Samsung Gear Fit named best mobile device at MWC

Lee Young-hee, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics’ mobile business unit, and Sasha Twining, a presenter for Mobile World Live TV, pose with a trophy that the Korean tech giant’s Gear Fit won for best mobile device at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona on Thursday. (Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics’ new smart wristband Gear Fit won the award for best mobile device at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday. 

GSMA, the organizer of the MWC trade show, chooses the most innovative device displayed at the event and announces the winner for the award on the last day of the show. 

Sporting the world’s first 1.84-inch curved display, Samsung Gear Fit received a lot of attention from the media and consumers. 

The wristband is also equipped with a heart-beat monitoring sensor, and has fitness software that tracks users’ exercise routines. 

Users can receive alerts on the wristband for incoming calls, text messages, emails and schedule alerts from their Samsung Galaxy smartphones. 

Samsung’s global rivals HTC and LG Electronics also won accolades for innovation.

Earlier this week, HTC’s One handset was named the best smartphone of 2013 for its design and user interface, according to the organizer.

Samsung’s local rival LG Electronics was named the most innovative device manufacturer. 

Samsung’s and LG’s flagship smartphone models, the Galaxy S5 and G Pro 2, respectively, were both chosen as top products by many IT media outlets including Ubergizmo, Android Authority and Know Your Mobile. 

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)

Korea, UAE sign agreement to cooperate in energy sector

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates agreed Friday to cooperate in nurturing energy-related experts and jointly making inroads into energy markets in third countries, Seoul officials said.

Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul on cooperation in the energy sector, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Under the deal, they promised to work together to nurture experts in nuclear, oil, natural gas and other energy sectors, while jointly pushing to advance into energy markets in other countries.

The ministry said that it plans to discuss necessary follow-up measures on the cooperation deal with the UAE during the first half of this year. (Yonhap)

[Graphic News] Korea’s current account balance

South Korea posted a current account surplus for 24 consecutive months in January. The Bank of Korea reported on Thursday that the country logged a $3.61 billion current account surplus in January, extending the surplus for the 24th month.

The surplus, however, narrowed to an 11-month low, down from $6.41 billion in December, due partly to seasonal factors, the central bank said.

The current account balance is the broadest measure of the country’s trade with the rest of the world, including not only trade in goods but also services, tourism and returns on investments abroad.

Korea’s exports were valued at $47.2 billion dollars in January, down four percent from $49.2 billion in December 2013.

Goods account surplus narrowed to $3.32 billion in January from $5.69 billion in December while the service account, which includes expenditure on overseas trips, posted a shortfall of $590 million last month, compared with $440 million surplus in December.

Sochi Winter Olympics draws to conclusion with host on top

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi drew to a conclusion on Sunday, as the host Russia rediscovered its dominance on snow and ice.

The closing ceremony took place at Fisht Olympic Stadium, the same site of the opening ceremony for the 17-day winter sports extravaganza.

South Korean children sign as the South Korean flag is raised after the handing over ceremony during the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on Monday. (Yonhap)

Dancers perform with large mascots during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, on Monday, in Sochi, Russia. (AP-Yonhap)

Under the slogan "Hot, Cool, Yours," the Sochi Olympics brought together nearly 3,000 athletes from a Winter Games record 88 countries, who competed for 98 gold medals in 15 disciplines in seven sports.

Russia led all nations with 13 gold medals and 33 medals in total, topping the Winter Olympics medal table for the first time since 1994. It was a nifty turnaround for a country that was held to only three gold medals in Vancouver in 2010.

Five of Russia's 13 gold medals were won by athletes born outside of Russia. South Korean-born Viktor Ahn grabbed three short track titles while the American-native Vic Wild won two gold medals in men's snowboard.

South Korea had its largest Winter Olympics delegation ever with 71 athletes, competing in every sport except for ice hockey.

It came up just short of its stated objective of winning four gold medals for a top-10 finish in the medals. With three gold medals -- one by speed skater Lee Sang-hwa and two by short tracker Park Seung-hi -- along with three silver and two bronze medals, South Korea ended in 13th place.

