202-407: Gaia Online is an English-language, anime -themed social networking and forums -based website with Chibi -style animations. It was founded as go-gaia on February 18, 2003, by Derek Liu, Long Vo , Josh Gainsbrugh, and the name was changed to GaiaOnline.com in 2004 by its owner, Gaia Interactive. Gaia originally began as an anime linklist and eventually developed a small community, but following
404-540: A Studio Ghibli feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki , won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards . It later became the highest-grossing anime film , earning more than $ 355 million. Since the 2000s, an increased number of anime works have been adaptations of light novels and visual novels ; successful examples include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Fate/stay night (both 2006). Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
606-494: A similar style to Japanese animation are also produced outside Japan. Video games sometimes also feature themes and art styles that are sometimes labelled as anime. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917. A characteristic art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and spread in following decades, developing a large domestic audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, through television broadcasts, directly to home media , and over
808-414: A "donation system" in an attempt to increase site revenue, for every US$ 2.50 a user gives to the site, he or she receives an item known as a "Sealed Envelope" in his or her inventory. Sealed Envelopes go on sale on the first day of every month and are released on the 15th of each month on. During August and September 2008, the envelopes were unsealed on the eighth, but on October 2, 2008, it was decided that
1010-625: A , e , s , z ) to enable using cell phones without Polish script or to save space in Unicode messages. Historically, this language developed out of shorthand used in bulletin board systems and later in Internet chat rooms , where users would abbreviate some words to allow a response to be typed more quickly, though the amount of time saved was often inconsequential. However, this became much more pronounced in SMS, where mobile phone users either have
1212-582: A 1,000-foot range picocell, but it survived. American Personal Communications (APC), the first GSM carrier in America, provided the first text-messaging service in the United States. Sprint Telecommunications Venture, a partnership of Sprint Corp. and three large cable-TV companies, owned 49 percent of APC. The Sprint venture was the largest single buyer at a government-run spectrum auction that raised $ 7.7 billion in 2005 for PCS licenses. APC operated under
1414-625: A 10-point system. On Sundays at 12:00 A.M. PST, the top ten entries with the highest average score would be rewarded with Gold based on their rankings and had their Avatar permanently featured in the Avatar Arena winner circle that is permanently archived in the Arena features. On September 30, 2008, the Avatar Arenas were separated into two categories. Users could enter Cosplay Avatars in one Arena and Original Avatars which did not qualify as
1616-593: A GSM subgroup under the leadership of Finn Trosby. It was further developed under the leadership of Kevin Holley and Ian Harris (see Short Message Service ). SMS forms an integral part of Signalling System No. 7 (SS7). Under SS7, it is a "state" with 160 characters of data, coded in the ITU-T "T.56" text format, that has a "sequence lead in" to determine different language codes and may have special character codes that permit, for example, sending simple graphs as text. This
1818-465: A chance mini-game and the item they are granted depends on their success with completing the game when they decide to stop playing and collect an item, or their failure to complete the game. Games will vary depending on the RIG ;– some may require users to choose a "correct" response, while some are simply a choice between continuing the game or stopping and collecting an item. RIGs are available from
2020-481: A character onscreen. Messages usually cost 0.05 to 0.86 Euro apiece, and games can require the player to send dozens of messages. In December 2003, a Finnish TV channel, MTV3 , put a Santa Claus character on-air reading aloud text messages sent in by viewers. On 12 March 2004, the first entirely "interactive" TV channel, VIISI, began operation in Finland. However, SBS Finland Oy took over the channel and turned it into
2222-406: A common characteristic of American streaming television shows during the " Peak TV " era. The animation industry consists of more than 430 production companies with some of the major studios including Toei Animation , Gainax , Madhouse , Gonzo , Sunrise , Bones , TMS Entertainment , Nippon Animation , P.A.Works , Studio Pierrot , Production I.G , Ufotable and Studio Ghibli . Many of
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#17327986514672424-518: A cosplay in the other. The voting system was changed to a 5-Star score that users could vote with. Entry fees into the Arenas increased after this to reduce the number of entries and currently cost 10,000 gold to enter. Entering the Art and Housing Arena is free, and no prizes are awarded. The Gaia Quest system grants users items for performing certain tasks. Although previously quests for doing tasks around
2626-686: A dark shade is used. However, not all anime characters have large eyes. For example, the works of Hayao Miyazaki are known for having realistically proportioned eyes, as well as realistic hair colors on their characters. Hair in anime is often unnaturally lively and colorful or uniquely styled. The movement of hair in anime is exaggerated and "hair actions" is used to emphasize the action and emotions of characters for added visual effect. Poitras traces hairstyle color to cover illustrations on manga, where eye-catching artwork and colorful tones are attractive for children's manga. Some anime will depict non-Japanese characters with specific ethnic features, such as
2828-431: A decline in the use of SMS in parts of the world. A survey conducted by MetrixLabs showed that 63% of Baby Boomers, 63% of Generation X, and 67% of Generation Y said that they used instant messengers in place of texting. A Facebook survey showed that 65% of people surveyed thought that messaging applications made group messaging easier. Of many texting trends, a system known as microblogging has surfaced, which consists of
3030-484: A defense. Users did not level up the traditional way via experience points, but instead, through collecting Charge Orbs and empowering their rings with them. zOMG was made public and open to beta testing in November 2008, and a number of updates were made to the rings and flow of the game during its six-year duration on the site. On November 6, 2014, the staff announced that due to hardware and engineering limitations, zOMG
3232-491: A different set of poses become available instead. Additionally, with each subsequent evolution a re-release of the item becomes available at the Cash Shop as a "next-generation" release. When the item has fully evolved all previous poses become available for the item. Times between evolutions are different for each EI, and can be anywhere between a few weeks to a few months. Recent additions of "Rapid Evolving Items" evolve twice
3434-414: A distinct set of conventions. Unlike Disney animation, where the emphasis is on the movement, anime emphasizes the art quality and let limited animation techniques make up for the lack of time spent on movement. Such techniques are often used not only to meet deadlines but also as artistic devices. Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views, and backgrounds are instrumental in creating
3636-724: A diverse range of genres targeting an adult audience. Shōjo and shōnen anime sometimes contain elements popular with children of all genders in an attempt to gain crossover appeal. Adult anime may feature a slower pace or greater plot complexity that younger audiences may typically find unappealing, as well as adult themes and situations. A subset of adult anime works featuring pornographic elements are labeled "R18" in Japan, and are internationally known as hentai (originating from pervert ( 変態 , hentai ) ). By contrast, some anime subgenres incorporate ecchi , sexual themes or undertones without depictions of sexual intercourse , as typified in
3838-633: A fixed iconography that is used as shorthand for certain emotions and moods. For example, a male character may develop a nosebleed when aroused. A variety of visual symbols are employed, including sweat drops to depict nervousness, visible blushing for embarrassment, or glowing eyes for an intense glare. Another recurring sight gag is the use of chibi (deformed, simplified character designs) figures to comedically punctuate emotions like confusion or embarrassment. The opening and credits sequences of most anime television series are accompanied by J-pop or J-rock songs, often by reputed bands—as written with
4040-421: A friend or colleague about a meeting. As with e-mail, informality and brevity have become an accepted part of text messaging. Some text messages such as SMS can also be used for the remote control of home appliances. It is widely used in domotics systems. Some amateurs have also built their own systems to control (some of) their appliances via SMS. A Flash SMS is a type of text message that appears directly on
4242-475: A gendered dimension and it plays into the development of teen identity. In addition we text to a very small number of other persons. For most people, half of their texts go to 3 – 5 other people. Research by Rosen et al. (2009) found that those young adults who used more language-based textisms (shortcuts such as LOL, 2nite, etc.) in daily writing produced worse formal writing than those young adults who used fewer linguistic textisms in daily writing. However,
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#17327986514674444-1298: A high quality of their services. Just one of many SMS applications that have proven highly popular and successful in the financial services industry is mobile receipts. In January 2009, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) published the Mobile Banking Overview for financial institutions in which it discussed the advantages and disadvantages of mobile channel platforms such as Short Message Services (SMS), Mobile Web, Mobile Client Applications, SMS with Mobile Web and Secure SMS. Mobile interaction services are an alternative way of using SMS in business communications with greater certainty. Typical business-to-business applications are telematics and Machine-to-Machine , in which two applications automatically communicate with each other. Incident alerts are also common, and staff communications are also another use for B2B scenarios. Businesses can use SMS for time-critical alerts, updates, and reminders, mobile campaigns, content and entertainment applications. Mobile interaction can also be used for consumer-to-business interactions, such as media voting and competitions, and consumer-to-consumer interaction, for example, with mobile social networking, chatting and dating. Text messaging
4646-596: A large forest tree for the film Legend of the Guardians , and a tree house for the animated TV series Adventure Time among many others. Users can interact with certain NPCs in these areas, and are often awarded prizes for visiting these areas. Gaia has also released multiple apps on iOS. Gaia on the Go, the main application allows users a streamlined way of accessing the forums and making minor avatar edits, as well as viewing
