ktechworld

[ktechworld]

Technology in the Military Field

Who would have thought that motion sensor technology often used for gaming consoles has more uses than virtual dance competitions, races, and shooting games? It is now also used by one of most heavily guarded borders in the world.

Microsoft’s motion sensor in Xbox, Kinect controller, has been deployed to the border between North and South Korea as its latest security system. Thanks to the coder and software entrepreneur, Ko Jae-Kwan, the Kinect controllers were modified and used to differentiate between human and animal movement.

Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ) is the unpopulated buffer zone between North and South Korea which is 2.5 miles wide and 155 miles long. The zone is heavily guarded from both sides fortified with layers of fences, various traps and mine fields. However, this area of isolation has also created an accidental wildlife park, which became one of the best-preserved natural habitats on Earth.  But this has posed problems by sending wrong signals frequently because past devices could not differentiate humans and animals. Mr. Ko claimed that the use of the Xbox based device is far more superior than the traditional military motion sensors since it could detect, identify, and differentiate sound, movement, and direction of anything attempting to cross the border better already knowing whether it is a person, animal, or just an object based on its speed. Also, the price is very reasonable for him.

Ko has sold the modified system to the South Korean military through however; there are still no specific uses for the device. Ko still hopes for an updated version of this, which will include the capability of detecting heart rates and body temperature.

Other militaries all over the world have also been using consumer-grade technology to help their security and capabilities since the video game industry forces companies to offer their technology at reasonable prices that would be enticing to the mass.

Other examples include the U.S. Department of Defense and its use of more than 2,000 Sony Playstation 3 consoles as a power source to their supercomputer and the use of Nintendo’s WiiMote controller to steer the U.S. Army’s Packbot reconnaissance robots. Lockheed Martin also gave British pilots Xbox 360 joypads for flightless unmanned vehicles. These are just some of the many uses of game devices in the military nowadays.

It's really good news that technology is being maximized not just in the commercial industry but also in industries that bring safety to people such as the health industry or the military. Technology can help lessen the human errors done and this is very important if it involves the lives of people.

I was not aware about the use of this up until I read the article. It is a huge help that these gadgets aren't simply used for recreation but also for real-time and hard operations where in one wrong move can cause so much trouble. An advantage to this is that these gadgets are very reasonable in pricing and can serve as alternatives for expensive technology. The money saved on this can still be used for other important matters.

It would be good if the Philippines' army could adopt this however, I don't really see a use for it in our military as of now and it might still be expensive for our economic standard. But, the idea is a good preparation for future use.

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Sources:

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/02/06/south-korea-develops-xbox-technology-for-military-use/

http://www.ibtimes.com/xbox-kinect-motion-sensor-technology-used-south-korea-dmz-1554010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2562998/How-Xboxes-used-guard-South-Korean-border-The-amazing-ways-video-games-increasingly-militarised.html

[ktechworld]

South Korean Scientists Develop Cancer-Treating Nanorobots

A group of Korean scientists from Chonnam National University finally came up with nanorobots, a solution to cancer without having the nasty side effects of chemotherapy. This new technology is called the “Bacteriobot” and is a genetically modified non-toxic salmonella bacterium that is attracted only to the chemicals released by cancer cells. The difference with this and chemotherapy is that these nanorobots will seek out and destroy the cancer cells by spraying them with anticancer drugs, leaving the healthy cells alone.

However, the Bacteriobot can only detect solid cancers for now such as breast tumors but hopefully, it can be developed further in the future to treat other deadly diseases. Even though the Korean scientists have patented their nanorobot, it will still take some time before it can be used for real life situations. Their ultimate goal is to create a medical nanorobot that can overcome the limits of conventional methods in diagnosing and treating cancer.

It is good that South Korea is venturing in other fields besides gadgets when it comes to technology. I think the Bacteriobot has so much potential given that the scientists focus more on developing and testing it before finally releasing it to the public. However, the only problems here are the limitations, side effects, and price. As of the moment, it is limited to solid cancers but can still be developed. The question is: Up to how much will it be developed? Will this be, finally, the answer to all the deadly diseases we have out there? Also, any technology has its advantages and disadvantages. Given that this removes the bad side effects of chemotherapy, what is the downside of these nanorobots? Will it be as effective as chemotherapy in treating cancer patients? Lastly, a developed country such as South Korea probably won’t have any problems with the price of having a Bacteriobot, but will developing countries such as the Philippines be able to afford this?

