[Column] Quantum Computing Age to Come ... Big Blue IBM Seeking Opportunities for a New Leap

"I'm not happy with all the analyses that go with just the classical theory, because nature isn't classical, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum mechanical..." At 'Physics of Computation Conference' in 1981, a physicist Richard P. Feynman first delivered the message that quantum computing is needed. Since then, after several decades of steady development and research, we are now in the process of defining quantum computing and developing algorithms. So, IT companies such as Microsoft, Google and IBM are developing a 50-qubit quantum computer and are working hard on research. When quantum computing is applied to various fields in the future, a number of things that the existing computers could not do will become possible. Existing computers computed and processed information using a binary system of 'Bit' using 0 or 1. Quantum computers, however, use the principles of quantum physics, also called quantum mechanics. They use 'Qubit (a.k.a Quantum Bit)' which allows 'superstition' state of 0 and 1, such as 00, 01, 10, and 11. Since they exist in an 'entangled' state, once a change occurs in one qubit, the other entangled qubit can quickly process it. In this way, as quantum computers can simultaneously exist in multiple states and act on all the states, it becomes possible to do numerous calculations separately at the same time with only one processor. Today, there are about 3 billion transistors in smartphones. To double the performance of this smartphone, about 6 billion transistors will be needed. On the other hand, the performance of quantum computers can be expressed as 'n square(s) of 2' with n qubit(s) because of the property of 'superstition' state. For example, if you want to double the performance of a device that has 16 qubits, you only need to add 1 qubit. Quantum computing is incomparably faster than computers using 0 and 1 bits. It will be possible to calculate the formula that humans calculate for hundreds of years within a few seconds. ▲ IBM has made it possible for anyone to experience Quantum Computing through IBM Q. (Image source: www.research.ibm.com/ibm-q) IBM has spent the past 100 years cultivating the foundations of IT and seeding it, and now it is changed to a completely different shape. Vacuum tubes, switches, punched cards, quantum computers and AI all exist in the history of IBM. Moreover, cutting out the history of x86 hardware that it had started and the shift from massive hardware- to technology-centered is also a specialness of IBM's history. Therefore, its history and journeys have a special meaning and need to be watched with interest. IBM pointed out three areas as the possible application areas for quantum computing in the future. First, it is expected to be a field of Chemistry including material design, oil and gas, and drug discovery. In fact, IBM published the results of the simulation using quantum algorithms with chemistry in September 2017 in the international science journal, Nature. The second area is predicted to be Artifical Intelligence (AI), which is a key technology of the 4th industrial revolution, including classification, machine learning, and linear algebra. Lastly, the quantum computing will take effect in a field of Financial Services, especially in the sectors of portfolio optimization, scenario analysis and pricing. Quantum computing's development phases include 'Quantum Foundations', which defines the basics of everything in quantum computing, 'Quantum Ready', which can develop algorithms and expand the sizes. And finally, 'Quantum Advantage' is a phase to commercialization and application to reality with quantum computing. Currently, IBM and also other IT companies researching quantum computing are at just beyond the middle of the 'Quantum Ready' phase. In fact, IBM expects quantum computing to be the mainstream in the next five years, and by 2020 it will be at the phase of 'Quantum Advantage'. In preparation for 'Quantum Ready' phase, IBM launched the Quantum Computing Platform called IBM Q Experience in 2017, making it accessible to anyone including students and researchers. At first, only 5 qubits were available, but now, up to 16 qubits are available. Released with IBM Q Experience, the Quantum Information Science Kit (QISKit) is an open source quantum computing system for developers to help make today's quantum development process and research more active. IBM is working on a 100-qubit quantum computer with the goal of developing it by 2020. The 100-qubit quantum computer has the ability to simulate all the atoms in the universe. ▲ The development of quantum computing will reduce this entire data center to just a few racks. (Image source: Samsung SDS) The performance improvements of existing transistor-based computer systems so far are approaching a certain physical limitation. Semiconductor processes are already nearing the level of physically close to the size of electrons, and the interest in what will happen to the next generation of silicon-based semiconductors is growing. Accordingly, the quantum computing has long been anticipated as an innovative way to go beyond "physical barriers." Given the impacts of quantum computing on us, it is likely to lead the changes beyond the cloud than what we see in the near future for various practical issues. This may be because the operation conditions of the initial system will be as tricky as a superconductor. On top of that, quantum computing is evaluated as a "double-edged sword". This is because it is expected to have the power to cause the collapse of the existing encryption system as well as the change in both the existing infrastructure and service structure. In fact, in March 2017, the world's largest security conference, 'RSA 2017', discussed the threats and countermeasures of quantum computer's threats to the existing encryption technology. Especially, the National Security Agency (NSA) has predicted that quantum computing technology could destroy the current code order since 2016. Canadian research institute 'Global Risk Institute' also claimed that it is higher than 50 percent that the current encryption system is collapsed due to quantum computers in 2031. For now, if quantum computing is commercialized and exploited, it is expected to pose a major threat to any industry based on IT technology. Worldwide web communications, Internet banking, and even cryptocurrency will be exposed to the crisis, and it will be time to change all the systems and structures. With these peculiarities in mind, quantum computing researchers will not only focus on the development of quantum computers but will also work in a direction of enhancing the quality of life after its commercialization. In other words, they should be focused on harmoniousness with other industries. That will be a major premise of 'Quantum Computing' for humans.

Google Play Audiobook Korea Release Demonstration Session

On January 24, 2018, Google held ‘Google Play Audiobook Korea Release Demonstration Session‘ in its office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The session was held to announce the outline and characteristics of Google Play's audiobook service, which was released on January 24th in Korea time, with Jae-hui Kwon, manager of Google Play Global Product Partnership Team, and Oh-jun Kwon, leader of Contents Business at Audiensori. According to the announcement, Google unveiled the Google Play Audiobook service, which can be enjoyed in the Google Playbook app. The service was first launched in 45 countries, including Korea, and supports a total of nine languages including Korean. ▲ The demonstration session of Audiobook service Korea release was held. ▲ Korea is included among the first-releasing 45 countries, and Korean is supported. The Google Play Audiobook service is a sound book service that allows you to listen to the contents of a book, and provides various categories of audiobooks and bestsellers based on the global library provided by publishers worldwide through Google Play Books. Through this service, domestic users can enjoy books produced in Korea as well as overseas books as audio books, and some of overseas books are provided free of charge. In particular, Google Play Audiobook service utilizes machine learning technology to automatically generate and provide a detailed table of contents that facilitates navigation underneath the main table of contents. Machine learning technology divides the text of an eBook and the words of an audiobook into syntactic units and automatically generates a detailed table of contents considering the flow of natural contents and a table of contents by detailed table of contents. By applying an individual book purchasing model, users can purchase an audiobook that they want at a 10% discount without any burden of subscription service. In addition, they can listen to a part of the audiobook through free pre-listening before purchasing and decide to make a purchase, and the purchased book is stored in the Google Playbook app, so users can easily check the list of purchased books. Google Play Audiobook service can be used on a variety of devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops using platforms such as Android, iOS, and Chrome Web. It also provides functions that are optimized for user’s lifestyle such as sleep timer settings, playback speed settings, skip forward button, listening to each table of contents, checking remaining time, background playback, and offline playback. In addition, through interworking with Google Assistant, which is Google’s artificial intelligence voice secretary system, a number of ‘hands-free’ functions such as voice commands will be provided to Google Play Audiobook service in sequence. Jae-hui Kwon, who introduced Google Play Audiobook service, said, ”Google Play, which has provided a variety of digital content such as games, movies, and books, is launching an audiobook service in the book sector followed by e-book. In particular, this is an innovative service with machine learning that users can use more conveniently in daily life. As interests and demands for audiobooks grow, we will provide richer audiobook contents.” ▲ The Google Play Books app lets you use the Google Play Audiobook service. ▲ It automatically generates and provides a detailed table of contents under the basic table of contents using machine learning technology. After the introduction of Google Play Audiobook Service, the introduction of the features and usage of audiobooks was followed. The audiobook, which means a book listened by ear, is a content produced for users to read more happily. It is produced by a method in which a plurality of voice actors who fit the characters read directly without mixing the TTS, and live sound effects and background music are added. In the past, audiobooks were produced mainly for the blind, but now they are getting the spotlight as a new way of reading. As for the process of producing an audiobook, after selecting the works and proceeding with the script work, the recording is carried out in the state where the music and effects are prepared. After the editing process and quality verification, it is then provided to users in a way of distributing the finished data. For listening purposes of audiobooks, users answered that they mainly use the audiobook contents to enjoy their own contents or to take advantage of free time while moving. Self-development, poetry, essay, genre literature are ranked as preferred genres. Oh-jun Kwon, leader of Contents Business at Audiensori, who introduced about an audiobook, said, ”Audiobooks are gaining attention from people who prefer to use free time, as well as from voice actors and students, and the number of users is rapidly increasing. I look forward to expanding the basics of audiobook users through our partnership with Google Play, and Audiensori will try to provide better content.”

