Here’s an odd one. Samsung , which has been known to be on better-than-average terms with the South Korean government in the past, is launching independent investigations in response to reports that “toxic materials used in chip making may have caused cancer in some of its employees.” In one of the more bizarre stories of the year, Samsung has recently come under fire from social and civic groups to actually look into the incidents, which were reported over a decade ago but were found to not be Sammy’s fault by the aforesaid government. This week, the company admitted that 22 of its employees (who worked at a chip facility outside of Seoul) had been diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma, and 10 of them had perished. Cho Soo-in, president of Samsung’s memory division, told the media that the firm is “deeply sorry about the loss of loved ones,” and that it “actively cooperated on epidemiologic investigations, which concluded there were no leaks of radiation.” We’ve got a feeling we know exactly what will be concluded here, but we’ll certainly keep an ear to the ground for anything atypical. Samsung launches investigation of chip lines following cancer allegations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Video game addiction is a serious problem in Korea, where kids are prone to staying up all night long to play. So the government is disabling internet connections for six hours per night for underage gamers. More

There were rumblings last month that South Korea was going to block Android Marketplace because some games hadn’t been reviewed by the Korean Game Rating Board. Oh, yeah, Korea? Well, Google’s gonna just go ahead and exclude all games preemptively. More

Like pop-up books from our childhood, South Korean scientists are working on 3D ebooks that animate the stories when tilted— though 3D glasses are a must, so far. It won’t be incorporated into the next Kindle though. More

South Korea has overhauled its public transport network with recharging roads , where the vehicles use power from buried electric strips in the road. It was invented at the University of California, before South Korea adopted it for an amusement park. More

Shipping containers in my mind are forever associated with grim situations seen in TV shows like Dexter or The Wire, but in South Korea they can also be observatories for viewing sunsets. Erected on the harbor of Songdo New City in Incheon, five shipping containers were recycled and placed together aiming sky-wards for the best possible glimpse of the close of daylight. They’re angled at either 10, 30 or 50 degrees, offering various views across the water, with stairs and ramps inside so people can walk through them. [ ANL Studio via Deezen via Inhabitat ]

Apple and HTC might each be trying to patent a fancy capacitive stylus , but it looks like the good people of South Korea have stumbled on a decidedly more low-tech (and delicious) solution to using their phones in the winter: sausages. Apparently snack sausages from the CJ Corporation are electrostatically compatible with the iPhone’s capacitive touchscreen, leading many to use them as a “meat stylus” in the cold weather, rather than remove a glove. And it’s not just a joke; apparently South Korean snack sausage sales are soaring. We don’t know if anyone’s managed to combine this bit of amazing hackery with the bacon iPod sleeve yet, but we do know that we just registered meatstylus.com — anyone care to send in some local sausage test results? South Korean iPhone users turn to sausages as a cold weather ‘meat stylus’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:13:00 EST.

Yo Carl Sagan, we found the fourth dimension! It was hiding in a South Korean movie theater all this time, and you can go try it out for the eminently affordable $15.80 a pop. CJ-CGV, an enterprising Korean cinema operator, has been offering its 4D experience for a year now, but Avatar ’s sellout success has led it to open three more “4D plexes.” The way the company finally cornered that elusive fourth dimension is by engaging all five senses: moving seats, wind, water sprinkling, lasers, and synthetic smells are all used in time with the movie. Sure, it’s a gimmick and takes a loose interpretation of what the word dimension means , but at least it’s unlikely you’ll fall asleep during the movie, as some of us may or may not have done while watching the 3D screening. Avatar available to watch in 4D, but only in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Another day, another Snapdragon handset. It’s kind of fun to consider a phone with a thousand megahertz processor common these days, isn’t it? We already knew LG’s Arena Max would have built-in WiFi , but now we can put a face to the name as well as a few other select specs. Wireless connectivity will be augmented with Bluetooth and GPS modules, which will be cozying up to a 5 megapixel camera unit at the back and a 3.5-inch touchscreen up front. The Cyon branding tells us Korea will be the inevitable first destination, though the rest of the world is expected to follow swiftly

In the cut-throat world of high tech manufacturing, “going rogue” is an ever-present temptation — and no one, from AMD to LG , is immune from scandal. For the latest bit of corporate shenanigans, look no further than Applied Materials, who installs and maintains Samsung’s chip manufacturing equipment — prosecutors in South Korea have accused the company of stealing the latter’s semiconductor technology and leaking it to Hynix Semiconductor (who ranks third in the world in the manufacture of NAND flash, behind Samsung and Toshiba). According to the AP, eighteen people have been indicted in the case so far, including the vice president of Applied Materials Korea. We just hope they didn’t get the idea from us! That is definitely not the message we’re trying to impart with this site. Samsung, Hynix, Applied Materials in corporate espionage shocker! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds