IT TIMES

SKT to Launch a Updated 'A.' AI Service

On March 2 (KST), SK Telecom announced that it has launched "A." a new update service that allows users to communicate "like a person" by remembering old information and presenting relevant photos during conversations.

SKT has applied 'Long-term Memory' technology, 'Image Re-trieval' technology, and 'Image Retrieval' technology to enable A. to think and express itself like a human by simultaneously learning images and Korean text collected from various areas. It also focuses on "emotional conversations" that can acquire a vast amount of knowledge and remember them like a friend. S

KT has partnered with YBM, Yanadu, and Redkiwi to introduce A., an English learning service, which uses Image Retrieval, Multimodal, Long-term Memory, and AI Speech Synthesis technology to recognize text, classify related images into categories, and find suitable images. Users can select/change to their favorite character at any time and access English vocabulary and expressions for business, daily conversations, and public exams, audio learning content, and 'shadowing'.

At 4PM on March 2 (KST), ■Bitcoin falls 1.16 percent to $23,456.50 ■Ethereum falls 0.47 percent to $1,646.30 ■Ripple falls 0.76 percent to $0.3788 ■Dogecoin falls 1.73 percent to $0.08094 ■Solana falls 2.75 percent to $21.98 ■Litecoin rises 0.28 percent to $97.26 ■Aptos rises 3.06 percent to $13.18 ■Mina rises 4.68 percent to $1.02 ■Tezos falls 1.97 percent to $1.17.

Within 24 hours, Maker (MKR) has most risen by 7.21%; on the other hand, Klaytn (KLAY) has most fallen by 8.13%.

The new coins listed on the CoinMarketCap within 24 hours are ■Echelon Prime (PRIME): $4.33 ■Solidly(SOLID): $2.53 ■9 Lives Network(NINEFI): $0.002749 ■AI Floki(AIFLOKI): $4.83e-8 ■ShibCEO(SHIBCEO): $6.07e-12 ■TrueCNH(TCNH): $0.144524 ■McPepe's(PEPES): $0.000218 ■AIPAD(AIPAD): $0.754669.

On March 2 (KST), Korean Air announced that the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) approved Korean Air's business combination with Asiana Airlines on March 1, and Korean Air now awaits the business competition approvals from the E.U., Japan and the U.S.

Korean Air has reported its business combination to 14 competition authorities, and 11 countries have either approved the combination or concluded the review on the grounds that the business combination was not subject to review or report.

On March 2 (KST), Kakao Healthcare announced that it would provide digital healthcare services utilizing big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and mobile technologies to meet the needs of its users and partners.

It plans to build a healthcare ecosystem in which individual healthcare consumers directly participate by providing a mobile-based ultra-personalized healthcare (Virtual Care) platform and launching a blood glucose management service utilizing CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) and smartphones in the third quarter. Kakao Healthcare plans to play a role of a 'Tech Bridge' by standardizing high-quality clinical data and various medical records to build a data lake and provide solutions and platforms that can conveniently utilize artificial intelligence and large-scale machine learning. It will also engage in ESG activities to improve public health, such as the 'Breathing Exercise Service' in collaboration with Kakao to help people overcome the long Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 2 (KST), Huawei announced that it unveiled the HUAWEI XMAGE Trend Report 2023 during MWC 2023 in Barcelona. The report identifies trends in the type of visual content that Huawei smartphone users generate, and aims to bring a new era of mobile imagery through innovation and culture exploration. Over 1.4 trillion photos are taken globally each year, with 89% being captured on mobile phones. Senior leaders from the field of culture and arts, top photographers, visual sociologists and student representatives shared their views on innovation and culture, key findings in the report, and the future of mobile imagery. Huawei is leading efforts to inspire users worldwide and explore the future direction for mobile imagery.

On March 2 (KST), Kia released teaser images and videos ahead of the unveiling of 'The Kia EV9'. The official interior and exterior design will be unveiled in the middle of this month, and detailed product information will be revealed at an online event later this month.

The EV9 is Kia's second dedicated electrified model based on the E-GMP platform, and is the flagship SUV that will lead the brand's transformation into an electrified and sustainable brand. It is named in accordance with Kia's dedicated EV naming scheme, with "EV" standing for electric vehicle and the number "9" symbolizing the flagship's position and role in the dedicated EV lineup.

On March 2, Rsupport, a company specializing in non-face-to-face and remote solutions, announced that it has deployed a cloud-based "online customer service system" for NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator, making it the first telecommunications company in Japan to offer online customer service.

