Adblock Plus filter list for Korea

Problem:
You are tired of the disgusting magnified nose pore photos and flashing before-and-after surgery flash animations that completely cover the webpage when viewing news articles on Korean portals. You're a fan of Adblock Plus (Chrome and Firefox), but they don't list any available filter lists for Korea when you install.

Solution:
Add this custom filter list to your Adblock Plus subscriptions:

Source: https://code.google.com/p/adblock-korea/

Happy surfing.

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Cold Eyes

Dear Korean film industry,

Please stop trying to make artsy titles for your movies. Literal translations are fine. If it's good enough for Korea, it's good enough for us. "The Monitors" or "The Watchers" or even "The Observers" would be fine titles; interesting and also indicative of what sort of plot we can expect. Yes, even "Stake Out" would be better (if not best). 

Cold Eyes? I'm already not interested. It sounds like the unpleasant sensation I would feel if I were forced to watch this. 

Source: http://wftrok.com/2013/05/18/cold-eyes-for-a-hot-summer

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KakaoHome available for Android

Problem:
Your phone home screen is boring. You like the "chat heads" feature of Facebook Home, but otherwise don't like Facebook Home. Also, you live in Korea and everyone uses KakaoTalk anyway (annoyingly)

Solution:
Install "Kakao Home" on your ICS or higher phone. Though I have no idea why you'd want to.


KakaoHome - on Google Play

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Bike Rental in Yeosu

Near the site of the Yeosu Expo, there is a bicycle rental place near the road to 오동도 island. It is about a 10 minute walk from Yeosu Expo Station if you are travelling via train. They rent normal single person bikes and tandem "couple" bikes at $6~$8/hour. Riding leisurely through the expo grounds, to the island, and around the waterfront on the opposite side of the tunnel is a fun way to pass an afternoon there.

Here's a photo, taken after closing time, so normally there will be bikes out in front:

Here's a Google Maps link to the location: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=34.74081,127.754061

Ride through this tunnel and pay a visit to the interesting Hamel Museum.

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Japanese commenters on the WSJ's "Korea Realtime"

Check out the comments from this article:

Comments (3 of 3)

3:17 pm March 1, 2013
Anonymous wrote: 
Eliminate the Korean thieves in Takeshima 

-

12:27 pm March 1, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Same thing seen in Samesung vs Apple or POSCO vs Nippon Steel. Koreans are known thieves.

-

11:09 am March 1, 2013
Bring out the hatchet wrote:
It’s time for M$ to use the ISD clause in the FTA to put the unruly Koreans into line.

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Top 5 Annoying Tech Issues in Korea

Because all of these REALLY annoy me, and small explanations for those who may not be aware, I present the Top 5 Annoying Tech Issues in Korea:

1. Active X in all its glorious forms.
   As SSL security methods are not used here, all online transactions must be handled through individual site plug-ins. Meaning once you proceed to check-out, you have to install 400 damn stupid little plug-ins, then repeat your order all over again. Grr. Until recently, this required the use of Windows and Internet Explorer, but nowadays plug-in frames are available for Mac, and Chrome/FF on Windows, but suck it Linux users. If only we'd voted for this guy.
2. Flash.
   The most important and necessary Korean websites that foreigners would find useful, aside from lacking English information, contain nearly all their Korean text in images or Flash animations/menus. Thus, one cannot simply pass the page through an online translator. Perhaps this made sense 15 years ago when browser text encodings were screwy, but there's really no excuse today. Apparently they haven't heard of Unicode/UTF.
3. No Right-click.
   Most Korean portal-hosted sites, particularly blogs and cafes, employ bizarre Javascripts that prevent or severely limit your ability to right-click on their sites. There are browser extensions to counteract this, but it is an unnecessarily annoying practice at the least. It reminds me of pens that are tied to the desk at the bank, except if there were infinite pens, all tied there. 
4. Android Market restrictions.
   I don't know about iPhone, but Korea places several restrictions on what can be accessed in the Market. Until recently, all Games were banned under the guise of being "unrated." Yet today, features of Google Maps such as Latitude, Check-ins (oddly still available in the G+ app), and Location History are blocked, citing "Privacy Concerns." The same applies to the Android app version of Google Earth. Other Google products (Music, Voice, etc) have at least semi-legitimate reason to be unavailable.
5. Porn Warn.
   Nearly all porn is blocked at the IP level, so changing your DNS is not enough. A VPN or proxy is required. As if Koreans weren't tech-savvy enough to figure this out. 

What do all of these have in common?
They are all meant to annoy you, while offering either no, or highly arguable, benefit.

End rant.

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Jailbreak iOS 4.2.1 on MC series iPod Touch (bought in Korea)

If, like me, you have an old iPod lying around and want to make use of it, read on:

I bought an iPod Touch (2G) (Model #MC086KH/A) in Korea a few years ago. After finally getting an Android phone, I didn't have much use for it anymore, and I nearly forgot about it in my desk. I recently rediscovered it, to find that it can only be updated to iOS 4.2.1. At less than iOS 4.3, there aren't many decent apps that can be used with it.

There is a custom firmware called whited00r, but it only works with the MB-series models of the 2G iPod Touch.
At least wanting to jailbreak it, I discovered that most modern jailbreak methods no longer support the older iOS versions. However, I had success using this method on Lifehacker.

So now, through a combination of Veency (on the iPod) and Android VNC Viewer on the android phone, I have the iPod permanently attached to a set of speakers above my refrigerator, and can control it from anywhere in the house (including MP3 playback and, most commonly, streaming radio). There's an excellent and simple tutorial for accomplishing this here.

Nice way to bring an old piece of tech back to life. Hope this helps others as well!

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