cyworld's blog

(from KoreaHerald)

Jamsil Indoor Stadium was all aglow as the top artists of East Asia came together for the MTV Buzz Asia Concert, turning the event into one of the hottest parties ever.

The concert was organized by MTV Korea and the MP3 company iRiver, both to promote the "Korean Wave" in Asia and to jump-start unifying the world of Asian music.

Fans had been disappointed when a planned joint performance by Korea and Japan's top divas BoA and Amuro Namie, respectrively, failed to materialize with BoA canceling her appearance a few weeks earlier. However, the concert still turned out to be an enormous gift, packed with something for everyone.

 

 

Korea's Shinhwa, Jaurim and jtL; Japan's Amuro Namie and AI; and Taiwan's Vanness Wu, MACHI and Wang Lee Hom performed for more than 15,000 people, including 2,000 fans who flew to Korea from Japan and Taiwan to see their idols.

Middle-school student Ha Song-hee said she stood in line for six hours to get her place right in front of the stage. "I'm so glad that I will be able to see Shinhwa up close. Not to mention all the other famous singers from other countries," she exclaimed. "I'm so excited that I could just burst!"

The concert began with the powerful voice of Kim Yoon-a, lead singer of Korea's fusion-rock band Jaurim.

Kim had been working on her own promoting her solo album for the last year and a half, giving concerts in Tokyo. Although the members of Jaurim reunited for the first time in many days, according to Kim, the group was certainly in top form.

When Jaurim performed "Hey Hey Hey" the song that launched the group to stardom in Korea, the crowd erupted.

As Taiwan's No. 1 hip hop dance group MACHI and the beloved icon Vanness Wu, a member of F4, gave a joint performance, the cheers of Taiwan fans who were seated at the front left of the stadium were quickly joined by loud cheers from Koreans.

MACHI members filled the stage with powerful dances while shouting "Dae-han-min-guk," arousing a heated crowd response. The whole Korean nation resonated with that famous chant when cheering on the Korean soccer team during the 2002 World Cup.

Fans' bodies swayed as one when Vanness Wu and Jay Chung, a member of Korean R&B vocal group Solid and also the producer of MACHI, came together and sang, "Holding the Last of This Night."

"I cannot believe that I got the chance to see Vanness this close up. I don't think I will be able to sleep for nights," said a woman in her 20s who introduced herself as a big fan of F4 and Vanness Wu.

Fans swirled ballons of orange and white when two of Korea's most popular male vocal groups, Shinhwa and jtL, performed. The orange balloons stood for Shinhwa fans and the white for jtL. Shinhwa gave one of its best performances.

"Shortly after this concert, our new album will be released. We will use this concert as a starting point for promoting our album to the whole of Asia," Shin Hae-sung, Shinhwa's lead vocalist, had said.

When jtL sprang onto the stage, a huge dragon floated out from the right side. Fans from Korea, Taiwan and Japan all sang along to "Another Day," jtL's debut song.

jtL, who said they were very flattered to be on stage with all the other top Asian artists, definitely did their best to fill the void left by the absence of BoA and Dongbangshingi, also known as Tong Vfang Xien Qi, who had cancelled.

The stadium's half-roof was almost blown off by the fans' response when Japan's sweetheart Amuro Namie adorned the stage. The doll-like diva seduced the crowd in a slinky miniskirt, showing off her beautiful figure.

Amuro said she had been moved by the overwhelming response of Korean fans at her May concert in Korea. To show her gratitude, she sang "All for You," the title song of her new album, for the first time at the Buzz Asia Concert. The album was released simultaneously in Japan and Korea.

"Because of my self-consciousness, I wasn't able to fully enjoy myself when I performed with the top artists from other countries in the past. But this time I intend to have a blast," she told an earlier news conference.

True to her words, Amuro and the fans became one as she filled the stadium with a breath-taking performance.

AI, another Japanese diva who debuted last year, left the crowd gaping in amazement at her striking performance. She said she was overcome with happiness to be performing outside of Japan for the first time. The neophyte diva sang everything from hip hop to rap music to R&B, and won Koreans' hearts with her stage manner as well. Before singing "My Friend," she shouted "This is for you guys, my chingu!" using the Korean word for friend.

Taiwan's young prince Wang Lee Hom brought out an electronic violin as his hidden tool. The versatile and talented artist, who is famous for the wide range of instruments he plays, filled the stadium with melodious music, both vocal and instrumental.

