Maximum PC emoticon RSS Feed

Oh Good. Google Labs Adds 1,000 More Emoticons

Andy Salisbury — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:39:20 -0500

Google has recently announced yet another addon to their web-based Gmail platform, which allows you to add roughly 1,200 more emoticons to the selector tool.

Among the new emoticons are national flags, road signs, more animals and various animations. With a total of 13 categories (a huge boost on the two that come with vanilla Gmail) there’s a strong possibility that people will be able to carry out conversations without typing a single word. :\

Image Credit: Google

Good Luck to the Russian Businessman Trying to Cash in on the Emoticon

Andy Salisbury — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:15:03 -0600

Straight out of the “really?” file, it looks like a Russian businessman that goes by the name of Oleg Teterin is claiming that he owns the trademark for the ;-) emoticon.

Mr. Teterin is looking to go after corporations that are using the emoticon for profit - or any others that resemble it, including :-), ;) or :). “Legal use will be possible after buying an annual license from us,” stated Mr. Teterin. “It won't cost that much - tens of thousands of dollars.”

Many critics doubt the legality of the trademark because the emoticon has been in the public domain for so many years. One opponent of the claimed trademark is the president of the Russian social networking site odnoklassniki.ru, Nikita Sherman. She’s been quoted as saying “You're not likely to find any retards in Russia who'll pay … for the use of emoticons.”

And it doesn’t help that Mr. Teterin isn’t the first Russian to lay claim to the emoticon. Sadly, he might end up :’(, instead of :-D.

Minimise-Me Helps Windows Live Messenger Users Create Personalized Emoticons

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:08:15 -0500

Jealous of Dr. Evil's Mini-Me? Worried about running out of Hot Pockets if you had a miniaturized version of yourself? Stop worrying - you can now create your very own 2D "mini-me" for free with Minimise-Me.

Available at the MSN UK website (which explains the spelling), Minimise-Me offers two ways to spice up your Windows Live Messenger experience: you can create your own customized emoticon or character (that's my version of me at the start of this article), or you can choose from emoticons modeled after celebrities (see the story at the WinVista Club website for examples).

After you create your character or choose a celebrity lookalike, you download it to your system. A 300KB install program runs, and after it finishes, your customized character appears in your WLM dialog.

If the ability to create your own "mini-me" isn't enough to get you to try Windows Live Messenger, check out our recent overview of IM clients.