title: Pebble (watch)

text: After raising venture capital for the product under their former name, Allerta (which had already developed and sold the "inPulse" smartwatch for BlackBerry devices), the company failed to attract traditional investors under their new Pebble brand name, so the company pursued crowd funding in April 2012.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Migicovsky's company, Pebble Technology, launched a Kickstarter campaign on , with an initial fundraising target of $100,000. Backers spending $115 would receive a Pebble when they became available ($99 for the first 200), effectively pre-ordering the $150 Pebble at a discounted price. Within two hours of going live, the project had met its $100,000 goal, and within six days, the project had become the most funded project in the history of Kickstarter to that point, raising over $4.7 million with 30 days left in the campaign.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: On , Pebble Technology announced they were limiting the number of pre-orders. On , funding closed with $10,266,845 pledged by 68,929 people. At the time, the product held the world record for the most money raised for a Kickstarter project.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Pebble worked with consulting firm Dragon Innovation to identify suppliers and manufacturers. After overcoming manufacturability difficulties with the prototype design, Pebble started mass production with manufacturer Foxlink Group in January 2013 with an initial production of 15,000 watches per week. Shipping was originally expected to begin September 2012, but Pebble Technology encountered manufacturing difficulties and began shipping units on . Pebble shipped 300,000 units by during its first year of production, over 400,000 by , 450,000 , 1 million by and 2 million by December 7, 2017.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The watch has a 144 × 168 pixel black and white memory LCD using an ultra low-power "transflective LCD" manufactured by Sharp; it contains a backlight, vibrating motor, magnetometer, ambient light sensors, and three-axis accelerometer. It can communicate with an Android or iOS device using both Bluetooth 2.1 and Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Low Energy) through Stonestreet One's Bluetopia+MFi software stack. Bluetooth 4.0 with low energy (LE) was not initially supported, but was later added through a firmware update in November 2013. The watch is charged through a modified USB-cable that attaches magnetically to the watch to maintain water resistance capability, with a reported seven-day battery life. Water-resistance was added during development based on feedback from Kickstarter backers. The Pebble has a waterproof rating of 5 atm, which means it can be submerged down to , and has been tested in both fresh and salt water, allowing the user to shower, dive or swim while wearing the watch.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: , the Pebble app store contained over 1,000 applications. Applications included notification support for emails, calls, text messages and social media activity; stock prices; activity tracking (movement, sleep, estimates of calories burned); remote controls for smartphones, cameras and home appliances; turn-by-turn directions (using the GPS receiver in a smartphone or tablet); display of RSS or JSON feeds; and hundreds of custom watch faces.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The Pebble was originally slated to ship with its apps pre-installed, including a cycling app to measure speed, distance, and pace through GPS, and a golf rangefinder app supporting more than 25,000 courses. These apps use data received from a connected phone for distance, speed and range information. More apps are downloadable via a mobile phone or tablet, and an SDK is freely available. Not all apps were pre-installed when the watch was originally shipped, but CEO Eric Migicovsky announced on January 9, 2013, that updates for the watch's operating system would be released every 2–3 weeks until all features were added.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Pebble integrates with any phone or tablet application that sends out native iOS or Android notifications including from any app, including text messaging and phone call apps.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The watch's firmware operating system is based on a FreeRTOS kernel and uses Newlib, the STM32 Peripheral Lib, the Ragel state machine compiler, and an unnamed UTF-8 Decoder.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Gadgetbridge is an alternative companion application for Android. It is open source, does not require account creation, and supports features such as notifications, music playback and watch application installation/removal.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Linux users can access the Pebble using libpebble's tools enabling experimental alpha level services with several Linux distros including the Maemo OS Nokia N900. There is also a commercial app called Rockwatch for the Meego Linux OS Nokia N9 that provides services including managing the Pebble's firmware and apps running on the watch.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Pebble Technology announced that an open Pebble software development kit (SDK) would be released before shipment of the watches began. A proof-of-concept watchface SDK and documentation were released on April 12, 2013. The released SDK was limited to development for watch faces, simple applications, and games. The second release of the SDK (renamed PebbleKit) was released on May 17, 2013, and added support for two-way communication between Pebbles and smartphones running iOS or Android via the AppMessage framework.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The 2.0 Pebble SDK, , included APIs to access bluetooth messaging, background workers, the accelerometer, the compass, and Javascript apps. Applications written with the second PebbleKit SDK were not backwards compatible with 1.x apps, and developers were required to port their apps to the second-gen firmware.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The original Pebble Smartwatch was released to mixed reviews. The design was acclaimed for being innovative. CNET praised the design, readability, and water-resistance of the Pebble Steel, but criticized the limit of eight user-installed apps and the lack of a heart-rate monitor. Later watches in the Pebble series were described similarly: as simple and effective but lacking some features of competitors like the Apple Watch.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: On February 24, 2015, Pebble announced the Pebble Time, their second-generation Pebble smartwatch via its Kickstarter campaign.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The Pebble Time Steel is a stainless steel variant of the Pebble Time smartwatch, available in multiple finishes: silver, black or gold with either a leather or steel band. Pebble claims it has a 10-day battery life.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The Pebble Time Round is also made of stainless steel and 2.5d gorilla glass with five finishes. Pebble claims it has a 2-day battery life, dramatically decreased because of the shape and size but still significantly longer-lasting than the Apple Watch's 16-hour life.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Pebble's second generation comes with various improvements over its predecessors, such as a 64-colour e-paper display with Gorilla Glass a thinner and more ergonomic chassis, plastic casing and a microphone. The Pebble Time retains the seven-day battery life and water resistance found on the previous two Pebble watches. It has a 150mAh battery.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Alongside the Pebble Time Steel, Pebble announced its open hardware platform called "Smartstraps". This lets developers develop new third-party straps that connects to a special port at the back of the watch and can add new features like GPS, heart rate monitors, extended battery life and other things to the watch. This new platform prevents smartwatch bloat and making the watch bulky like most of its competitors' smartwatches.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The Pebble Time also included a new interface designed around a timeline, which is similar to what is found in Google Now on Android Wear. In December 2015, all remaining Pebbles got a firmware update, enabling support for the timeline and removing the maximum of 8 apps-restriction, letting additional apps load directly from the connected phone. It is backwards compatible with all previous apps and watch faces.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The Pebble Time retailed for $199. The project reached its Kickstarter funding goal of $500,000 in 17 minutes. The project took 49 minutes to reach $1 million, which is a Kickstarter record. The project raised $10.3 million in 48 hours, another Kickstarter record. On March 3, 2015, Pebble Time became the most funded Kickstarter ever with nearly $14 million funded, while having 24 days left in its campaign. At the end of the funding, March 27, 2015, Pebble Time received pledges of $20,338,986 from 78,471 backers.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Pebble 2, the company's 3rd generation smartwatch, launched on Kickstarter on May 24, 2016, with an offer period of 36 days at discounted introductory pricing, and shipment of the new models anticipated in the October–November 2016 timeframe. Among the new features was a heart rate monitor (On +HR models), microphone, and water resistance rated for 30 m (98 ft) depth, Which was 10m less than the original Pebble because of the Pebble 2's Microphone. Many new features were documented as part of the Kickstarter prospectus, while other technical specifications of the forthcoming products are not yet disclosed.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: The Pebble 2 product line added a new device called the Pebble Core, "a tiny wearable computer with Android 5.0" featuring a 3G modem, GPS, and Spotify integration backed by an open development community.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Pebble 2 was officially released in September 2016 with a new design and functions at $129. When Pebble sold parts of its company to Fitbit in late 2016, "Gizmodo" criticized the company for collecting $12.8 million in the product's Kickstarter and delaying shipments for half a year without being forthright with their supporters. Kickstarter backers who have not received the product were expected to receive refunds in 2017.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: On December 7, 2016, Pebble Technology filed for insolvency with Fitbit acquiring much of the company's assets and employees. The selling of Pebble brand to Fitbit was credited to Charles River Ventures who invested $15 million in the company in 2013. The purchase excluded Pebble's hardware, as stated by Fitbit. The deal was focused on Pebble's software engineers and testers, and the acquisition of intellectual property such as the Pebble watch's operating system, watch apps, cloud services, and its patents.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: Fitbit paid $23 million for Pebble's intellectual property, despite Pebble's debt and other obligations exceeding that. Fitbit did not take on Pebble's debt. The remainder of Pebble's assets, including product inventory and server equipment, was set to be sold off separately. Following the acquisition, Pebble's offices were closed and Fitbit held control over the use of the Pebble brand. The former Pebble engineers were relocated to Fitbit's offices in San Francisco. As a result, Pebble was forced to cancel shipments for its Pebble 2, Time 2, and Pebble Core smartwatches, refunding Kickstarter backers.


title: Pebble (watch)

text: An unofficial developer group called Rebble was created to extend support for the Pebble watches' online services that were discontinued on June 30, 2018. Pebble users and enthusiasts created the Rebble.io website in December 2016 following the announcement of Pebble's shutdown. Users can switch their devices from the original Pebble web services to the Rebble Web Services to restore some of the lost features; some features require a US$3 monthly subscription to cover the costs.


title: Boris (band)

text: Boris was originally a four-piece band with Atsuo on lead vocals, Wata on guitar, Takeshi on bass, and Nagata on drums. The band is named after a song of the same name on the Melvins album "Bullhead". Boris's debut album "Absolutego" was released in 1996 on their own record label Fangs Anal Satan. Nagata departed in 1996 and Atsuo switched to drums, while Wata expanded her duties to lead guitar and keyboards, and Takeshi took on bass and rhythm guitar duties on a double-necked instrument of his own design. All three adopted lead vocal duties, and the band has remained a three-piece ever since.


title: Boris (band)

text: In Japan, Boris release most of their music on the indie label Inoxia Records. Though relatively unknown in their home country, a series of reissues of their early albums on the American label Southern Lord Records caused a surge of popularity in North America. Boris also collaborates with other artists regularly, first on the 1998 album "" with experimental musician Keiji Haino. They have released seven collaborative albums with noise artist Merzbow, and have released collaborative albums with international artists like Sunn O))) and Ian Astbury.


title: Boris (band)

text: Their international popularity was bolstered by their 2005 album "Pink", which was met with considerable critical praise and a strong response from music fans when reissued in the US on Southern Lord. "Blender" magazine and "SPIN" magazine both named it one of 2006's best albums. The album also topped the metal section of Canadian magazine "Exclaim!"s 2006 Reader's Poll, and it was named in the top 10 of Pitchfork Media's Top 50 Records of 2006. They also appeared on the avant-garde metal soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's film "The Limits of Control" in 2009. Regarding Boris, Jarmusch said that "what's really remarkable is when they play live they're in the mode, in a way, of jazz musicians, not structurally or musically, but the way they listen to what the others are doing and build on it. Each time they play something it's obviously different, every time."


title: Boris (band)

text: Boris received additional international exposure when they opened for Nine Inch Nails on part of the 2008 segment of the Lights in the Sky tour. From 2011 to 2017, they released several albums on Sargent House Records, and continue to reissue previous albums in new formats. In 2017, the band's 25th anniversary, they considered retirement after one final album. However, a successful songwriting and recording process for that album, "Dear", encouraged the band to continue. While self-isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boris self-released the rock-oriented album "NO" and the ambient album "W", with the two constituting a project called "NOW". Their third album titled "Heavy Rocks", featuring explorations of hard rock and heavy metal sounds, was released in August 2022. During an American tour to support the album, drummer Atsuo adopted the role of frontman (which he had rarely done since the 1990s), performing most lead vocals, while Mike Engle of the band Crawl performed as guest drummer. In December 2022, Boris released their third studio album of the year, "Fade", which focuses on drone metal and appeared with no prior notice.


title: Boris (band)

text: Throughout their career, Boris have made deliberate efforts to avoid a strong association with any musical style. In particular, they do not consider themselves a heavy metal band despite frequently being categorized as such. In an interview, drummer Atsuo stated: "Having some kind of preconceived message or theme is very boring to me. It becomes a crutch. Just say what you want to say."The wide variety of genres used by reviewers to describe Boris's music include experimental music, experimental rock, noise music, noise rock, experimental/avant-garde metal, doom metal, post-metal, drone metal, sludge metal, psychedelic music, psychedelic rock, psychedelic metal, and stoner rock. While they first emerged as a sludge metal band with strong hardcore punk influences, their subsequent releases have employed elements of a wide variety of genres, including drone music, old-school industrial music, ambient music, acid rock, garage rock, shoegazing, dream pop, J-pop, and crust punk.


title: Boris (band)

text: For example, the band's debut album "Absolutego" featured a "65-minute track of oozing, slow motion, Melvins-inspired drone rock/metal," while its follow-up "Amplifier Worship" incorporated psychedelia and jam band influences. Their third album "Flood" incorporated elements from drone. "Akuma no Uta" and "Pink" engaged in different stylistic experimentation, including shoegazing, stoner rock, and post-rock. "Vein" (2007) was released in "Hardcore" and "Noise" versions, whereas "New Album" experimented with electronica and dream pop. The album "Noise" featured elements from grunge music.


