Korean emergency alert messages on your phone

If you bought a phone in Korea, now and then you'll receive Emergency Alert text messages from the Korean government. These arrive as alerts that make your phone vibrate or sound multiple times, presenting a message on-screen, which then gets saved as an SMS text message. I received one tonight: If you don't know any Korean at all, the above might make you panic. No, North Korea is not attacking. They're just precautionary warnings. For example,...

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RSS feed for Reddit searches

I'm a big fan of RSS and Reddit. I follow all my subreddits in Feedly, and it turns out that you can also follow Reddit search results via an RSS feed. All you need to do is add ".xml" to the Reddit search results URL, right after the word "search".For example, here's a Reddit search query for professional actor George Takei: http://www.reddit.com/search?q=george+takei&sort=new&t=allAnd here's the corresponding feed URL you can plug into your RSS reader:http://www.reddit.com/search.xml?q=george+takei&sort=new&t=allNote that you'll...

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Dragnet (1987) Korean subtitles - 드라그넷 한글자막

I'm a fan of most anything with Dan Aykroyd, so I decided to watch the 1987 film Dragnet with some Korean friends. But my usual source of subtitles only provided the Korean subtitles split apart two files (CD1 and CD2) which wouldn't work on my TV.So after some hassle, I was able to combine the files into one. I don't know how exactly to submit files to the site, nor do I suspect many people are looking for these. But, in case you are one of those amazing few weirdos looking for Dragnet 한글자막, you've found it.>>> Dragnet.smi...

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RSS feeds for Facebook Pages

Facebook Pages have RSS feeds available for all their wall content posted by the admin. The feed URL follows this form, where XXXXXXXXXX is the Facebook I.D. number for the page:http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=XXXXXXXXXXXXX&format=rss20Here is an example of a real Facebook Page RSS feed, this one for George Takei's wall:http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=205344452828349&format=rss20Finding the Facebook ID number of a page...

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How to fix the graphics drivers on a Dell Inspiron 1501 on Windows 8

I use an old Dell Inspiron 1501 that I recently upgraded to Windows 8. Although it's an old computer, most all the features of Windows 8 worked fairly well right after installation. I had had only one problem: the graphics drivers. This laptop has a ATI IGP Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics card, but the Windows 8 system was using a generic driver for the display, resulting in a low-resolution picture. This wasn't terrible for using the system, but when it came to video playback, VLC, GOM Player, nearly everything, would freeze up and be unable to play...

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How to know if Homeplus or E-mart is open today

If you want to know exactly when Homeplus or E-mart is going to be closed, a very simple Naver search will tell you precisely, and you really don't even need to know Korean to do it. Seriously, it is SUPER simple, and it's what all the Koreans I know do. Don't bother trying to count which Sunday it is today. Ain't nobody got time for that. Here's what you do, so simple a monkey could do it.On your phone go to the Naver homepage. You can do it...

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How to save people's KakaoTalk profile photos

To save friends' KakaoTalk profile pictures, you don't have to rely on taking screen-shots. There are actually several apps that can save the photo files to your phone's storage, and they all work basically the same way.What's the best app for this? My vote goes to ProfileAlbum.Yes, I blurred out my friends' beautiful facesThere are several apps that do this, but my favourite is "ProfileAlbum" because it is super simple, very minimal, and works...

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Kakao Story now available on the desktop

KakaoStory now has a desktop version via the web called, not surprisingly, KakaoStory Web (카카오스토리 웹). You can find it at http://story.kakao....

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Kakao Talk blog feed (RSS)

Kakao have their main Korean-language blog here, with an RSS link here. It has lots of information on the company and the technical side of Kakao services like KakaoTalk and KakaoStory.But if you want English-language information, which usually concentrates on new feature releases and promotions, their Facebook page is your best source of information. So, since they don't really have an active English-langauge blog, you can just subscribe to their...

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Set Naver as your browser's default search engine

To set your browser to use Naver as its default search engine (i.e. it will bring you to a Naver search results page when you type search terms in the URL link bar aka "omnibox"), simply add a custom search engine in your browser's settings using this string:http://search.naver.com/search.naver?where=nexearch&sm=osp_hty&ie={inputEncoding}&query=%sFor example, I've recently converted some of my friends over to using Chrome instead of IE, but they want as "Korean" an experience as possible. Thus, in Chrome:Menu -> Settings -> Search...

