During the months long attack the hackers were able to steal and sell personal details belonging to 8.7 million KT Telecom customers. KT Telecom is South Korea’s second largest wireless carrier with an estimated 16 million subscribers. The carrier has issued an apology to its customers and says that among the information stolen was customer names, resident registration numbers, and phone numbers.

The data was stolen between February and July of 2012. KT Telecom admitted the hack had occurred after Korean law enforcement arrested a pair of hackers that reportedly made over $880,000 from selling the extracted information to telemarketing firms. Korean law enforcement officials made seven other arrests in relation to the purchase of the stolen data.

There is no indication at this point that the data the hackers stole was used for anything other than telemarketing purposes. Law-enforcement officials in Korea were contacted by KT on July 13, 2012 after the carrier found evidence that suggested information had leaked about its customers. KT and law enforcement waited until arrests were made before announcing the hack.

[via TheNextWeb]

There’s also 16GB of internal storage – with a microSD card slot to add to that – along with a 1.3-megapixel front camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and HSPA for international roaming. SRS WOW HD audio (and a bundled pair of Sennheiser earphones, instead of the shonky set you usually get) takes care of sound, while there’s an interesting split-screen display layout which can be used to show, say, live TV on one half of the screen and your Twitter feed on the other.

OS is Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, with USIM payment support, and the whole thing measures in at 128.5 x 65 x 9.8mm and weighs 131g. It’s priced at the equivalent of $740 and available in black, white, or two-tone black & white.

Made by iriver, the Kibot hardware is cutesy and eye-catching. A simple hoop design, this is no Sony AIBO: it can basically turn its head and flash lights in its cheeks, eyes, ears and elsewhere, while movement is a slow, child-friendly crawl. The oddly tonsured top is in fact a button: tapping it brings the ‘bot to life, as well as making it talk to you (in Korean, naturally; phrases supposedly include “that feels good” rather than “prepare to bow to your silicon simian overlords”) A 1.3-megapixel webcam sits above a 3.5-inch touchscreen, while an NFC reader is hidden in the nose.

That NFC chip uses specially-tagged books and cards to load different features and trigger differen functionality. Hold up a story book to Kibot, for instance, and it pulls up an animated read-through shown on-screen and played through the robot’s speakers. Cards showing parents’ faces initiate video calls with their cellphones.

Alternatively, parents can remotely access Kibot and control its movements using their cellphone, watching streaming video of what’s happening around the plastic monkey. KT Telecom is offering various apps, content and games for download, with new content added each month.

Kibot is priced at 480,000 KRW ($450) with a 7,000 KRW ($6.52) monthly service fee; alternatively KT Telecom offer the robot on a subsidized plan. No word on whether it might be coming to the US or Europe, unfortunately.

What you don’t get is the Venue Pro’s slide-out QWERTY keyboard, with the Dell Venue instead relying solely on its touchscreen for text-entry. An FCC filing for the Dell Venue was spotted back in late October, complete with GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA support, though the full specifications of the handset aren’t yet known.

In Korea, the Venue will be priced at around 700,000 won ($608). No word on a US or European launch, but we’re guessing it won’t be long before Dell brings the Venue to closer shores.

There’s also WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, an SD card slot and two USB ports; since this is basically a full netbook in tablet clothes, you can plug in a USB keyboard, mouse or any other peripheral. The whole thing weighs 850g with the standard, removable 4-cell battery, and measures 278.5 x 180.5 x 14.5 mm.

Options include Windows 7 Professional and a docking-station stand (as shown in the gallery below). Frankly, we’re not too impressed by the specifications, and can’t imagine battery life being particularly impressive either. The LG E-Note H1000B is priced at 961,000 won ($847) from Korean carrier KT, complete with the WiMAX modem.

[via NetbookNews]

Speaking to the Yonhap News Agency, a spokesman for KT Corp., the local distributor for Apple’s iPhone, said that they hope to be selling the iPad by the end of November, but was unable to provide a specific date as to when customers could expect to see the tablet device launch. As of now, it looks like Apple is just going through the process to get the iPad approved for the regional launch, and if the spokesman for KT Corp. is accurate, then it looks like that’s the method that the iPad would make its debut.