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Sources:

http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/south-korean-scientists-develop-cancer-treating-nanorobots/

http://www.cnet.com.au/scientists-unveil-worlds-first-cancer-fighting-nanobot-339346268.htm

[ktechworld]

South Korea’s Plan for the 5G Network

In my past blog entries, I have been talking about South Korea proving to be the most wired country by having almost a 100% smartphone adoption rate… and now, they prove it more with their plans of releasing the 5G network by the year 2020.

“We helped fuel national growth with 2G services in the 1990s, 3G in the 2000s, and 4G around 2010. Now it is time to take preemptive action to develop 5G”, according to the nation’s science ministry. Each generation of network technology has enabled a new set of features: 2G was about voice, 3G was about data, and 4G was about video. Now, 5G is expected to focus on intelligent networks that can handle billions of connected devices. Also, the network’s priorities will be the Ultra-HD and hologram transmission, and the cutting-edge social networking services.

The 5G-services boast the 1,000 times faster Internet speed making it possible to download a full-length film (around 800 MB) in just a second compared to the 40 seconds it takes in the 4G-service. The government of South Korea has already invested $1.5 billion (around 1.6 trillion KRW) to upgrade its mobile wireless network. The competition for this will surely be tough with countries such as Europe, China, and the U.S. making the same aggressive efforts to develop this.

However, users will have to wait for around 6 years to have this open to the public since companies still need to create devices capable of accessing the 5G network. But with mobile companies in the country such as Samsung and LG, this doesn’t seem to be a problem since they are already making plans on how to take advantage of the network. Also, Korea’s small geography and existing wireless infrastructure can already help the upgrade happen faster and cheaper, as compared to bigger countries such as the United States or China. 

Samsung continues to develop its smartphones over the years. Will it be ready for the 5G network?

This upgrade of 5G isn’t simply to give its citizens a faster mean to download movies or play online games without lag; the country wants to be the world’s preeminent provider of the 5G technologies.

However, for the Philippines, this plan for 5G-networks will probably take more time to be adapted or developed in the country. We have already experienced 4G (LTE) last 2012, but many people still stick to either WiFi or 3G. The main reason for this is probably affordability. Globe released its 4G plans with the price ranging from Php 1,799 up to Php 2,499 per month. Most likely, people are still waiting for the price to go lower (which is deemed to be by the year 2016) before they finally upgrade from 3G to 4G. 

In my opinion, South Korea is really established in creating this 5G network since this is where the country’s strength lies in. Being known as the most wired country, this goal is not so far off to achieve. But for developing countries such as ours, it might take more time before this network is introduced and adapted well by the people.

Sources:

http://techland.time.com/2014/01/23/south-korea-leads-5g-race/

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-south-korea-5g-network-shame-lte-us-20140123,0,5659822.story?track=rss#axzz2rOEu23wP

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/22/tech/mobile/south-korea-5g/

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/south-korea-to-spend-1-5-billion-on-5g-movie-in-a-second-service/articleshow/29193519.cms

http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-building-5g-mobile-172658361.html

http://www.noypigeeks.com/tech-news/globe-tattoo-black-lte-plans-price-starts-at-php1799/

[ktechworld]

Smartphone Adoption

IBM and BellSouth first introduced the smartphone in the year 1993. With the name “Simon”, it had a touch screen and the capability of accessing email and sending faxes. Smartphones are definitely advancing at a very quick pace especially in this generation. Given this, most countries are now adopting completely to the new trend of using smartphones. 

