emoticons
Latest
In 2016, emoji kept it 💯
In addition to everything else that happened in tech this year, something small, cute and unassuming wormed its way into your smartphone, your social network and even your MacBook keyboard. While emoji have been around a while, this was the year these pictographs firmly lodged themselves into our lives. It's become less like immature shorthand and more like another language.
Facebook tests 'Reactions,' a Like button with more emotions
How you "like" things on Facebook is about to change. Engadget has learned that the site is about to launch a "Reactions" feature that expresses multiple emotions, instead of the long-serving, lonely "like" (and long rumoured "dislike"). Our sources advise that Facebook will start testing the feature on users in Ireland and Spain as soon as tomorrow (Friday). Update: Our sources were right, check out the official news on Facebook Reactions.
Russia considers blocking Facebook over gay emojis
Vladimir Putin's Russia doesn't like Facebook and it doesn't care for gay people, and the government is now attempting to censor both of these things in one fell swoop. Mikhail Marchenko, a Russian senator in the upper house of parliament, has called for his government to investigate whether Facebook emojis depicting two boys and two girls kissing violates the country's 2013 ban on exposing "homosexual propaganda" to minors, Time reports. Russia's Roskomnadzor (The Federal Service For Supervision of Communication, Information Technology and Mass Media) is investigating Marchenko's concerns and is prepared to "take reactive measures," the site says.
Yes, IKEA made a keyboard with emoticons for your phone
We're pretty sure that if you were looking for emojis to use on your phone, you wouldn't think "Hmmm, wonder if IKEA has some?" Regardless, IKEA went and released a smartphone keyboard for iOS and Android that comes with a bunch of custom emoticons anyway. And yes, we're talking about that IKEA, which sells fiddly flat-pack furniture. As you'd expect, most icons are related to the home, meaning there are pets, food and, of course, drawers, couches, beds and other furniture to choose from.
SOE Live 2014: Studio to stream convention for free
SOE Live's streaming schedule is up for this week's convention on the official Twitch channel, and fans of the studio have a very good reason to check it out: It's totally free. SOE announced today that players will not need to spend any money to watch the convention's 20-plus hours of livestream coverage. The stream will begin on Thursday evening at 10:00 p.m. EDT and continue off and on through Saturday night. If you really insist on giving SOE money for this, however, the studio will bow to your demands. SOE is selling a SOE Live Digital Pass upgrade that will deliver to the buyer a 7-day Landmark beta key, a Twitch chat badge, several emoticons for the Twitch channel, and in-game items for both H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2.
Recommended Reading: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' makeup magic
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Under the Skin of "Guardians of the Galaxy" with Makeup FX Wizard David White by Scott Pierce, Fast Company If you're into getting a peek behind the scenes at some movie magic, Fast Company caught up with FX artist David White to discuss Guardians of the Galaxy. Specifically covering the makeup special effects, White chats about Marvel, key characters and the process of making aliens.
Emojli is a social network composed entirely of emoji
Social networks love emoji. And those better-than-real-words icons love social networks right back. Emojli is possibly the next step in that blossoming relationship: a social network with "no words, no spam, just emoji." It hasn't launched yet, but the iOS-bound network already polices a rigorous picture-only username system. (Apologies, "Monkey Train", "Fireball" and "Kitty Penguin Space Invader" have already been taken.) According to its Twitter feed, registrations passed 10,000 earlier today -- and for folks worried about the service running out of emoji, over 250,000 two-icon combinations are available, as are even longer usernames. Pointless time-waster, a nonsensical joke, or the future of this connected life? Almost certainly one of the former, but if you want that single emoji that truly sums you up, you'd best rush along to that registration page immediately.