4848-831: A large number of consumers racking up huge phone bills. A new type of free-premium or hybrid-premium content has emerged with the launch of text-service websites. These sites allow registered users to receive free text messages when items they are interested in go on sale, or when new items are introduced. An alternative to inbound SMS is based on long numbers (international mobile number format, e.g., +44 7624 805000, or geographic numbers that can handle voice and SMS, e.g., 01133203040 ), which can be used in place of short codes or premium-rated short messages for SMS reception in several applications, such as TV voting , product promotions and campaigns. Long numbers are internationally available, as well as enabling businesses to have their own number, rather than short codes, which are usually shared across
5050-445: A lot of brands. Additionally, long numbers are non-premium inbound numbers. The use of text messaging for workplace purposes grew significantly during the mid-2000s. As companies seek competitive advantages, many employees used new technology, collaborative applications, and real-time messaging such as SMS, instant messaging , and mobile communications to connect with teammates and customers. Some practical uses of text messaging include
5252-492: A major cel production company, announced it would stop cel production, producing an industry panic to procure cel imports and hastening the switch to digital processes. Prior to the digital era, anime was produced with traditional animation methods using a pose to pose approach. The majority of mainstream anime uses fewer expressive key frames and more in-between animation. Japanese animation studios were pioneers of many limited animation techniques, and have given anime
5454-545: A major role in this, through over time many legal alternatives appeared which significantly reduced illegal practices. Since the 2010s streaming services have become increasingly involved in the production, licensing and distribution of anime for the international markets. This is especially the case with net services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll which have large catalogs in Western countries, although until 2020 anime fans in multiple developing countries, such as India and
5656-524: A miniaturized blog, inspired mainly by people's tendency to jot down informal thoughts and post them online. They consist of websites like X (formerly Twitter ) and its Chinese equivalent Weibo (微博). As of 2016, 21% of all American adults used Twitter. As of 2017, Weibo had 340 million active users. In some countries, text messages can be used to contact emergency services. In the UK, text messages can be used to call emergency services only after registering with
5858-509: A month for €10. In Finland, which has very high mobile phone ownership rates, some TV channels began "SMS chat", which involved sending short messages to a phone number, and the messages would be shown on TV. Chats are always moderated, which prevents users from sending offensive material to the channel. The craze evolved into quizzes and strategy games and then faster-paced games designed for television and SMS control. Games require users to register their nicknames and send short messages to control
6060-508: A more efficient way to communicate. Crystal has also been quoted in saying that "In a logical world, text messaging should not have survived." But text messaging didn't just come out of nowhere. It originally began as a messaging system that would send out emergency information. But it gained immediate popularity with the public. What followed is the SMS we see today, which is a very quick and efficient way of sharing information from person to person. Work by Richard Ling has shown that texting has
6262-471: A music channel named The Voice in November 2004. In 2006, the Prime Minister of Finland , Matti Vanhanen , made the news when he allegedly broke up with his girlfriend with a text message. In 2007, the first book written solely in text messages, Viimeiset viestit ( Last Messages ), was released by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala . It is about an executive who travels through Europe and India. In
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6464-517: A myth derived from the popularity of anime in France in the late 1970s and 1980s. In English, anime —when used as a common noun —normally functions as a mass noun . (For example: "Do you watch anime?" or "How much anime have you watched?") As with a few other Japanese words, such as saké and Pokémon , English texts sometimes spell anime as animé (as in French), with an acute accent over
6666-519: A number of games where users can win different items or gold. These games constitute 10% to 15% of total site activity. In December 2020, Gaia removed Flash from their website including games requiring Flash. This was a large portion of their game selection. zOMG is a browser-based MMORPG on Gaia where users battled monsters and participated in RPG -style quests. The game utilized special rings to activate abilities, such as throwing fireballs or conjuring up
6868-756: A number of spelling abbreviations: as in the phrase "txt msg", "u" (an abbreviation for "you"), "HMU"("hit me up"; i.e., call me), or use of camel case , such as in "ThisIsVeryLame". To avoid the even more limited message lengths allowed when using Cyrillic or Greek letters, speakers of languages written in those alphabets often use the Latin alphabet for their own language . In certain languages utilizing diacritic marks, such as Polish, SMS technology created an entire new variant of written language: characters normally written with diacritic marks (e.g., ą , ę , ś , ż in Polish) are now being written without them (as
7070-525: A numeric keyboard (with older cellphones) or a small QWERTY keyboard (for 2010s-era smartphones), so more effort is required to type each character, and there is sometimes a limit on the number of characters that may be sent. In Mandarin Chinese , numbers that sound similar to words are used in place of those words. For example, the numbers 520 in Chinese ( wǔ èr líng ) sound like the words for "I love you" ( wǒ ài nǐ ). The sequence 748 ( qī sì bā ) sounds like
7272-634: A part of the voting system (there was also a voting over traditional landline phone lines). In 2005, the Eurovision Song Contest organized the biggest televoting ever (with SMS and phone voting). During roaming , (that is, when a user connects to another network in different country from their own) the prices may be higher, but in July 2009, EU legislation went into effect limiting this price to €0.11. Mobile service providers in Finland offered contracts in which users can send 1000 text messages
7474-505: A positive worldwide image and improve its relations with other countries such as its East Asian neighbours China and South Korea . In 2015, during remarks welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House, President Barack Obama thanked Japan for its cultural contributions to the United States by saying: This visit is a celebration of the ties of friendship and family that bind our peoples. I first felt it when I
7676-565: A primary role in the implication of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in an SMS sex scandal. Short messages are particularly popular among young urbanites. In many markets, the service is comparatively cheap. For example, in Australia, a message typically costs between A$ 0.20 and $ 0.25 to send (some prepaid services charge $ 0.01 between their own phones), compared with a voice call, which costs somewhere between $ 0.40 and $ 2.00 per minute (commonly charged in half-minute blocks). The service
7878-537: A pronounced nose and jutting jaw for European characters. In other cases, anime feature characters whose race or nationality is not always defined, and this is often a deliberate decision, such as in the Pokémon animated series. Anime and manga artists often draw from a common canon of iconic facial expression illustrations to denote particular moods and thoughts. These techniques are often different in form than their counterparts in Western animation, and they include
8080-436: A quick and easy way to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues, including in contexts where a call would be impolite or inappropriate (e.g., calling very late at night or when one knows the other person is busy with family or work activities). Like e-mail and voicemail , and unlike calls (in which the caller hopes to speak directly with the recipient), texting does not require the caller and recipient to both be free at
8282-482: A range of NPC -run stores using the site currencies , Gaia Platinum and Gaia Cash. Players may also gift one another clothing items and accessories. Avatars appear next to posts in the forums and profile comments (the post itself encapsulated in a "speech bubble"), and in Gaia Towns and Gaia rallies, and other environments the avatar appears as a movable character that can travel from place to place, interacting with
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8484-572: A requisite for a work to be considered "anime". The etymology of the term anime is disputed. The English word "animation" is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション ( animēshon ) and as アニメ ( anime , pronounced [a.ɲi.me] ) in its shortened form. Some sources claim that the term is derived from the French term for animation dessin animé ("cartoon", literally 'animated drawing'), but others believe this to be
8686-403: A rise in sales of shows to television stations in Japan, caused by late night anime with adults as the target demographic . This type of anime is less popular outside Japan, being considered "more of a niche product ". Spirited Away (2001) was the all-time highest-grossing film in Japan until overtaken by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in 2020. It was also
8888-493: A short amount of time and without needing to set time aside to engage in conversation. With voice calling, both participants need to be free at the same time. Mobile phone users can maintain communication during situations in which a voice call is impractical, impossible, or unacceptable, such as during a school class or work meeting. Texting has provided a venue for participatory culture , allowing viewers to vote in online and TV polls, as well as receive information while they are on
9090-522: A slight increase in production costs and animator pays during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021 the American streaming service Netflix announced that it will greatly invest and fund the anime industry as well as support training programs for new animators. On April 27, 2023, Nippon Anime Film Culture Association (NAFCA) was officially founded. The association aims to solve problems in
9292-479: A small cost. Shaking trees, rocks, and shrubs can yield small amounts of gold to be collected. Users may use a virtual chat system while in the towns. Homes can be found throughout Towns and more than one user can visit someone else's home. Towns 2, was launched in 2013. The regular updating of Towns and Towns 2 was discontinued because of the decrease in active, unique players . Players can still use these Towns and visit their friends. In November 2020, an announcement
9494-560: A sponsorship from the Imperial Japanese Navy . The 1950s saw a proliferation of short, animated advertisements created for television. In the 1960s, manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified Disney animation techniques to reduce costs and limit frame counts in his productions. Originally intended as temporary measures to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with inexperienced staff, many of his limited animation practices came to define
9696-520: A statement by founder Derek Liu, the website moved towards social gaming and eventually became forum-based. In 2007, over a million posts were made daily, and 7 million unique users visited each month (with over 26 million total registered users ). Gaia also won the 2007 Webware 100 award in the Community category and was included in Time magazine's list of 50 best websites in 2008. In January 2011,
