Human linguistics began with pictograms. At some point, a particularly enterprising Cro-Magnon decided to dip his finger into the ashes of a smoldering fire — ouch! — and wipe it against the cave wall; thus, language was born. Soon, this new form of communication (a step up from the previous method of indecipherable grunts) began to evolve alongside the creatures that had invented it; in Asia and Mesopotamia, crude drawings of animals soon progressed into logograms and hieroglyphs, and eventually into fully realized alphabets.
Language is always moving forward; venerable institutions like Oxford and Merriam-Webster consistently update their dictionaries to include new words and turns of phrase — for example, this February’s edition of the Merrian-Webster dictionary includes “net neutrality,” “binge-watch,” and “truther”. Recently, though, a funny trend has appeared: Language is also moving backwards. Emoticons, popularized in Japan in the 1980s, use computer-generated punctuation marks to express emotions. As computing devices — specifically, smartphones — became more powerful, a more complex set of pictograms arose, called “Emojis.”
Emojis are tiny, colorful images, made to represent specific objects, emotions, or concepts. Currently, the standard Emoji library (supported on several mobile and desktop operating systems) consists of more than 1,000 different emoticons. Some of these emoticons look extremely similar, especially for those new to the concept, or for those with impaired vision. To that end, we’ve decided to put together a short Emoji dictionary, so you’ll never have to wonder exactly what the younger generation is trying to convey.
Emojis look different depending upon which platform you’re using; since iOS and Android are the most prevalent, we’ve chosen to include images for those two. Visit Emojipedia for a full list of Emojis by platform (links located at the bottom).
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.