Epic Games Korea 'Fortnite' Media Showcase

Epic Games Korea, the Korean subsidiary of Epic Games, held a media showcase at Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the morning of 19th January, 2018. The event was organized to introduce features and service schedule of Epic Games' action building game 'Fortnite' in advance of domestic service with some officials of Epic Games Korea including Country Manager Sung-chul Park, Won-se Lee, in charge of domestic business, and Hee-uk Yoon, in charge of marketing, in attendance. Sung-chul Park, Country Manager of Epic Games Korea said, “After Epic Games Korea launched its Korean subsidiary in 2009 for the Unreal Engine business, we feel new since it is the first time to provide service of both the game and engine, which are the main businesses of Epic Games, in Korea through releasing ‘Fortnite’. In order to enable Korean gamers to enjoy games in an optimal environment, we made our best effort to the domestic service of ‘Fortnite’ through Korean localization, real-time global one build contents, and various Korean exclusive benefits. In addition, as we have introduced the game to be rated for over 12 years old so that teenage gamers can also enjoy a Battle Royal game, I would like to ask you a lot of attention to the service of ‘Fortnite’ in Korea.” ▲ Epic Games Korea's "Fortnite" media showcase was held. ▲ Sung-chul Park, Country Manager of Epic Games Korea said, “We made our best effort to the domestic service of ‘Fortnite’. I would like to ask you a lot of attention to the service of ‘Fortnite’ in Korea.” According to the announcement, 'Fortnite' is an Action-Building game that combines elements of battle, construction and action. Its biggest advantage is that users can enjoy creative new concept of battle play with unique skins and emotions over a normal shooting game that users simply shoot down enemies. Especially by dissolving easy play and in-depth game elements into the game, it has been loved by gamers from all over the world right from its release. In July 2017, 'Fortnite' was released ‘Save the World’, a new concept of action building system that four players cooperate with each other through role division into battle and construction as an early access version through Epic Game’s platform ‘Epic Games Launcher’. In September 2017, ‘Fortnite Battle Royal’, a PvP mode separate from ‘Save the World’ was released free of charge. Epic Games has recorded 10 million users in two weeks after launching the 'Fortnite Battle Royal' mode, followed by 20 million users in 72 days, 40 million users in 100 days, and 1.75 million concurrent connected users (CCU). With more than 2 million CCU, it has been recorded as one of the fastest growing games. ▲ In 100 days, it recorded 40 million users and 1.75 million CCU. Regarding the service of 'Fortnite', Epic Games implemented a complete 'Global One Build' policy that simultaneously releases the same content all over the world. Also, it stated that it will never introduce a business model that would impair the game’s fairness such as 'Pay-to-Win' items. It made it clear that it will respond strongly to illegal users such as cheat program users. In addition, Epic Games will continue to provide fresh and new pleasure through fast content updates. It will focus on high quality localization that is more readable than English version and has familiar fonts for Korean users to continue to develop the game. Epic Games has produced the first CF of 'Fortnite' in Korea, produced by Jung-hoon Park, a film director of the movie ‘The Villainess’, and Actor Sang-hoon Jung. It also plans to launch special events for domestic gamers such as releasing a limited edition T-shirt made by designer brand ‘Super Rocket Punch’, and providing Battle Pass to all the pre-orderers who play the game within two weeks after the launch. ▲ Various events for Korean users are prepared. ▲ Epic Games has produced the first CF of 'Fortnite' in Korea, produced by Jung-hoon Park, a film director of the movie ‘The Villainess’, and Actor Sang-hoon Jung. Sung-chul Park, Country Manager of Epic Games Korea, who came back on stage after the presentation of all the information about 'Fortnite', announced that Korea service of 'Fortnite' will start from January 23. Meanwhile, Epic Game’s Game Developer Tim Sweeney sent a video message. “The most important thing to consider when we make a game is 'fun', so we create a game that we want to play. We took six years to develop the game that users can enjoy tense fast-action as well as building construction with their friends, and the outcome is 'Fortnite'. It is the first time for Epic Games to provide service in Korea in its history of 27 years, so it is our new experience. And, it is expected that Korean users will be ranked first in ‘Fortnite’. Please enjoy the game.” ▲ Tim Sweeney said, “It is expected that Korean users will be ranked first in ‘Fortnite’.”

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  EBS Documentary 'Themes Around the World-Journey through Canada, a Winter Wonderland' Preview