9898-468: A sufficient extent that the term texting (used as a verb meaning the act of mobile phone users sending short messages back and forth) has entered the common lexicon. In 2012, young Asians considered SMS as the most popular mobile phone application. In the same year, 50 percent of American teens send 50 text messages or more per day, making it their most frequent form of communication. In 2004 in China, SMS
10100-497: A television series produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno , began another era of experimental anime titles, such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). In the 1990s, anime also began attracting greater interest in Western countries; major international successes include Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z , both of which were dubbed into more than a dozen languages worldwide. In 2003, Spirited Away ,
10302-603: A typewriter at home, Hillebrand typed out random sentences and counted every letter, number, punctuation mark, and space. Almost every time, the messages contained fewer than 160 characters, thus giving the basis for the limit one could type via text messaging. With Bernard Ghillebaert of France Télécom , he developed a proposal for the GSM (Groupe Spécial Mobile) meeting in February 1985 in Oslo. The first technical solution evolved in
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#173279865146710504-554: A week. New evolution updates are noted in regular site announcements as "Evolving Item Reports" present by the NPC, Dr. Singh. All EIs are available from the Cash Shop "La Victoire", and can be later sold through trading or in the Marketplace. EIs are removed from the Cash Shop sometime after their final evolution becomes available. With Chance Items, referred to as CIs (previously known as Random Item Generators, or RIGs ), users play
10706-455: A whole, they do share some similar attributes in terms of animation technique and character design. Anime is fundamentally characterized by the use of limited animation, flat expression, the suspension of time, its thematic range, the presence of historical figures, its complex narrative line and, above all, a peculiar drawing style, with characters characterized by large and oval eyes, with very defined lines, bright colors and reduced movement of
10908-604: Is mecha , with the Gundam metaseries being iconic. The diverse fantasy genre includes works based on Asian and Western traditions and folklore; examples include the Japanese feudal fairytale InuYasha , and the depiction of Scandinavian goddesses who move to Japan to maintain a computer called Yggdrasil in Ah! My Goddess . Genre crossing in anime is also prevalent, such as the blend of fantasy and comedy in Dragon Half , and
11110-450: Is 1 peso per SMS (about US$ 0.023). Even after users were charged for SMS, it remained cheap, about one-tenth of the price of a voice call. This low price led to about five million Filipinos owning a cell phone by 2001. Because of the highly social nature of Philippine culture and the affordability of SMS compared to voice calls, SMS usage shot up. Filipinos used texting not only for social messages but also for political purposes, as it allowed
11312-576: Is a game that is a part of The Playpen. Players destroy blocks and clear the board to score as many points as possible. Tournaments are held through the game, while Gaia Cash is required to play, and Gaia gold is rewarded as a prize for winning. Gaia Towns (often simply called Towns) is a virtual world where avatars may move and interact with each other. While in Towns users can pick up various items. Insects, litter, and flowers can be collected while in Towns, and these items can be later made into other items for
11514-467: Is an art form that comprises many genres found in other mediums; it is sometimes mistakenly classified as a genre itself. In Japanese, the term anime is used to refer to all animated works, regardless of style or origin. English-language dictionaries typically define anime ( / ˈ æ n ɪ m eɪ / ) as "a style of Japanese animation" or as "a style of animation originating in Japan". Other definitions are based on origin, making production in Japan
11716-509: Is available on a wide range of networks, including 3G networks. However, not all text-messaging systems use SMS; some notable alternate implementations of the concept include J-Phone 's SkyMail and NTT Docomo 's Short Mail , both in Japan. E-mail messaging from phones, as popularized by NTT Docomo's i-mode and the RIM BlackBerry , also typically use standard mail protocols such as SMTP over TCP/IP . As of 2007 , text messaging
11918-572: Is commonly used in other languages as well. Crystal gives some examples in several languages such as Italian sei , "six", is used for sei , "you are". Example: dv6 = dove sei ("where are you") and French k7 = cassette ("cassette tape"). There is also the use of numeral sequences, substituting for several syllables of a word and creating whole phrases using numerals. For example, in French, a12c4 can be said as à un de ces quatres , "see you around" (literally: "to one of these four [days] "). An example of using symbols in texting and borrowing from English
12120-750: Is enormously profitable to the service providers. At a typical length of only 190 bytes (including protocol overhead), more than 350 of these messages per minute can be transmitted at the same data rate as a usual voice call (9 kbit/s). There are also free SMS services available, which are often sponsored, that allow sending and receiving SMS from a PC connected to the Internet. Mobile service providers in New Zealand, such as One NZ and Spark New Zealand , provided up to 2000 SMS messages for NZ$ 10 per month. Users on these plans sent on average 1500 SMS messages every month. Text messaging became so popular that advertising agencies and advertisers jumped into
12322-438: Is largely credited with popularizing anime in the Western world during the early 1990s, before anime was further popularized by television shows such as Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z in the late 1990s. By 1997, Japanese anime was the fastest-growing genre in the American video industry. The growth of the Internet later provided international audiences with an easy way to access Japanese content. Early on, online piracy played
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#173279865146712524-540: Is mainly popular among people from 13 to 22 years old, it is also increasing among adults and business users. The age that a child receives their first cell phone has also decreased, making text messaging a popular way of communicating. The number of texts sent in the US has gone up over the years as the price has gone down to an average of $ 0.10 per text sent and received. To convince more customers to buy unlimited text messaging plans, some major cellphone providers have increased
12726-449: Is now its largest industry sector). By 2025 the anime industry is expected to reach a value of $ 30 billion with over 60% of that revenue coming from overseas. Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) valued the domestic anime market in Japan at ¥2.4 trillion ( $ 24 billion ), including ¥2 trillion from licensed products, in 2005. JETRO reported sales of overseas anime exports in 2004 to be ¥2 trillion ( $ 18 billion ). JETRO valued
12928-655: Is referred to by different colloquialisms depending on the region. It may simply be referred to as a "text" in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines; an "SMS" in most of mainland Europe; or an "MMS" or "SMS" in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The sender of a text message is commonly referred to as a "texter". The electrical telegraph systems, developed in
13130-488: Is regularly distributed to users as they browse around the website, post in the forums, play games, and participate in other various events and contests; the site also rewards users every day with random platinum or items from the Daily Chance. The former virtual currency was known as Gaia Gold, however, after a rapid increase in inflation after gold generating items were released, Gaia created Gaia Platinum and gave users
13332-427: Is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones , tablet computers , smartwatches , desktops / laptops , or another type of compatible computer. Text messages may be sent over a cellular network or may also be sent via satellite or Internet connection. The term originally referred to messages sent using
13534-839: Is the use of @ . Whenever it is used in texting, its intended use is with the English pronunciation. Crystal gives the example of the Welsh use of @ in @F , pronounced ataf, meaning "to me". In character-based languages such as Chinese and Japanese, numbers are assigned syllables based on the shortened form of the pronunciation of the number, sometimes the English pronunciation of the number. In this way, numbers alone can be used to communicate whole passages, such as in Chinese, "8807701314520" ( bào bao nǐ qīng qing nǐ yīshēng yìshì wǒ ài nǐ ) can be literally translated as "Hug hug you, kiss you, whole life, whole life I love you." English influences worldwide texting in variation, but still in combination with
13736-502: Is used for tsunami warnings and in Europe, SMS is used to inform individuals of imminent disasters. Since the location of a handset is known, systems can alert everyone in an area that the events have made impossible to pass through e.g. an avalanche. A similar system, known as Emergency Alert , is used in Australia to notify the public of impending disasters through both SMS and landline phone calls. These messages can be sent based on either
13938-480: Is used to distinguish and identify Japanese animation. Emakimono and shadow plays ( kage-e ) are considered precursors of Japanese animation. Emakimono was common in the eleventh century. Traveling storytellers narrated legends and anecdotes while the emakimono was unrolled from the right to left in chronological order, as a moving panorama. Kage-e was popular during the Edo period and originated from
14140-631: Is widely used in business settings; as well, it is used in many civil service and non-governmental organization workplaces. The U.S. And Canadian civil service both adopted BlackBerry smartphones in the 2000s. Group texts involve more than two users. They are often used when it is helpful to message many people at once, such as inviting multiple people to an event or arranging groups. They are also used in business for marketing and other customer notifications as well as intracompany communication. Group texts are often sent as MMS messages and therefore require an internet connection to send instead of using
14342-533: The Guinness World Record for the "Most in-demand animated TV show" with a global demand rating 71.2 times than that of the average TV show, previously held by Attack on Titan . Anime differs from other forms of animation by its art styles, methods of animation, its production, and its process. Visually, anime works exhibit a wide variety of art styles, differing between creators, artists, and studios. While no single art style predominates anime as
14544-566: The National Health Service (England) more than £600 million ($ 980 million) a year. SMS messages are thought to be more cost-effective, swifter to deliver, and more likely to receive a faster response than letters. A 2012 study by Sims and colleagues examined the outcomes of 24,709 outpatient appointments scheduled in mental health services in South-East London. The study found that SMS message reminders could reduce
14746-535: The Philippines , had fewer options for obtaining access to legal content, and therefore would still turn to online piracy. However beginning with the 2020s anime has been experiencing yet another boom in global popularity and demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video , HBO Max , Disney+ , Hulu and anime-only services like Crunchyroll and Hidive , increasing