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"21st Century Family" (21세기가족) download link

I'm usually not a fan of K-drama, but for this I made an exception."21st Century Family" (Korean title: 21세기 가족) is basically a Korean version of ABC's "Modern Family" and pretty funny. It features that wild old guy with the nice (fake) hair from those health insurance ads as the Jay (wealthy, conservative, cranky grandpa figure) and enough real humor to keep you interested. Of course there's the hot stay-at-home mom (aka Claire) with the childish...

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The eeriness of the Sewol ferry's name (세월)

The ferry that recently sunk in Korea was named Sewol, or 세월 in Korean. I had not thought much about this until a Korean friend pointed out how creepy a name it is, given the circumstances.세월 literally means "time" but with a connotation of its movement; i.e. the passing of time. I've tried to come up with a good translation. Let's look at some examples from Naver and Google:From Naver:세월 (歲月)- Time세월이 가는지 오는지도 모르다 (무사태평하다) be unaware of the passing...

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Yellow ribbon to support Sewol ferry disaster families & victims

You may have noticed this image appearing as Koreans' KakaoTalk or Facebook profile pictures recently:This is a "Yellow Ribbon Campaign" (노란리본 or 노란리본 달기). The text says 하나의 작은 움직임이 큰 기적을 which means something like:One's smallest movements can make a huge wonder, or The smallest steps can have a huge impact, orIf we all do a little, we can do a lot, or The littlest things can make the biggest difference, etc.It's been adopted as a semi-official badge...

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Naver's English <> Korean Translator now available

Naver has released a Translation program that appears very similar to Google Translate. It operates, much as Naver Dictionary, as a mobile-friendly website at this link:http://m.translate.naver.comHere's what it looks like on my phone: Here it is in operation: You can see that it translates in the "card" style Google now uses. It can pronounce the words, has a "conversational" feature where the translation is displayed full-screen (again, much like...

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RSS feeds from Daum Cafes

It sometimes isn't obvious, but most Daum Cafes have RSS feeds available, which follow this format:Homepage:http://cafe.daum.net/CAFENAMERSS feed: http://cafe.daum.net/xml/rss/CAFEN...

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Google Maps Pokemon found in Korea

Today for April Fool's Day, Google Maps had a Pokemon challenge. As best I could find, there were two Pokemon to be found in Korea.The first, which I found at Gangnam District Office in Seoul (map link), was Raichu. In my excitement to capture him, I only took a screen cap after he'd been caught: The second was Luxray, which I found while zooming around Busan. He was chilling in a park next to a statue of 송상현 (map link). I tried this on...

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Configuring imhangul options on Linux

In a previous post I suggested using imhangul rather than ibus in Lubuntu 13.10 because of issues with the latest version of ibus. imhangul has been working well for me, except for one problem: by default, the combination of the shift key and the space bar ( shift+space ) toggles the language input. This was a real pain as I often unintentionally hold down the shift key after typing capital letters. As a result, each time I wrote "I " it would switch to Korean. Super annoying.Luckily, I finally came across a solution. Though imhangul seems not...

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Korean maps on Google Map Gallery

Over at Google's new Map Gallery there are a few interesting old printed maps of Korea aligned and laid-over Google's maps. Hopefully more will appear in time. Check them out here:https://maps.google.com/gallery/search?hl=en&q=ko...

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RSS feeds for Waygook boards/threads

I sometimes browse Waygook.org to see what all the foreigners in Korea are complaining about now. Recently I discovered that you can actually get RSS feeds for most Waygook sections, which makes browsing much easier. I scroll through in my RSS reader on the subway, find something that looks interesting, then save it so that when I get home I can open my computer, log-in to Waygook, and leave disparaging comments. Then I log-in with my other account and troll my first account. Then I sit back and watch the feeding frenzy as everyone takes sides....

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Typing in Korean on Lubuntu 13.10

I recently updated my Lubuntu netbook to version 13.10 and was appalled to discover that iBus is now a mess. If you check the forums, you'll see loads of horror stories about this new version of iBus and how many Asian script users (Japanese, Chinese, Korean...) are having difficulty making it work. Most are switching to alternate input methods. For me personally, I got iBus working for Hangul typing, but I had to keep manually switching between English/Korean by clicking with the mouse on the keyboard input icon in the toolbar ("panel" I should...