  ■ Introduction The world is big with lots of places to visit. However, we have limited amount of time on our hands. Is it really impossible to visit all the places around the world? There is a TV program that solves this problem: EBS Themes Around the World. Themes Around the World is not just an ordinary travel guide program, but is created to provide a firsthand experience of traveling as if one was backpacking around the world. There are many travel guide TV programs and information can be easily obtained through books and internet. However, what makes Themes Around the World different and special, nonetheless, are it’s “themes” and “curators”. The first reason why Themes Around the World is special can be found in its title. The program does not simply introduce famous tourist sites. Every episode has a theme and visits the places related to the theme. By doing so, we can visit places that are not yet known to many people and visit the places we already know of with a completely different perspective. Following the scenery seen in movies in Japan or experiencing Shakespeare in London can only be found on Themes Around the World. So how are the themes decided?　Here is the second reason why Themes Around the World is special: each destination is led by a different host called the curator. From professors, writers, musicians to sportsmen, curators from various fields select and introduce a destination according to the chosen theme. With their expert knowledge in the different fields, curators provide unique and diverse aspects of the destinations that are unfamiliar to us. They not only lead the tour themselves, but are also the narrators of the program. The expertise of the curators allows the viewers to obtain in depth understanding of the destinations. Let’s take a look at a destination Themes Around the World introduces. The place we are going to look at is Canada. The curator who is going to guide us through Canada is the junior freestyle ski team coach Chang Bum Koo. Shall we start the journey to the winter wonderland? ■ Banff, Encountering the Winter Rockies Banff National Park, Canada’s first national park, is the gateway to the Canadian Rockies. Chang Bum Koo shares a vivid and lively experience of the Canadian Rockies as he skies down the Banff Lake Louis ski slope. He also explains in detail about “tree run” where skiers ski through trees. Curators offering insights into details that otherwise will not be noticed is something only Themes Around the World can offer. ■ The Hidden Treasures of the Rockies, Canmore and Jasper Located between Calgary and Banff National Park, Kananaskis is a vacation city in southwestern Canada. It hosted the alpine skiing during the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary. A helicopter tour of the beautiful Rockies is also available in Kananaskis. Derived from the word that means “stone wall” in Cree language, mount Yamnuska is famous for its scenery often seen in movies such as Legends of The Fall and Brokeback Mountain. To the south of Banff National Park is Canmore National Park. Various activities like dog sledding, horseback riding, and hiking to fully enjoy the Canadian Rockies are available at Canmore National Park. To the north of Banff National Park is Jasper National Park; one of the largest national parks in Canada. Its name derived from the word “jade”, waterfalls and lakes of beautiful colors can be seen at the national park. One of the many beautiful sites of Jasper National Park is Maligne Canyon. It is known for its beautiful scenery of Maligne Lake in the summer and ice walking over the frozen canyon in the winter. Glacier hiking up the Angel Falls also provides a spectacular view in the winter. Last but not least, not too far from the Angel Falls is Queen of Maligne, a waterfall too beautiful to miss. ■ Capturing Aurora, Yellowknife Isn’t aurora somewhere on everyone’s bucket list? You can see and experience aurora without the long hours on the plane through “Part 4 Capturing Aurora, Yellowknife”. The North Pole isn’t the only place where aurora can be seen. It can also be seen in Canada. Yellowknife is known as the “capital of aurora”. The temperature reaches the low of minus 30°C to minus 40°C in the winter and the high of 30°C in the summer. Yellowknife is located on latitude 65~70°, allowing aurora to be seen. Free from air and light pollution, Yellowknife is an ideal place to capture aurora. One can only wait to see the aurora. The program introduces various activities for the long waiting hours. People go fishing on snowmobiles surrounded by fields of snow. Looking at the scenery and waiting for the fish not only provides tranquility but also makes the long wait for aurora precious. Waiting for something in the cold that freezes everything instantly can be difficult and tiring. However, the view of aurora is definitely worth the wait. Aurora is a phenomenon that occurs due to the clash of solar wind particles and molecules of earth’s atmosphere and some people call it the “god’s soul”. You will understand why when you experience the aurora on Themes Around the World. ■ Conclusion We had a look around Themes Around the World under the theme of “Snowfields of Canada”. The tour was made more interesting and informative with a ski coach as a curator. Themes Around the World will visit many more places with various different themes. How about traveling to one of your dream places with Themes Around the World this evening? Part 1. Banff, the Winter of the Rockies Part 2. Canmore and Jasper, Deep in the Rockies Part 3. Lake Louise, a Romantic Winter Lake Part 4. Seeing the Aurora, Yellowknife

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  [OID Korea 2018] OpenInfra Days Korea 2018 Press Conference

  OpenInfra Days Korea 2018, co-hosted by OpenStack Foundation, OpenStack Korea User Group and Cloud Native Computing & K8S Korea, will be held on June 28-29 at COEX in Gangnam- gu, Seoul. This event was developed from 'OpenStack Day Korea' as a part of efforts to promote various open infrastructure technologies and to revitalize related ecosystem. The event will be held under the theme of "Open Infrastructure: OpenStack, Containers, and Cloud Native Computing”, and it will cover the ecosystem of open infrastructure technology created by combining openStack and cloud native computing technologies such as Kubernetes and Container. The OpenStack Foundation, as well as global open source foundations such as Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Open Networking Foundation (ONF), will participate in the event, and technical presentations, exhibition booths, and workshops will be held under the sponsorships of Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, NetApp, manTech, and Open Source Consulting. At the press conference of OpenInfra Days Korea 2018, Jonathan Bryce Executive Director, Mark Collier COO, Lauren Sell Vice President of Marketing & Community Services, and lan Y. Choi, President of OpenStack Korea User Group, attended. OpenStack Foundation pointed out AI-related infrastructure environment as an area where the use of OpenStack-based infrastructure begins in earnest. Also, it emphasized that its ultimate goal is to solve many problems in the open source world by making users and technology companies working together. ▲ The press conference was attended by key executives of OpenStack Foundation and Korea User Group representatives Q ) The vGPU support in 'Nova' was introduced, and there were various restrictions on the configuration of the vGPU environment up to now. Does vGPU support in Nova also have these kinds of restrictions? (Acrofan) vGPU is a fairly new concept. Within a GPU, there are hundreds or thousands of small processors, components, and logic gates, and we have to deal with them as a piece of hardware. NVIDIA and Intel are making all of these components possible to virtualize within the GPU. The chip manufacturer's support will be needed to enable the use of vGPUs, and its restrictions will be similar to other environments. On the other hand, there is a limited number of chips available for virtualization. The "Cyborg" project in OpenStack uses a GPU or FPGA as an accelerator without virtualizing the chip, creating an accelerator inventory in the cloud and providing it to users or several tenants. If vGPUs and non-virtualized accelerators are used in the cloud at the same time, it is possible to build an infrastructure with powerful processing performance. Q ) In the case of Kata Containers, virtualization is used for container isolation. In general, the container has an advantage of high efficiency by sharing the kernels. However, it seems that using virtualization might reduce efficiency. What is the reason of combining virtualization with container technology, and what additional security benefits can be gained? (Acrofan) Container technology uses C-groups or namespaces to isolate kernel components. Therefore, no matter what tasks are performed in the container, the same kernel must be used, and the CPU, storage, and network will all run in the same location. In this case, it is inevitable to share with other containers and workloads, and the overhead becomes low, while isolation is not sufficient. Therefore, in order to secure the system configuration, it was necessary to configure it in many layers. In case of large public cloud services, they operated users’ containers on each user’s VM for sufficient isolation, which is a less efficient method. For Kata Containers, it uses a much smaller VM. The size of the VM is MBs, not GBs, and it can be started within 100ms, not minutes. It has small kernel size, small overall size, excellent isolation and security, and less overhead than a complete virtual machine. Another advantage is that it is compatible with existing container tools. It is a technology that runs containers at the lowest level of container technology and can be applied as a plugin to container tools such as Docker or Kubernetes. It has the advantage of using existing container tools and applications as they are. The Kata Containers simply adds an option to run the code at that level. Q ) OpenStack has been expanding from cloud to telecommunication and IoT infrastructure. What are the areas that are expected to expand in the future, and what are the projects that are closely related to this? (Acrofan) The “AirShip” project can be applied to various use cases, but in particular, it will be a big help in the edge area. It automates the software stack that runs on the edge and makes it reusable. Also, StarlingX is a more edge-specific project. Both projects are in early stages, but they are likely to be more interesting next year as they mature and the support increases. Since then, there are examples of using OpenStack environment for machine learning and AI. Hardware support, such as a GPU or FPGA, is intended to support this use case. As workloads from data analysis and others increase, new technologies and the related projects will be developed in the future. On the security side, the technology stack, including virtualization, seems to have a lot of room to improve its security or performance. Kata Containers is a technology that enhances security while reducing the weight of containers. Ultimately, the goal is for users and technology companies to work together to solve many problems in the open source world. ▲ The diversification aspect of the cloud has also been an important reason for the change in the strategy of OpenStack Foundation. Q ) What is the exact meaning of "cloud diversification"? Currently, users want to use a variety of technologies in the cloud. Using a variety of architectures will be more beneficial in handling workloads in AI, machine learning, and containers. Different types of chips and storage hardware, as well as a variety of hardware and software will be available. From this perspective, cloud and data center-related technologies are diversifying. In terms of edge computing, the concept of the cloud is also changing. There is a demand to utilize the cloud on the edge side, and there is also a desire to diversify the cloud. Q ) 'Open infrastructure' could be applied to containers and CI/CDs in addition to the cloud. What meaning does 'Zuul' have in an 'open infrastructure'? Infrastructure is automated and applications running in the cloud are changing, and the driving force behind automation and change is that people want to improve, test, and integrate software and continue to deploy software on the cloud. 'Zuul' allows users to develop software that can run on an open infrastructure as open tools. It is a cloud service that allows you to submit code from any cloud hosted server and whichever community, city or country you are in, and automate testing in the cloud. I think this is well suited to the kind of infrastructure we wanted. On CI/CD, it was previously possible to implement immediate compilation and testing after committing codes when development is done using automation build method through Jenkins and others. have. However, in some cases, such as in code reviews, automation builds do not work well. In the case of the foundation, the Infrastructure Team created ‘Zuul’ to solve these problems, and the foundation's document site is managed by it. I believe that open infrastructure can include not only technical areas, but also infrastructures actually used in development. 'Zuul' was originally developed by the community for the OpenStack project, but it has also attracted a lot of attention from outside projects and software departments. Moreover, there was a huge demand from the outside, so it was separated into an independent project naturally. In March, when version 3.0 was released, I think it was a good time to separate the project into an independent project. Version 3.0 also supports technologies that are not related to OpenStack, but considered important such as GitHub, etc. Q ) What do you think about the contributions of Korean communities and companies? The largest part of the contribution in Korea is the integration of the container into OpenStack. Helm and Kolla are tools designed to facilitate the operation of the container in OpenStack. In this part, Korean companies such as SK Telecom are playing a leading role. By contributing to the integration of the container into OpenStack, the stability of OpenStack is consequentially improved and the upgrades become easier. In case of Samsung Electronics, it has an NFV-related solution. It puts lots of development and resources to the part that is managed after containerization on a Kolla basis, and solutionizes the part. SK Telecom is also participating in a project that allows OpenStack to operate on container platform by combining with container technology to easily build and operate OpenStack itself. In particular, SK Telecom not only simply progresses development internally but also contributes development part to the community and progresses co-development with AT&T, Intel, etc in the community. Korea plays an important role in the movement toward open infrastructure, and there are many booths and sponsors in this exhibition than in the past. OpenStack, Kubernetes, and container technologies are combined to provide people with the 'open infrastructure' solution they really want, and I think this shows how much interest Korea is showing in this move. We participate in various events around the world and meet various community members. Here, we found that each country has distinct characteristics. In case of Korea, local leaders are proactive and collaborative, and the introduction of new technology is fast and user-driven. On the other hand, in the past, there were not many cases where domestic companies were doing business extensively based on OpenStack. But this year, domestic companies are coming up to the position in which they can do business and sponsor with open infrastructure technology. As the scope expands to container technology, the opportunity seems to expand. And this might be the trend seen in sponsors and others of the event this year.

