Have you ever wondered what the first Korean-made car was?

The Hyundai Pony was the first Korean-developed car in the world, built in 1975. Being also the first car to be exported out of Korea (to Ecuador in 1976), the Pony helped South Korea become the fifth largest producer and sixth largest exported of automobiles in the world.

The Hyundai Pony in the photo above is a second generation 2 door pick-up model built around 1980. It’s been modified to be used as a nicknack store on wheels. I took the photo above in the Gangnam district of Seoul.

When I was riding the elevator, I couldn’t really feel how fast it is. It accelerates and slows its acceleration on the way up and on the way down (maybe to prevent people from jumping in the elevators and hitting the ceiling). But, after you step out of the elevator to a view of the city half a minute after entering the elevator, you realize how fast it was.

The video above is the dampening system in Taipei 101. It’s the largest of it’s kind. It’s some sort of suspension for the top portion of the building to prevent damage from strong winds. The system reduces swaying of the building by 40%, as mentioned in the video. There’s two more of these devices above the observation decks.

Korea has the fastest internet speed in the world!

Eunmi told me she downloaded an entire show in just a few seconds. She says that you can download 1 gigabyte movies in just 10 minutes in Korea. I told her that can’t be right.

She looked around and found an article that shows South Korea ranking 1st in internet connection speeds.  It turns out that South Korea has the world’s fastest internet, with average connection speeds of 11 Mbps. That’s the average.

I tested the speed of the internet connection at my place in Seoul, and my download speed was 45 Mbps. Thats ten times faster than a cable connection in America. A study states that Korea has the fastest connections, with the US placing 18th in the world.

That means that I can download a gigabyte in less than 3 minutes. Insane.

With integration of wireless technologies such as the WiMax egg, watching streaming HD movies wirelessly anywhere in Seoul has become a reality. Just imagine what will happen when WIFI is available via iPhone when it finally arrives this fall.

Look below, that is a screenshot of an internet speed test from speedtest.net on Eunmi’s laptop at my place.

A company called Interbro (branded as Yota in Korea) has produced a product called an “egg” that works seamlessly with the KTF WiBro network. It essentially turns your WiMAX connection from your Korean mobile carrier into a WIFI hotspot. You can get speeds up to 4 megabits per second (incredible!), even in the subway in Seoul.  KT offers 30 gigabytes of data transfer per month for $20.

This means you can actually use your iPod Touch or any generation iPhone from Apple with a WiMax service here in Korea. Its still not the same iPhone 100%, but this allows you to take advantage of the many features of the iPhone.  If you have an iPod Touch, you’re basically putting it on steroids with a high speed connection. Simply download the Skype App for your iPhone and pay for a WiMAX account and you could actually eliminate your mobile phone bill in Korea. Pretty amazing.

I wonder if this WiMAX Egg is the “iPhone” in Korea they’ve been talking about. We’ll see.

The diagram below explains how it works.

I love my iPhone. It is the best phone/handheld device that I have ever owned. I still have the 1st generation iPhone, but with constant software updates from Apple and 50,000 applications available from iPhone app developers, there’s always something new and interesting to do with it. The new iPhone 3Gs looks even more incredible. I have particular interest in the new phone’s “touch focus” camera and at last, a camera with video capability. To have a phone, high quality internet browsing, iPod, great low-end camera, and a video camera all in one device would be incredible (I currently have to carry my Korean phone, iPhone, AND my camera just about everywhere I go).

This is why one of my first tasks upon arriving in Korea was to get my iPhone working. I walked into every cell phone store I could find and simply said “SIM card” while pointing at my iPhone. Each representative would respond by crossing their arms and repeatedly saying “no, no, no.”

Finally, after visiting several stores with bilingual friends, I realized I was beating a dead horse.

There seems to be many theories on why the iPhone does not exist in Korea, but I think I have finally gotten to the bottom of this. You cannot have an iPhone in Korea for one main reason – Korean cellular phones are required to use what they call WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability). This has prevented any global competition from interfering with the big domestic hand-phone business in Korea.

For now, I have to deal with carrying 3 devices in my pocket. But, of all three devices, my iPhone is still my favorite. With WIFI everywhere in Korea, I am at times able to get on a network and browse the internet, check my email, or even make calls on my Skype internet phone on my iPhone despite not having cell phone capabilities.

However, there seems to be a glimmer of hope. This past April, the WIPI requirement has been lifted, allowing for other wireless platforms to compete. Apple has received approval from the Korean Communications Commission (KCC) to sell the iPhone 3G in Korea.  It is speculated that both SK Telecom and Korea Telecom (KT) are in talks to with Apple to release the iPhone under their networks. Then again, I have read from numerous sources that the iPhone was supposed to come to Korea last summer, then this past winter, then this past spring. At this point, we can only hope.