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Default Wi-fi Passwords in Korea

A Korean friend sent me this list of default Wi-fi passwords. 와이파이 비밀번호 모음KT_Wlan - 1234567890헬로우 디 (HellowD) - 534f4b4354맥도날드 (McDonalds) - 16005252 or that branch's delivery phone number세븐일레븐 (7 Eleven)- 2127393302SK - a123456789일반 Egg - Password파리 크라상 (Paris Croissant)- vkflzmfktkd부영컴 - 15444352myLGnet, myLG070 - 123456789a , 987654321a ,1234567890 , myLGNetfe07KT SSID , KT_WLAN - 1234567890 , 123456789a , 1234567890cKT QOOK AP - 1234567890SO070VOIP - 534f4b4354Tbroadnet - 123456789 또는 a123456789     ...

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Adjusting scrollbar width on Lubuntu

I recently updated my Lubuntu and noticed that the scrollbars are now nearly too thin to see. On a netbook, it's almost impossible. Fortunately, it's easy to fix.Run this command in a terminal:sudo leafpad /usr/share/themes/Lubuntu-default/gtk-2.0/scrollbar.rcEdit this line in the resulting document that pops up:GtkRange::slider-width = 20(replace "20" with your choice. 20 is a bit thick but that's how I like it. That's what she said)Logout and Log-in again. Done.Source: http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31638#p48...

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Find the Korean names of foreign / English / American movies

PROBLEM: You are chatting with your Korean coworkers at the bar after work. Everyone is going around the table talking about their favorite movie. It comes to your turn. You confidently say "Ernest Goes to Camp" but they have no idea what you're talking about. What was this called in Korean? Nowadays "western" movies tend to carry their titles directly over into hangul. Thus, Robocop is 로보캅, not 로봇 경찰관. But others have had their titles translated...

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Watch current Korean movies with English subtitles at the cinema

PROBLEM:You're living in Korea, and want to experience the culture by going to the cinema (or theater for you culture-less drones) and watching Korean movies. But of course, you don't speak Korean, and the theater (yes, theater, f*ck you for judging me) websites are a filthy mess of flashing navigation even if you could read Korean. But you know movies are showing with English subtitles along the bottom.How is the lonely expat to know where to watch these films?SOLUTIONS:Frequently check the KOBIZ website (http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/schedule/subtitMovie.jsp)....

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Rooting your Android phone in Korea with Tegrak Kernel

PROBLEM:You bought an awesome Samsung phone in Korea, and want to root it. But because it's the "Korean" version and not a US or International version, it's a pain in the butt. Custom ROMs like CyanogenMod don't seem to work. Fret not: here's the easiest way to do it.SOLUTION:In two words: Tegrak Kernel.Disclaimer: Everything here is my personal opinion. I'm neither an Android developer nor paid endorser. I am just a guy who spent a hellofalotof...

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Open Hangul (.hwp) files in Microsoft Word or HWP Viewer

Let's say a Korean co-worker sent you an .hwp file, but you don't have Hangul Word Processor on your computer. You can choose one of these methods to open it:1.  Stand-alone HWP Viewer application Windows The 2014 version of Hangul Office seems to no longer offer a stand-alone viewer. However, for now, viewers for previous versions seem to be working well. While no longer officially available (I can't find them on the Hancom website, at least), several other sources have them for downloading such as [here], [here] or [here]. You could...

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Automatically post you Blogger, Blogspot posts to Twitter, no 3rd party app needed

PROBLEM:You have an absolutely amazing blog, but no one uses RSS anymore. Google will automatically share your Blogger posts to Google+ but come on, who actually uses that? You could have your Blogger posts sent to Twitter using IFTTT, but why bother? SOLUTION:Ok, well it's sort of a 3rd-party app. The sort answer is: Feedburner.If you enabled "Subscribe via Email" then your blog's feed is already burned.Login to Feedburner -> click blog's title -> "Publicize" -> "Socialize"Here you can connect your Twitter account. Voilà!More here: h...