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  [OID Korea 2018] ‘OpenInfra Days Korea 2018’ Keynote Address

  OpenInfra Days Korea 2018, co-hosted by OpenStack Foundation, OpenStack Korea User Group and Cloud Native Computing & K8S Korea, will be held on June 28-29 at COEX in Gangnam- gu, Seoul. This event was developed from 'OpenStack Day Korea' as a part of efforts to promote various open infrastructure technologies and to revitalize related ecosystem. The event will be held under the theme of "Open Infrastructure: OpenStack, Containers, and Cloud Native Computing”, and it will cover the ecosystem of open infrastructure technology created by combining openStack and cloud native computing technologies such as Kubernetes and Container. The OpenStack Foundation, as well as global open source foundations such as Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Open Networking Foundation (ONF), will participate in the event, and technical presentations, exhibition booths, and workshops will be held under the sponsorships of Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, NetApp, manTech, and Open Source Consulting. At the event’s keynote address, Mark Collier, COO of OpenStack Foundation, pointed out ‘diversity’ as the future direction of the cloud, and from the perspective of the community beyond the infrastructure, he introduced that OpenStack is focused on introducing and integrating new technologies to solve the problems that users are facing. Also, in this integration strategy, he suggested four steps; finding common user cases, collaborate across communities, build the required new technology, and test everything. At the same time, the Foundation announced the long-term support version of OpenStack and the introduction of functions such as fast forward upgrade. ▲ Mark Collier, COO of OpenStack Foundation ▲ Now, the ‘long-term support version’ will be provided to OpenStack community version. Mark Collier COO and Lauren Sell, Vice President of Marketing and Community Services, gave keynote speech of OpenStack Foundation. First, the Foundation introduced some results of user survey that the infrastructure currently running in OpenStack environment is more than 10 million cores, and 71% of users who are using OpenStack are in production environment or preparing to deploy to production environment within the next 12 months. It is added that its market size is about $6.1 billion. Currently, OpenStack Foundation is running a variety of software projects centering on OpenStack. Recent noteworthy news in these projects was that vGPU support was provided in the virtual machine environment "Nova" and expected to be useful in a variety of use cases. In addition, the offline "Fast Forward Upgrade" allows users to upgrade from originating version to user desired final version for multiple releases at one time. Also, from the OpenStack "Ocata" version, a long-term support version, which provides 18 months of additional support, will be presented to meet the needs of users. OpenStack is currently used not only for data center and enterprise but also for scientific research and infrastructure operation such as traffic. Also, as it is used in various areas, the requirements for OpenStack, cloud, and infrastructure have changed a lot from the past. Today's infrastructure requires more, such as AI, containers, machine learning, and serverless technology, and these functions are used at the edge level beyond the data center. In addition to the existing standard architecture, architectures are being diversified into ARM-based environments, or environments that user GPUs and FPGA, and various open source solutions are used together. ▲ Lauren Sell, Vice President of Marketing and Community Services of OpenStack Foundation ▲ The four stages of integration for 'open infrastructure' flow like this. In the early days of the cloud, everything seemed to be merged on a standard hardware foundation, but now the movement of the cloud is becoming more "diversified" into various architectures. Moreover, various technologies such as AI and machine learning, which are used to solve various problems, are based on open source. However, the foundation emphasized that open source is not enough, and that it needs more than code to transform into an 'open infrastructure'. At this time, the foundation and the community are the best players in solving this problem through cooperation, and what the foundation has learned from communities in building an open infrastructure is that it is ‘human' that ultimately runs the infrastructure. To these changes, the foundation and the community are responding with strategic changes. In the past, the foundation thought about infrastructure from the perspective of an OpenStack project, but it is now thinking from the perspective of the 'community'. In the case of the community, it is featured by using various new technologies besides OpenStack in approaching the problem. As for difficulties in open source and infrastructure, "integration" is pointed out, and it is explained that new strategies for this part to help integrate technologies are discussed last year. Also, the “four steps for integration”, which includes identification of common use cases, collaboration, incorporation of new technologies, and the general testing, is defined. In identification of common use cases, various organizations have participated in introducing white papers relating to containers and edge clouds. After understanding the use cases, collaboration among communities is needed. There a lot of technologies to integrate, so the foundation stated that it can help with smooth integration by establishing relationships with various communities and identifying the deficiencies of each other through collaboration. The white paper on the edge cloud has worked with a variety of organizations, and it was helped by the Kubernetes upstream community. Moreover, the foundation provided resources to the Kubernetes community. New technologies and projects may be needed to overcome poor technology after collaboration. And the OpenStack Foundation has been leading the OpenStack project since 2012, and last year it had just launched a new main project besides the OpenStack project. The new projects are "Kata Containers" and "Zuul”. What’s more, it is announced that “StarlingX” and “Airship” projects will soon be available as well. ▲ “Kata Containers" and "Zuul" are presented as the new main projects of OpenStack Foundation. 'Kata Containers' is a virtualized container technology that can provide performance of containers, isolation of VMs and security. There were some voices that the existing container technology, which is isolated at the domain level while sharing kernels of the host, are insufficient in isolation. Hence, in some cases, the container platform was mounted on VM and the container was operated. Kata Containers is a technology that can take both the isolation of virtualization and the efficiency of container by utilizing virtualization technology into container isolation. It is an open standard project that combines ‘runv’ of Hyper.SH and Intel’s ‘Clear Container’ project. A new thing for this project is that Google, Microsoft, Huawei and others are taking the leadership, and it was evaluated positively in terms of collaboration opportunities with companies. The project that has been for six years, Zuul’s latest release is version 3, and it is said to be an important project in the foundation. Zuul is a technology developed for the community in OpenStack community, used for software development and testing, and it is one of the largest open source project CI systems. It is characterized by the ability to implement continuous test workflows in complex projects in distributed environments involving thousands of developers from hundreds of countries. Individual tasks are written in Ansible. They support Gerrit and GitHub and can be used outside of OpenStack. The startup project, StarlingX, is a project for edge computing and industrial IoT, with Wind River and Intel collaborating on code, and the mailing list is being actively operated. Mainly hosted by AT&T and participated in by SK Telecom in Korea, “Airship” project implements all pipelines for the installation and configuration of OpenStack environment as a container and a cloud native platform, centered on Kubernetes. When the server comes in and connects, it automates the whole process of deploying the container and configuring the functionality, and it enables to implement this process as a single declaration. Meanwhile, SK Telecom is also contributing code in related projects and applying it to the actual working environment. ▲ Lee Je-eung, President of The Linux Foundation Korea Next, Lee Je-eung, President of The Linux Foundation Korea, briefly introduced about Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). It was established in December 2015 as Linux Foundation-affiliated project foundation, and it coordinates policy and direction aspects of various cloud native projects centered on Kubernetes. There are currently 23 projects under management. In addition to the Kubernetes, which had already entered the mature stage, 16 projects in the upbringing stage and 6 projects in the early ‘sandbox’ stage are being managed. CNCF also supports activities such as transference to the next stage through testing. The move from virtualization to cloud-native is focused on optimizing resource utilization through orchestration among containers by breaking down applications into micro-services and packaging them into individual containers. In the process, CNCF provides political management to connect various related projects through open source-based collaboration in the move to cloud native. Meanwhile, it has more than 240 members involved in the cloud-native ecosystem. As the reasons for participation, CNCF cited neutral contribution and activation, provision of selection, validation and support of projects through Technical Advisory Committee, and opportunity to share much information through activation of intercourse between end user, service provider and communities. By joining as a member, you will have the opportunity to participate in various events and inform your products, and you can expect various support for tests and technology exchange. Moreover, the end-user community with more than 54 members is sharing their experience and accepting it so that projects could be carried out to the right direction. The advantages of CNCF’s membership participation include ‘technology leadership’ aspects such as reflecting opinions of direction and contributing of technology, reflecting opinions of technological development strategies that are important to the members' business, leading additional extension development, deciding direction and suggesting guidance on additional functions, etc. The membership participation also has benefits such as strengthening members’ roadmap through community participation and collaboration, cross-collaboration between enterprise and industry, and ensuring interoperability of members’ products or applications. The membership is divided into Platinum, Gold and Silver membership depending on the benefits and the size of the support, and it is proceeded with certification program, online training program and qualification examination system. ▲ lan Y. Choi, President of OpenStack Korea User Group lan Y. Choi, President of OpenStack Korea User Group, introduced the main activities of the Korean user group so far through 'Community Report'. OpenStack Korea User Group was established in February 2011 and is an official user group certified to OpenStack Foundation. In addition, the Korean user group is contributing to both upstream and downstream activities across the OpenStack ecosystem. As for the upstream activities, contribution of translation in the aspect of internationalization and various contributions from “Airship” project, in which SK Telecom participated, are mentioned. Also, as for the downstream activities, various business activities such as global discussion, local meetup, study activities, community cooperation, and domestic sponsorship were introduced. For the past one year, OpenStack Korea User Group has carried out various activities. After OpenStack Days Korea 2017 held in July 2017, the first open source software community day was held in September, and the six study group meetings were held in November and December. There was a networking day in November and a year-end party in December. In addition, 'Korea Community Day 2018' was held in February 2018, the monthly seminar in March and April, and 'MeltingCon 2018' in May with a number of communities. Moreover, the online lectures produced at the community level are also mentioned as important activities. Meanwhile, an event celebrating OpenStack’s eighth birthday is scheduled in July. One of the most important activities of the OpenStack community, 'User Survey' will be published in the Berlin Summit in October 2018. The survey was formerly available only in English, but now contribution of the community is reflected so that it is also available as a Korean version and domestic users can easily participate.

