Upgrade Me Page #4

Sometimes having...old phone here, it's kind of very strange.

ELECTRONIC PIANO PLAYS

On the 11th floor live Samsung's ring-tone team.

It might not be Mozart, but these little ditties

are the Pavlovian noises that send us scurrying to our phones.

HIP-HOP BEA

As if our devices speak to us using a language we all understand -

music.

BEEPING TUNE PLAYS

Across Seoul, I was then shown a vision of what Samsung think our domestic lives might become.

- Hello. - Hello,

nice to meet you. - Hi.

This is Future House.

We're joined here by Microsoft and Samsung Engineering And Construction to exhibit the house of the future.

So today I will be the owner of this house that I would like to introduce to you.

Please to be seated on the couch.

This is the living room and this cellphone is a key that's used to control my house,

and I can show you very briefly now.

And even I can check that where is my family inside this living room.

PHONE BLEEPS:

When I'm wondering about the location of my little boy,

I can click the little boy pictures.

And this is a kind of GPS system so in the future every family member

have a chip.

Do you like this system?

Yeah the system's great.

- Thank you very much.

- So every member of the family has a chip?

- Yes.

- On them? In them?

Ah yes, both of them is possible

and I think in the future every family member have

chip-like bracelet, or necklace or cellphone is possible.

OK.

'I can understand the thinking here,

'but I'm not convinced this surveillance future is one I want to live in

'or find these huge multi-media gizmos in my living room.'

- Is this the bathroom?

- Yes.

'But what about the bathroom of the future?

'A bathroom's a bathroom, right?'

This is a biotron,

and actually you can check your health condition with this little check machine.

- So would you like to try it?

- Yeah.

Yes, come over here and put your hand on the machine.

Put your both hands on.

Now start your health condition.

- MACHINE SPEAKS:

- 'Checking your health condition.'

And you can see the diagnosis via a magic mirror.

'Health check is done'.

Now it's done, Simon.

- How was I?

- You will see the result via magic mirror.

- Oh, Simon, congratulations you have great condition.

- My body is my temple.

- It's a good diet.

- Yes. And also they are recommending a programme for you Simon.

What did it check? Did it check my pulse, my heart rate?

Yes, in the future you can check health condition in this house and without going to hospital.

- Have you ever exercised in yoga?

- No, do I have to do that now?

So just remember you can exercise very easily. Very good.

'Straighten yourself, with your palms on your waist'.

This is called the house of the future.

How far into the future will it be before we've got all these gadgets?

- Actually now it's not available but we try to

actualise in about ten years. - Ten years? - Yes.

- Can you do that?

- I think so.

# Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars

# Let me know what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars... #

'Sitting in the bedroom of the future,

'you realise that the future is - how shall we put it? -

'A question of personal taste.

'And that certain visions of the future can even seem,

'well, old fashioned.'

'I'm struck by a comment from Elliot, the mobile phone designer, about how Koreans are a nation of up-graders.'

'And the country is a test-bed for Samsung's new products.

'In Seoul everywhere you go you see people with the latest gadgets.

'It's hyper real and hyper active.

'They've got Wi-Fi and digital TV reception across Korea

'even on the underground.

'You could be standing inches away from somebody

'totally absorbed in what they're doing - watching telly, listening to music.

'But for some reason in this country, it doesn't appear rude. It just seems to be the norm.'

'It's odd to witness so many people in their own private universes.

'Are they stimulated, or insulated against the world?

'Even in public places, you sometimes get the feeling that you're on your own.'

'Koreans love their video games.

'Throughout the country you'll find PC-Bhangs,

'places where young men are engrossed in game-playing for hours on end.

'It seems alien to me.

'The last video game I played was Space Invaders in a pub in 1985.'

'Gaming's so much part of the culture here they have professional leagues

'and games are even screened on TV!

'How did Korea became this advanced digital society?

'I met up with Korean culture writer Bernard Cho.'

What is it about Korea? Is there something in the psyche

that naturally leads to gadgets and electronic devices?

Well, I think if you look at modern Korean history, Korea has developed so quickly, economically,

politically, and more importantly from a technology standpoint.

Towards the late 90s the Korean Government invested heavily into the internet, into technology,

and you saw a huge take off in terms of Korean brands developing

instead of imitative, very innovative products

you saw the whole Korean online digital society really take off, so if a new trend's gonna break

with an advanced wired and wireless society as Korea,

I mean, it's gonna spread instantly.

'Samsung have come to epitomise the development of Korea.

'Once seen as followers of Japan and the West,

'they're now one of the trendsetters. They've taken their products upmarket

'and the company's reputation appears to be source of national pride here.

'But when it's minus seven in the middle of Seoul's busiest street,

'it's a bit of a reality check.'

'And even the finest virtual reality gadget in the world can't stop it feeling unbelievably cold.'

I'm on way to Suwon, about 25 miles outside Seoul.

I'm going to Samsung's Research and Development headquarters.

'I'm curious about how Samsung have achieved their success.

'This kind of global triumph doesn't happen by accident, so what's the secret?

'At the Suwon research complex,

'26,000 scientists and company executives are developing tomorrow's technologies.

'Through R&D, last year Samsung were one of the largest holders

'of new technology patents registered in the US.

'At Suwon, they also house the whole history of the company and generations of its upgrades.'

- When were you originally based here? The sixties?

- Yeah, sixties. It's a long time ago.

Is there one innovation above all others that's led to this technological revolution?

Yes, and I believe one of the most important and a key

component to success is our chip business.

Samsung is one of the most advanced technology company

in developing and commercialise the semi-conductor chips.

That technology is really a core and the centre of

all the development and commercial gadgets.

You could say that the semi-conducted chip is at the heart of the revolution

- and is almost like the beating heart of the device as well?

- I believe so.

Because without that chip, technologies, we couldn't develop

in a very fancy and a very high technologies, gadgets like LCD TV and cell phones.

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