14948-625: The Short Message Service (SMS) on mobile devices. It has grown beyond alphanumeric text to include multimedia messages using the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and Rich Communication Services (RCS), which can contain digital images, videos, and sound content, as well as ideograms known as emoji ( happy faces , sad faces, and other icons), and on various instant messaging apps. Text messaging has been an extremely popular medium of communication since
15150-639: The United Kingdom wanting to get a degree in the Japanese language . The word anime alongside other Japanese pop cultural terms like shonen , shojo and isekai have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary . Various anime and manga series have influenced Hollywood in the making of numerous famous movies and characters. Hollywood itself has produced live-action adaptations of various anime series such as Ghost in
15352-450: The highest-grossing anime film worldwide until it was overtaken by Makoto Shinkai 's 2016 film Your Name . Anime films represent a large part of the highest-grossing Japanese films yearly in Japan, with 6 out of the top 10 in 2014 , 2015 and also in 2016 . Anime has to be licensed by companies in other countries in order to be legally released. While anime has been licensed by its Japanese owners for use outside Japan since at least
15554-589: The real robot genre. Robot anime series such as Gundam and Super Dimension Fortress Macross became instant classics in the 1980s, and the genre remained one of the most popular in the following decades. The bubble economy of the 1980s spurred a new era of high-budget and experimental anime films, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987), and Akira (1988). Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995),
15756-675: The "fathers of anime") produced numerous films, the oldest surviving of which is Kōuchi's Namakura Gatana . Many early works were lost with the destruction of Shimokawa's warehouse in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake . By the mid-1930s, animation was well-established in Japan as an alternative format to the live-action industry. It suffered competition from foreign producers, such as Disney , and many animators, including Noburō Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata , continued to work with cheaper cutout animation rather than cel animation . Other creators, including Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo , nevertheless made great strides in technique, benefiting from
15958-489: The 1960s, the practice became well-established in the United States in the late 1970s to early 1980s, when such TV series as Gatchaman and Captain Harlock were licensed from their Japanese parent companies for distribution in the US market. The trend towards American distribution of anime continued into the 1980s with the licensing of titles such as Voltron and the 'creation' of new series such as Robotech through
16160-479: The 1980s and 1990s. These mass imports influenced anime popularity in Latin American , Arabic and German markets. The beginning of 1980 saw the introduction of Japanese anime series into the American culture. In the 1990s, Japanese animation slowly gained popularity in America. Media companies such as Viz and Mixx began publishing and releasing animation into the American market. The 1988 film Akira
16362-405: The 1980s, the medium has also seen widespread international success with the rise of foreign dubbed , subtitled programming, and since the 2010s due to the rise of streaming services and a widening demographic embrace of anime culture, both within Japan and worldwide. As of 2016, Japanese animation accounted for 60% of the world's animated television shows . As a type of animation , anime
16564-438: The 1990s. Since this practice raises concerns for copyright and piracy issues, fansubbers tend to adhere to an unwritten moral code to destroy or no longer distribute an anime once an official translated or subtitled version becomes licensed. They also try to encourage viewers to buy an official copy of the release once it comes out in English, although fansubs typically continue to circulate through file-sharing networks. Even so,
16766-471: The 2020s anime songs have experienced a rapid growth in global online popularity due to their widened availability on music streaming services like Spotify and promotion by fans and artists on social media. In 2023, the opening theme " Idol " by Yoasobi of the anime series Oshi no Ko topped the Billboard Global 200 Excl. U.S. charts with 45.7 million streams and 24,000 copies sold outside
16968-593: The Black Knight , Harry Potter , PopStar Guitar , and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 , among many others. Anime series and TV shows have also been promoted, such as Naruto , Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle , and The Hills . There are a few for games such as Dragon Quest Swords and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja . There are also some quests for products such as Crazy Cores Skittles . Achievements are tasks that can be performed around
17170-472: The Cash Shop "La Victoire" and are eventually rotated out of the shop. Users are able to own their own Gaia House situated in Gaia Towns. Houses are available in three different styles: Round, Square, and Long. To purchase a house is free; however future changes to the style of the house cost an additional amount. Users are also able to relocate their homes to a different Town postcode for an additional cost. A range of decorative furniture items can be bought from
17372-409: The Cash Shop, "La Victoire". Envelopes and letters can be later bought and sold through user trades or through Marketplace. The production of these types of items were discontinued, with the final Monthly Collectibles released on March 15, 2017. Evolving Items, commonly abbreviated to EIs , are items that change or evolve over time. Items begin with one set of item poses, but with each new evolution,
17574-518: The DVD format which offered the unique advantages; including multiple subtitling and dubbing tracks on the same disc. The DVD format also has its drawbacks in its usage of region coding ; adopted by the industry to solve licensing, piracy and export problems and restricted region indicated on the DVD player. The Video CD (VCD) format was popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but became only a minor format in
17776-513: The Filipino population), with around 1.39 billion SMS messages being sent daily. Because of the large number of text messages being sent, the Philippines became known as the "text capital of the world" during the late 1990s until the early 2000s. There are three mobile network companies operating in New Zealand, with some sub-brands and MVNOs. Spark NZ (formerly Telecom NZ), was the first telecommunication company in New Zealand. In 2011, Spark
17978-469: The Filipinos to express their opinions on current events and political issues. It became a powerful tool for Filipinos in promoting or denouncing issues and was a key factor during the 2001 EDSA II revolution, which overthrew then-President Joseph Estrada , who was eventually found guilty of corruption. According to 2009 statistics, there were about 72 million mobile service subscriptions (roughly 80% of
18180-601: The Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of "World's Most In-Demand TV Show", previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones . In 2024, the anime series Jujutsu Kaisen won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2023" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Rising interest in anime as well as Japanese video games has led to an increase of university students in
18382-473: The Great Debate"), David Crystal states that texters in all eleven languages use "lol" ("laughing out loud"), "u", "brb" ("be right back"), and "gr8" ("great"), all English-based shorthands. The use of pictograms and logograms in texts are present in every language. They shorten words by using symbols to represent the word or symbols whose name sounds like a syllable of the word such as in 2day or b4. This
18584-560: The Internet . In addition to original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics ( manga ), light novels , or video games . It is classified into numerous genres targeting various broad and niche audiences. Anime is a diverse medium with distinctive production methods that have adapted in response to emergent technologies. It combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. Compared to Western animation, anime production generally focuses less on movement, and more on
18786-465: The Internet has led some animators to distribute works online in a format called " original net animation " (ONA). The home distribution of anime releases was popularized in the 1980s with the VHS and LaserDisc formats. The VHS NTSC video format used in both Japan and the United States is credited with aiding the rising popularity of anime in the 1990s. The LaserDisc and VHS formats were transcended by
18988-454: The Japanese film market, above the 4.6% market share for live-action works. The popularity and success of anime is seen through the profitability of the DVD market, contributing nearly 70% of total sales. According to a 2016 article on Nikkei Asian Review , Japanese television stations have bought over ¥60 billion worth of anime from production companies "over the past few years", compared with under ¥20 billion from overseas. There has been
19190-514: The Movie: Mugen Train became the highest-grossing Japanese film and one of the world's highest-grossing films of 2020. It also became the fastest grossing film in Japanese cinema, because in 10 days it made 10 billion yen ($ 95.3m; £72m). It beat the previous record of Spirited Away which took 25 days. In 2021, the anime adaptations of Jujutsu Kaisen , Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Tokyo Revengers were among
19392-588: The NPC-run store, "The Faktori", such as include floor and wall tiles, tables, chairs, lamps, among others. Rare housing items can be found in Enchanted Wooden Trunks and Enchanted Golden Trunks randomly found floating across site pages. On June 18, 2007, Gaia Online and Scion announced a partnership that allowed users to create a virtual Scion with customizable wheels, decals, fog lights, tail lights, and spoilers. Other car choices available were
19594-477: The Philippines in 1995. In 1998, Philippine mobile service providers launched SMS more widely across the country, with initial television marketing campaigns targeting hearing-impaired users. The service was initially free with subscriptions, but Filipinos quickly exploited the feature to communicate for free instead of using voice calls, which they would be charged for. After telephone companies realized this trend, they began charging for SMS. The rate across networks
19796-696: The Rally game available on the website. Users can maintain fish and other creatures in Gaia Aquariums. Fish and tank accessories can be purchased with both Gaia Cash and Gold from the NPC-run store, "Phin Phang". At certain times, the fish inside a tank (from a different owner, commonly as a signature under a post in the forums) will "glow", enabling the Booty Grab mini-game. Aquarium item bundles (which include various fish and tank items) can be purchased from
19998-444: The SMS traffic between businesses and mobile subscribers, being mainly responsible for carrying mission-critical messages, SMS for enterprises, content delivery and entertainment services involving SMS, e.g., TV voting. Considering SMS messaging performance and cost, as well as the level of text messaging services, SMS gateway providers can be classified as resellers of the text messaging capability of another provider's SMSC or offering