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  [OID Korea 2018] Covering the spot of ‘OpenInfra Days Korea 2018’

  OpenInfra Days Korea 2018, co-hosted by OpenStack Foundation, OpenStack Korea User Group and Cloud Native Computing & K8S Korea, will be held on June 28-29 at COEX in Gangnam- gu, Seoul. This event was developed from 'OpenStack Day Korea' as a part of efforts to promote various open infrastructure technologies and to revitalize related ecosystem. The event will be held under the theme of "Open Infrastructure: OpenStack, Containers, and Cloud Native Computing”, and it will cover the ecosystem of open infrastructure technology created by combining openStack and cloud native computing technologies such as Kubernetes and Container. The OpenStack Foundation, as well as global open source foundations such as Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Open Networking Foundation (ONF), will participate in the event, and technical presentations, exhibition booths, and workshops will be held under the sponsorships of Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, NetApp, manTech, and Open Source Consulting. In this two-day event, visitors will be able to meet and study technologies of various fields related to use cases in open infrastructure such as DevOps and CI/CD as well as various open infrastructure solutions including OpenStack, Ceph, Docker and Kubernetes. Many domestic companies including Kakao, Naver, Line, Netmarble, Nexon Korea, etc. will participate in presentations. On the second day, many technology presentations and hands-on workshops from OpenStack Korea User Group, AWS User Group, Korea Azure User Group, Google Cloud Platform User Group, Kubernetes User Group, and IBM developerWorks User Group are prepared. ▲ Developed from 'OpenStack Days Korea', 'OpenInfra Days Korea 2018' covers the whole infrastructure. ▲ Various programs will be held during the two-day event. ▲ The lecture program is divided into four tracks. ▲ The demonstration booths are prepared in front of the venue so that various solutions can welcome participants. ▲ In Korea, Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom are actively using OpenStack. ▲ OpenStack becomes more valuable in high-density ARM server environments ▲ HPE, SUSE, and Nokia are also regular customers at the overseas summit. ▲ 'Line' also participated in this event as a booth. ▲ Meanwhile, the first day of the event exceeded 600 attendees and is expected to reach 1,200 for two days.

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  [Column] Quantum Computing Age to Come ... Big Blue IBM Seeking Opportunities for a New Leap

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  Google Play Audiobook Korea Release Demonstration Session

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  [OID Korea 2018] OpenInfra Days Korea 2018 Press Conference

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  [OID Korea 2018] ‘OpenInfra Days Korea 2018’ Keynote Address

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  11th HKTDC Wine & Spirits Fair Opens Early November

