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Twitter now shows emoji characters on the web
There's a good chance that some of your smartphone-toting friends use emoji to express themselves on Twitter -- wouldn't it be nice to see those icons while you're surfing the web? As of today, you can. Twitter has updated its web client to display emoji, giving you all the colorful characters that you'd expect while browsing mobile apps (and some desktop apps, too). The update won't make it any easier to decipher the meaning of an emoji-laden tweet, but you'll have at least some semblance of what's going on.
Apple is working on getting more diversity into its emoji characters
Sometimes, the awkward white lady with hand to the side emoji doesn't quite represent, or express, who's using an iPhone -- and it's been that way for quite a while. Good news, then, that Apple is apparently working with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to bring more breadth to the emoji pictures it can offer. Katie Cotton, Apple's VP of Corporate Communications, explains in an email reply to MTV Act's Joey Parker, who raised the issue: "Our emoji characters are based on the Unicode standard, which is necessary for them to be displayed properly across many platforms. There needs to be more diversity in the emoji character set, and we have been working closely with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard." There's no firm date for an emoji upgrade until the Unicode issue is sorted, so for now, well, there's stickers elsewhere. (Update: There's also been a recent groundswell for the less important addition of a hot-dog emoji.)
Apple planning to make Emoji characters more diverse and other news from March 25, 2014
If you take a look at iOS's built-in Emjoi set, you may have noticed that most of the people depicted are Caucasian. Curious as to why this was the case, MTV's Act blog sent an email to Tim Cook asking if Apple had any plans to diversify its Emoji icon lineup. A few days later, Apple VP of worldwide corporate communications Katie Cotton responded. Tim forwarded your email to me. We agree with you. Our emoji characters are based on the Unicode standard, which is necessary for them to be displayed properly across many platforms. There needs to be more diversity in the emoji character set, and we have been working closely with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard. This of course wouldn't mark the first time Apple took efforts to make its Emoji set more inclusive. With iOS 6, Apple introduced Emojis featuring same-sex couples. Lastly, note that Apple is a full member of The Unicode Consortium, along with Adobe, IBM, Google, Microsoft and others. via AppleInsider Other news from Tuesday afternoon includes: The Wall Street Journal has posted its interview with one of the original iPhone engineers, Greg Christie. The interview, which is behind a pay wall, discusses the development of the phone and Steve Jobs' expectations for it. The iTunes Movie Trailers app has been updated, and it allows you to add a movie to a favorites list. This will alert you when the move debuts in theaters or is available for sale in the iTunes Store. The release also integrates Rotten Tomatoes reviews and sharing links via AirDrop. 9to5Mac noticed a couple more Apple hires, including Bob Kupbens as the head of Online Retail. BlackBerry has filed a lawsuit to prevent one of its executives from leaving after he agrees to become Vice President of Core OS for Apple.
Latest SwiftKey beta brings more than 500 emojis to Android, makes your texts even more precious
If you've been aching for more emoji on your Android device, the SwiftKey team has something right up your alley. The popular Android keyboard's latest beta brings more than 500 of the adorable symbols to your device of choice and can even autopredict emjois, just like it does for regular ol' words. What's more, the test-version also adds a dedicated number row in case you're one of the long-press averse. Of course, this is still a beta and your experience may vary once you side-load the APK. We tested the app on a Nexus 4 and found it was laggy to the point of being almost unusable, squashing our dreams of recreating Katy Perry's "Roar" video like a grape.
iOS 7 video tip: Adding the emoji keyboard and other keyboard tricks
Today we're going to pass along another short tip for those who may not have yet figured out how your friends send those emoji -- smiley faces, little animals, cars and trucks, etc... -- in Messages, emails or tweets. In addition, you'll see how to change settings to make working with your iOS virtual keyboard less frustrating and more efficient. As with all of our videos, you can go full-screen to see the details up close. If you have any tips or tricks you'd like us to include in the video tips, please use the red Tip Us button to give us your ideas.
TextExpander gets all emoji-nal and preps for Mavericks
OS X Mavericks hits computers this fall and app developers are already preparing for it with broad smiles. Emoji smiles. TextExpander has launched version 4.1.1, bringing emojis and other new features to the popular typing shortcut application. Of course for people planning on updating to Mavericks, the most important addition is compatibility with OS X 10.9. For those of you who require a little more than increased compatibility and winning smiles to get excited about an update, the following features have also been added: Expands properly in Fantastical 1.3.8 and later Offers to convert existing snippets when changing default snippet type Improves performance with snippets containing multiple embedded images Makes Suggest Matching Abbreviation more forgiving of spaces before and while narrowing the search Allows capitalization correction in specific types of applications, such as Mellel Includes paragraph style information with HTML data for snippets which contain line breaks Expands properly when using a Romaji input method with Dvorak key layout Many other fixes and improvements Version 4.1.1 is available now. TextExpander is US$34.95 for an individual license, $44.95 for a family license (up to five computers in a home) and $99 for an office pack (up to five computers in an office). Site licenses are available for businesses with a single physical address or fewer than 1,000 employees.