As for Samsung, who are aiming to launch their own tablet device, the Galaxy Tab, in South Korea by the end of the year, it looks like their decision to use SK Telecom may pay off. SK Telecom is the direct competitor to KT Corp., and having the iPad available on one network, while the Tab is available on the other should do well to boost tablet sales in the region, as well as continue to fuel an on going mobile platform battle.

[via Yahoo! News]

KT apparently plans to use the investment to roll out WiBro into five new cities - Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon and Ulsan – with service there expected to kick off tomorrow.  According to the carrier, by using the 10MHz channel they’ll instantly boost quality of service by 1.5-2x.

A range of WiMAX-enabled notebooks and netbooks from Samsung, LG and Acer are also dropping into the country, and follow Gateway’s WiMAX notebook for the US which was announced yesterday.  No word on if the same machines will see a US launch, or indeed whether CLEAR in the US will now ink a roaming deal with KT.

KT is yet to confirm how many preorders it took for the iPhone 4, but according to the carrier’s Twitter account anybody who did pre-register should have been able to grab their phone yesterday.  That would certainly seem to imply that stocks were sufficient for demand, unlike in earlier launch territories where the iPhone 4 was in hot demand.  Sales through Apple’s own online US store still show a 3-4 week delay for the fourth-generation smartphone.

Unlike, say, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Korea Telecom’s slate uses an LCD TFT panel.  There’s also an ambient light sensor, SD card slot, accelerometer and multitouch support.  KT are positioning it as a web-surfing device with a sideline in ebook reading, media playback and social networking.

The KT Identity Tab will go on sale from today in Korea, priced at 300,000 won ($251) contract-free or free with a 24-month WiBro agreement (priced at 27,000 won ($23) per month).

[via Akihabara]

WiBro is the high-speed WiMAX equivalent already rolled out in South Korea, and just as a WiMAX iPad would offer much faster browsing speeds than the existing iPad WiFi + 3G, so would the WiBro model.  According to the leaks, KT are looking to secure all three models, offering their subscribers the basic WiFi-only iPad, the iPad WiFi + 3G and a new, country-exclusive iPad WiFi + WiBro.

Of course, there’s no official confirmation from either KT or Apple themselves, and so this has to get filed into the “vague rumor” category for the moment.

[via Unwired View]

The insiders have suggested that the iPhone 4G will have both a dual-core processor and an improved graphics chip.  No specifics were mentioned, but it’s been speculated that a new ARM Cortex A9 CPU might be responsible for the speed boost.

Meanwhile a removable battery is also tipped as “highly likely”, answering a common complaint about the last three iPhone models (the original, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS) that it was tricky extracting enough power to last through a full day.  Video-chat likely means the inclusion of a front-facing camera for video calling, and a higher-performance main camera is also expected.

As for the release date, while a general launch window of June 2010 is expected, KT are apparently in line to trial the fourth-gen iPhone with their corporate clients as a “litmus test”, potentially as early on as April 2010.  That, according to an unnamed KT executive, is because the carrier and Apple have reached “a broad consensus to introduce the advanced models as early as possible”.

[via Apple Insider]

The Egg uses a WiBro connection over Wi-Fi networks to create “hotspots.” WiBro is very similar to WiMAX. The Egg can make for download speeds as fast as 37Mbps and is intended for use with the iPod touch. Yes, this means you would be able to get 4G on your iPod touch.

Other wireless devices can make use of it as well, but it is expected the Egg will be sold at Apple stores. You can get it in Korea now for the equivalent of $164, however if you enroll in KT’s 50GB data plan, you can get the Egg for free.

[via iPodNN]

Check out the video demo of the iRiver WAVE HOME after the cut

Like the Verizon Hub, the WAVE HOME allows users to access the internet, family calendars, streaming news and music and more.  However there’s also online banking, handwritten or audio notes, and wireless transfer of memos to cellphones.

The KT Telecom iRiver WAVE HOME is available for 297,000 Korean Won ($213).  According to the initial reports, Samsung and LG are developing a second-generation model for KT Telecom; no word on when that might be announced, however.

[via Akihabara]