  HKTDC Acting Executive Director Benjamin Chau (middle) joins Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition Founding Director Debra Meiburg (5th from the left) and guests at today's press conference to announce details of the fair.Fair exhibitor Oriental Pearl (Hong Kong) Limited is featuring "R" de Rieussec 2017 from Chateau Rieussec in Sauternes, Bordeaux. The winery was acquired by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) in 1984.- 1,000+ Exhibitors to Showcase Global Fine Wines- World of Olive Oil & Organic Wine and Spirits Corner to DebutHONG KONG, Oct 15, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - Organised by the HKTDC, the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair will be held from 8-10 Nov (Thursday to Saturday) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The fair's 11th edition will feature 1,075 exhibitors from 32 countries and regions, with about 70 events lined up. The doors will open to the public on the last day of the fair (Saturday, 10 Nov), providing consumers with the chance to enhance their wine knowledge and experience the high spirits of Hong Kong's signature wine event. Speaking at today's press conference to introduce this year's fair, HKTDC Acting Executive Director Benjamin Chau said: "In the first eight months of this year, Hong Kong's wine imports - mainly from France, Australia and the United Kingdom - reached HK$8.35 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. Imports from the United Kingdom and France recorded growth of 30.2% and 17.9%, respectively. Hong Kong's wine exports amounted to HK$2.66 billion during the period, with the Chinese mainland and Macau as the largest export markets, followed by Singapore and Taiwan."Following the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's decision to eliminate all duty-related customs and administrative controls on wine in 2008, wine imports have seen a seven-fold leap - from HK$1.6 billion in 2007 to HK$12 billion in 2017. During this period, Hong Kong developed rapidly as a wine trading and distribution centre, serving as a gateway for wines entering the mainland. Hong Kong has many advantages as a wine trading hub, with wine-related businesses - including auctions, retailing, catering, warehousing and logistics - developing alongside wine trading and distribution. Since 2009, Hong Kong has become one of the world's largest wine auction centres, with sales topping US$98 million in 2017. According to Euromonitor International, consumer demand for wine in Asia and the mainland remains strong. It forecasts that between 2017 and 2022, wine sales in Asia will grow at 6.7% per annum. As a duty-free port with good air connectivity and excellent storage facilities, Hong Kong is globally recognised as the most cost-effective wine distribution hub. Wine merchants worldwide favour Hong Kong as a launch pad to expand their business into Asia and the mainland. Global Wines on Show: World of Olive Oil & Organic Wine and Spirits Corner to Launch This year's Wine & Spirits Fair will feature 27 group pavilions from wine-producing regions, trade organisations and governmental organisations around the world. There will be new pavilions from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Sichuan Council, the mainland's Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province, the Czech Grape and Wine Producer Association, Gifu Prefecture and the Niigata Sake Brewers' Association from Japan, and the Trade Commission of Peru in Hong Kong. The fair will also launch the World of Olive Oil at the Vinitaly pavilion to promote various kinds of premium olive oils, with visitors able to enrich their knowledge and sample a selection of olive oils. Also new is the Organic Wine and Spirits Corner that will feature a range of organically produced beverages for visitors to try.Other exhibits on display at this year's fair will include:-- 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley from the famous United States winery Castello di Amorosa, which resembles a medieval castle, will be featured. The wine was awarded 93 points by renowned wine critic James Suckling; -- Barahonda Organic Barrica 2015 is an organic product from the Barahonda winery in Yelca, Spain, which won praise from wine critic Robert Parker for being good value for money. The 2015 vintage is produced from a blend of Monastrell and Syrah grapes;-- Masahiro Okinawa Craft Gin (Recipe 1) is the first handcrafted gin produced by a distillery in Okinawa, Japan. The distillery has been producing awamori, an indigenous distilled spirit, for more than 130 years. The gin is a concoction of Okinawan local produce such as bitter melon and pepper, giving it a unique flavour; - Pisco Huamani from Peru employs a 125-year-old recipe and a traditional Peruvian distillation method that uses freshly fermented grape juice instead of aged wine. It received a silver medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition; -- Wheat Blanc from Sweden is an organic beer that uses champagne yeast during brewing, giving it a fruity tone and a unique taste.The fair will also feature a Liquor & Beverage Products zone, a Whisky and Spirits zone and a Beer zone, together with zones that promote the industry's all-round development, including Wine Education, Wine Accessories, Equipment and Services and Wine Investment. Food-pairing products will be showcased in the Friends of Wine zone. Asia Wine Academy ReturnsFollowing a successful debut in 2017, the Asia Wine Academy, co-organised by the HKTDC and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Hotel and Tourism Management, returns this year. On the theme of "Seeking Greatness: Decoding Wine Quality", Masters of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee and Sarah Heller will share their insights into Italian and French wines, exploring how wine style, regions and production methods will affect wine quality, and teach methods for assessing wine. Participants who complete the courses will be awarded a certificate. The HKTDC will organise about 70 events during the fair, including more than 10 tasting sessions showcasing wines from around the world. It will also host numerous industry-exchange events, including a wine industry conference, thematic seminars, master classes, educational talks, a cocktail reception and a gala dinner, providing a comprehensive business and exchange platform for industry players. At the Wine Industry Conference to be held on the first day, Master of Wine Debra Meiburg MW will host a session entitled "Driving Growth: The Flourishing Asia Wine Market". Speakers include Sarah Heller MW, Wainwright Advisors' Director David Wainwright and Wines of South Africa Asia Market Manager Marcus Ford, who will share their insights on the prospects and trends for the wine industry in the Asian market. The 10th Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition Award Ceremony will be held during the cocktail reception on the first evening of the fair, with more than 60 awards being handed out. The winning wines will be displayed at the Wine Gallery during the fair and a Gala Wine Dinner, with a "Forest of Delights" theme, will follow the cocktail reception. Guests will enjoy a menu crafted by Amerigo Tito Sesti, Head Chef at J'AIME by Jean-Michel Lorain, a one-Michelin-star French restaurant in Bangkok. Public Day: Tastings, Seminars, Master Classes and MoreThe last day of the Wine & Spirits Fair (10 Nov) will be open to members of the public aged 18 or above. Regular tickets will be priced at HK$200* and each ticketholder will receive a Lucaris crystal wine glass on a first-come, first-served basis while stocks last. The Hong Kong Wine Competition will be one of the main attractions on Public Day. Visitors can join seminars, wine tastings and master classes, with whisky and cocktail demonstrations helping to enrich their drinks knowledge. Wine expert Stephen Mack, CEO and Principal Tutor of the Asia Wine Service and Education Centre will host two sessions: "An Introduction to Key Sake Styles" and "West-meeting-East: Comparing Wine & Sake". The fairground will also feature a wine-pairing station hosted by the International Culinary Institute to provide visitors with wine-and-food pairing experiences. This year, the HKTDC will once again organise the Hong Kong Wine Journey citywide promotion, putting together more than 90 wine-related activities in November. In addition to enjoying free corkage at selected restaurants, the public can take part in a series of wine tastings, themed tours and wine-pairing events, among others. For details, please refer to the Hong Kong Wine Journey map or the event website. *Ticket DetailsFrom now until 9 Nov, members of the public can purchase Public Day tickets at a special price of HK$99 through HKTVmall, HOKOBUY, Yahoo, Price.com, Ticketflap, Clink Digital Media, Tap & Go wallet and the Octopus App (Octopus card or O! ePay). Ticket-buyers will receive a Lucaris crystal wine glass on a first-come, first-served basis while stocks last. Members of the public can enrol in the Asia Wine Academy at a special price of HK$690 (original price HK$990) through the Wine & Spirits Fair website, Octopus App or online platforms Timable and Ticketflap on or before 20 Oct. Participants will receive a complimentary Wine & Spirits Fair ticket and a Lucaris crystal wine glass - a package with a total value of HK$1,300 - on a first-come, first-served basis while stocks last.Fair Website: www.hktdc.com/hkwinefairHong Kong Wine Journey: www.hktdc.com/hkwinejourneyAsia Wine Academy: http://hkwinefair.hktdc.com/dm/2018/asia_wine/index_en.htmlPhoto Download: https://bit.ly/2ElhlAXMedia Enquiries, HKTDC Communications & Public Affairs Department:Katherine Chan, T: 852 2584 4537, E: katherine.cm.chan@hktdc.orgIris Chow, T: 852 2584 4241, E: iris.cc.chow@hktdc.orgAbout the HKTDCThe HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China, Asia and the world. With more than 50 years of experience, the HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in international markets. Pleaae visit www.hktdc.com. Copyright 2018 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

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  Why is Messenger becoming an unpopular collaboration tool?