title: Boris (band)

text: Boris uses many different effects pedals and other guitar accessories while performing live. Wata uses an E-bow to achieve bow-like sounds or to manipulate feedback; this device is held in the hand, like a pick, but relies on a magnetic field vibration to move the guitar's strings. Wata also occasionally plays an accordion and keyboards in concert. Takeshi typically plays a double-necked bass/guitar live, which allows him to play both rhythm guitar during the band's lengthier tracks as well as bass guitar during their more traditional tracks, without needing to switch instruments.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Windows 10 Mobile aimed to provide greater consistency with its counterpart for PCs, including more extensive synchronization of content, Universal Windows Platform apps, as well as the capability, on supported hardware, to connect devices to an external display and use a desktop interface with mouse and keyboard input support (reminiscent of Windows on PCs). Microsoft built tools for developers to port iOS Objective-C apps with minimal modifications. Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones are eligible for upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile, pursuant to manufacturer and carrier support. Some features vary depending on hardware compatibility.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Windows 10 Mobile was designed for use on smartphones and phablets running on 32-bit ARM processor architectures. Microsoft also intended for the platform to be used on ARM tablets with screens 9 inches or smaller in size, but such devices were rarely commercially released. Windows 10 Mobile entered public beta for selected Lumia smartphones on February 12, 2015. The first Lumia smartphones powered by Windows 10 Mobile were released on November 20, 2015, while eligible Windows Phone devices began receiving updates to Windows 10 Mobile on March 17, 2016, pursuant to manufacturer and carrier support.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: The platform never achieved any significant degree of popularity or market share in comparison to Android or iOS. By 2017, Microsoft had already begun to downplay Windows 10 Mobile, having discontinued active development (beyond maintenance releases) due to a lack of user and developer interest in the platform, and focusing more on serving incumbent mobile operating systems as part of its software and services strategy. Support for Windows 10 Mobile ended on January 14, 2020. , Windows 10 Mobile has 0.01% market share of the mobile operating system market.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Microsoft had already begun the process of unifying the Windows platform across device classes in 2012; Windows Phone 8 dropped the Windows CE-based architecture of its predecessor, Windows Phone 7, for a platform built upon the NT kernel that shared much of the same architecture with its PC counterpart Windows 8 including file system (NTFS), networking stack, security elements, graphics engine (DirectX), device driver framework and hardware abstraction layer. At Build 2014, Microsoft also unveiled the concept of Universal Windows Apps. With the addition of Windows Runtime support to these platforms, apps created for Windows 8.1 could now be ported to Windows Phone 8.1 and Xbox One while sharing a common codebase with their PC counterparts. User data and licenses for an app could also be shared between multiple platforms.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: In July 2014, Microsoft's then-new CEO Satya Nadella explained that the company was planning to "streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes", unifying Windows, Windows Phone, and Windows Embedded around a common architecture and a unified application ecosystem. However, Nadella stated that these internal changes would not have any effect on how the operating systems are marketed and sold.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: On September 30, 2014, Microsoft unveiled Windows 10; Terry Myerson explained that Windows 10 would be Microsoft's "most comprehensive platform ever", promoting plans to provide a "unified" platform for desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and all-in-one devices. Windows 10 on phones was publicly unveiled during the "Windows 10: The Next Chapter" press event on January 21, 2015; unlike previous Windows Phone versions, it would also expand the platform's focus to small, ARM-based tablets. Microsoft's previous attempt at an operating system for ARM-based tablets, Windows RT (which was based upon the PC version of Windows 8), was commercially unsuccessful.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: During the 2015 Build keynote, Microsoft announced the middleware toolkit "Islandwood", later known as Windows Bridge for iOS, which provides a toolchain that can assist developers in porting Objective-C software (primarily iOS projects) to build as Universal Windows Apps. An early build of Windows Bridge for iOS was released as open source software under the MIT License on August 6, 2015. Visual Studio 2015 can also convert Xcode projects into Visual Studio projects. Microsoft also announced plans for a toolkit codenamed "Centennial", which would allow desktop Windows software using Win32 APIs to be ported to Windows 10 Mobile.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: At Build, Microsoft had also announced an Android runtime environment for Windows 10 Mobile known as "Astoria", which would allow Android apps to run in an emulated environment with minimal changes, and have access to Microsoft platform APIs such as Bing Maps and Xbox Live as nearly drop-in replacements for equivalent Google Mobile Services. Google Mobile Services and certain core APIs would not be available, and apps with "deep integration into background tasks" were said to poorly support the environment.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: On February 25, 2016, after already having delayed it in November 2015, Microsoft announced that "Astoria" would be shelved, arguing that it was redundant to the native Windows Bridge toolkit since iOS is already a primary target for mobile app development. The company also encouraged use of products from Xamarin (which they had acquired the previous day) for multi-platform app development using C# programming language instead. Portions of Astoria were used as a basis for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) platform on the PC version of Windows 10.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: To promote it as being unified with its desktop equivalent, Microsoft promoted the operating system as being an edition of Windows 10. Microsoft had begun to phase out specific references to the Windows Phone brand in its advertising in mid-2014, but critics have still considered the operating system to be an iteration and continuation of Windows Phone due to its lineage and similar overall functionality. Microsoft referred to the OS as "Windows 10 for phones and small tablets" during its unveiling, and leaked screenshots from a Technical Preview build identified the operating system as "Windows 10 Mobile". The technical preview was officially called the "Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones", while the user agent of Microsoft Edge contained a reference to "Windows Phone 10".


