Last week, Emoji on the iPhone was all the rage with some people in my circle of friends (/followers). By default, usage of the Emoji keyboard is only available on iPhones purchased and used in Japan. However, some hacks exist that can allow your non-Japanese iPhone to access the Emoji keyboard. The first version of the hack requires that you jailbreak your phone (too complicated for most); the second requires loading of special Vcards into your address book (messy); the last method is to download an app from the App Store that enables this setting on the handset (easy, but for a small price).

We were talking about these different methods a few days ago and found the easiest way to enable this was to use the App Store method. There are a few apps currently in the store that can do the trick but I wanted to build my own for three reasons:

1. I was interested to see how quickly I could build such an application. It didn’t take long to code.
2. I thought the price of $4.99 for such an app was too much; and I was curious to see if I could get a similar app approved for much lower.
3. I wondered whether the App Store would actually let me submit an application that changes a low-level user preference (outside the application “sandbox”, as Apple describes it).

I submitted my application (Emojicon) five days ago. Earlier today, I got news that it was rejected. Hah! I half-expected it. The best case I could have hoped for would have been that the App Store accepted it, but then rendered it useless by enabling it in a future iPhone update. The reason given for the rejection:

“An Application may write data on a device only to the Application’s designated container area, except as otherwise specified by Apple. [...] For security reasons, iPhone OS restricts an application (including its preferences and data) to a unique location in the file system. This restriction is part of the security feature known as the application’s “sandbox.” The sandbox is a set of fine-grained controls limiting an application’s access to files, preferences, network resources, hardware, and so on.” [Taken from the iPhone OS Programming Guide].

It was a good experiment: I got to challenge myself on how quickly I could go from idea to submitted app. And I got to test the acceptance process – particularly when working with shared preferences.

The question I have now though: How did the other Emoji-enabling apps make it into the App Store? :)

Emojicon is open-source (all four lines of code – ha!). Get it at /code/emojicon.

I’ve been wanting to do more video – stop-motion in particular.

New Moon in Aquarius [Jan 25th @ 11:55 pm PT  ~ Jan 26th @ 2:55 am ET]

We have a New Moon in Aquarius close to midnight on Sunday Jan 25th Pacific Time and early Monday morning Eastern Time. The New Moon is the time for new beginnings, so put your attention on whatever you want to manifest or increase in your life.

Aquarius is the forward-looking sign of independence, innovation, rebellion, invention, revolution, the new, avant-garde, breaking the rules, no restrictions, thinking out of the box, your authentic self, the greater good, spontaneity, groups and organizations, humanitarian causes, equality, technology, and friends.

How nice this aligns with my birthday. [via mediaeater]