Rsuport has added new features to RemoteVS, such as Co-Browsing technology, two-way screen sharing, and agent avatar profiles, to maximize customer-agent interaction. The online contact service allows Japanese mobile phone users to easily and conveniently access a wide range of products and services at a time and place of their choice without having to visit a physical store.

With the deployment of NTT Docomo's online customer service system, Rsuport plans to actively expand its presence in domestic telecommunications companies and related markets.

According to 9TO5 Mac, Jack Dorsey left Twitter in May 2022 and has been working on Bluesky, a new decentralized social network. The app was officially made available in the iOS App Store, but it still requires an invitation (Join Waitlist) to use it.

Bluesky is based on the AT protocol, which is similar to ActivityPub, the decentralized protocol that powers Mastodon. It is unclear when it will be made available to everyone, but the release of its app on the App Store suggests that this may happen very soon.

On March 1 (KST), Kia announced that KIA and TBU will pilot a ''Go-To-Charge Service' based on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) fast charging technology from March 2 to August 30.

The technology will enable EV customers to reduce the amount of time they spend traveling or waiting to charge, as well as generate revenue through energy trading. TBU will provide free services such as tire pressure checks and glass cleaning during the charging process to enhance the convenience of EV customers. Kia plans to further innovate the electric vehicle experience for its customers with V2V fast charging technology, which utilizes the battery of an electric vehicle with spare power to charge another electric vehicle.

On March 1 (KST), SK Telecom announced that it has signed Metaverse agreements with Deutsche Telekom of Germany, T-Mobile US of the United States, Axiata, an operator in 11 Southeast Asian countries, and Celcomdigi of Malaysia at MWC 2023 in Barcelona, Spain

SK Telecom is expanding its metaverse service into the Americas, Europe and Southeast Asia with leading global carriers, making it easier for ifland to reach users around the world.

This is the following of the simultaneous launch of the Metaverse platform ifland in 49 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in November last year, the company is expanding into each country with major global carriers in an optimized form.

SKT has reached an agreement with Deutsche Telekom, a leading German telecommunications provider, and T-Mobile US, the world's No. 1 carrier in terms of enterprise value, to launch Ifland in Germany and the US. The three companies will jointly conduct market testing of Ifland and identify and jointly market region-specific metaverse content. The market test will run for three months, starting in the second quarter when the German version of Ifland will be released.

SKT signed agreements with Axiata, the No. 1 operator in Malaysia, to expand its eFland service to all of Axiata's subsidiaries, create businesses related to the Metaverse platform, and collaborate on AI-based business opportunities. SKT also signed a business agreement with Cellcomdigi to increase the number of eFland users in the Malaysian market and explore new business opportunities.

At 3PM on March 1 (KST), ■Bitcoin rises 1.27 percent to $23,695.24 ■Ethereum rises 1.37 percent to $1,650.05 ■Ripple rises 0.94 percent to $0.381 ■Dogecoin falls 0.04 percent to $0.08207 ■Solana falls 0.89 percent to $22.52 ■Litecoin rises 3.27 percent to $97.04 ■Aptos rises 6.15 percent to $12.88 ■Mina rises 2.11 percent to $0.9665 ■Tezos rises 0.73 percent to $1.19.

Within 24 hours, Stacks (STX) has most risen by 13.78%; on the other hand, NEM (XEM) has most fallen by 5.79%.

The new coins listed on the CoinMarketCap within 24 hours are ■IceCream(ICE): $1.54 ■TWITTER CEO FLOKI(FLOKICEO): $1.66e-8 ■FTDex(FTD): $0.000779 ■Doke Inu(DOKE): $0.000279 ■VINU Network(VNN): $0.039446 ■Moeta(MOETA): $0.454261 ■The BET(BET): $0.170212 ■Warrior Empires(CHAOS): $0.070402 ■Tradix(TX): $0.008282 ■SuperCells Token(SCT): $0.024284.

On March 1 (KST), SK Telecom announced that it has won two awards at the prestigious 'GSMA Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO) 2023' for its high-precision location-based navigation for the visually impaired 'G-EYE Plus' and AI-based location analytics platform 'LITMUS'. VLAM (Visual Localization And Mapping) is a spatial AI spatial mapping and image/sensor convergence precision positioning technology.

SKT has won the Best Mobile Use Case for Accessibility and Inclusion category for the fourth consecutive year, recognizing its efforts to create social value. SKT's AI-based location analysis platform 'Litmus' is a technology that analyzes base station location data by AI and provides location intelligent data such as movement status and means.

