General Cell Phones Articles

Article / Updated 06-24-2022

These days, it’s all but impossible to deny the cultural sway of emojis. The beloved pictographs have accomplished quite a lot, from winning Oxford Dictionary’s 2015 Word of the Year to starring in their own feature film. Emojis even have their own day of appreciation: July 17 (the date immortalized by the calendar emoji in iOS). To celebrate, let’s look back at how emojis found a permanent place in our hearts, minds, and texts. The prequel: emoticons Before emojis could run, emoticons had to walk. Emoticons rose in popularity during the chatroom boom of the 1990s, allowing early Internet users to add emotional context and tone to their words. Common emoticons included :) for happy and :( for sad, :o for shock and :p for teasing, ;) for wink and :* for a smooch. Variations on eyeballs, such as =) or 8) — and the optional addition of noses — :o) or :^), provided an extended range of self-expression. Though emoticons were quite popular online at this time, there were few opportunities and little incentive to use them in other contexts. The first emojis The emojis we know and love today have their roots in Japan (emoji is Japanese for “picture character”). They were created by artist Shigetaka Kurita, who was on the development team for an early mobile Internet platform created by the leading mobile carrier at the time, DoCoMo. Kurita’s first batch of emojis was released in 1999 and consisted of 176 pictographs, which were meant to convey information more so than mood. There were symbols pertaining to weather, traffic conditions, locations like hospitals and gas stations, and even the 12 zodiac signs. The spread and standardization of emojis The popularity of emojis in Japan eventually caught the attention of DoCoMo’s Japanese competitors, as well as international companies, like Apple and Google. These companies saw opportunity in the new picto-language, but there was a problem: If developers each created their own emojis in a vacuum, the pictures wouldn’t translate from carrier to carrier. That’s because computers rely on numerical code to find and display emojis on our screens. So, if one carrier assigns code #123 to “smiley face,” but another carrier assigns #123 to, say, “dolphin,” emojis would create more communication problems than solutions. In 2007, Google petitioned the Unicode Consortium — the body responsible for the international standardization of computer code for text — to recognize emoji as a language. This would ensure that the numerical code for “smiley face” was consistent across carriers, developers, servers, and countries. Apple quickly joined Google’s cause, and the two became collaborators in advocating for an international emoji “alphabet.” While Unicode had previously considered emoji out of scope for its organization, its popularity in Japan convinced them to reverse course and, in 2009, they began the process of identifying a standard set of emojis. The joint effort, involving representatives from Japan, Europe, and the U.S., resulted in a standardized set of almost 1,000 emoji, which debuted in Unicode 6.0 in October 2010. Total emoji takeover Over the following decade, Apple and Android would release emoji keyboards that catapulted their use across the world, Unicode continued to refine specifications and grow their emoji lexicon, and a new language would come to define and reflect culture as we know it. Highlights include: 2012: Three years before same-sex marriage became legal in all 50 states, Apple releases emojis depicting same-sex couples holding hands in its iOS 6 upgrade. 2015: Responding to user feedback regarding emoji’s “white guy as default” bias, Unicode begins to diversify its offerings. Updates include support for five skin tones, expanded representation for LGBTQ couples, and emojis depicting women as doctors, scientists, and other professionals. Unicode also begins to fill additional culture gaps at this time, adding flags and food items that recognize the diversity of emoji users worldwide. 2015: Just two years after the word “emoji” was added to the dictionary, “Face with Tears of Joy” — or the laugh-cry emoji — wins Oxford Dictionary's 2015 Word of the Year. The same emoji was later reported to be the most used in the world. 2016: Apple responds to growing despair over gun violence by redesigning its revolver emoji as a bright green water gun. Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook, and Twitter will follow suit over the next two years. 2017: New York’s Museum of Modern Art acquires Shigetaka Kurita’s original set of 176 emojis for its permanent collection, a nod to the lasting cultural impact of his creation. 2017: Sony releases The Emoji Movie. While largely considered a critical flop, the picture — which cost $50 million to produce — grosses $217.8 million at the box office. 2019: The first documentary telling the story of emoji, Picture Character, debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. (The film has since been retitled The Emoji Story.) 2020: In recognition of the trans community, Unicode 13.0 includes the trans flag, a non-binary Santa Claus, and “woman with a beard,” emoji, among others. 2021: Unicode 14.0 introduces 112 new emojis, for a total 3,633 since they first premiered in Unicode 6.0 (as of September 2021). While purists may never accept emoji as a language unto itself, its evolution over time shows that it’s earned the title. Not only does it allow us to communicate with people around the globe, its growing number of icons reflect change and evolution in our cultural attitudes and expectations. In that way, emoji is more than a language: It’s a time capsule.

