The Computer Next Door

The Evolution and Emotion in Emoticons

Emoticons - the shorthand depictions of facial expressions and feelings created with  punctuation marks, numbers and letters - have always fascinated me. They are actually a form of computer art, and have been around since the early 1980's.

Correction: a FORM of emoticons have been around since the late 19th Century. Wikipedia shows this illustration from Puck Magazine in 1881, which looks an awful lot like emoticons to me:

I have held onto a pint-sized booklet I got at a convention many years ago as a giveaway called WANT2TLK? from Logica.  It has hundreds of (admittedly) small pages of emoticons, and I just love having it around as a reference (obviousy, since I'm still talking about it).

But had never seen Japanese emoticons until today, and I found myself laughing out loud at the cleverness of some of them from a's Design article by Pagan Kennedy in the New York Times. (The emoticon shown above means "wearing headphones.")  This just goes to prove that some things really ARE universal -  totally wonderful.

“A Longitudinal Study of Emoticon Use in Text Messaging from Smartphones,” a recently released report from Rice University found that women use emoticons roughly twice as often as men in text messages. That apparently synchs with earlier research that women are also generally more emotionally expressive in nonverbal communication than men (think facial expressions). Probably this is some kind of holdover from our tribal days when emotion would lose you the spear-throwing contest.

If you've never used emoticons, it's not too late to start. Perhaps the oldest and most over-used is the one I am guilty of myself: the classic smiley face :) at the end of a message. A variant of this has a nose in the middle, thuus:  :-)   That's not to negate the classic "Frowny" emoticon  :-( for when the writer of the message is just plain sad.

The following tabular listing of emoticons in use throughout the globe isn't for the faint of heart, but perhaps you can find your own special emoticon on it to use and abuse.  Happy emoting.

List of Emoticons

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping Your PINs and Passwords Secure

Nothing's more important for your ability to safely use Web and mobile applications than keeping your PINs and Password secure.

PINs (personal identification numbers) are use for ATMs and telephone devices, or other devices where there is no access to a keyboard - just a keypad.  Passwords are used for the majority of Web account sign-in screens.

PINs and passwords alike are under constant threat from cyberthieves wanting to make away with whatever we have in our accounts. (This is not overstating the case).

So, how can we make them safer? I came across two recent articles this week pointing to just this problem.

In her New York Times column:  How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away, Nicole Perlroth makes some good suggestions for protecting your passwords, including:

1. Use long passwords (14 characters or more) or phrases
2. Don't use common words.
3. Store passwords somewhere secure - but not on your computer's hard drive and not on top of your desk.
4. Be careful of password manager apps that "live" on your computer. If your computer goes adios, so does your password manager.
5. Don't use the same password for all your favorite Websites. One gets hacked, and they all get hacked. (I had first-hand experience with this problem awhile ago when Zappo's database got hacked.)

In his article for AARP: Avoid a PIN-Number Data Breach, Sid Kirchheimer (author of "Scam-Proof Your Life") recommends the following steps to safeguarding PINs:

1. Don't use numerical combinations that can be easily linked to you with a little bit of online research, such as your birthday, your phone number,  a relative's birthday or your street address. 
2. Don't use a string of numbers such as 1234 or 1111. They're used by too many people.
3. Number sequences from many, many years ago are a safe bet (like your phone number growing up).
4. Longer sequences are better and safer than the standard 4-character PIN.
5. Don't carry reminders in your wallet.

Now if I can only follow all this great advice....

 

 

A Pretty Decent Alternative to iGoogle

I am sorry to lose the Teahouse theme on iGoogle (I really am), but I figured it was best to move on from iGoogle now, rather than risk separation anxiety at the last minute. As I have discussed earlier, Google has already started dismantling parts of iGoogle, its signature (and, alas, doomed) Home Page.

The idea of a Home Page is comforting - a nice litle landing pad when your brain in the morning hasn't had quite enough coffee and you don't remember what you were supposed to do first thing.

I read through some articles about iGoogle alternatives, and there were several of interest. But I wanted something as similar to iGoogle as possible (possibly because I think I HATE change), so I ended up choosing a new Home Page at igHome.  I recommend it. It doesn't quite have as many gadgets as iGoogle, but I realized I don't really NEED that many - I was just looking for a single landing page, not a whole site, so I am perfectly happy with the result:

The only thing I miss are those cute little themes that iGoogle had.  I loved the way the Teahouse graphic changed, depending on whether it was morning, afternoon or evening.

Oh, well, the only thing constant about our Tech Lives is, of course, change.

Why You Need the Mobile App for News Sites

I must admit I  lack consistency in my own usage of mobile media, whether on the iPhone or iPad.

Although I love to use the iPad as a reader, it does have its issues. Chief amongst these, I have discovered, si that when you're reading a newspaper online (with all the right-column ads), it's all to easy to accidentally hit an ad when all you really want to do is scroll down the page to read more text.

This is even more pronounced on the iPhone, with its much smaller screen, but it's surprisingly difficult to avoid these accidental hits on the iPad.  The process of reading a story thus becomes something like this, when I've opened the New York Times directly from an email link.

Read a paragraph - Scroll - Ad! Close ad - Back to email - Hit the headline again - scroll back down to the story - Ad! Close the ad.

Frustrating.  To be fair, they DO have the perfectly well-designed New York Times App. The problem I have with it, is it's NOT the same as the website, and I actually know my way around the website pretty well.  If only news sites worked better on mobile devices.  Can anybody come up with a solution to right-scrolling a device and avoiding right colum ads?

iGoogle Gives (Lots of) Notice

iGoogle is shutting its service down the day after Halloween of next year.  That's a huge amount of notice to give its customers (of whom I am one), so I commend them on that score, but it is still frustrating to have a Home Page that is going away.

I like iGoogle.  It's useful to have little boxes of information with newsfeeds from different sources - on my iGoogle Home Page, I have New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Technology, Health, Weather, a widget controlling my phone system, and a clock.  I also have a nice "themed" background that I will miss when they boot me off their servers finally (I'll probably be the last to go).

Their reason is the growth of other Web-based and mobile apps since they first introduced iGoogle - or as Google explains it:  "the need for something like iGoogle has eroded over time," (probably meaning not enough users are actually using it).

Oh, well.  Here we go again. My least-favorite aspect of using  technology is when I have to change things.  (I know I share this with a lot of users, but keep in mind that some people are just the opposite - and their most favorite thing about technology is "getting" to change things. Like my husband.)

I will look around for the iGoogle replacement and post when I find some good alternatives.