The Great iOS-Android Emoji Divide Narrows Ever So Slightly:
YOU PROBABLY KNOW already that the emoji that you see on your iOS device are different, sometimes by a wild degree, from those that your Android friends do, and vice versa. This makes for some fun confusion—is that a grimace or a grin?—but also frustration, particularly on the Android side, because many core Android emoji are objectively worse. But not for long!
Google has announced several updates as part of its latest Android N preview, but we can skip past the new 3D rendering API and launcher shortcuts and head straight to the real news, which is that Android will finally deploy emoji that look like actual people.
Take a Trip to a Time When Viruses Still Called You Names:
Nowadays, viruses never play games. They never talk like teenage boys. They never talk at all. They steal your identity without saying a word. “The old viruses were more like supervillains than terrorists,” says computer historian Jason Scott.
Sadly, some people never experienced the thrill of a virus like Casino. But now they can. It’s one of many classic viruses now available at the Malware Museum, the latest digital time warp from Jason Scott, our pre-Internet archivist-in-chief. “The Casino virus is legendary. I heard about it my teens,” Scott says. “Now, I have my hands on it.”
Source: Wired
Humans Will Love Robots More When They’re Flawed:
Human beings are less than perfect. We forget things, get angry, and have our vices. So how likely is it that we would relate to a robot that’s perfect in every single way?
Not likely, according to researchers over at the University of Lincoln, who’ve just presented their findings at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) conference in Hamburg. They say that in the future, humans will probably accept their robotic pals more quickly if they’re just as flawed as we are.
Source: Vice Magazine
Japan just created a Google Street View for cats:
Do cats need maps? That’s the question inherently raised by Hiroshima prefecture’s tourism board, which made a map for cats — think Google Street View positioned at a cat’s height instead of a car’s — looking to explore the shops and restaurants in the city of Onomichi.
Source: vox.com