Technologies

Turn Your Pet Photos Into Cute iPhone Emoji in a Few Easy Steps

You already have hundreds of photos of your pets so you might as well make them into emoji.

I love my dog, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. She’s brown and white and loves to go on walks and I take every opportunity to show her to the world. And with the Live Stickers iPhone feature, I can turn photos of her into emoji and stickers, and then text them to everyone I know.

Apple introduced Live Stickers in iOS 17 as an evolution of the tap-and-lift feature from iOS 16, which lets you cut out subjects from photos and Live Photos. Now, by saving those cutouts as emoji and stickers of pets, family and friends, you can send endless cuteness to others.

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Here’s how to transform your photos into emoji and stickers to send in Messages and other apps.

How to make Live Stickers and emoji from pictures

1. Open your Photos app.
2. Tap the photo you want to turn into an emoji or sticker.
3. Tap and hold the item in the photo you want to turn into an emoji or sticker until you see the white outline.
4. Tap Add Sticker.

Your iPhone will then add the Live Sticker to your Stickers drawer and appear in your emoji keyboard. If you tap the new sticker, you’ll be given the options to Rearrange, Add Effect or Delete it. Tapping Add Effect will let you add an effect to your sticker, like a white outline, to make it look even more like a sticker.

The next time you go into Messages, you can use your new sticker as an emoji by tapping the emoji keyboard in the bottom-left corner of your screen, tapping the folded-over circle and tapping the emoji you want to use.

According to Apple, you can use your new Live Sticker anywhere you can access emoji. I tried to use my Live Stickers on the messaging app Slack, but they wouldn’t appear in the app. I also couldn’t access my Live Stickers in some third-party apps, like TikTok, so you might run into some issues when using your Live Stickers outside of Apple apps and devices.

For more iOS news, here’s my review of iOS 26, how to enable call and text screening in the OS and all the new ringtones on your iPhone. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet

Technologies

Verum Coin Manifesto

Sometimes, in order to build something truly strong, it is necessary to pause and honestly look at the past.

We have made the decision to restart the development of Verum Coin.

Not because the project is weak — but because we want to make it stronger, more transparent, and more sustainable.

Some decisions made in the past were mistakes.
Some processes developed in ways that were not aligned with our long-term vision.

Instead of continuing along the same path, we chose a different direction.

We are intentionally cleaning and restructuring Verum Coin:

— removing previous listings
— moving away from speculative development models
— rebuilding the system from the ground up

This step may seem difficult, but it is necessary if the goal is to build a long-term technology rather than short-term hype.

Verum Coin is not being built for exchange speculation.

Its purpose is to function inside a real digital ecosystem.

Today, Verum Coin is already integrated into Verum Messenger, where it can be used for digital services, including global eSIM connectivity.

Through Verum Messenger, users can access internet connectivity around the world and use Verum Coin as part of a growing digital infrastructure.

This is only the beginning.

We believe cryptocurrencies should have real utility and real use cases, rather than existing purely for speculative trading.

That is why we are choosing the harder path:

to build technology slowly, responsibly, and correctly.

Verum Coin is not a short-term project.

It is part of a long-term ecosystem that connects:

— communication
— global connectivity
— financial technology
— digital assets

We are starting a new chapter.

And this time, we are building a foundation designed to last for years.

Verum Coin.
Rebuilt with purpose.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 16, #539

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 16, No. 539.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Did you spot «fried» and «rice» in today’s Connections: Sports Edition and look for a food category? Ha ha ha … me too, but it would never be that easy. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Send it my way!

Green group hint: Hope you win your league.

Blue group hint: Bronx Bombers.

Purple group hint: Signal-callers.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Pass.

Green group: Descriptors for fantasy leagues.

Blue group: New York Yankees.

Purple group: First names of NFL starting QBs.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pass. The four answers are assist, dish, distribute and give.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is descriptors for fantasy leagues. The four answers are dynasty, keeper, redraft and rotisserie.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is New York Yankees. The four answers are Fried, Gil, Judge and Rice.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is first names of NFL starting QBs. The four answers are Baker, Drake, Jordan and Lamar.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, March 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I started slow, because 1-Across stumped me, but the rest of the answers came quickly. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.