20200-486: The Shell , Death Note , Dragon Ball Evolution and Cowboy Bebop . However most of these adaptations have been reviewed negatively by both the critics and the audience and have become box-office flops . The main reasons for the unsuccessfulness of Hollywood's adaptions of anime being the often change of plot and characters from the original source material and the limited capabilities a live-action movie or series can do in comparison to an animated counterpart. One of
20402-542: The U.S. "Idol" has become the first Japanese song and anime song to top the Billboard Global chart as well as taking the first spot on the Apple Music 's Top 100: Global chart. Anime are often classified by target demographic, including children's ( 子供 , kodomo ) , girls' ( 少女 , shōjo ) , boys' ( 少年 , shōnen ) , young men ( 青年 , Seinen ) , young women ( 女性 , josei ) and
20604-496: The US agreed to stop billing for PSMS in 45 states, effectively ending its use in the United States. Outside the United States, premium short messages have been used for "real-world" services. For example, some vending machines now allow payment by sending a premium-rated short message, so that the cost of the item bought is added to the user's phone bill or subtracted from the user's prepaid credits. Recently, premium messaging companies have come under fire from consumer groups due to
20806-456: The United Kingdom, the figure was around 35–40 SMS messages per month. In each of these countries, the cost of sending an SMS message varied from €0.04–0.23, depending on the payment plan (with many contractual plans including all or several texts for free). In the United Kingdom, text messages are charged between £0.05–0.12. Curiously, France did not take to SMS in the same way, sending just under 20 messages on average per user per month. France has
21008-427: The United States in 2021, showing continued popularity of the technology. In the U.S., SMS is often charged both at the sender and at the destination, but, unlike phone calls, it cannot be rejected or dismissed. The reasons for lower uptake than other countries are varied. Many users have unlimited "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, high monthly minute allotments, or unlimited service. Moreover, " push to talk " services offer
21210-596: The United States that was closely associated with bootleg copies. A key characteristic of many anime television shows is serialization, where a continuous story arc stretches over multiple episodes or seasons. Traditional American television had an episodic format, with each episode typically consisting of a self-contained story. In contrast, anime shows such as Dragon Ball Z had a serialization format, where continuous story arcs stretch over multiple episodes or seasons, which distinguished them from traditional American television shows; serialization has since also become
21412-408: The United States was worth approximately $ 2.74 billion in 2009. Dubbed animation began airing in the United States in 2000 on networks like The WB and Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim . In 2005, this resulted in five of the top ten anime titles having previously aired on Cartoon Network. As a part of localization, some editing of cultural references may occur to better follow the references of
21614-507: The United States, text messaging is very popular; as reported by CTIA in December 2009, the 286 million US subscribers sent 152.7 billion text messages per month, for an average of 534 messages per subscriber per month. The Pew Research Center found in May 2010 that 72% of U.S. adult cellphone users send and receive text messages. CTIA reported in 2022 that 2 trillion SMS and MMS were sent in
21816-455: The Viking and Barbapapa , which aired in various countries. Italy , Spain , and France grew a particular interest in Japan's output, due to its cheap selling price and productive output. As of 2014, Italy imported the most anime outside Japan. Anime and manga were introduced to France in the late 1970s and became massively popular in spite of a moral panic led by French politicians in
22018-688: The Year . In the United States, anime films compete in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards . There were also the American Anime Awards , which were designed to recognize excellence in anime titles nominated by the industry, and were held only once in 2006. Anime productions have also been nominated and won awards not exclusively for anime, like the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature or the Golden Bear . In recent years,
22220-558: The adult population had a mobile phone. In general, texting is more popular than making phone calls, as it is viewed as less intrusive and therefore more polite. In 2009, it was predicted that text messaging would become a key revenue driver for mobile network operators in Africa over the following couple of years. Today, text messaging is already slowly gaining influence in the African market. One such person used text messaging to spread
22422-497: The amount is typically divided between the mobile network operator and the value added service provider (VASP), either through revenue share or a fixed transport fee. Services like 82ASK and Any Question Answered have used the PSMS model to enable rapid response to mobile consumers' questions, using on-call teams of experts and researchers. In November 2013, amidst complaints about unsolicited charges on bills, major mobile carriers in
22624-406: The anime merchandising market was valued at about $ 950 million with the figurine segment accounting for most of the share and is expected to reach a value of over $ 2 billion by 2030. The global anime market size was valued at $ 26.055 billion in 2021 with 29% of the revenue coming from merchandise . It is expected that the global anime market will reach a value of $ 47.14 billion by 2028. By 2030
22826-510: The anime industry has been accused by both Japanese and foreign media of underpaying and overworking its animators. In response the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to improve the working conditions and salary of all animators and creators working in the industry. A few anime studios such as MAPPA have taken actions to improve the working conditions of their employees. There has also been
23028-446: The anime market in the United States at ¥520 billion ( $ 5.2 billion ), including $ 500 million in home video sales and over $ 4 billion from licensed products, in 2005. JETRO projected in 2005 that the worldwide anime market, including sales of licensed products, would grow to ¥10 trillion ( $ 100 billion ). The anime market in China was valued at $ 21 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach $ 31 billion by 2020. In Europe
23230-459: The atmosphere of the work. The backgrounds are not always invented and are occasionally based on real locations, as exemplified in Howl's Moving Castle and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya . Oppliger stated that anime is one of the rare mediums where putting together an all-star cast usually comes out looking "tremendously impressive". The cinematic effects of anime differentiates itself from
23432-537: The brand name Sprint Spectrum and launched its service on 15 November 1995, in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. Vice President Al Gore in Washington, D.C., made the initial phone call to launch the network, calling Mayor Kurt Schmoke in Baltimore. Initial growth of text messaging worldwide was slow, with customers in 1995 sending on average only 0,4 messages per GSM customer per month. One factor in
23634-460: The chance to switch to that currency. In July 2007, Gaia released another virtual currency called "Gaia Cash", which can be purchased with real money. Gaia Cash can be bought through cell phone payments, or directly from Gaia itself. On September 13, 2010, Gaia announced the introduction of AutoCash. AutoCash is an optional feature where GaiaOnline members can sign up to buy Gaia Cash on a reoccurring monthly schedule. The current cost per month for
23836-426: The comedic or harem genres; due to its popularity among adolescent and adult anime enthusiasts, the inclusion of such elements is considered a form of fan service . Some genres explore homosexual romances, such as yaoi (male homosexuality) and yuri (female homosexuality). While often used in a pornographic context, the terms yaoi and yuri can also be used broadly in a wider context to describe or focus on
24038-491: The company won the Mashable Best User experience Award for 2010. Members of Gaia Online, known as Gaians, receive a customizable avatar when they sign up. Users have the ability to customize their avatar in many ways, including skin tone, eye style and color, hairstyle and color, gender, race (e.g. human, vampire, elf, zombies), and attire. Numerous clothing items and accessories for avatars can be purchased from
24240-517: The curse "go to hell" ( qù sǐ ba ). Predictive text software, which attempts to guess words ( Tegic 's T9 as well as iTap ) or letters (Eatoni's LetterWise ) reduces the labour of time-consuming input. This makes abbreviations not only less necessary but slower to type than regular words that are in the software's dictionary . However, it makes the messages longer, often requiring the text message to be sent in multiple parts and, therefore, costing more to send. The use of text messaging has changed
24442-576: The detail of settings and use of "camera effects", such as panning, zooming, and angle shots. Diverse art styles are used, and character proportions and features can be quite varied, with a common characteristic feature being large and emotive eyes. The anime industry consists of over 430 production companies , including major studios such as Studio Ghibli , Kyoto Animation , Sunrise , Bones , Ufotable , MAPPA , Wit Studio , CoMix Wave Films , Madhouse, Inc. , TMS Entertainment , Pierrot , Production I.G , Nippon Animation and Toei Animation . Since
24644-450: The distinction), the operators may still internally transmit the content as short messages, especially if the destination is on the same network. Text messaging has historically been popular and cheap in China. About 700 billion messages were sent in 2007. Text message spam has also been a problem in China. In 2007, 353.8 billion spam messages were sent, up 93% from the previous year. It is about 12.44 messages per week per person. In 2010, it
24846-534: The early 19th century, used electrical signals to send text messages. In the late 19th century, wireless telegraphy was developed using radio waves . In 1933, the German Reichspost ( Reich postal service) introduced the first " telex " service. The University of Hawaii began using radio to send digital information as early as 1971, using ALOHAnet . Friedhelm Hillebrand conceptualised SMS in 1984 while working for Deutsche Telekom . Sitting at
25048-439: The early 20th century, when filmmakers started to experiment with techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. A claim for the earliest Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin ( c. 1907 ), a private work by an unknown creator. In 1917, the first professional and publicly displayed works began to appear; animators such as Ōten Shimokawa , Seitarō Kitayama , and Jun'ichi Kōuchi (considered
25250-451: The early-2010s due to the advent of legal streaming services which simulcast new anime series often within a few hours of their domestic release. Since the 2010s, anime has become a global multibillion industry setting a sales record in 2017 of ¥2.15 trillion ($ 19.8 billion), driven largely by demand from overseas audiences. In 2019, Japan's anime industry was valued at $ 24 billion a year with 48% of that revenue coming from overseas (which
25452-445: The emergency SMS service. This service is primarily aimed at people who, because of disability, are unable to make a voice call. It has recently been promoted as a means for walkers and climbers to call emergency services from areas where a voice call is not possible due to low signal strength. In the US, there is a move to require both traditional operators and over-the-top messaging providers to support texting to 911. In Asia, SMS
