So Long Siam

Yes I'm still alive!

I am currently sitting in Bangkok airport waiting to board a flight to Guangzhou in 25 minutes.

After 4 days in Bangkok there are many tales to tell and many pictures to show.

That'll have to wait until I get back to Korea when I can sort through the (so far) 300 odd photos.

Although I don't know when that might be. I managed to get a job on Monday before I left so it looks like a short trip to Japan might be in order next weekend...

Seoul Lantern Festival November 2009

Chris was the one who inspired me to go to this year's lantern festival on the Cheonggaechong. Despite the bitter cold and the piercing wind (Which wasn't so bad down by the stream), JenniferTeacher and I went and had a look.

No words, just pics:

ATEK Pushing for Something I Agree With (For a Change)

In their latest (and increasingly better written*) press release ATEK calls for NHN, parent company of Korean Internet Portal Naver.com to remove racist and, frankly defamatory content from the Internet "Cafe" of the Anti English Spectrum group.

A letter writing campaign has been started by Andrea Vandom, an International Relations PhD. candidate who has not only sent letters to NHN's Korean and American offices, but has enlisted the aid of Korean born, Irvine, CA. Mayor Kang Suk Hee.

Her correspondences with NHN have spelt out how content on the cafe are in breach of Naver's own Terms and Conditions, not to mention International agreements that Korea is a signatory to as well Korean law itself.

Gusts of Popular Feeling can fill you in More on Anti-English Spectrum's past activities here, as well as a look at the messages they've been spreading can be found here, and a closer look at their campaign to link foreign English teachers to AIDS can be found here.

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*On the topic of ATEKs press releases - If you are going to outline something about sending information to someone it might be an idea to include HOW YOU CAN DO IT. This is a press release and I am a lazy mutha f*cker, give me NHN's address and I'm more likely to join the cause.

Secondly What's p with sending a second email saying, "Oh sorry, change the title of the Press release so i actually says what we meant it to say the first time...?

Keep trying.

More On Android

Things are definitely afoot in the Korean mobile space with SK Telecom coming out yesterday saying they are about to jump on the Android bandwagon - in spite of Apple it would seem:

SK Telecom, South Korea's biggest mobile telephony carrier, plans to release a "smart" phone powered by the Google-backed Android operating system next year.

Korea Times

Like the would-be iPhone this would have some serious ramifications for the Korean Internet sphere as a whole - in particular favouring Google in one of the few markets where it is not the dominant search/cloud player. From the same K-Times article:

"The local smart phone market will gain an additional momentum for expansion as local carriers and handset vendors are strengthening their smart phone-related line-ups and services," Kim Sung-in, an analyst at Kium Securities, said.

The company is currently talking with local phone giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics about developing handsets based on Android 2.0, the latest version of the open-source operating system, which it plans to release sometime during the first half of 2010.

Here is what Android on a Samsung headset looks like, the ubiquitous Chaebol having offered up it's first Android phone in The States earlier this month:

(Via Engadget Mobile)

Nice. That cube interface is butter!

Of course the reason for SKT for jumping on the Android bandwagon? Well they say things along the line of uncertainty of popularity. (You're kidding m right?) and profitability. That latter one is a little more believable in that I be SK Telecom doesn't want to enter into the revenue sharing agreement that Apple imposes on it's resellers.

Some SK Telecom insiders told The Korea Times that the company's top decision-makers are seriously considering dropping the company's previous plans to release the iPhone.

Although KT, SK Telecom's bitter industry rival, is betting heavily on Apple's iconic handset, SK Telecom officials claim that Android-powered phones may prove to be better for data processing and securing a wider range of applications.

Apparently, SK Telecom is not crazy about the idea of sharing data revenue with Apple, as the American device maker does with all of its partner carriers around the world.

Well exactly....

The thing that will fuck things up entirely will be SKT's need to meddle in proven markets, in this case the Android App store. They sure as hell aren't happy at not being able to control iPhone apps sold directly through the App Store in iTunes, the openness of the Android platform allows SK Telecom to stick their sticky midget fingers right in there!

The company was also concerned about surrendering its tight control of the content value chain, as the carrier wouldn't get anything from software downloads on Apple's App Store online applications market.

However enormous charges on data, and SK Telecom's poor effort with it's WinMo Application store don't bode too well at all.

Read the rest here.

F*ck You Lee Ju Yeong

In a new and infrequently occuring Series I would like to offer you The CHosun Bimbo's first FUCK YOU OF THE WEEK to Member of the Korean Legislature, Lee Ju Yeong.

 

Hey Ju Yeong! Fuck You!

Go and read Gusts of Popular Feeling to find out why.