Google updates Hangouts with more emoji and a touch of Project Butter
When Google debuted Hangouts at I/O, it looked like a pretty nifty idea, but since then, the app has been plagued with its share of performance issues. A new update, available today in the Google Play store, aims to rectify that by adding a hint of Project Butter to the Hangouts mix. Google is smearing Butter on the app (like a wayward child with his head stuck in the banisters) in the hopes that it'll smooth out the kinks and speed up performance. Also included in the update is a brand new set of emoji, so you can continue to abandon the written word in favor of cutesy hieroglyphics. We jest, of course. Who doesn't love some good emoji? To get the upgrade, head on over to the source link below.
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.
Apple reportedly to remove emoji apps from App Store
Now that iOS has provided default support for emoji icons for over a year, the company finally appears to be taking action to remove the seemingly endless number of third-party emoji apps on the App Store. TechCrunch obtained an email sent by Apple to one particular app store developer, letting the seller know that their previously approved emoji app would be removed from sale. The email cites App Store guidelines that prohibit the sale of apps that "are not very useful." It's hard to argue with the logic here, and if a feature is already supported by iOS, the need for a third-party app is indeed non-existent. Apple first introduced emoji support in iOS 5 which launched in October 2011.
Facebook for Android app updated with messaging emoji, easy event creation and a bit more
If you were wondering what features would be on the way after Facebook ditched pre-Froyo Android support for its app your questions have been answered. This revision lets users easily create events from their mobiles, share photos quicker and annoy their friends across platforms thanks to the kind of emoji iOS users have been annoying each other with for ages. In the screenshot above you see the new event creation pages and messaging screen where friends can toss in the icons or a picture while chatting privately, although updating to v1.9.8 will require a manual approval since it also seeks permission to obtain your location via coarse network-based methods. Assuming you're already down with Facebook's Open Graph-enabled tendrils snaking their way throughout your digital life (and, as an existing user already allowed it access to precise GPS-based location data) that's probably not too much of an issue, hit the Google Play link below to upgrade.
Poll: Have you noticed battery improvements after updating to iOS 5.0.1?
Yesterday, Apple pushed out iOS 5.0.1, just about four weeks after releasing iOS 5 to the masses. Among the reported fixes: battery life improvements, following a confirmed bug in the initial release. We're hearing reports that battery life remains an issue for some iPhone 4S owners, however, and that it's been reduced even further for others. We want to hear about your experience, though, so let us know what's up in the poll below, and jump past the break to join other iPhone owners in the comments.%Poll-70860%
Poll: What's broken (or working) for you in iOS 5?
If you haven't updated to iOS 5 by now, let's face it: you never will. It's cool. We get it. Some of us are still using Netscape, too. For the rest of the iOS universe, though, iOS 5 has almost certainly been installed, and now that you've had a few weeks to tinker with it, we're interested in seeing what quirks are being found. We've received a number of reports surrounding call connection issues (on both Verizon Wireless and AT&T), "invalid SIM" warnings, a bug that shows an inbox as being full (when it clearly isn't) and iCloud refusing to load email altogether. Oh, and then there's that pesky Siri pincode bypass -- tsk, tsk! Toss your vote in below, and converse amongst yourselves in comments. Sharing is caring! %Poll-70290%
Emoji for iChat adds... emoji to iChat
With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, I was wondering if emoji icons still worked (they do), and then it finally dawned on me: why not iChat? A quick search turned up exactly what I was looking for: Emoji for iChat. This free downloadable icon pack basically adds the iPhone Emoji icons to iChat, accessible from the standard smiley-face dropdown menu. For it to work, however, both sides have to have it installed; if your recipient does not use the tool, all they'll see is gibberish.Emoji for iChat is a free download from Einar Andersson & Tor Rauden Källstigen. The download includes an installer which will require you to restart iChat.
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!
iPhoneHellas: 2.2 coming November 21
According to iPhoneHellas.gr, version 2.2 of the iPhone firmware will be made available on November 21. The site says that the tipster is "reliable" but offered few details. Gizmodo calls the site "consistently reliable." The tipster did say, however, that the update will not contain Greek keyboard support. Rumor has it that the update will contain: Street View, public transportation and walking directions for Maps An always-visible search field in Safari A rating request before you delete an app The ability to download podcasts directly to your handset Location sharing via email Support for Emoji icons An option to turn off auto-correction There is still no word, of course, about the most requested and elusive of options: copy and paste. Gizmodo seems to think that -- if the release date is indeed on the 21st -- the major features of the update have been frozen. Looks like we'll have to wait until 2.3. [Via O'Grady's PowerPage.]
Google Street View, emoji coming to iPhone 2.2?
MacRumors hears news of some interesting new features that may see the light of day in the next iteration of iPhone firmware. The Maps application will apparently have support for Google Street View. It remains to be seen if the integration will be as impressive as that of Google Android, which used GPS compass data to dynamically change the street view depending on which way you're actually pointed. Also included is support for Japanese emoji icons: 461 popular pictures that can be added to text messages and emails. Emoji support is popular on Japanese phones, and including it on the iPhone might give a boost to sales there (described as less-than-stellar by the WSJ). In a move sure to be popular with non-English users using the English keyboard, the new firmware will also let you turn off auto-correction. It's not clear when the new firmware will be generally available. Developers received version 2.2, beta 1 on September 25.
