#1 Jpn mobile carrier Docomo now lead shareholder in #1 Korean carrier KT, mull common mobile future

After a largely unsuccessful foray into licensing its mobile internet technology i-Mode into Europe in the early 00s, and a number of minor deals with emerging market carriers, the leading Japanese mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo has upped its shareholding in the leading Korean carrier KT from 2.2% to 5% by switching its convertible bonds into common stock.

Now the largest shareholder of KT (after the Korean Pension Fund, Korea's largest govt-sponsored institutional investor), Docomo execs will join KT execs to form a new board/committee to oversee the adoption of a common mobile handset sourcing plan and common investment strategies into 3rd party carriers worldwide.

(for the original article in Japanese from the Nikkei, see here)

Cool x-disciplinary approach to replicating biological visual recognition systems using computer systems!

See the inspiring and witty video posted by the Rowland Institute at Harvard:
(from their recent paper A High-Throughput Approach To Discovering Good Forms of Biologically-Inspired Visual Representation, orig. RT smartplanet.com)