Tesla’s Holiday Update improves Camp Mode and driving visualization

Today, Tesla began pushing its "holiday update" to its vehicle fleet. The changes include one present for EV owners who appreciate the great outdoors (though not enough to sleep on the ground): Camp Mode. The feature, reported by Electrek, allows Tes...

Google adds spam detection and verified business SMS to Messages

Businesses often send one-time passwords, account alerts and appointment confirmations via text. But if you've ever received one of those, you know they tend to come from a random number, and bad actors can take advantage of that by disguising phishi...

Former Apple exec claims the company spied on his text messages

A former Apple executive is claiming the company spied on his text messages before suing him. In February, Gerard Williams III, who spent almost 10 years working on mobile device chips at Apple, left the company. The same month, he joined NuVia Inc -...

Apple reportedly shelves ‘walkie talkie’ iPhone feature

Apple has put its plans for a 'walkie talkie' iPhone feature on hold, The Information reports. The technology would have allowed people with iPhones (in a certain vicinity) to send messages over long-distance radio waves when cellular networks weren'...

FCC bans spoofed text messages and international robocalls

This week the FCC voted to approve rules that ban spoofing text messages and international robocalls. The new rules close long-standing loopholes in the Truth in Caller ID Act, which banned spoofing domestic calls but made it hard for the FCC to comb...

FCC chair: 911 call operators should be able to track VoIP calls

Location tracking can sometimes mean the difference between life and death when it comes to 911 calls. If you ring the emergency services with a cell phone using your provider's network, the call handler is able identify where you are, and ensure hel...

FCC Chairman wants to ban caller ID spoofing for text messages

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Emoji’s May Soon Be More Racially Diverse, Thanks To Apple

emojis

If you’ve noticed your Emoji’s seem overwhelmingly white, it’s because they are (yes, even Miley Cyrus seems to think so). So MTV Act decided to do something about it and sent an email to Tim Cook. Apple’s vice president of worldwide corporate communications, Katie Cotton’s reply is as follows:

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.

Ok, so they’re working on it, although there’s no timeline for when the changes might be implemented. Still, it wouldn’t be so bad if the characters representing us in text messages, you know, actually represented us, and it’s good to know something’s being done about it.

VIA [ Gizmodo ]

The post Emoji’s May Soon Be More Racially Diverse, Thanks To Apple appeared first on OhGizmo!.

11-year-old wins $20,000 at AT&T hackathon for creating app that discourages texting while driving

11-year-old wins $20,000 at AT&T hackathon for creating app that discourages texting while driving

AT&T's already working on an app to keep folks from texting while driving, but earlier this month it gave folks at a Los Angeles hackathon the chance to develop their own solution. David Grau, a creative director and designer at an interactive agency, and 11-year-old Victoria Walker were awarded $20,000 by Big Blue to bring their smartphone application to the public. Dubbed Rode Dog, the prize-winning software allows friends and family to organize themselves into "packs" and monitor their text messaging habits. Watchful users can spot when a fellow group member is texting and initiate a barking noise on the offender's phone. Much like squawking seat belt systems, the app is designed to remind drivers of their wrongdoing and doesn't stop the ruckus until they acknowledge it. If you'd rather have a chicken or other animal grab your attention, the duo crafted an in-app shop that offers other wildlife sound sound effects. Rode Dog isn't expected to hit iOS, Android and Windows Phone until its fully polished, but you can sign up to receive word of its launch at the second source link below.

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11-year-old wins $20,000 at AT&T hackathon for creating app that discourages texting while driving originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 05:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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