Samsung: It's Now Apropos to Download PyeongChang 2018 Mobile App

Fresh from the PyeongChang 2018 home page, Samsung is encouraging free downloads of the Games' new mobile app.

Interpreting the Korean/English promotion, I gather this new app -- which took about 10 minutes to upload to my Galaxy 3 purchased after a slick demo during Sochi 2014 -- is free now through January 31.

It's unclear whether the app will then be available for a buck, er, won or two during February (make that 1,000 or 2,000 won).

Upon launching the app, I found it easy to navigate and fairly basic, likely to become expansive and delightful in ease-of-use during Games time when daily activities, venue updates, results and transportation items are all the buzz of many an Android and iPhone.

Very handy: weather updates on the home screen (in Celsius -- it's minus 12 in Korea as I write this post). A finger click on the weather plus sign (+) expands the to a venue-by-venue page and list including temps and icons indicating snow, sun or other current conditions across the Olympic region.

The home screen also dons Omega's Olympic Games Countdown clock followed by sections for news and a series of boxes in Korean that I suspect may become the advertising/promotional nod.

The list icon at the top left of the home page expands to two core sections for Games and Spectators, with schedules, sports, venues, cheering/fan, official partner/sponsor and links.

In these app sections, I simply LOVE the link to the 2018 Olympic Torch Relay in progress (great calendar, maps and photos).

Also LOVE the section for the Cultural Progamme. Did you know the Korean National Ballet will perform "Anna Karenina" at the Gangneung Art Center, for instance? And I just bought my ticket for the Jarasum International Jazz Festival on Valentine's Day, also in Gangneung, via the app. Music to my fingers.

Rounding out the Spectator section: Explore Korea, Tickets, Transportation, Accommodations and Store links to official merchandise.

The only thing silly I found about the app is the image created to promote it. Is the guy in the over-sized red sweatshirt supposed to be Korea's answer to illusionist David Seth Kotkin?

Samsung's 2018 Olympic app -- apropos for any Korea-bound traveler for next month!

Images via PyeongChang2018.org

London 2012 Organizers Unveil "Goldfinger" Olympic Torch

If James Bond's nemesis Auric Goldfinger survived being sucked out of his personal aircraft, he'd be smiling at the new Olympic torch unveiled last week by LOCOG.

The gold-toned metal torch is already getting nicknames, and I'm here to add an Ian Fleming/007 connection (in case 1948 Olympic silver medalist Harold Sakata, a.k.a. "Oddjob," did not already connect London's Olympic heritage to the British secret agent).

London's celebration next year will include the three-sided -- you read it here first, I think -- "Goldfinger" Olympic torch to be carried across Greece and the U.K. starting May 19, 2012.

With details from the organizing committee press release, here's a bit more about the LOCOG Olympic torch by the numbers:

-- The design measures 800 cm long, weighs 800g and includes 8,000 perforations or rings symbolic of the 8K torchbearers who will use the torches to pass the flame

-- Approximately 110 runners per day will participate in the 70-day 2012 Olympic torch relay, maintaining the Olympic tradition and long-distance publicity event started in 1936

-- The three-sided design is symbolic of several Olympic triumvirates: "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (faster, higher, stronger, the Olympic motto), the three London Olympiads (1908, 1948, 2012) and Olympic values of respect, excellence and friendship. Though not spelled out in the LOCOG press release, the three-sides could also represent the three presenting sponsors of the 2012 Olympic torch relay: Coca-Cola, Samsung and Lloyds TSB.

-- The torch is made of an aluminum alloy (and Al is No. 13 on the periodic chart).

-- Sean Connery's age during the relay: 81 (please, oh, please, he'll carry the torch somewhere).

From my view, the London Olympic torch is a winner, and from a coolness factor, is closest in design to the 2006 Torino Olympic torch.

What do you think of the 2012 Olympic torch design?

Photos via LOCOG/Getty Images