning. The video was a comedic retelling of how YouTubes new Cosmic Panda layout was developed; the creators depicted one of the challenges of reinventing how things work on YouTube with a shot of project manager Brian Glick, curled in on himself like a battle-scarred soldier in the foxhole. Change is bad, change is bad, YouTubers dont like change, he chanted. It was a funny moment, but it also perfectly depicted the state of flux YouTube is currently in trying to build and expand, while remaining keenly aware of the users who have contributed to the video sites success. Big changes are in progress, from how YouTube interacts with creators, to its investment in professionally produced content, to the site infrastructure itself and YouTube used VidCon as one way to try and sell some of those changes to the community. Vid

Add to My Stories Share Children reluctant to eat their veg has been a never ending struggle for parents.That could be about to change, however, as brighter colours are worked into cauliflowers that hit the shelves at Tesco today.The supermarket chain has launched 'rainbow' packs that will have sprigs of purple, orange and emerald green cauliflower to appeal to awkward youngsters who see the veg as boring. Coloured cauliflowers will be exclusively sold in a 'rainbow pack' at TescoTesco greens buyer Jeni Gray said: 'These cauliflowers are almost works of art and have a real wow factor that should really create a stir with shoppers and hopefully children atdinnertime. More... England's smallest town loses out to supermarket giant Tesco after three-year battle Allotments, the new growth industry: Surge in demand sees 1000 new plots opened 'Cauliflower got its poor image from baby boomer generation schoolchildren who generally loathed them as theywere alway

Once again, Angry Birds are overwhelmed by meetings/events/conferences in China. The difference, compared with the April at GMIC, is that at that time only Peter Vesterbacka was the super star , but this week in Shanghai, Angry Birds new appointed leader for China/Asia, Henri Holm also showed up together with his China team. They came to our Mobile Monday Shanghai event , went to Shanda event and of course the ChinaJoy. We also know they are checking their office places and starts recruiting more key staffs, the Birds are really taking off in Chinese. With this ambitious goal of 100 millions downloads by end of this year, and the situation, as Peter said, Angry Birds is already the third-most-pirated brand in China , advertisements on a free version might be the major revenue directly from the apps. So one of the most important partners needed in China to start with is mobile ads solution provider(s). MadHouse, the Shanghai-based Chinas leading mobile advertising solution company just

Its official: the Obama administration managed to get an agreement with auto makers for 54.5 miles per gallon standard for cars and trucks by Model Year 2025. Hoo-rah. Americans have been driving inefficient gas-guzzling cars for years, and with rising gas prices (along with the weak economy) are really feeling the pinch at the gas station. Heres how much drivers across the U.S. have been spending on average to fill up their tanks per month, courtesy of online banking web startup Mint.com. Folks in Silicon Valley are spending the most, while New Yorkers spend the least. Provided by Mint.com Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro: Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial . A field guide to cloud computing: current trends, futureopportunities The rise of tablets in theenterprise The state of the e-book lending market: Business models andchallenges