SKT won the smart city innovation technology verification project ordered by Sejong City in 2022 and the Seocho-gu digital twin project earlier this year. SKT plans to use the characteristics of communication data to expand the scope of services from existing vehicle-centered services to various mobility subjects such as personal mobility pedestrians and UAMs, and to solve various social problems with AI technology.

On February 28 (KST), double jump.tokyo announced that it has partnered with TSUBASA Co., Ltd. to launch an NFT project based on the popular Japanese manga "Captain Tsubasa".

The project, called Ball is our Friend Project, merges the digital and physical worlds, bringing fans together. The first edition of the NFT will feature limited physical soccer balls decorated with original illustrations by Yoichi Takahashi. Shinji Kagawa, one of the greatest Japanese professional soccer players, supports this project as an ambassador.

The NFT will be available for purchase in two stages: a limited presale from March 2, 2023, at 2 AM to 4 AM PST, during which Allow List holders can purchase a limited gold edition Tsubasa NFT for 0.08 ETH. And a public sale from March 2, 2023, at 4 AM to March 14, 2023, at 7 PM PST, during which anyone can purchase the NFT at 0.1 ETH . Buyers who purchase three NFTs at the same time will receive an extra NFT as a bonus.

On February 28 (KST), the Huawei Green ICT Summit was held in Barcelona and Peng Song, President of ICT Strategy & Marketing of Huawei, delivered a keynote speech entitled 'Green & Development, Choosing Not to Choose'. Peng argued that simultaneous green ICT and ICT development is possible if the right balance is struck between energy efficiency, renewable energy utilization, and user experience. Huawei will launch solutions that embody this approach to pave the way for the green development of ICT infrastructure networks. Huawei has launched the Huawei Green 1-2-3 solution, which focuses on two scenarios: high energy efficiency and ultra-low energy consumption. The focus should be on network energy saving and KPI assurance, but extend to user experience assurance.

Intelligent scheduling algorithms can maximize power generation efficiency and load-based power availability while minimizing overall power cost. Experience-driven approaches are being upgraded to data-driven approaches, allowing energy-saving policies to be generated in minutes and optimization policies to be delivered in milliseconds. Huawei is willing to work with operators worldwide to strike a balance between going green and development, in order to accelerate green ICT development.

On February 28 (KST), Hanwha Solutions announced that it has obtained the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) from Control Union, an international recycling standard certification, for recycled polyethylene (rPE).

GRS is the most reliable certification among the many eco-friendly certifications required by global consumer goods companies.

Hanwha Solutions plans to increase the use of rPE-based industrial recycled packaging bags and strengthen collaboration with domestic consumer goods companies to diversify rPE applications and increase the supply of rPE to 10,000 tons per year by 2027.

On February 28, Intel released version 1.0 of the Intel® Quantum Software Development Kit (SDK).

The SDK is a full quantum computer in simulation that can interface with Intel's quantum hardware, including the Horse Ridge II control chip and Intel's quantum spin qubit chip. It features an intuitive programming interface written in C++ using an industry-standard low-level virtual machine (LLVM) compiler toolchain. Intel has extended LLVM with quantum extensions and developed a quantum runtime environment, IQS, to enable efficient execution of hybrid classical-quantum workflows and high-performance simulation.

Intel is also providing grants to five universities to develop quantum course curricula and host an Intel Quantum Computing Challenge at Deggendorf Institute of Technology. Beta testers are saying it is a game-changer in the quantum development space, allowing developers to operate closer to the hardware for better resource utilization.

UNIST and Korean University Research Teams, led by Prof. Sang Kyu Kwak and Hyunhyub Ko discover "Photosensitive Ion Channels in Layered MXene Membranes Modified with Plasmonic Gold Nanostars and Cellulose Nanofibers". The study published by Nature Communications on 23 January 2023, and the abstract of study is: Ion channels transduce external stimuli into ion-transport-mediated signaling, which has received considerable attention in diverse fields such as sensors, energy harvesting devices, and desalination membrane. In this work, we present a photosensitive ion channel based on plasmonic gold nanostars AuNSs and CNFs embedded in layered MXene nanosheets. The MAC membrane provides subnanometer-sized ionic pathways for light-sensitive cationic flow. When the MAC nanochannel is exposed to NIR light, a photothermal gradient is formed, which induces directional photothermo-osmotic flow of nanoconfined electrolyte against the thermal gradient and produces a net ionic current. MAC membrane exhibits enhanced photothermal current compared with pristine MXene, which is attributed to the combined photothermal effects of plasmonic AuNSs and MXene and the widened interspacing of the MAC composite via the hydrophilic nanofibrils. The MAC composite membranes are envisioned to be applied in flexible ionic channels with ionogels and light-controlled ionic circuits.