  The Messenger that reduced unnecessary meetings and opened the new world of real-time collaboration became a troublemaker because it is giving work stresses even after work hours. Since France enacted the right to disconnect in its labor standards last year, the worldwide ban on work orders through messengers is becoming increasingly popular. However, many indications are pointing that these changes are the full answer for the problem. This is because, creating an efficient work environment for finishing work within working hours are as important as stop giving work orders after working hours. Many experts point out that instant messaging notification during office hours can cause business interruption, and even can lead to stress disorder. According to reports from McKinsey and the Korea Productivity Center, typical office workers spend an average of 2.2 hours on their e-mail and replying messengers during their work hours. it is equivalent to 27.5 percent from a typical 8-hour work day. Considering that messenger work order can occur in anytime, it would interrupt workflows interruption throughout the working hours. The actual wasting hours for workers due to interruption are beyond expectations. Hackernoon, a website for IT engineers, conducted a survey of 4,000 High-Performance Employees (HPE) in 2017. According to the report, the average time a worker wastes as a work hindrance is 2 hours and 18 minutes a day, and when converted to a year, it is equivalent to 600 hours (75 days) respectively. Considering that the average hourly wage of HPE in the U.S. is $53, the annual loss per capita is $31,800 (Approximately 3.5 million KRW), and if a company has 40 HPEs, the loss would reach $1,250,000 (Approximately 1.4 billion KRW). The damage caused by the work interruption was found to have a great influence on the work performance of the workers as well. Including ‘Interruptions to workflow: Their relationship with irritation and satisfaction with performance, and the mediating roles of time pressure and mental demands’ (2013), published by Anja Baethge, a professor of psychology at University of Leipzig, Germany and many universities and research institutes’ study on changes in cognitive ability due to work disruption confirms that people who are disturbed have more than twice the rate of work mistakes, nervous and irritated reactions, compared to people who are not disturbed, and it has been found that it takes up to 27% more time to complete an existing task. As the side effects of Messenger, which is the beneficiary of the real-time collaboration are highlighted, some companies are restricting the use of messenger to 'temporary discussion use only', or set specific time zone as concentrating working hours to prevent 'messenger pollution'. In addition, some are moving away from messenger-centric collaboration tools, and are moving toward more collaborative tools that match with its workers’ workflow. For this reason, the third generation collaboration solutions, so-called issue based collaboration tools is getting famous. ‘collabee’, the most well-known issue-based collaborative tool, supports file sharing and communication functions like the existing collaboration tools, but also it displays the user-oriented user interface (UI) in the real-time collaborative environment. When one of the members creates a 'project space' for collaborative work, anyone who is invited to this space can write, and can directly comment on the written articles including assigning specific tasks, requesting decisions. All articles, materials, and requests can be viewed through your own news feed or easily viewed through the Kanban view, which is sorted by progress. Especially since it supports both PC and Android as well as iOS, users can cope with collaborative situations regardless of time and place. An industry official said, "Many companies are wondering how to guarantee their rights not to be disturbed at times other than working hours, but what is important is that they should not be disturbed during working hours to improve work performance and reduce overtime works. As collaborative tools emphasize real-time or communication, it is important to build a new collaborative environment that allows workers to concentrate on their work without disturbing the work, as it becomes more complicated by the structure of disturbance and unrealistic collaboration flow."

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  [KANTAR] Technology Enabled Research!

  Market research seeks to identify consumer perceptions, and because it is based on consumer responses coming from their incomplete (i.e., difficult to interpret or express) perceptions, producing accurate results has always been a challenge. To overcome this obstacle, technology-enabled research, a market research applying technology and scientific methodologies, has increased. This article will briefly explore how technology-enabled market research is being used and to what extent it can be applied to market research in the future. ■ Neuroscience Neuroscience has been used in market research for quite a long time. Typical examples include measuring brain activity, eye movement, and irritation analysis. Case 1: EEG(Electro-encephalography): A method to record electrical activity of the brain, measuring consumer reactions such as excitement or frustration to a particular stimulus. It is used in innovation research such as new product launch, concept ideation, and idea development. Case 2: Eye-tracking: A method to measure consumers’ eye movement. It aims to identify and analyze patterns of consumers’ visual attention by observing in-store consumer behavior and tracking their reactions to advertisement. Case 3: GSR (Galvanic skin response): A method to observe consumer reactions to an external stimulus (e.g. Audiovisual stimulus including concept, advertisement, new product). GSR simply measures how intuitive the stimulus is to consumers, and how quickly and easily it links with them. The following shows the brain’s response pattern towards a stimulus. Diagram 1: Brain response pattern to a stimulus The above response pattern can be applied to general market research. Shorter response time for a given stimulus (question) indicates that the stimulus is accepted as highly intuitive. This shows that those that achieved a faster response are more intuitively appealing to consumers than those with just a high response rate. Ex) Neuroscience analysis based on response time The quadrant graph below shows that the ‘new' and 'protective/caring' images as well as the ‘kind/loving,’ ‘comfortable,’ and ‘gentle’ images are all well-delivered to consumers. However, there exists a difference between these images in terms of how intuitive they are. Late consumer response indicates the need for rational judgement, which proves less effective in an environment full of stimulus that requires instant and intuitive message delivery. This emphasizes the importance of understanding the level of intuitive association, rather than just reaching a conclusion only based on consumer responses. ■ A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) Artificial intelligence is being used today in a variety of fields: artificial intelligence speakers, translation, human emotion recognition, linkage between visual images with emotional codes and even creations. Among AI applications, a technology that decodes human expression (and changes in the facial expression) has already been commercialized. Ex) Decoding various human expressions The viewer's emotion will continue to change while watching the 15-second commercial. Communication creative, such as commercials, contains numerous emotional factors those are difficult to be put into words. Decoding changes in facial expression enables various interpretation based on the understanding of these emotions. Ex 2) Can emotions regarding an image or a symbol be decoded? To establish a strong brand image, companies create “brand emotion” using various symbols including logo, color, visual, etc. What kind of emotions do these visuals or symbols arouse? Decoding emotion is about decoding human nature. The following diagram shows a tool to interpret various visual images based on Carl Jung’s analysis on psychological archetype: For instance, different symbols and visual aids should be applied to deliver a sophisticated & premium image as well as a dynamic image. Examples are as follows: A.I algorithm also makes it possible to instantly decode consumers’ emotions toward visual images. By using an A.I Decoder, one can decode consumers’ emotions towards every visual aspect involved in brand activities, including commercial, online, retail stores, logo, images exposed on Facebook/YouTube, leaflet, magazine advertisement, and used color and this allows consistency in brand communication. Human language and thoughts are not perfect. However, this technology-enabled approach, created to overcome limitations of past research methods, will lead to an establishment of insightful and inspirational communication strategies based on a discovery of consumers’ true purchase driver. ========== For more information, please contact Robert Kang Senior Account Director Kantar Robert.Kang@Kantartns.com +82 2 3779 4433

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  [Media Actually] Trends of 2018 Chuseok Pilot Programs: ‘Encounter’, ‘Hobby’, ‘Knowledge’