This smiley face is either a perfectly fitting typo or the world's first emoticon
It turns out that the emoticon might be a bit older than we originally thought. Literary critic Levi Stahl has found what could possibly be the first instance of a ":)" in Robert Herrick's 1648 poem "To Fortune." Stahl checked to see if it was just a typo in the edition of Hesperides that he owns, and says that he found the smiley intact in the authoritative two-volume edition of Herrick's work published last year by the Oxford University Press. Stahl explains that the poet's work was rife with humor, so this likely isn't a "punctuational oddity." If true, it'd beat the previous record-holder's age -- a transcription of an 1862 speech by Abe Lincoln -- by some 200 years. That isn't quite the final word, however. The New Atlantis (a scholarly journal about tech and society) writes that this probably isn't the case, and the only real way to tell if the emoticon was Herrick's intent would be to look up very early editions or his original manuscripts. The 19th century version it found didn't have the parentheses, however, and thus it ruled that the smiley was likely the result of a modern editor's insertion :( [Image credit: Robert Herrick]
BlackBerry bringing Channels and Voice Chat to BBM for Android and iOS next year
Remember how excited you were for BBM to hit Android and iOS and then BlackBerry continued to fake us all out with imminent releases? Thankfully, that's now all in the past and BBM is a reality for those of us not on BB10 devices, but still its feature set leaves something to be desired. The good news is that BlackBerry intends to flesh out BBM in 2014, though not just for the app. So what's up ahead? Arguably, the most significant changes are coming to Android and iOS users in the form of BBM Voice and BBM Channels. Think of BBM Voice as you would Skype or Google Hangouts -- it's essentially a way for you to chat with your contacts without touching your allotment of minutes. And Channels, if you'll remember from our preview this past summer, is basically BlackBerry's spin on the social network. Both are already available for current BBM users running BB10, so this addition really just brings the rest of BBM's outsider base up to speed. BlackBerry's also looking to make sharing with BBM a less cumbersome process in the new year. Though the company hasn't elaborated fully on just how it intends to make photo and voice note sharing that much speedier, it seems as if the process will soon require less fussy UI interactions. Users will even be able to divulge their whereabouts with BBM, albeit on a temporary basis and make use of over 100 new emoticons. All of this is coming "in the next couple of months," so if you need something to sate your curiosity now, check out the video after the break.
Facebook stickers come to the web
Facebook brought stickers to its Android and iOS apps this spring, and they're reaching the web right as summer hits full stride. As in the mobile space, desktop users can now use critters, giant smileys and other over-the-top graphics in their private messages. A store is on hand for those who want to venture beyond Facebook's free catalog. Web stickers are available today -- if :) just won't cut it for your conversations, you'll now have a more expressive set of emoticons wherever you go.
Facebook Messenger for Android: now with free stickers
Emojis not giving that missive the right oomph? A Facebook Messenger for Android update has brought stickers into that mix with characters like cats and aliens, lending your chat head conversation just the right dose of nuance. It popped up yesterday as a hidden feature, but now you can download the final version at Google Play (at the source) -- then, just click on the smiley icon in the text input box to start dropping the cute bombs.
Twitch introduces ad-free Turbo subscription service
Popular video streaming site Twitch has announced a new service called Twitch Turbo. For $8.99 a month you can turn off all the ads on the site, get priority customer support, and unlock a special badge, chat colors, and custom emoticons that only Twitch Turbo subscribers can use. Twitch also streams lots of eSports events and other videos that would otherwise be interrupted by commercials.If you subscribe to knock the ads off completely, eligible Twitch broadcasters will still be paid for their views. Twitch says this is "just the beginning of what we hope to offer through Twitch Turbo," and that more "benefits and enhancements" for both viewers and broadcasters (including the official Joystiq Twitch channel) are likely coming soon.
Rotary phone mod tweets your emoticons, heavy soldering still required
File this under 'questionably useful, but darling nonetheless.' ZviZvi over at Instructables needed to update an outdated product for his Industrial Design portfolio, so he took grandpa's old rotary phone and implanted an Arduino soul. With an involved bit of slap n' solder and a WiFly shield, our enterprising Israeli modder transformed this once-luddite tech into an emoticon-tweeting wireless terminal. While the phone's LED-lit dial is only capable of outputting ten heartwarming expressions, that's still ten more than any rotary phone's ever had before. Sure, you could always use that ever-accessible laptop (or smartphone) for your Twitter needs, but where's the fun in that? Per usual, budding inventors can tickle their Emo in the source link below.
First Impressions: Lucent Heart
Once again I have been tasked with taking a look at an upcoming or newly released MMO, this time one called Lucent Heart. The game has been brought to us by Gamania, the same company responsible for the adorable Hero 108. Each time I am asked to play one of these games and to report to you lovely readers what I found, I am a little frightened that the game will simply suck. Yes, I know, "suck" is not a very good descriptive term, and it does not quite detail exactly what I disliked about something, but if a game is just not meant for me, it can be hard to describe why. No, I did not just spoil my entire article for you by telling you how I felt about the game in one word (you should always read to the end anyway). I've described to you how scared I am of finding a game that does, indeed, suck. Lucent Heart does not suck. In fact, I was relieved to find a game that, like Iris Online, seems to offer the same overall wonderful experience that so many of these Anime-style, not-from-our-shores games seem to avoid. Of course, Lucent Heart has plenty of issues, so let me tell you about those as well. Click past the cut, will ya?