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: A major aspect of Windows 10 Mobile is a focus on harmonizing user experiences and functionality between different classes of devices—specifically, devices running the PC-oriented version of Windows 10. Under the Universal Windows Platform concept, Windows Runtime apps for Windows 10 on PC can be ported to other platforms in the Windows 10 family with nearly the same codebase, but with adaptations for specific device classes. Windows 10 Mobile also shares user interface elements with its PC counterpart, such as the updated Action Center and settings menu. During its initial unveiling, Microsoft presented several examples of Windows apps that would have similar functionality and user interfaces between Windows 10 on desktops and mobile devices, including updated Photos and Maps apps, and new Microsoft Office apps. Although marketed as a converged platform, and as with Windows Phone 8, using a Windows NT-based kernel, Windows 10 Mobile still cannot run Win32 desktop applications, but is compatible with software designed for Windows Phone 8.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Notifications can be synced between devices; dismissing a notification on, for example, a laptop, will also dismiss it from a phone. Certain types of notifications now allow inline replies. The start screen now has the option to display wallpapers as a background of the screen behind translucent tiles, rather than within the tiles. The messaging app adds support for internet-based Skype messaging alongside SMS, similarly to Apple's iMessage, and can synchronize these conversations with other devices. The camera app has been updated to match the "Lumia Camera" app previously exclusive to Lumia products, and a new Photos app aggregates content from local storage and OneDrive, and can perform automatic enhancements to photos. The on-screen keyboard now contains a virtual pointing stick for manipulating the text editing cursor, a dedicated voice input button, and can be shifted towards the left or right of the screen to improve one-handed usability on larger devices.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Windows 10 Mobile supports "Continuum", a feature that allows supported devices to connect to an external display, and scale its user interface and apps into a "PC-like" desktop interface with support for mouse and keyboard input over USB or Bluetooth. Devices can connect directly to external displays wirelessly using Miracast, via USB-C, or via docking station accessories with USB ports, as well as HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: A new iteration of the Office Mobile suite, Office for Windows 10, is also bundled. Based upon the Android and iOS versions of Office Mobile, they introduce a new user interface with a variation of the ribbon toolbar used by the desktop version, and a new mobile version of Outlook. Outlook utilizes the same rendering engine as the Windows desktop version of Microsoft Word. Microsoft Edge replaces Internet Explorer Mobile as the default web browser.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Windows 10 Mobile's first-party launch devices—the Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL, and Lumia 550—were released in November 2015 being the first phones to ship with Windows 10 Mobile. Monthly updates to the OS software are being released to address bugs and security issues. These updates are distributed to all Windows 10 Mobile devices and do not require the intervention of a user's wireless carrier in order to authorize their distribution. Firmware upgrades will still require authorization by the user's carrier.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: The Windows Insider program, adopted to provide a public beta for the PC version of Windows 10, is used to provide a public beta version of Windows 10 Mobile for selected devices. A build released on April 10, 2015, was to support most second and third generation Lumia products, but the Lumia 930, Lumia Icon, and Lumia 640 XL did not receive the update due to scaling bugs, and delivery was suspended as a whole due to backup and restore issues on some models. An update to the Windows Phone Recovery Tool resolved these concerns, and delivery of Windows 10 updates was restored to the 520 with build 10052, and to the 640 with build 10080.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Build number 10136 was released on June 16, 2015, with a "migration bug" that required that existing devices on build 10080 be reverted to Windows Phone 8.1 using the Recovery Tool before the installation of 10136 could proceed. This migration bug was fixed a week later with the release of build 10149. Mobile builds of the Redstone branch till 14322 were halted for the device Lumia 635 (1 GB RAM) due to bugs.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Some Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones can be upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile, pursuant to hardware compatibility, manufacturer support, and carrier support. Not all phones can receive the update nor support all of its features. Microsoft originally stated that stable upgrades for Windows Phone 8.1 devices would be released in December 2015; however, the release was ultimately delayed to March 17, 2016. Among first-party devices, only the Lumia 430, 435, 532, 535, 540, 635 (1 GB RAM), 640, 640 XL, 735, 830, 929, 930 and 1520 are supported. The only third-party devices supported are the BLU Products Win HD w510u and Win HD LTE x150q, and the MCJ Madosma Q501. Windows 10 Mobile does not officially support any HTC devices (HTC One M8 for Windows, HTC Windows Phone 8X, HTC Windows Phone 8S), although the HTC One M8 for Windows could be upgraded to the public release version of Windows 10 Mobile through the Windows Insider program. While Microsoft stated that the Nokia Lumia Icon may be upgraded at a later date, the company stated that there will not be a second wave of officially supported devices. Microsoft also removed statements which promoted the BLU Win JR LTE as being compatible with Windows 10.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Microsoft originally stated that all Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 would receive updates to 10, but Microsoft later reiterated that only devices with the "Lumia Denim" firmware revision and at least 8 GB of internal storage would receive the upgrade. In February 2015, Joe Belfiore stated that Microsoft was working on support for devices with 512 MB of RAM, (such as the popular Nokia Lumia 520), but these plans have since been dropped. Upon the official upgrade release, some Lumia models, particularly the Lumia 1020 and 1320, were excluded despite meeting the previously announced criteria. Microsoft cited poor user feedback on the performance of preview builds on these models as reasoning. On October 17, 2017, Nearly 2 years after the Windows 10 release, Microsoft released an Over-The-Cable (OTC) Updater tool to bring all Lumias up to date to the latest supported Windows 10 build, even older 512 MB and 1 GB RAM unlocked devices such as the 520, 620, 720, 925, 920 etc. which were updated using the tool to Build 10586 (November Update).