Smartphone Adoption among the younger South Koreans is almost close to a 100%. With their booming economy and wealth generated by technology, it is hardly surprising to know that recent reports from the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) have been reporting that the Korean community, particularly the youth have been penetrated by the smartphone industry. 18-59 year old people have leapt from 39.2% smartphone users during the year 2011 to 78.5% the following year. During the year 2013, a poll was given to South Korean Internet users and it was found that the percentages of people owning a smartphone were:

Nearly 98% if 18-24 year old people

95% of 25-34 year old people

Nearly 90% of 35-44 year old people

 This high uptake of smartphone usage in South Korea is a reflection of the country’s booming technology sector, especially with Samsung – a world-leader in smartphone development.

In comparison to this, the United States has the lowest smartphone adoption with only 53% as compared to other developed markets.

The Philippines is said to have the lowest smartphone adoption rate from most Asian countries. It was revealed that only 15% of mobile users in the Philippines are smartphone users while most people still use the feature/cellular phones. It is affordability that is affecting most the decisions of some areas to adopt the smartphone trend in the country. However, the rise of local players such as MyPhone and Cherry Mobile has helped solve this problem.

In my opinion, I'd have to agree that affordability contributes most to the reason why Philippines cannot keep up with the smartphone trend. Aside from that, the Internet speed also contributes to this. There are many smartphone users, particularly in Metro Manila, who complain that their data plan won't work fast enough for them to load their homepage in Facebook. Also, having mobile data or portable WiFi really costs a lot (around 500 - 1,000php per month).

A survey done by Google in South Korea also found out that South Korean smartphone owners use their devices to send mobile messages (64%), use social media (43.4%), email (26.2%), and web browsing (25.2%). The same goes for America. However, in the Philippines, smartphones are mostly used for SMS texting, taking photos and videos, and listening to music. Browsing the Internet is still preferred more by the Filipinos through a public WiFi.

The use of smartphones based on this article

These devices will continue to evolve and expand, presenting the users vast opportunities which will further challenge smartphone companies in developing sophisticated mobile strategies and new features.  While the mobile technology is still evolving, there are still more ways to further develop smartphones in order to engage more mobile users. 

Sources:

http://www.qrcodescanning.com/smartphonehist.html

http://blog.tellmycell.com/2013/10/smartphone-adoption-close-to-100-among-young-south-koreans-.html

http://betanews.com/2013/02/26/u-s-smartphone-adoption-is-lowest-in-developed-world-south-korea-highest/

http://www.interaksyon.com/infotech/newsbytes-ph-philippine-smartphone-adoption-rate-at-15

http://www.techinasia.com/philippine-smartphone-adoption-growing-users-stick-basic-features/

[ktechworld]

South Korea: The Most Wired Country

A common scene in South Korea: most people inside the subway are busy with their smartphones.

South Korea is the most wired country on the planet with its bandwidth that can get up to 20 megabits per second.  True enough, I have witnessed South Korea’s high-speed Internet connection. During my Junior Term Abroad, I would stay inside the dormitory to download full-length movies ranging from 3Gb-7Gb for approx. 7 minutes min. and 16 minutes at the most. It was really shocking for a Filipino exchange student like me since I was used to the usual 3-5 Mbps connection we have at home.

Aside from that, the 3G plans and the use of portable broadband such as the Olleh Egg are used by almost the whole population. Except for the old, traditional Koreans, you can see people using their smartphones anywhere, while walking on the streets, eating, or waiting for the subway. Most of the activities they do online are:

Online shopping and reservation

Navigating places

Online gaming

Watching movies or streaming live videos

Using the famous online application, KakaoTalk

… and so much more. However, we can still say that the rest of the world is catching up, even the Philippines. Even with a slower Internet connection, many people have already adapted to the use of portable broadband and 3G.

KakaoTalk: an application for online chatting. This was launched first in South Korea and is now also used in the Philippines.

“Future is now in South Korea”

According to the article, even Silicon Valley has claimed that they do not own the top spot of being the world’s high-tech capital. The lead is in Asia, most likely in Korea and Japan. Judging on what I see now, this can be deemed true. However, it is still too early to state that the “future is now in South Korea” as there are other countries leading in terms of technology like Japan. Therefore, we can say that South Korea is one of the leading countries when it comes to having advanced technology however; this can still change seeing that more and more countries are focusing on their Research and Development in order to catch up.

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Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-future-is-South-Korea-Tech-firms-try-out-2692648.php