Nokia N8 video overview: Symbian^3 homescreens, messaging, email, and Flash-capable browser on show
It seems like the only question really left about the Nokia N8, albeit the most important one, is just how it'll interface with the user and what the experience of living with it will be like. The Nokia Conversations team is now aiming to answer just that with the first of three video walkthroughs taking us on a tour of the new device and its Symbian^3 operating environment. We now know you can have up to three homescreens with six widgets apiece, and -- gasp -- wallpapers are available right off the bat. Threaded messaging is also implemented in the new OS, as well as a soft QWERTY keyboard and a set of emoticons... yes, emoticons. Notably, the entire demo is done with the phone held in landscape, suggesting that might be the preferred method of use, while transitions between menus look as quick and pleasurable as you might expect from a promo video. See the whole thing after the break.
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.
Emoji on its way out of the App Store
For the past month or so, developers have been taking advantage of an opening in the iPhone SDK to enable Emoji emoticons on non-Japanese iPhones, without having to resort to jailbreaking. While I was a little taken aback by the fascination and little mini-market that sprouted up around Emoji activation, it's clear that the public likes its icons. Unfortunately, the Emoji free for all may be over. Gary, from Typing Genius, e-mailed us this morning and he let us know that Apple is cracking down on Emoji activation outside of Japan. According to Gary, Apple is forbidding Emoji-only apps (Emotifun and iEmoji have both been removed from the App Store) and requiring developers for apps that do more than just Emoji (like Typing Genius -- iTunes link) to provide an Emoji-free update immediately. In regards to Typing Genius, Gary says that: * Existing Typing Genius users who have already unlocked emoji will not be affected when Apple remove apps from the App Store * Emoji unlock will remain intact for users who upgrade to a newer version of Typing Genius (without the unlock) later on So if you want to get your Emoji on, it's probably best to act sooner rather than later. Pictographs have been removed from the App Store. Oh, the humanity! Thanks Gary
Emoji on your iPhone :-)
Emoji, Japanese for "picture" + "letter," is a set of picture characters used in Japan much in the same way as emoticons here in the US. The Emoji pictographs, however, offer a wider variety of images than emoticons which are typically limited to just expressing an emotion or facial expression such as winking.Emoji pictographs include the usual suspects from the emoticon gang as well as many others. Such gems as the top hat, a diamond ring for "txting" your wedding proposal, and also some holiday goodies like Santa, and a ghost are all part of the fun! For the majority of cell phones, Emoji is a Japanese-focused feature that is not implemented much in the US. Some, however, have already enabled the use of Emoji through a process that requires jailbreaking the iPhone.There is a simpler way, however. We touched on the enabling of Emoji in a recent iPhone 101 article. This post over at MacTalk provides a very detailed step-by-step walkthrough for enabling Emoji on iPhones with firmware 2.2. Justine also covered this procedure for enabling Emoji over at her site.The process involves purchasing and briefly using an application called FrostySpace ($0.99, iTunes link). The result is that a new international keyboard, "Emoji," is available for your use. Please note: FrostySpace is a Japanese-languageTaiwanese RSS feed reader that may be of limited utility for some users.If you get this working (or don't) we'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments.Thanks to Chris Pirillo and others for sending this in!
Bajca's emoticon keyboard / jewelry-making kit might be emotionally unstable
Be honest with yourself: you've always wanted a dedicated, 16-key emoticon keyboard with "keys" that pulled doubled duty as expressive jewelry, right? Well, you got it! Bajca's Smile Keypad aims to "make real the emoticon," and as far as we can tell, they've totally nailed it. The USB-friendly keyboard has classic smiley face-looking keys which pop out using some special tongs, then are popped into pieces of jewelry -- rings, bracelets, necklaces -- sky's the limit, apparently. It's not really crystal clear if all of these pieces are going to be included, or if they'll be sold separately, or if this is ever going to make it to the market. All we can do is hope. Check out a few more emotionally charged shots after the break.[Thanks, Matilde]
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]