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: As with Windows Phone, Windows 10 Mobile supports ARM system-on-chips from Qualcomm's Snapdragon line. In March 2015, "Ars Technica" reported that the operating system will also introduce support for IA-32 system-on-chips from Intel and AMD, including Intel's Atom x3 and Cherry Trail Atom x5 and x7, and AMD's Carrizo. These plans never materialized


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Minimum specifications for Windows 10 Mobile devices are similar to those of Windows Phone 8, with a minimum screen resolution of 800×480 (854×480 if software buttons are in use), 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage. Owing to hardware advancements and the operating system's support for tablets, screen resolutions can now reach as high as QSXGA resolution (2560×2048) and further, as opposed to the 1080p cap of Windows Phone 8. The minimum amount of RAM required is dictated by the screen's resolution; screens with a resolution 800×480 or 960×540 and higher require 1 GB, 1920×1080 (FHD) or 1440×900 and higher require 2 GB, and 2560×1440 and higher require 3 GB.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Microsoft unveiled flagship Lumia smartphones bundled with Windows 10 during a media event on October 6, 2015, including Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL, and the low-end Lumia 550.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Microsoft announced Windows 10 Mobile during their January 21, 2015 event "The Next Chapter". The first Windows 10 Mobile build was rolled out on February 12, 2015, as part of the Windows Insider Program to a subset of mobile devices running Windows Phone 8 and 8.1. As with the desktop editions of Windows 10, this initial release was codenamed "Threshold", it was part of both the "Threshold 1" and "Threshold 2" development cycles. Windows 10 Mobile launched with the Microsoft Lumia 550, 950 and 950 XL. The rollout for Windows Phone 8.1 devices started March 17, 2016.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: On February 19, 2016, Microsoft restarted the rollout of full builds for the first feature update, officially known as the "Anniversary Update" or "Version 1607", codenamed """Redstone 1""". Like the start of the previous wave, the first builds were not available to all devices that were included in the Windows Insider Program.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: The Creators Update (named after the equivalent update to Windows 10 for PC), also known as Redstone 2, was first previewed on the Insider branch on August 17, 2016. and began deployment on April 25, 2017. It features mainly minor feature additions, including an e-book reader within Edge, the ability to turn off the phone screen when using Continuum mode on an external display, SMS support in Skype, SD card encryption, and other changes. Despite the platform's synergy with Windows 10 for PCs, some of its features (such as Night Light and Paint 3D) were excluded. Around the time that the Creators Update was finalized, Windows Insider users began to be issued updates on a branch known as "feature2". Microsoft stated that there were no plans to move Windows 10 Mobile to be in sync with the other Windows 10-platforms just yet; media outlets considered this decision to be a sign that Microsoft was beginning to wind down active development of Windows 10 Mobile beyond maintenance releases, as development was no longer directly in sync with the PC version.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: The Creators Update was only offered to eleven existing Windows 10 Mobile devices, of which nine would later receive the Fall Creators Update:


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: In early June 2017, a private build, briefly deployed by accident by Microsoft, revealed work on an updated interface for Windows 10 Mobile known as "CShell" ("composable shell"), an implementation of the Windows shell across device classes using a modular system. The build featured a Start screen, Action Center, and Continuum desktop interface that were nearly identical in functionality and appearance to their equivalents on Windows 10 for PC. However, this iteration of the operating system was no longer backwards compatible with Windows Phone Silverlight apps.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: Reception of Windows 10 Mobile was mixed. In its review of the Lumia 950 XL, "The Verge" felt that the platform was "buggy and unfinished", and that its user interface was inconsistent in operation and felt more like Android mixed with few of the distinct design elements that were hallmarks of Windows Phone. It was noted that the OS still retained much of the performance of Windows Phone 8, and that Microsoft had made efforts to create synergies with the PC version of Windows 10 via its universal apps concept. Continuum was regarded as potentially being a signature feature over time, but that it was merely a "parlor trick" in its launch state due to a lack of support for desktop-oriented interfaces among third-party software. "TechRadar" felt that the lack of apps was the "biggest let-down on Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile alike." After many user complaints, Microsoft started allowing users to downgrade from Windows 10 Mobile to Windows Phone 8.1.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: According to the Form 10-K For The Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2016 revenue from Phone business was $3,358 million comparing to $7,702 million in 2015 and $3,073 million in 2014.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: In addition, in the Form 10-K For The Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2015 corporation disclosed that management decided to spend "$2.5 billion of integration and restructuring expenses, primarily costs associated with restructuring plans" which includes the cost of mass dismissal of staff.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: On October 8, 2017, Microsoft executive Joe Belfiore revealed that the company would no longer actively develop new features or hardware for Windows phones, citing its low market share, and the resultant lack of third-party software for the platform. Microsoft had largely abandoned its mobile business, having laid off the majority of Microsoft Mobile employees in 2016, sold a number of intellectual property and manufacturing assets (including, in particular, the Nokia feature phone business) to HMD Global and Foxconn (which began producing Android-based smartphones under the Nokia brand) focused software efforts on providing apps and services compatible with the incumbent Android and iOS instead, and having since released dual-touchscreen Android smartphones under the Surface Duo brand. Development of Windows 10 Mobile would be limited to maintenance releases and patches. By December 2018, Statcounter had reported Windows 10 Mobile's market share to be 0.33%.


title: Windows 10 Mobile

text: In January 2019, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 Mobile will reach end of life on December 10, 2019, after which no further security updates will be released, and online services tied to the OS (such as device backup) will begin to be phased out. However, Microsoft quietly moved the EOL date back to January 14, 2020 (aligned with the EOL date for Windows 7) with one additional security update released.


title: Megaupload

text: Megaupload Ltd was a Hong Kong-based online company established in 2005 that operated from 2005 to 2012 providing online services related to file storage and viewing.


title: Megaupload

text: On 19 January 2012, the United States Department of Justice seized the domain names and closed down the sites associated with Megaupload after the owners were arrested and indicted for allegedly operating as an organization dedicated to copyright infringement. Subsequently, HK$330 million (approximately US$42 million) worth of assets were frozen by the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong. The company's founder, New Zealand resident Kim Dotcom, has denied any wrongdoing, and the case against Dotcom has been the subject of controversy over its legality. In 2017, a New Zealand judge ruled that Dotcom should be extradited to the United States, but Dotcom remained at liberty in New Zealand pending the results of an appeal. On 5 July 2018 the New Zealand court of appeal found Dotcom and three of his former colleagues were eligible to be extradited to the U.S. authorities. His lawyer said they would appeal to the New Zealand Supreme Court. The shutdown of Megaupload led to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on a range of websites belonging to the U.S. government and copyright organizations by the hacktivist group Anonymous.


title: Megaupload

text: On , Megaupload was re-launched as Mega under the domain name mega.co.nz (later moved to mega.nz, and then to mega.io). The re-launch date was chosen to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Megaupload's takedown by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.


title: Megaupload

text: The company's registered office was on the 12th floor of the Shanghai Industrial Investment Building in Room 1204 in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.


title: Megaupload

text: The company web services included Megaupload.com, a one-click hosting service; Megapix.com, an image hosting service; Megavideo.com and Megalive.com, video hosting services; and Megabox.com, a music hosting service. Other services included Megaclick, Megafund, Megakey and Megapay, all of which were advertisement and financial services. Along with this, four blogs were created including Megabest and Megaking. Two additional services—Megabackup and Megamovie—were in development before their closure.


title: Megaupload

text: Megaupload also released its upload/download manager, Mega Manager, a download manager that featured a link-checker for Megaupload links as well as options to manage uploaded files, and to access the online control box that was on MegaUpload.


title: Megaupload

text: Megakey was an adware application which removed bandwidth limitations on Mega services during "happy hour" periods. In return, the users running Megakey agreed to supply some personal identification and demographic data and to allow the substitution of ads on third party websites they visited with those of Megaupload.