25654-422: The environment (catching bugs, shaking trees, digging for buried treasure, collecting trash and flowers, etc.) and other users. In February 2018, an avatar based on on Doki Doki Literature Club! ( DDLC! ) main antagonist Monika was released to Gaia Online under the title "Just Dangerous Me", the addition of which has been criticised by DDLC! creator Dan Salvato due to no permission having been sought and
25856-409: The event. Modern SMS text messaging is usually sent from one mobile phone to another. Finnish Radiolinja became the first network to offer a commercial person-to-person SMS text messaging service in 1994. When Radiolinja's domestic competitor, Telecom Finland (now part of TeliaSonera ), also launched SMS text messaging in 1995 and the two networks offered cross-network SMS functionality, Finland became
26058-526: The exact opposite was true for informal writing. This suggests that perhaps the act of using textisms to shorten communication words leads young adults to produce more informal writing, which may then help them to be better "informal" writers. Due to text messaging, teens are writing more, and some teachers see that this comfort with language can be harnessed to make better writers. This new form of communication may be encouraging students to put their thoughts and feelings into words and this may be able to be used as
26260-553: The feature is $ 10; users are given extra content for the monthly fee. Staying past three months offers users the bonus of receiving special items. Sales within the Gaian market can be divided into four areas: Gold Shops, Cash Shops, Trade, and Marketplace. The site's virtual economy experienced hyperinflation after the introduction of more gold into circulation, partly due to the introduction of purchasable 'gold generators' which generated daily gold automatically. These were introduced by
26462-461: The few particular exceptions to this includes Alita: Battle Angel , which has become a moderate commercial success, receiving generally positive reviews from both the critics and the audience for its visual effects and following the source material. The movie grossed $ 404 million worldwide, making it director Robert Rodriguez 's highest-grossing film. Anime and manga alongside many other imports of Japanese pop culture have helped Japan to gain
26664-438: The fictional Possum and Musculero. The Scion tC, Scion xD, UFO and Kiki Car (which is available only with Cash) were later released, bringing the total to seven possible cars to choose from. Users can own up to 3 cars, which are stored in their Garage. Parts and decals for cars (such as paint color and antenna ornaments), as well as car bases, can be purchased from the NPC-run store, "Sam's Body and Parts". Cars are used as part of
26866-409: The final e , to cue the reader to pronounce the letter, not to leave it silent as English orthography may suggest. Prior to the widespread use of anime , the term Japanimation , a portmanteau of Japan and animation, was prevalent throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to supplant Japanimation ; in general, the latter term now only appears in period works where it
27068-543: The first nation where SMS text messaging was offered on a competitive as well as a commercial basis. GSM was allowed in the United States, but the radio frequencies were blocked and awarded to US "Carriers" to use US technology, which limited development of mobile messaging services in the US. The GSM in the US had to use a frequency allocated for private communication services (PCS) – what the ITU frequency régime had blocked for DECT ( Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications ) –
27270-403: The first televised and first color anime to debut. It was not until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has remained a popular medium since. Works released in a direct-to-video format are called " original video animation " (OVA) or "original animation video" (OAV); and are typically not released theatrically or televised prior to home media release. The emergence of
27472-825: The first time in history. The anime industry has several annual awards that honor the year's best works. Major annual awards in Japan include the Ōfuji Noburō Award , the Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film , the Animation Kobe Awards, the Japan Media Arts Festival animation awards, the Seiyu Awards for voice actors, the Tokyo Anime Award and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of
27674-422: The global anime market is expected to reach a value of $ 48.3 Billion with the largest contributors to this growth being North America , Europe, Asia–Pacific and The Middle East . The global anime market size was valued at $ 25.8 Billion in 2022 and is expected to have a market size of $ 62.7 Billion by 2032 with a CAGR of 9.4%. In 2019, the annual overseas exports of Japanese animation exceeded $ 10 billion for
27876-450: The head; many chibi characters are two to four heads tall. Some anime works like Crayon Shin-chan completely disregard these proportions, in such a way that they resemble caricatured Western cartoons . A common anime character design convention is exaggerated eye size. The animation of characters with large eyes in anime can be traced back to Osamu Tezuka, who was deeply influenced by such early animation characters as Betty Boop , who
28078-462: The incorporation of slapstick humor in the crime anime film Castle of Cagliostro . Other subgenres found in anime include magical girl , harem, sports, martial arts, literary adaptations, medievalism , and war. Early anime works were made for theatrical viewing, and required played musical components before sound and vocal components were added to the production. In 1958, Nippon Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru (" Mole's Adventure "), both
28280-416: The individual properties of languages. American popular culture is also recognized in shorthand. For example, Homer Simpson translates into: ~(_8^(|). Crystal also suggests that texting has led to more creativity in the English language, giving people opportunities to create their own slang, emoticons , abbreviations, acronyms, etc. The feeling of individualism and freedom makes texting more popular and
28482-501: The industry, including the improvement of conditions of the workers. Anime has become commercially profitable in Western countries , as demonstrated by early commercially successful Western adaptations of anime, such as Astro Boy and Speed Racer . Early American adaptions in the 1960s made Japan expand into the continental European market, first with productions aimed at European and Japanese children, such as Heidi , Vicky
28684-422: The instant connectivity of SMS and are typically unlimited. The integration between competing providers and technologies necessary for cross-network text messaging was not initially available. Some providers originally charged extra for texting, reducing its appeal. In the third quarter of 2006, at least 12 billion text messages were sent on AT&T's network, up almost 15% from the preceding quarter. While texting
28886-432: The international availability of the amount of new licensed anime shows as well as the size of their catalogs. Netflix reported that, between October 2019 and September 2020, more than 100 million member households worldwide had watched at least one anime title on the platform. Anime titles appeared on the streaming platform's top-ten lists in almost 100 countries within the one-year period. As of 2021, anime series are
29088-404: The laid back regulations of the Japanese animation industry tend to overlook these issues, allowing it to grow underground and thus increasing its popularity until there is a demand for official high-quality releases for animation companies. This has led to an increase in global popularity of Japanese animation, reaching $ 40 million in sales in 2004. Fansub practices have rapidly declined since
29290-497: The lips. Modern anime follows a typical animation production process, involving storyboarding , voice acting , character design , and cel production . Since the 1990s, animators have increasingly used computer animation to improve the efficiency of the production process. Early anime works were experimental, and consisted of images drawn on blackboards, stop motion animation of paper cutouts, and silhouette animation . Cel animation grew in popularity until it came to dominate
29492-451: The location of the phone or the address to which the handset is registered. In the early 2020s, device manufacturers have begun to integrate satellite messaging connectivity and satellite emergency services into conventional mobile phones for use in remote regions, where there is no reliable terrestrial cellular network. SMS messages are used in some countries as reminders of medical appointments. Missed outpatient clinic appointments cost
29694-610: The main Cash shop, "La Victoire". Items can also be bought at the marketplace. There are four main arenas on Gaia Online: Housing, Art, Avatar, and Writing – with some of these arenas having subcategories. Members can vote in the arenas and comment on art, avatars, houses, or written works that have been submitted by other users. The Avatar Arenas was a popular feature of the site that was first released on January 2, 2006. Each week, Users could spend 100 Gold to enter their current Avatar into Arenas and have fellow users vote for them using
29896-411: The main screen without user interaction and is not automatically stored in the inbox. It can be useful in cases such as an emergency (e.g., fire alarm ) or confidentiality (e.g., one-time password ). SMS has historically been particularly popular in Europe, Asia (excluding Japan; see below), the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, while also gaining influence in Africa. Popularity has grown to
30098-464: The medium's style. Three Tales (1960) was the first anime film broadcast on television; the first anime television series was Instant History (1961–64). An early and influential success was Astro Boy (1963–66), a television series directed by Tezuka based on his manga of the same name . Many animators at Tezuka's Mushi Production later established major anime studios (including Madhouse , Sunrise , and Pierrot ). The 1970s saw growth in
30300-447: The medium. In the 21st century, the use of other animation techniques is mostly limited to independent short films , including the stop motion puppet animation work produced by Tadahito Mochinaga , Kihachirō Kawamoto and Tomoyasu Murata. Computers were integrated into the animation process in the 1990s, with works such as Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke mixing cel animation with computer-generated images. Fuji Film ,
30502-413: The most demanded foreign-language television shows in the United States accounting for 30.5% of the market share. (In comparison, Spanish-language and Korean-language shows account for 21% and 11% of the market share, respectively.) In 2021 more than half of Netflix's global members watched anime. In 2022, the anime series Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in
30704-451: The most important guarantees industries such as financial services, energy and commodities trading, health care and enterprises demand in their mission-critical procedures. One way to guarantee such a quality of text messaging lies in introducing SLAs ( Service Level Agreement ), which are common in IT contracts. By providing measurable SLAs, corporations can define reliability parameters and set up
30906-535: The move of many characters of the anime and manga series Naruto . In April 2021, Peruvian politicians Jorge Hugo Romero of the PPC and Milagros Juárez of the UPP cosplayed as anime characters to get the otaku vote. On October 28, 2024, The Vatican unveiled its own anime-styled mascot, " Luce ", in order to connect with Catholic youth through pop culture. Text message Text messaging , or simply texting ,
