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Korea News Foundation supporting three tech start-ups

Published: 15 Dec. 2022, 18:00 Updated: 15 Dec. 2022, 19:08

A text-to-video software developed by WayneHills Bryant. [WAYNEHILLS BRYANT]

The Korea News Foundation has been supporting start-ups, such as WayneHills Bryant, which specializes in text-to-video software, SoulX, an XR technology startup that delivers weather news virtually, and CGInside, which offers a platform that monitors the process of legislations being passed.

WayneHills Bryant develops a text-to-video (TTV) software that converts text data in to digital video content. If a user inputs words into the software, suitable images for each phrase or word are created and background music and subtitles are automatically added.

“Until now, several people had to work hours and hours to make a high-quality video but with TTV software no video engineer or handling difficult programs is needed,” said WayneHills Bryant CEO Lee Soo-min.

The reason why Lee decided to develop a software to visualize text is because the video content market is growing rapidly.

“It takes a week to read a 400-page piece of writing, but through a video you can understand the content in five minutes,” said Lee. “You can understand complicated reports easily if the information is delivered through video. This aspect of video content will make the market for video larger and it will continue to grow.”

WayneHills Bryant received the Innovation Award at CES, the world’s largest tech event, and is attracting enough attention to be working with Microsoft. The company plans to develop a program that converts audio into video as well.

Another startup that makes use of new technology to deliver news and information more effectively is SoulX, a company that focuses on weather news. SoulX has developed “Ondo” – Korean for “temperature” – that uses XR, a combination of augmented reality, mixed reality and virtual reality (VR), to interactively deliver weather information.

Screen of "Ondo" developed by SoulX, which uses XR technology to deliver weather information. [SOULX]

Fine dust levels and ozone levels are difficult for the general public to interpret, but they can be effectively conveyed by using 3D technology and XR. Ondo gives users a visual imaging of how much fine dust will obstruct your vision and how much rain will affect your commute to work.

In addition to weather news, SoulX is developing a metaverse platform that video creators can utilize. The purpose is to help 3D artists and creators to create high-quality videos through VR technology.

“The goal is to create a culture where anyone can easily develop scalable video content,” said SoulX CEO Hwang Yeong-taeck. “We aim to create a platform capable of ultra-realistic communication in the virtual space and an online community that can be used universally.”

iHopper, a tool to monitor legislation processes, developed by CGInside. [CGINSIDE]

CGInside has created iHopper, which analyzes news to monitor whether legislation gets passed. iHopper collects data on how much news is generated about a bill, whether public response to the news is negative or positive, and analyzes the probability of the bill being passed by the National Assembly.

CGInside also offers a curating service that lets users categorize content according to specific issues, news and legislation. Through this, CGInside aims to let everyone from individuals, small businesses and large companies to assess risk factors.

BY JEONG SAE-HEE [[email protected]]