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Cingular Patents the Emoticon?

Posted by Zonk on from the no-words dept.

massysett writes "Mobile phone carrier Cingular Wireless may have managed to get a patent on the emoticon. The patent describes a system for selecting a displayable icon to indicate the mood or emotion of the user. It also covers text-based emoticons, 'so presumably sending :) via an SMS - if selected via a dedicated or softkey, would be a breach of the patent in future.'" My response? >:/

2 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Patent office lists prior art too by Randolpho · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Perhaps you should have just copied and pasted the entire article like the author who got his story posted did. :|

    I mean, it's not like CmdrTaco has formatting suggestions or anything.

    Oh, wait...

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  2. Grammar nazi by ozbird · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    [sour grapes] Rejected slashdot submission: [/sour grapes]

    An hot news story ...

    "A hot news story".

    If you pronounce the "h", use "a": "a horse", "a hospital", "a hotel".
    If you don't pronounce the "h" - i.e. you pronounce the vowel - use "an": "an honour", "an hour".
    You would only say "an hot" if you pronounce it Cockney style: "An 'ot news mornin' glory."