PyeongChang / Clickbait / Kookmin bank / AI Dog

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1-1) Booking rate still below 30 percent (Koreaherald)

The PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games are just a few weeks away, but the booking rate for accommodations in Gangwon Province remains below 30 percent despite the government’s effort to crack down on price gouging. As of last week, 16,744 individual rooms have been booked ahead of the games out of 67,879 rooms at 4,797 accommodations, according to the PyeongChang Organizing Committee. 

While rooms in brand hotels and resorts are already booked by the committee, the owners of some local lodgings still refuse to take reservations from individual travelers, with the average rate for accommodations remaining over 250,000 won ($235) per night, four times more than normal prices. The rate once spiked up to 800,000 won before the Ministry of the Interior and Safety started running an intensive pricing clampdown last month. 

“The current booking rate is lower than expected but we expect that the rate for accommodations will increase as the start of the Olympics nears. We also run the Olympics Information Call Center (1330, without area code) that provides four different languages to assist tourists in finding lodging,” an official from the committee told The Korea Herald. As part of efforts to attract more foreign tourists, Gangwon Province Gov. Choi Moon-soon vowed to stabilize the prices of accommodations, which face criticism here for ripping off tourists. 

In addition, the government will crack down on lodgings that cancel reservations to take larger groups of athletes, or fail to meet hygiene standards during the international event. Meanwhile, the Olympics call center accepts complaints from foreigners in English and other languages. It was set up last November to boost ticket sales for the games, the committee said.  Around 64 percent of the planned 1.07 million tickets have been sold as of last week, according to the committee. The Winter Games are scheduled to be held from Feb. 9 to 25, hosting 102 events across 15 different sports at 13 venues in Gangwon Province.

Q1) What is your favorite sport? 

Q2) What do you think about the behavior of the lodgings in Pyeongchang?

Q3) Do you think Pyeongchang Olympic will be a success or a failure in terms of global popularity?

1-2) YouTube is punishing one of its most popular creators, Logan Paul, after he posted footage of a dead body to his channel. (CNN)

Paul -- whose channels have a combined 20 million followers -- will also be booted off "Foursome," a web series in which he appeared previously. That show airs on YouTube Red, the site's premium subscription service. The company also said a YouTube original movie he was slated to appear in, "The Thinning: New World Order," has been put "on hold." At the heart of a scandal is a video Paul posted more than a week ago that showed a corpse hanging from a tree in Japan's Aokigahara forest, also known as "suicide forest."

The video was widely seen, and many users were outraged. Paul took the video down and apologized, saying he "didn't do it for the views." "I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity...I intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention and while I thought 'if this video saves just ONE life, it'll be worth it,' I was misguided by shock and awe, as portrayed in the video. I still am," he said in a statement posted to Twitter.

YouTube also issued a statement last week. "Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video. YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner. If a video is graphic, it can only remain on the site when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information and in some cases it will be age-gated," the statement read. At the time, YouTube issued a "Community Guidelines strike" against Paul. Channels that receive three such strikes in a three-month period can be barred from the platform.

But the company faced further backlash for not taking stronger punitive action against Paul. YouTube hinted Tuesday that it planned to change that. "It's taken us a long time to respond, but we've been listening to everything you've been saying," the company said in a series of tweets. "We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we'll have more to share soon on steps we're taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again."

Q1) Do you know Youtube videos that received over 1 million clicks?

Q2) If you were a Youtuber who uploads your own videos regularly, what could be your theme? How could you increase view counts?

2-1) Bank under fire for giving oral contraceptive to new female employees (Koreaherald)

KB Kookmin Bank has come under fire for holding a grueling 100 kilometer march for its recruits and reportedly giving out oral contraceptive pills to its new female employees -- a large portion of which are under 30 -- during the training period. According to the news report from a local daily, the commercial bank gave the pills to the employees to control their menstrual cycles before they go on a 100-kilometer overnight march. The bank has traditionally carried out the marching event every year to boost the morale of the rookies, the report said.

The bank explained that it provided the pill for the health of female employees who are on their period, as they could feel relatively more exhausted than their male co-workers during the harsh schedule. The employees were not forced to take the pill, the bank added. The act, however, caused a public backlash after it was revealed on Monday. 

A Facebook post about the news soon garnered over 2,500 reactions and 300 comments, most of them criticizing the bank’s decision. A comment which read, “The female employees would have felt devastated and distressed (after going through the training session),” received 320 likes, while others blamed the inefficiency of the marching.

A tweet which said “Please stop the march (during the training session)” and linked to the news article, was retweeted nearly 700 times. There were also some comments from people taking the opposite view. “They didn’t force the employees to take the pill. Why is it a problem?” a Facebook user said. Another comment which read, “I think the bank was being considerate of the workers,” also got positive feedback from social media users.

Q1) What are the problems of the marching program? 

Q2) If you were one of those new employees, would you join the march voluntarily or not?

Q3) If you were the person in charge of public affairs at Kookmin bank, how would you defend the case?

2-2) Sony's robot dog has learned some new tricks (CNN)

Sony (SNE) has made a slew of upgrades to Aibo. Unlike previous models, it has OLED eyes, which make it look more realistic and display more nuanced expressions. Aibo is outfitted with new artificial intelligence capabilities, such as developing its own personality over time. It has facial recognition so it can detect different members of your family and can tell people apart from an object like a bone. If someone in your house pets Aibo the most, it will interact with them the most.

The main camera is located in the nose and it has touch sensors on the top of its head, chin and back. Sony also says its movements are more dog-like and realistic -- for example, its head shakes. It can do fun tricks like find a ball or bone, lay down or give a high-five. For now, Aibo understands English and Japanese, but more languages are coming soon. Sony says Aibo's main purpose right now is to be a companion robot. However, since it has an accompanying app, it could eventually be a competitor to smart speaker devices like Amazon's (AMZN) Echo and Google's (GOOGL) Home.

The electronics company launched the first generation of Aibo -- short for artificial intelligence robot -- in 1999. It hoped the dog would charm consumers and get them excited about using artificial intelligence. At first, the robotic pup was very popular. All 3,000 available units sold out in 20 minutes online. Although the company unveiled two more Aibo generations, interest faded as cheaper robots entered the market. Sony eventually ended production of Aibo in 2006. But now, it's making a comeback. And more robotic dogs are reportedly in Sony's future, too.

Q1) Let's assume that Aibo's intelligence is as high as live dogs. What could be good and bad things of live dogs compared to Aibo? 

Q2) Current price of Aibo is U$ 1,700. Do you feel that it is too high or appropriate?

Q3) If Sony enables Aibo to fly like a bird with the same price tag U$ 1,700, would you buy it for your kids?

Q4) Which animals do you like or want to raise?