31108-412: The move that allowed students of secondary schools to use mobile phone text language in the end-of-the-year-exam papers. Highly publicized reports, beginning in 2002, of the use of text language in school assignments, caused some to become concerned that the quality of written communication is on the decline, and other reports claim that teachers and professors are beginning to have a hard time controlling
31310-403: The move. Texting can also bring people together and create a sense of community through " Smart Mobs " or "Net War", which create "people power". Research in 2015 has also proven that text messaging is somehow making the social distances larger and could be ruining verbal communication skills for many people. The small phone keypad and the rapidity of typical text message exchanges have caused
31512-514: The name change. Monthly Collectible items and the "Thank You" letter items they are found in are specific to the month that they were released in: for example, the items found in the "Thank You" letter for April 2006 can only be found in that letter, and one could only purchase that letter in April 2006. Letters can be purchased over the phone, with a text message from a mobile phone, via PayPal , credit card, traditional mail or with Gaia Cash through
31714-407: The non-Japanese culture. The cost of English localization averages US$ 10,000 per episode. The industry has been subject to both praise and condemnation for fansubs , the addition of unlicensed and unauthorized subtitled translations of anime series or films. Fansubs, which were originally distributed on VHS bootlegged cassettes in the 1980s, have been freely available and disseminated online since
31916-702: The number of missed psychiatric appointments by 25–28%, representing a potential national yearly saving of over £150 million. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical facilities in the United States are using text messaging to coordinate the appointment process, including reminders, cancellations, and safe check-in. US-based cloud radiology information system vendor AbbaDox includes this in their patient engagement services. Short codes are special telephone numbers, shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from mobile phones or fixed phones. There are two types of short codes: dialling and messaging. SMS gateway providers facilitate
32118-503: The old Gold currency, and have not returned to currency generators as a way to raise revenue. However, former COO Jason Loia has stated he didn't consider inflation as a significant issue. Monthly Collectibles (previously known as Donation Items , also referred on site as MCs ) are special items that can be bought with real money meant to support Gaia's maintenance and costs. Established in June 2003 after users of Gaia Online petitioned for
32320-490: The patronage of the government, which employed animators to produce educational shorts and propaganda . In 1940, the government dissolved several artists' organizations to form the Shin Nippon Mangaka Kyōkai . The first talkie anime was Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (1933), a short film produced by Masaoka. The first feature-length anime film was Momotaro: Sacred Sailors (1945), produced by Seo with
32522-439: The popularity of manga, many of which were later animated. Tezuka's work—and that of other pioneers in the field—inspired characteristics and genres that remain fundamental elements of anime today. The giant robot genre (also known as " mecha "), for instance, took shape under Tezuka, developed into the super robot genre under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino , who developed
32724-449: The price to send and receive text messages from $ .15 to $ .20 per message. This is over $ 1,300 per megabyte . Many providers offer unlimited plans, which can result in a lower rate per text, given sufficient volume. Japan was among the first countries to adopt short messages widely, with pioneering non-GSM services including J-Phone 's SkyMail and NTT Docomo 's Short Mail . Japanese adolescents first began text messaging, because it
32926-591: The problem. However, the notion that text language is widespread or harmful is refuted by research from linguistic experts. An article in The New Yorker explores how text messaging has anglicized some of the world's languages. The use of diacritic marks is dropped in languages such as French, as well as symbols in Ethiopian languages . In his book, Txtng: the Gr8 Db8 (which translates as "Texting:
33128-408: The proportions of the human body in reality. The height of the head is considered by the artist as the base unit of proportion. Head to height ratios vary drastically by art style, with most anime characters falling between 5 and 8 heads tall. Anime artists occasionally make deliberate modifications to body proportions to produce chibi characters that feature a disproportionately small body compared to
33330-575: The quality of their relationships. They concluded this age group prefers "selective interpersonal relationships in which they maintain particular, partial, but rich relations, depending on the situation". The same studies showed participants rated friendships in which they communicated face-to-face and through text messaging as being more intimate than those in which they communicated solely face-to-face. This indicates participants make new relationships with face-to-face communication at an early stage, but use text messaging to increase their contact later on. As
33532-405: The relationships between participants grew more intimate, the frequency of text messaging also increased. However, short messaging has been largely rendered obsolete by the prevalence of mobile Internet e-mail, which can be sent to and received from any e-mail address, mobile or otherwise. That said, while usually presented to the user simply as a uniform "mail" service (and most users are unaware of
33734-520: The release date should be returned to the fifteenth. The Sealed Envelope disappears from the user's inventory and is replaced by a "Thank You Letter" for the current paid month (for example, a "Thank You Letter for August 2004" represents a payment made in that month of that year). Users are then able to open these virtual letters to choose one of two or three limited-edition items to be granted into their inventory from each letter. These items were known as Donation Items until potential legal problems prompted
33936-484: The same GSM technology as other European countries, so the uptake is not hampered by technical restrictions. In the Republic of Ireland, in 2012, 1.5 billion messages were sent every quarter, on average 114 messages per person per month. In the United Kingdom, as of March 2012, over 1 billion text messages were sent every week. The Eurovision Song Contest organized the first pan-European SMS voting in 2002, as
34138-476: The same moment; this permits communication even between busy individuals. Text messages can also be used to interact with automated systems, for example, to order products or services from e-commerce websites or to participate in online contests. Advertisers and service providers use direct text marketing to send messages to mobile users about promotions, payment due dates, and other notifications instead of using postal mail , email , or voicemail . The service
34340-514: The sender's text messaging plan. There are a growing number of websites that allow users to send free SMS messages online. Some websites provide free SMS for promoting premium business packages. In 2003, Europe followed next behind Asia in terms of the popularity of the use of SMS. That year, an average of 16 billion messages were sent each month. Users in Spain sent a little more than fifty messages per month on average in 2003. In Italy, Germany and
34542-540: The series in mind—but are also aimed at the general music market, therefore they often allude only vaguely or not at all, to the thematic settings or plot of the series. Also, they are often used as incidental music ("insert songs") in an episode, in order to highlight particularly important scenes. Future funk , a musical microgenre that evolved in the early 2010s from Vaporwave with a French house Euro disco influence, heavily uses anime visuals and samples along with Japanese City pop to build an aesthetic. Since
34744-464: The service by mobile phone subscribers occurs in the Philippines, with an average of 27 texts sent per day per subscriber. Text messaging is most often used between private mobile phone users, as a substitute for voice calls in situations where voice communication is impossible or undesirable (e.g., during a school class or a work meeting). Texting is also used to communicate very brief messages, such as informing someone that you will be late or reminding
34946-645: The shadow plays of China. Magic lanterns from the Netherlands were also popular in the eighteenth century. The paper play called kamishibai surged in the twelfth century and remained popular in the street theater until the 1930s. Puppets of the Bunraku theater and ukiyo-e prints are considered ancestors of characters of most Japanese animation. Finally, manga were a heavy inspiration for anime. Cartoonists Kitzawa Rakuten and Okamoto Ippei used film elements in their strips. Animation in Japan began in
35148-673: The site's marketplace. Derek Liu announced that a new version of the application was being worked on. Gaia has also released one of their games, Switchem, and a virtual world, Rallys, as separate iOS applications. Anime Anime ( Japanese : アニメ , IPA: [aꜜɲime] ) (a term derived from a shortening of the English word animation ) is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan . Outside Japan and in English, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Many works of animation with
35350-450: The site's then-owners in an attempt to boost the site's short-term revenue. To maintain that revenue, new and bigger gold-generators were frequently introduced and an arms-race ensued between site users. This would eventually lead to the collapse of the economy, coupled with large declines in the userbase, and the ultimate sale of the site. Later owners substituted a replacement currency, Platinum, currently pegged at 1 Platinum to 10 million of
35552-419: The site. Completion of Achievements grants users Achievement Points. There are a variety of different Achievements that can be obtained – tasks to gain these can include posting in a thread, changing one's equipped avatar items (or equipping specific items), selling an item in Marketplace, among many others. Users can use Achievements they earn to add titles under their Avatar. Gaia Online currently offers
35754-461: The skin being sold as downloadable content without compensation to Team Salvato. There is a large variety of forums in which users can post it and communicate with one another. These forums are used for general discussion, news, Admin announcements, role-play , general entertainment, and artist discussions. The currency used in Gaia is known as "Gaia Platinum" (formerly, "Gaia Gold"). Platinum
35956-564: The slow take-up of SMS was that operators were slow to set up charging systems, especially for prepaid subscribers, and to eliminate billing fraud, which was possible by changing SMSC settings on individual handsets to use the SMSCs of other operators. Over time, this issue was eliminated by switch billing instead of billing at the SMSC and by new features within SMSCs that allowed the blocking of foreign mobile users sending messages through them. SMS
36158-426: The stage plays found in American animation. Anime is cinematically shot as if by camera, including panning, zooming, distance and angle shots to more complex dynamic shots that would be difficult to produce in reality. In anime, the animation is produced before the voice acting, contrary to American animation which does the voice acting first. The body proportions of human anime characters tend to accurately reflect
