Hacker News Reader

Regarding a), I seem to remember that Yahoo Messenger had animated stickers _with audio_. I recall they had a pack with Madonna's (the artist) voice/songs. I just don't recall when exactly that was, but I think it was ~2005.

Edit: I just found this: https://www.madonna.com/news/title/madonna-audibles-now-avai...

The tweakers.net forum has had animated emojis since early 2000s

I ran multiple phpBB2 forums in that time with them. They weren't "emojis" though, they were emoticons. :)

The audible “buzz” in Yahoo Messenger remains my favorite feature to this day.

It reminds me how Apple products such as ipod, iphone were described (derivative, unoriginal). Nonetheless, the products are great.

oh I wasn't commented on whether the idea was new or not, but about how non-revolutionary it is.. In the sense that it won't change communication in a fundamental way, won't change how I express myself online, etc.