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Emojipedia founder talks the past, present and future of emoji
We've been a little surprised by the outpouring of enthusiasm for World Emoji Day so far: Apple released a sneak peeks of its new emoji designs, Google signaled the end of its blobs, and the Empire State Building will be lit up in yellow to mark the occasion. (No, we're not kidding.) Still, despite how hugely culturally relevant these characters have become, details like how new emoji go from idea to icon can sometimes feel shrouded in obscurity. To learn more about the process, we sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia.
Google Allo will up your weak emoji game
According to Google's announcement for Allo's latest features, people only use three percent of all emojis available. Well, the Allo team don't want their creations to go to waste, so they've launched "Smart Smiley" to make sure you discover emojis you won't typically use. When you tap on the Smart Smiley button while you're typing a message, the chat app will conjure up a list of suggestions based on context clues. It could suggest the burger, noodles, curry or cutlery emoticons when you type the word "food," or the alligator emoji when you type "later," sort of like what happens in iOS 10's Messages app. The feature can make suggestions before you even type anything based on your conversation history.
Campaigners get Facebook to banish 'feeling fat' emoticon
On top of not being an actual emotion, "feeling fat" is no longer a Facebook emoticon. Following a campaign from anti-body-shaming group Endangered Bodies, Facebook has removed the emoji from its list of status update options, according to the Washington Post. The social network said "we've heard from our community that listing 'feeling fat' as an option for status updates could reinforce negative body image, particularly for people struggling with eating disorders." In a Change.org petition that garnered 17,000 signatures, Endangered Bodies said the emoticon is "making fun of people who consider themselves to be overweight... all (we) ask is that it stop endorsing self-destructive thoughts through seemingly harmless emojis."
Kaoiro emoticon stamp turns bureaucracy on its head
It's a well established norm in civilized geek society that visual representations such as "=)" can and should be used to substitute for the laborious exercise of expressing emotions through words or actions. Taking that notion to its logical extreme, the Kaoiro emoticon stamp comes with 7 rows of symbols that the hardworking digi-linguist can convert into an almost limitless variety of text-based visualizations. Just look above should you need inspiration. You'll need to pull together $51 to buy one, plus $18 for shipping (or ¥2,700 plus ¥1,700 for shipping to North America, roughly $47, directly from the manufacturer), but that's surely peanuts to pay for having the ultimate document tarnisher around.
AutoSmiley uses the iSight to turn your face into an emoticon
This one's a little silly but I still really like it -- AutoSmiley is a public domain app that runs in the background while you work, quietly monitoring your iSight's camera input. Whenever it detects a smiling face on the camera (so any time you smile while working), it will send a ":)" emoticon to the keyboard. It's probably not quite practical, as there are a lot of times when you might smile but don't want to actually send an emoticon. I do like the idea that it turns emoticons into real expressions of emotion. When you actually see a ":)" or an "lol" in someone's IM or email, you never really know if they've actually smiled or laughed at what you've typed earlier, and a program like this puts a little more power behind the colon and parenthesis. As the app's description says, using it can go a little farther towards "enforcing honesty in your online communication." The app is a free download for US, UK, and NL keyboards on the Mac. The app was featured on Wednesday's TUAW TV Live, which you can watch to see AutoSmiley in action.
Mask of Emotion displays your feelings via LED emoticons, we cry/laugh/yawn
Since most people spend their days behind computers expressing emotions via colons and parentheses anyway, the Digital Media Design Dept at Hongik University figured they'd just be done with it all when they created the "Mask of Emotion." It displays LED emoticons that supposedly react to external stimuli, such as a smile when the wearer shakes hands with someone. Its creators say it was designed to hide real emotions and -- literally -- mask them with whatever is being presented on the mask. Peep the mildly creepy video after the break.[Via MAKE]
PEGA Look@Me emoticon keyboard and other ASUS-funded product concepts
Asus' R&D design studio, PEGA, looks to be coming up with some surprising product concepts as part of its Between On & Off exhibition. We're betting that none of these will ever see the light of day, but we're intrigued -- and prematurely annoyed -- by the Look@Me emoticon keyboard. Stocked with 40 emoticon bits (eyes, mouths, noses), the keyboard allows users to express their emotions on a more regular basis, if that's possible. Other concepts include Embrace, a night light that emits as much light as you have opened the book; JustDrawIt!, a power management device that visualizes on / off settings for appliances with a pen; and the On&On bench that doubles as a solar charger. Sadly, the exhibition is over, but check the gallery below for some of PEGA's other concepts.%Gallery-23787%[Via OhGizmo]
Philips unveils SPC620, SPC1000, and SPC1300 webcams at Computex
While we thought we'd already seen the crown jewel of webcams before, Philips apparently thinks otherwise, as it boasts quite heavily about its new trio of display-mountable cams that were unveiled at Computex. All three devices support background customization and emoticon integration, wide-angle lenses, and face-tracking capabilities. The SPC620 holds down the low-end with a vanilla VGA CMOS sensor and will run you €49.90 ($67), while the SPC1000 includes a directional microphone and noise reduction filter, two-megapixel sensor, and a 5x digital zoom for the very same price. The €99.90 ($135) SPC1300 features Pixel Plus 2 technology seen in the company's Flat TVs, a six-megapixel sensor, audio beaming system, twin directional microphones, and Digital Natural Motion technology that purportedly nixes any frame rate flickers when video chatting. All three webcams should hit shelves in Europe, America, and Asia this August.[Via TechDigest]