South Korean athletes will have more to look forward to at the next Winter Games in 2018, which will be held on their home ground in PyeongChang.

The east coast alpine town will stage South Korea's first Winter Games. The Olympic Flag switched hands during the closing ceremony, as Anatoly Pakhomov, mayor of Sochi, presented the symbolic baton to his PyeongChang counterpart, Lee Seok-rae. The flag will be kept in PyeongChang over the next four years.

During the closing ceremony, PyeongChang had the center stageto itself for the eight-minute long performance entitled "A Journey Together" reflected PyeongChang's hope of bringing the world together at the Olympics. Yoon Ho-jin, executive director of the performance, said the show offered a modern interpretation of South Korea's traditional cultural heritage, and showcased the country's unique beauty and its potential for globalization.

Sochi put together a costly Olympics with a reported budget of $51 billion, having had to build the majority of the venues from scratch. Sochi organizers were criticized for construction delays.

The warm weather, which prompted some cross-country skiers to compete in shorts, also didn't help.

PyeongChang, on the other hand, has completed many of its venues. It won the bid to host the Winter Games in its third try, and began building Olympic venues several years ago for its earlier bids. PyeongChang officials say it would cost around $2 billion to stage the Olympics in 2018, with an additional $7 billion for infrastructure, including a high-speed railway connecting Seoul and PyeongChang. (Yonhap)

Controversy persists over figure skating results

The gold medalist was already decided in ladies’ figure skating at the Sochi Olympic Games, but the surprising outcome continues to create a stir at home and abroad. 

A slew of foreign news reports have sympathized with Koreans enraged by “home-cooked” judging, raising a question over the “opaque judging system.”

However, some believe the embattled judges got the result “right” this time despite the possible collusion that may have taken place.  

The New York Times viewed the South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na’s routine as “not the most athletically challenging.” The U.S. daily cited a two-time Canadian Olympic silver medalist as saying, “It was totally fair. Kim didn’t have enough technical ammunition.”

Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova, who captured the controversial gold in the event, outpaced Kim on the technical side, TIME said. 

According to the U.S. weekly magazine, Sotnikova completed seven triple jumps to Kim’s six. In the three-jump combination attempted by both skaters, the Russian pulled off a triple-double-double, while Kim only did a double-double-double, which gave Sotnikova a higher score than Kim.

Sotnikova’s skating appeared more “tailor made” for the new scoring system in place since the 2006 Olympics, which gives numerical value to each element and favors “mathematics” at the expense of “artistry.” 

Even so, “The judging was clearly slanted towards Adelina Sotnikova,” the newspaper USA TODAY quoted a high-ranking Olympic figure skating official as saying on condition of anonymity. 

The paper took issue with the questionable judging in Thursday’s event. It turned out that one of the judges was married to the former president of the Russian figure skating federation and another, from Ukraine, was suspended for a year after attempting to fix the results at the 1988 Nagano Olympics.

Despite the mounting uproar, the International Skating Union has yet to acknowledge a query about the judging. The official statement only read, “ISU is confident in the high quality and integrity of the ISU judging system.” 

Still, Kim seemed to lack the power and speed that set her apart and earned her record-setting scores back in 2010, according to TIME: “She should have brought in bigger technical elements” if she had wanted to defend her Olympic crown. 

The Washington Post, on the other hand, thinks figure skating has always been about more than just jumps. The U.S. paper pinpointed “Russiaflation,” which made Sotnikova “the most unaccomplished women’s champion” in Olympic history. 

“Queen” Yu-na herself seems to be okay. She said that the gold medal was not her main goal and the most important thing was to participate in these games. 

Yet fans worldwide do not seem to be okay. A petition on the website change.org calling for an investigation into the event’s judging had drawn nearly 2 million signatures as of  6 p.m. Korean time on Sunday.

By Ock Hyun-ju, Intern reporter (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)