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Fixing encoding problems with Korean subtitles

So, you've managed to get a legal, paid-for copy of your favorite film, and want to share the moment with your Korean-speaking friend. You dim the lights, turn up the speakers, and hit play, only to have the mood ruined by this:Ah yes, the random characters that ruin any 미드 (= 미국 드라마 = American dramas) viewing. Your face now looks like Hotch here. What can you do about this?I can recommend basically two choices:Use GOM Player. Seriously. I know you...

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Korean subtitles for English movies/TV

Let's say you want to show your favorite English-language movie or TV show to your Korean girlfriend as a prelude to hot sex friends, but her their English is not very good. So, you want to show it with Korean subtitles. But where can you get them?You basically have two options: (1) GOMPlayer or (2) manually download them yourself.1. GOMPlayerGOMPlayer is by far the most popular desktop video playing software among Koreans. I'll be honest: I've never gotten GOMPlayer to work properly when it comes to its feature of automatically downloading Korean...

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Korea Times' mobile site for faster reading, less ads

Although you hate yourself for it, deep down you know you prefer the absurd, poorly-edited, barely-news "journalism" of The Korea Times to its serious and seriously bland sibling The Korean Herald. But you hate all those damn flashing ads and don't give a poo-poo about the side-by-side Korean translation. There's just got to be an easier way to get your fix of hard-hitting articles like this.There is! Just bookmark the KT's mobile site and browse there instead. Way less ads, no Korean translations, full-size photos, no stupid comments section....

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What men think about

The title of this book reads: "What men think about, other than sex."Source: https://twitter.com/ma6bong/status/3896328702028840...

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Massive loads

Best news article line I've read in ages (emphasis mine):Four artificial insemination plants are set to start pumping out massive loads of pig semen next ye...

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Seoul Players RSS feed

If, like me, you love:RSS readersThe Seoul PlayersYou'll want to subscribe to their RSS feed. It's not featured promenantly on their website, but you can find it here: http://www.seoulplayers.com/feedUPDATE 1: the website is updated infrequently, and this is reflected in their RSS feed. For more up-to-date news, subscribe to their Facebook page RSS feed, which you can find here:https://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?format=atom10&id=168275539886268Here also is their Twitter feed, if you're into that sort of nonsense:http://www.twitter.com/SeoulPlayersUPDATE...

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korean trolling: shutdown

Let it never be said that Koreans don't understand that trolling is a art.This is a cute comic illustrating how one would make an icon on the desktop that apparently launches Internet Explorer, but actually makes the computer shut down. Nice troll. Also illustrates the sad fact that so many Koreans use IE... Source: https://twitter.com/Dajal01/status/3124020426038517...

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Monthly doses of K-boob exposure

Here's a tip: bookmark this search to keep "abreast" of the past month's Korean indecent exposure pics! This link will pull up all the slow-motion animated near-nipple titty shots that lonely netizens have pieced together from the past month's TV viewing. Give it a click, then don't forget to do so once-a-month. Better still, set up a Google Alert for it so you don't miss any near misses. Note that you can also customize the URL if, like me, a month is too long to wait and you need a daily dose (or, a girlfriend).https://www.google.com/search?...

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VICE "Motherboard" says Baidu top in Korea?

On principle, I don't support tourist travel to North Korea, when its a useless quirky luxury that does nothing to help the impoverished people there and only lines the pockets of a corrupt regime. Nonetheless, the videos shot by VICE while there was fascinating, even if their condescending neo-colonialist attitudes were not. Seriously guys, if you're going to play along with that whole facade, then don't act like you're above their whole game. When you're there, financing that corrupt system; you're not whistleblowers, you're their temporary pawns;...

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RSS feeds from specific Wordpress / Blogspot searches

PROBLEM: You love RSS and use a reader like Feedly to keep up with your favorite blogs. But, you only want to see posts with a specific label (Blogspot) or posts from a specific search (Wordpress).SOLUTION:It turns out, you can subscribe to specific RSS feeds just for the posts with those particular labels or from those search results.For results from a Wordpress blog search, subscribe to this sort of RSS url:http://blog-or-site-name.com/?s=SEARCHTERM&feed=rss2For results from a specific Blogspot label, subscribe to this sort of RSS url:http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelnameCheck...

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