Article / Updated 06-21-2019

Since digital photography went mainstream, it has become very easy to take multiple photos of yourself (known as selfies) before you pick your favorite and share it with others. If you are interested in taking and sharing selfies with your friends and family, consider the following before getting started. What style or type of selfie are you looking to take? How is the lighting in the area you are snapping the selfie? What kind of camera do you plan to use to shoot your selfie montage? Do you plan on using selfie accessories? Are you going to use an image editing application after you snap the selfie? Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Photolyric Taking the perfect selfie is trickier than you might think. Selfie styles and types While the whole purpose behind taking a selfie is to show your mood or expression, you can choose from several different selfie styles to help accentuate your expression. The following list describes the different types of selfie styles: Comical selfie — You take a selfie while doing something absurd or funny. This can be in the form of a funny face or possibly performing a funny action; the possibilities are endless. Glamour selfie — You dress in your best clothes and get your hair done. Then after you take the selfie you put it through a selfie app to fix any imperfections before you save a copy and share it. Group selfie — You get a group of friends, family, or co-workers together and take the selfie in a closely pressed together pile of people. This type of selfie would be the most appropriate in which to use selfie accessories, such as the Selfie Stick, Bluetooth Shutter button, and a panoramic lens. Memorable selfie — You take the photo to capture a memory. This can be while visiting a famous landmark or experiencing an extraordinary event such at a marriage proposal. (Most likely you will not be taking selfies at the actual wedding . . . That's what professional photographers are for!) Selfie with a cause — You take the selfie while performing an act for some higher cause. Two examples of this type of selfie would be the armpit hair selfie; where women take photos of their faces pressed against their own unshaved armpits to protest unrealistic beauty standards. As well as the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge selfie, where you take the selfie (photo or video) while a bucket of ice water is dumped on your head. There are many more variations on these selfie types — some even combine multiple selfie styles. Only your imagination can limit your selfie creativity. Proper selfie lighting When considering lighting for your perfect selfie, you must know that smartphone and tablet cameras are notorious for catching fine wrinkles, eye bags, uneven skin tones and a whole slew of other imperfections many people nitpick over. The proper lighting solves most of these issues brought on by digital photography. When outdoors during the day take the selfie with you facing toward the sun and the camera facing away to avoid glare and images washed out by too much light exposure. When indoors or outside at night — enable the camera's flash (if it has one) and make sure the area is evenly lit from all sides so the camera doesn't catch any unpleasant shadows. Best selfie camera practices Most likely, if you are taking a selfie, you are doing so with your smartphone or tablet. Many smartphones and tablets are equipped with front- and rear-facing cameras. Typically the front-facing camera is designed for Apple's FaceTime, Google Voice, or even Microsoft's Skype. These cameras are not good for taking pictures simply because of the low pixel ratio. If you are looking to take a high-quality selfie with your smartphone or tablet, then you have to use the rear-facing camera. Today, most smart device's rear-facing cameras snap photos in 1080 HD, Super HD (2x 1080), or even Ultra HD (4x 1080). To take a great selfie with the rear-facing camera on your phone or tablet may be tricky since many of these devices do not offer a way to frame up the shot and see what the phone's camera is actually snapping. A simple work around to this is a compact mirror and a piece of double sided tape. Simply attach the mirror to the rear-side of the phone or tablet just below the camera lens and remove it as soon as you are done. Using selfie accessories Because selfies have become so popular in recent times, several cellphone accessories have been developed for smartphones and tablets that are based on the selfie concept. Three such selfie accessories, the Selfie Stick, Bluetooth Shutter button, and clip-on lenses, have launched into the market, enabling you to take selfies more easily. The Selfie Stick holds the phone farther away from your body so you can take a selfie with the background visible while also allowing more space in the photo for a group of friends or family to join in. The Bluetooth shutter button is used to take the selfie while the phone is out of reach (attached to the Selfie Stick.) This allows you to take the pictures without setting the shutter-timer. Clip-on lenses offer different types of selfie shots without having to process the photo in a photo-editing application. Color lenses can provide filters, while the fisheye lens, macro lens, and panoramic lens can distort the photo in different interesting ways. Putting your selfie through an image editing app If you choose to edit your selfie, many apps are available on multiple operating systems. Chances are you will find more selfie apps than you will ever need on whatever smart device or computer you prefer. The following apps are great for the comical selfie style: Baldify — Shows different stages of hair loss. Fatify — Distorts extra pounds to your cheeks and chin. Oldify — Will give you wrinkles, grey hair, eye bags, and age spots. Zombify — Turns you into a brain-eating zombie… AGHH! The following apps are great for all other selfie types: FaceTune — Adjusts skin tone, hair and skin color, texture, and background/foreground focus. Fotor — Adds borders, effects, filters, frames, and text. (Available on all platforms including Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, and PC as well as online.) Photoshop Express — Adjusts lighting, removes redeye, applies filters, and crops photo size. Simply perform a search in your device's app store for the style of selfie you want to take and have fun. When posting photos of yourself online, never post anything sexual or incriminating. After the digital imprint of the photo is on the Web, there is no undoing it. Yes, you can delete the original, but there is a chance that someone, somewhere, has saved a copy. Share your selfies responsibly!