  The competition for the pilot programs was fierce in Chuseok(literally ‘Autumn eve’) this year. In total, the number of pilot programs, which was 12, was less than last year (which was 17). However, various programming strategies were tried; 6 one-off programs, 4 regular programs starting from Chuseok, and 2 holiday season programs. By broadcasting company, KBS showed 5, SBS 2, MBC 2, tvN 2, and Channel A 1, and KBS produced the most pilot programs this year as last year. MBC, once called as the strongest player in the pilot program, has not been able to make new attempts since the general strike last year, while KBS has been steadily making aggressive attempts. The pilot program is advantageous in that it can reduce the risk of viewer ratings and production costs by watching the reactions of viewers before organizing the regular program. On the other hand, it can also be a checkpoint for checking the current and future entertainment trends and flows. ◆ Trends of 2018 Chuseok pilot programs are ‘Encounter’, ‘Hobby’, ‘Knowledge’ ① 'Encounter,’ which contains our ordinary stories Among 2018 Chuseok pilot programs, there were many "encounters". In case of SBS <Big Picture Family>, where four stars opened the photo shop with the concept of "the best shot to shoot and share while living" and take pictures with various people’s stories, the program featured encounters with ordinary viewers looking for photo shops. In case of MBC <Secret Workshop>, the encounter with the protagonist in the old things, tvN <Mom I’m Here> and KBS <Mother and Mackerel> illuminated the re-encounters with the celebrities and their parents, who lived together for a long time. As the programs that covered encounter as a theme recorded the top ratings among all of the Chuseok pilot programs, they were in fact the winners of Chuseok pilot programs. Despite the fact that it was not a whole new attempt to put the stories of the public on the broadcast, the reason why the material that deals with someone's encounter recently became popular is that “meeting people” and the “way” of meeting with them and dealing with the story changed. In the past, it was a way of "introducing" those who were somewhat different and extraordinary people, but recently, they deal with the everyday stories of ordinary people who can be seen from anywhere through natural "encounter". The peak of this trend was JTBC <Hyori’s Homestay>. The popularity factors of <Hyori’s Homestay> included not only the daily life of Lee Hyori and her husband but also sympathy shared by the ordinary and simple life of those who visited the guest house of Hyori. So then, the have been paying more attention to dealing with lives that are not much different from the ordinary people when dealing with the lives of celebrities. This trend can be read from the fact that “I Live Alone” and “My Little Old Boy” became popular while “Master of Living”, “Capture the Moment How is that Possible” and “Hello Counselor” were popular in the past. ② From travel to 'Hobby' The keyword for 2017 Chuseok pilot program was 'Travel'. Still, there were some differences in concepts, but six of the 17 pilot programs dealt with travel. However, was it tired of too many travel programs, or was there a gap between trips that anyone could not leave on easily? There was not even one program among the pilot programs this year. Instead, they started to look at ‘hobby’ what people can easily try and enjoy in the daily life. SBS <Big Picture Family> dealt with the picture, and MBC <Secret Workshop> dealt with the workshop. They reflected the emotions and tastes of the young generation sharing and proud of their hobbies on SNS and YouTube. Hobby matches well with ‘SoHwakHeang(meaning small or a little but definitely happiness)’ in that people can try with a little money if they put their mind to through such as ‘one-day class’ and ‘YouTube self-study’, compared to a trip that takes more time and money. <Big Picture Family> and <Secret Workshop> basically have memories and stories in objects and photographs as a large framework, but they created more fun by adding a hobby. ③ Extension of Knowledge Delivery Area Recently, knowledge delivery programs such as lectures have appeared. The infotainment program has been produced steadily in the meantime, but its domain has shifted from a high level of knowledge to common knowledge, basic knowledge, and behavioral psychology. And it started to be produced even in the program called "The Dictionary of Useless Knowledge”. The program deals with the desire for knowledge that is worth knowing in reality. 2018 Chuseok pilot program has applied various methods such as lectures, quizzes, and reasoning for knowledge delivery. In particular, KBS introduced a quiz platform, which has recently become popular in such as 'Jam Live', 'You Quiz on the Block', 'Sweet Quiz Room', and produced <Troublemakers in Rooftop House>, <Battle of Teachers>, and <Quiz on the Korea>. Moreover, tvN focused on human psychology and broadcasted <Just Happened Lab>. Therefore, how to convey knowledge in a funny way and not to feel like teaching might be the key to success of the program.

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  [Media Actually] Are you confident that you will not be fooled by fake news?

  "Are you confident that you will not be fooled by false news?" Most people will answer 'yes' to this question. They might think that a foolish group or person will be fooled. However…… Human has structure that instinctively likes fake news regardless of will. Because people are more attracted to sensations, and fake news is aimed at this human psychology. In fact, according to the US internet news, BuzzFeed, the response rate of real news at the time of the US presidential election was about 7.37 million, while that of fake news was about 8.71 million. As the fact that fake news attracts people’s attention more than real news and the people’s delusion that they will not be deceived by fake news meet, the seriousness of fake news has escalated. In addition, that fake news spreads faster than real news and that people are not interested in facts are regarded as problems. In other words, the distribution of fake news is not merely a matter of 'the distribution of false information with a specific intention'. It becomes clearer in terms of economics. According to the survey by Hyundai Research Institute, the economic cost of fake news is estimated at total 30.9 trillion won, assuming that the total number of articles in the past year is about 13 million, and 1% is classified as fake news. As a result, countries around the world declared war on "Fake News" and started to fight back. The European Union is pushing for regulations on SNS companies that are spreading fake news ahead of the European Parliament next year. Germany has been implementing the Network Enforcement Act since this year, and France is preparing a countermeasure against fake news. In Malaysia, the “anti-fake news bill” was passed, and the distributor will be sentenced to 10 years in prison. The situation in Korea is the same. In May, a bill to impose fines on fake news distributors has been initiated, and the regulatory authorities are going to be set up. Nonetheless, it is still unclear whether these measures will eliminate fake news. Why is the fake news defined as the evil of society made? There are a variety of causes, but in essence, people try to see what they want to see. In other words, there is a psychology that people want information that matches their existing cognitive structure, and the current media environment is optimized to meet these psychological needs. In the traditional mass media era, we had to accept it as it was provided, but now we are able to choose information on our own, and it even recommends information that we might like more. The convenience and customization of acquiring information has increased as we move to providing information that meets our tastes. On the other hand, however, bias has also increased, while diversity and quality have declined. The problem of information unbalance has exceeded the level of the filter bubble, which can lead to distortions of values by a stranger involuntarily. It is worse than that. Now, information that is not customized to oneself has been accepted as wrong information even if it is an objective fact. A while ago, a customer asked an artificial intelligent speaker about the age of his son, Sang-won, and asked for a refund in response to the speaker saying, "Sang-won was dead at the age of 18." If so, did the speaker provide the wrong information? Not at all. The speaker was only telling about the age of the 18th century personality, a member of the royal family during the late Joseon Dynasty, that is, the historical fact. However, the user regarded it as erroneous information because it was incompatible information. The form of media use that consumes and selects only the information that is customized for oneself will further deepen this phenomenon in the future. The reality that a fact is not accepted as a fact. The way to stop this society is eventually back to the user. It will be necessary to create a regulatory agency and legislation, but the effectiveness is still very low. The information that the user wants to know is good, but it is important to remember that there is "information to know" as a citizen. All societies have common sense, rules, norms, and culture to know as members of a society, even if they do not want to know. As a member of society, what we need to strive for is pursuing a variety of information including disagreements in information acquisition However, it is not easy to do this on our own, and it is also illogical to transfer the efforts and responsibilities to the users completely. Someone should perform this role on a public interest basis. And so far, the mass media has been in charge of the role. In fact, the mass media has been around for a long time on SNS and video platforms. The use of mass media is declining year by year, and also the perception that mass media is needed is disappearing. As a result, it cannot be denied that mass media have been defeated in terms of availability and customization of information. But its role has not been defeated. The political socialization role of mass media news has already been proven. The use of news media has been shown to play an important role in informing people of political and social issues, encouraging them to have interest in various issues, and promoting civil society participation. At least, mass media plays an important role in the cultivation of citizenship by providing information that should be known as a member of society, and it must continue to do more faithfully in the future. Maybe that's why mass media is still needed in our society.