emoticons

Facebook for iOS gets emoticons

Facebook added a collection of emoticons to the latest version of its application for iOS devices.

In version 6.2, released Tuesday, Facebook users on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch can add emoji-style icons to their status updates for show-and-tell social networking.

The status icons were added to Facebook's Web site earlier this year. The iOS edition replicates the desktop release, which means people can click the smiley face in the status update box to bring up a menu that sorts expressive graphics into categories including feeling, watching, reading, and eating. The mood and activity images are accompanied by … Read more

Facebook's iOS Messenger app gets all sticky

Ever had the need to show what you're feeling on Facebook Messenger with an image of a cute pink critter holding a heart-shaped pillow? Well, you're in luck.

The social network updated its iOS Messenger app on Monday with a grab bag of stickers. For those people unfamiliar with stickers, they're basically emoticons that users can tack onto messages for added sentiment, gusto, or laughs. Facebook will be rolling out the stickers on its iOS Messenger app over the next few weeks; Facebook Messenger for Android already has the stickers.

Currently, Facebook's stickers are free, but … Read more

Get standard and animated emoticons for iMessage or Facebook with Cute Emoticons

Have you ever received a message with an emoticon or GIF attached from a friend and wondered how they did it? There are quite a few apps available that add a huge library of emoticons, animated GIFs, and other images to your messaging tools. Most are quite pricey, however, and not all of them are very intuitive. That's why Cute Emoticons is such an impressive app. Featuring 225 emoticons and 138 animated gifts for free, Cute Emoticons separates each of the emoticons into categories with names like DD Cat or Cute Girl. Each category has an optional GIF Animation … Read more

Where to find hearts in OS X

With it being Valentine's Day, you might wish to send your significant other an amorous message or two, and while a card, flowers, or a box of chocolates may be the traditional ways to do so, sending a quick e-mail or chat message is not out of the question, either. Of course, you may wish to enhance said message with a heart or two. Sure, the first way that comes to mind would probably be to search the Web for an image you would like, but there are actually a couple of nice heart images buried in OS X … Read more

Facebook testing new status icons

Thursday's CNET Update talks about feelings:

Facebook has been busy coming up with new icons to share your moods. It's also launching a new type of gift card that can be assigned to different merchants before being mailed to friends. But make its own Facebook phone? Well that's just silly.

Also in this news roundup:

- Twitter tweaks photos and video viewing

- GameSpot: No Wii U price cut

- Foursquare reveals "best of" based on check-ins

Watch CNET Update in the video above, or subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

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Smiley when you say that! Facebook tries out emoticons

Some Facebook users can now go beyond simply updating their status -- they can put an emoticon on the moment.

Facebook last night rolled out what it's calling "a really small test" across its Web site and mobile app that lets users pick from an array of emoticons -- smiley faces and other little bits of graphic art that have now been around for some 30 years -- to express how they're feeling at any given moment.

TechCrunch was first to report on the feature.

Facebook provided CNET with screenshots of the emoticon feature in action. … Read more

How to add emoji icons to file names in OS X

Emoticons have become some of the most commonly used symbols when communicating using computers and cell phones. Starting with combinations of text characters, smilies evolved into emoticons with the development of Unicode fonts that include complementary images for common smilies. For instance, applications like iMessage and iChat in OS X will make use of emoticons, automatically substituting an image of a smiling face from an emoticon font if you enter the ":)" text for a standard smile.

If there are other emoticons you often use, then you can use the system preferences to set up your own global text … Read more

iPad Mini steals Surface presale thunder

Tuesday's CNET Update scratches beyond the Surface:

Microsoft is now taking preorders for the Surface tablet, which starts at $499. Today's tech news roundup looks at the prices and keyboard accessories for Microsoft's competitor to the iPad.

But just one hour after Surface details are released, Apple sends out a notice that it will have a media announcement on October 23, which is likely the iPad Mini. So the speculation continues for another week.

Facebook has added some quirky emoticon options to use in comments, chat and private messages. When a <3 isn't enough, there'… Read more

Add emoticons to your Facebook chats and messages

Facebook recently added a list of emoticons to help you express yourself a bit more than text characters permit. The full list can be used in chat or private messages, and some of the less complex ones can be used in comments on wall posts.

Trying to use any of them in a wall post that you created (not commented on) will just end up looking like this:

Using them the way Facebook intended (for now, at least), looks more like this:

Here's the full list so you can express yourself to your friends:

Do … Read more

Emoticon celebrates 30 years :-)

Simple typography that started out as a colon, dash, and parenthesis has now grown up and blossomed into a massive array of features, moods, and gestures. Who would have thought that a happy face :-) could ever lead to rock horns \m/, or tongue-tied :-&, or just a simple heart <3?

Today, the emoticon turns 30.… Read more