💬 The Wrap
This month saw previews of both Windows and Android include support for Unicode 9.0 emoji candidates, in the fastest turnaround I have seen. By comparison, Unicode 7.0 was approved in mid-2014 and didn't see any vendor support for over a year!
Unicode 9.0 is currently in beta, and planned for release in June. Public operating system versions which support the latest emoji characters aren't likely to be released until the second half of 2016.
📰 News
💫 Emojitracker lives
After a near shut-down by Twitter last month, Emojitracker is permitted to keep its elevated access to the Twitter Streaming API.
📈 Rise of the Colbert Emoji
Stephen Colbert calls out the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee on too many boats, but does love the Colbert Emoji.
🍏 iOS 10: Wishes and Concept Video
An emoji search feature is long overdue on iOS, and this is one of many ways it could be accessed.
📽 Phone apps to "star" in Emoji Movie
Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming Emoji Movie looks to be a brand-fest, with Spotify the first app confirmed to be included.
🐱 Windows 10 Emoji Preview
Microsoft released a developer preview of the Windows 10 "Anniversary Update" which includes a long-overdue emoji redesign, Unicode 9.0 candidates, and a Ninja Cat ZWJ Sequence.
👽 Android N is also getting new emojis
A preview of Android N came out one week after Microsoft's Windows 10 preview and includes "gendered" emojis replacing the gender-neutral humans, skin tone modifier support, and also supports the latest Unicode 9 candidates.
🔥 Inside “Emojigeddon”
Do emoji discussions get "too much attention" at Unicode? This dissection of an email thread is an interesting read, but trying very hard to find controversy.
🔣 Unicode
🗳 Feedback for Unicode 9 closes soon
Technical comments on Unicode 9.0.0 must be recieved by May 2, 2016 in order for them to be discussed at UTC #147. Last chance.
🔶 "Orange Heart" emoji proposal
Paul Hunt plans to write a proposal for an ORANGE HEART to be encoded as an emoji to fill this gap: ❤️🍊💛💚💙💜
🗓 Events
🏛 April 27: Emoji at the Computer History Museum
A night about the history and current status of emoji. They also have an original i-mode phone from Japan with the first emoji incarnation. Tonight!
🛣 May 9: UTC #147
The next Unicode Technical Committee (UTC #147) meeting is taking place during the week of May 9, hosted at the Adobe HQ in San José, California.
😁 May 17-20: ICWSM-16
The excellent research on emoji interpretation by GroupLens Research at the University of Minnesota is being published at the 10th International AAAI Conference On Web And Social Media.
🌐 May 26-27: TNW Conference Europe 2016
"The Most Intimate Technology Festival On The Planet" held in Amsterdam May 26-27. Use this referral URL for 10% off the regular price.