36360-534: The studios are organized into a trade association , The Association of Japanese Animations . There is also a labor union for workers in the industry, the Japanese Animation Creators Association . Studios will often work together to produce more complex and costly projects, as done with Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away . An anime episode can cost between US$ 100,000 and US$ 300,000 to produce. In 2001, animation accounted for 7% of
36562-525: The text messaging business. Services that provide bulk text message sending are also becoming a popular way for clubs, associations, and advertisers to reach a group of opt-in subscribers quickly. In 2013, research suggested that Internet-based mobile messaging would grow to equal the popularity of SMS by the end of 2013, with nearly 10 trillion messages being sent through each technology. Services such as Facebook Messenger / WhatsApp , Signal (software) , Snapchat , Telegram (software) , Viber have led to
36764-678: The text messaging capability as an operator of their own SMSC with SS7 . SMS messaging gateway providers can provide gateway-to-mobile (Mobile Terminated–MT) services. Some suppliers can also supply mobile-to-gateway (text-in or Mobile Originated/MO services). Many operate text-in services on short codes or mobile number ranges, whereas others use lower-cost geographic text-in numbers. SMS has been widely used for delivering digital content, such as news alerts, financial information, pictures, GIFs, logos and ringtones. Such messages are also known as premium-rated short messages (PSMS). The subscribers are charged extra for receiving this premium content, and
36966-540: The themes or the development of the relationships themselves. Anime's genre classification differs from other types of animation and does not lend itself to simple classification. Gilles Poitras compared the labeling of Gundam 0080 and its complex depiction of war as a "giant robot" anime akin to simply labeling War and Peace a "war novel". Science fiction is a major anime genre and includes important historical works like Tezuka's Astro Boy and Yokoyama 's Tetsujin 28-go . A major subgenre of science fiction
37168-405: The top 10 most discussed TV shows worldwide on Twitter. In 2022, Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of World's Most In-Demand TV Show, previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones . In 2024, Jujutsu Kaisen broke
37370-406: The turn of the century and has also influenced changes in society. Text messages are used for personal, family, business, and social purposes. Governmental and non-governmental organizations use text messaging for communication between colleagues. In the 2010s, the sending of short informal messages became an accepted part of many cultures, as happened earlier with emailing . This makes texting
37572-455: The use of SMS for confirming delivery or other tasks, for instant communication between a service provider and a client (e.g., a payment card company and a consumer), and for sending alerts. Several universities have implemented a system of texting students and faculties campus alerts. One such example is Penn State . As text messaging has proliferated in business, so too have regulations governing its use. One regulation specifically governing
37774-1054: The use of source material from several original series. In the early 1990s, several companies began to experiment with the licensing of less child-oriented material. Some, such as A.D. Vision , and Central Park Media and its imprints, achieved fairly substantial commercial success and went on to become major players in the now very lucrative American anime market. Others, such as AnimEigo , achieved limited success. Many companies created directly by Japanese parent companies did not do as well, most releasing only one or two titles before completing their American operations. Licenses are expensive, often hundreds of thousands of dollars for one series and tens of thousands for one movie. The prices vary widely; for example, Jinki: Extend cost only $ 91,000 to license while Kurau Phantom Memory cost $ 960,000. Simulcast Internet streaming rights can be cheaper, with prices around $ 1,000–2,000 an episode, but can also be more expensive, with some series costing more than US$ 200,000 per episode. The anime market for
37976-780: The use of text messaging in financial-services firms engaged in stocks, equities, and securities trading is Regulatory Notice 07-59, Supervision of Electronic Communications, December 2007 , issued to member firms by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). In Regulatory Notice 07-59, FINRA noted that "electronic communications", "e-mail", and "electronic correspondence" may be used interchangeably and can include such forms of electronic messaging as instant messaging and text messaging. Industry has had to develop new technology to allow companies to archive their employees' text messages. Security, confidentiality, reliability, and speed of SMS are among
38178-434: The way that people talk and write essays, some believing it to be harmful. Children today are receiving cell phones at an age as young as eight years old; more than 35 per cent of children in second and third grade have their own mobile phones. Because of this, the texting language is integrated into the way that students think from an earlier age than ever before. In November 2006, New Zealand Qualifications Authority approved
38380-751: The website (similar to Gaia's current Achievement system), quests on the site are now for promotional purposes, granting items related to a featured movie, video game, or series for watching trailers or advertisements. Movies, video games, and other products that are promoted by the Gaia Quest system include Gracie , Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End , The Golden Compass , Nancy Drew , The Last Mimzy , The Spiderwick Chronicles , Kung Fu Panda , Bee Movie , Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce , You Don't Mess With The Zohan , Paul Blart: Mall Cop , The Sims 3 , Sonic and
38582-447: The word about HIV and AIDS. In September 2009, a multi-country campaign in Africa used text messaging to expose stock-outs of essential medicines at public health facilities and put pressure on governments to address the issue. The advent of text messaging made possible new forms of interaction that were not possible before. A person could carry out a conversation with another user without the constraint of being expected to reply within
38784-702: Was 6 years old when my mother took me to Japan. I felt it growing up in Hawaii, like communities across our country, home to so many proud Japanese Americans... Today is also a chance for Americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from Japan. Like karate and karaoke . Manga and anime. And, of course, emojis . In July 2020, after the approval of a Chilean government project in which citizens of Chile would be allowed to withdraw up to 10% of their privately held retirement savings, journalist Pamela Jiles celebrated by running through Congress with her arms spread out behind her, imitating
38986-405: Was a cheaper form of communication than the other available forms. Thus, Japanese theorists created the selective interpersonal relationship theory , claiming that mobile phones can change social networks among young people (classified as 13- to 30-year-olds). They theorized this age group had extensive but low-quality relationships with friends, and mobile phone usage may facilitate improvement in
39188-555: Was broken into two companies by regulation, with Chorus Ltd taking the landline infrastructure and Spark NZ providing services including over their mobile network. Vodafone NZ (now One NZ ) acquired mobile network provider Bellsouth New Zealand in 1998 and had 2.32 million customers as of July 2013. Vodafone launched the first Text messaging service in 1999 and has introduced innovative TXT services like SafeTXT and CallMe 2degrees Mobile Ltd launched in August 2009. In 2005, around 85% of
39390-403: Was drawn with disproportionately large eyes. Tezuka is a central figure in anime and manga history, whose iconic art style and character designs allowed for the entire range of human emotions to be depicted solely through the eyes. The artist adds variable color shading to the eyes and particularly to the cornea to give them greater depth. Generally, a mixture of a light shade, the tone color, and
39592-480: Was made that Gaia will be creating Towns 3 which is an entirely 3D environment. Players should expect the release of a Towns 3 demo once they have completely removed Flash from Gaia Online. Since 2009, Gaia has been implementing virtual worlds, similar to Towns, for various site sponsors. These have included a rainbow-styled world for a Skittles sponsor, a castle for an Alice in Wonderland film promotion,
39794-405: Was part of ISDN ( Integrated Services Digital Network ), and since GSM is based on this, it made its way to the mobile phone. Messages could be sent and received on ISDN phones, and these can send SMS to any GSM phone. The possibility of doing something is one thing; implementing it is another, but systems existed in 1988 that sent SMS messages to mobile phones (compare ND-NOTIS ). SMS messaging
39996-473: Was routine that the People's Republic of China government monitored text messages across the country for illegal content. Among Chinese migrant workers with little formal education, it is common to refer to SMS manuals when text messaging. These manuals are published as cheap, smaller-than-pocket-size booklets that offer diverse linguistic phrases to utilize as messages. SMS was introduced to selected markets in
40198-532: Was the most widely used mobile data service, with 74% of all mobile phone users worldwide, or 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion phone subscribers, being active users of the Short Message Service at the end of 2007. In countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Norway, over 85% of the population used SMS. The European average was about 80%, and North America was rapidly catching up, with over 60% active users of SMS by end of 2008 . The largest average usage of
40400-423: Was to be permanently removed from Gaia Online. On February 28, 2017, it was announced that beta tests for a zOMG revival were underway. On March 13, 2017, zOMG returned and is now open to play again. Members who played zOMG before the shutdown of the servers could pick back up where they left off, however, those who sold or discarded their rings and zOMG-related items did not have their items recovered. Smashblox
40602-662: Was used for the first time on 3 December 1992, at the Three Tuns Public House in Reading, Berkshire, when Neil Papworth , a 22-year-old test engineer for Sema Group in the UK (now Airwide Solutions ), used a personal computer to send the text message " Merry Christmas " via the Vodafone network to the phone of Richard Jarvis, who was at a party in Newbury, Berkshire , which had been organized to celebrate
40804-758: Was very popular and brought service providers significant profit (18 billion short messages were sent in 2001). It has been a very influential and powerful tool in the Philippines, where in 2008 the average user sent 10–12 text messages a day. The same year, the Philippines alone sent on average over 1 billion text messages a day, more than the annual average SMS volume of the countries in Europe, and even China and India. SMS saw hugely popular in India, where youngsters often exchanged many text messages, and companies provide alerts, infotainment, news, cricket scores updates, railway/airline booking, mobile billing, and banking services on SMS. Similarly, in 2008, text messaging played
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