HK Choi, general manager of MTV Korea, had hoped the concert would work as a springboard to unify the Asian music market. "Artists should perform targeting the whole Asian market, not just the markets of their home grounds. We pursue that and I hope everyone will follow our lead," he said.

The Buzz Asia Concert showed that that market is indeed being unified, with stars connecting with many Asian fans outside their homelands.

By Shin Hae-in

2004.09.04

(from Koreaherald)

 

Samsung Electronics announced three breakthroughs in key technologies that promise greater data storage and faster processing for computers and mobile devices such as MP3 audio players.

In the first breakthrough, the world's leading semiconductor maker said it has developed the industry's first 60-nanometer 8-gigabit NAND Flash memory chip for data storage. One nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter.

The new flash memory will allow storage of up to 16 hours of DVD quality video or 4,000 MP3 audio files or songs on a single memory card.

"For the first time in the industry, we have succeeded in commercializing next-generation 60-nano technology," Hwang Chang-gyu, president of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor division, told reporters.

"The new NAND flash memory will enable the development of various mobile appliances," he said.

Hwang Chang-gyu (right), president of Samsung Electronics` semiconductor division, shows off an array of the company`s new 2-gigabyte memory chips on a large wafer during a news confer-ence in Seoul yesterday. [The Korea Herald]

Samsung's NAND flash business has shown strong growth, with sales expanding from $400 million in 2001 to $2.1 billion last year.

This year Samsung expects to double the volume of NAND sales and thereby to secure a 65 percent global market share.

The company said mass production of the 8-gigabit NAND chip will begin late next year, following the first-quarter 2005 launch of the 4-gigabit NAND flash memory device.

The second breakthrough concerns Samsung's development of the world's first 2-gigabit DDR2 SDRAM by using existing, 80-nanometer micro-processing technology.

The high density, double-data-rate or DDR2 chip will enhance server and workstation performance and enable faster deployment of memory-intensive applications such as real-time video conferences, remote medical services, two-way communications and 3-D graphics, the company said.

What is particularly notable is that the chip was produced using existing 80-nano technology. It was widely believed in the industry that the development of such a high-capacity memory chip would be possible only by using processing technology on a scale of 65 nanometers or less.

"This development has shown that the expansion of semiconductor capacity is also possible by improving design and process technology, rather than micro-process technology alone," Hwang said.

He attributed the success to a combination of three-dimensional transistor technology and the company's state-of-the-art architecture.

Market research firm Gartner Dataquest forecasts that the market share for DDR2 technology will grow from 11 percent this year to 50 percent by year-end 2005, making DDR2 the mainstream DRAM product.

Samsung plans to launch mass production of its 80-nano process 2-gigabit DDR2 SDRAMs in the second half of 2005.

In the third announcement, the company said it has developed the world's fastest 667-megaHertz central processing unit (CPU) chip for mobiles.

In the second quarter, Samsung's memory-chip sales totaled 3.57 trillion won ($3.1 billion), a gain of 13 percent from 3.16 trillion won in the first quarter.

During the third quarter ending this month, memory chip sales are expected to be higher than the second quarter despite weaker NAND flash memory chip prices, the company said.

However, Hwang said global semiconductor sales growth will likely slow to less than 10 percent in 2005, when a sales glut is may undercut prices. Growth in 2004 is expected to be in the 20 percent range, he said.

"The pace of growth will definitely slow for memory chips, mainly due to increased supply," said Hwang, without giving separate figures.

Samsung joins other leading chipmakers in forecasting slower growth next year. Intel Corp., the world's biggest semiconductor maker, and Texas Instruments Inc. both lowered their forecasts this month.

Morgan Stanley last week lowered its estimate for 2005 growth in semiconductor industry revenue to a range of 8 to 12 percent, from an earlier forecast of 13 to 18 percent.

To cope with slowing growth, Samsung plans to increase its focus on chips geared for mobile phones and other devices for handsets, rather than computers.

"In the absence of some killer application, there is not much hope for PC-related chip demand growth other than replacement demand, which in itself isn't that great," said Kim Ki-bong, chief investment officer at CJ Investment Trust Management Co. "Shifting toward chips for mobile products is inevitable."

Compiled from wire services

2004.09.21