title: Megaupload

text: Megabox, a new form of media downloading site, was the first of its kind. Kim "Dotcom" described Megabox as "very similar to iTunes" except that it operated in a web browser using HTML5 technology and loaded "much faster than iTunes or anything else out there".


title: Megaupload

text: FileBox was a Flash applet that could be embedded onto any external webpage. It allowed users to upload content to Megaupload without having to visit the website itself or download the Mega Manager.


title: Megaupload

text: Although incorporated in Hong Kong, the company did not operate in Hong Kong. From 2009 onward, users with Hong Kong IP addresses were banned from accessing the site. The reason for the block was never disclosed by Megaupload, but Hong Kong Customs officials have suggested that the block was an attempt to hinder law enforcement investigation.


title: Megaupload

text: As of 23 May 2010, access to Megaupload was intermittently blocked by the internet authorities in Saudi Arabia by their regulator Communications and Information Technology Commission. Megavideo was also intermittently blocked in the United Arab Emirates due to pornographic content being accessible through the service.


title: Megaupload

text: From 9 June 2011 onward, the Malaysian government through Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ordered all ISPs in Malaysia to block Megaupload and Megavideo. Some ISPs reportedly blocked all the sites on the list while other ISPs throttled connection speeds.


title: Megaupload

text: In July 2011, access to Megaupload and Megavideo were blocked in India for Reliance Entertainment customers, after a court order was obtained, citing illegal copies of the 2011 film "Singham" on file hosting sites.


title: Megaupload

text: On 19 January 2012, U.S. federal prosecutors in the state of Virginia shut Megaupload down and laid charges against its founder Kim Dotcom and others for allegedly breaching copyright infringement laws.


title: Megaupload

text: For a short time after the closure of the site, users could access material via Google's web cache and The Internet Archive. One day after the indictment Google and Archive.org voluntarily removed the site mirrors to avoid the responsibility of hosting a website taken down for copyright infringement.


title: Megaupload

text: In January 2011, MarkMonitor published a report entitled "Traffic Report: Online Piracy and Counterfeiting", which said that Megaupload and Megavideo were, along with RapidShare, the top three websites classified as "digital piracy", with more than 21 billion visits per year. Megaupload responded by stating: "Activity that violates our terms of service or our acceptable use policy is not tolerated, and we go to great lengths to swiftly process legitimate DMCA takedown notices". Mark Mulligan, an analyst at Forrester Research, pointed out that the number of visits did not necessarily indicate the number of downloads of illegal material.


title: Megaupload

text: Megaupload Toolbar was said to redirect users to a custom error page when a 404 error occurred in the user's browser. It was also said to contain spyware. FBM Software said that the Megaupload toolbar is free of spyware.


title: Megaupload

text: When a file was uploaded to Megaupload and another file with the same hash was already found to exist, the uploader would be asked if they would like to link to the already existing file. Therefore, a single file may have contained multiple links to it. This caused some controversy, since when a DMCA takedown notice was issued only the link that was provided was removed; not necessarily the file itself.


title: Megaupload

text: On 9 December 2011, Megaupload published a music video entitled "The Mega Song", showing artists including Kanye West, Alicia Keys and will.i.am endorsing the company. Snoop Dogg appeared in earlier versions of the video. The music video was also uploaded to YouTube, but was removed following a takedown request by the record company Universal Music Group (UMG). Megaupload said that the video contained no infringing content, commenting: "we have signed agreements with every featured artist for this campaign". Megaupload requested an apology from UMG, and filed a lawsuit against the company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, on 12 December 2011. UMG denied that the takedown was ordered under the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and said that the takedown was "pursuant to the UMG-YouTube agreement," which gives UMG "the right to block or remove user-posted videos through YouTube's CMS (Content Management System) based on a number of contractually specified criteria." The video was subsequently returned to YouTube, with the reasons for the UMG takedown remaining unclear. YouTube stated: "Our partners do not have the right to take down videos from YT unless they own the rights to them or they are live performances controlled through exclusive agreements with their artists, which is why we reinstated it." Lawyers for will.i.am initially said that he had never agreed to the project, but on 12 December, he denied any involvement in the takedown notice.


title: Megaupload

text: On 19 January 2012 the United States Department of Justice seized and shut down the file-hosting site Megaupload.com and commenced criminal cases against its owners and others. The lead prosecutor, Neil MacBride, had formerly served as Vice President, Anti-Piracy and General Counsel, of the Business Software Alliance, where he oversaw global anti-piracy enforcement and copyright policy. On 20 January Hong Kong Customs froze more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars (US$39 million) in assets belonging to the company.


title: Megaupload

text: Acting upon a US Federal prosecutor's request, the New Zealand Police arrested Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives in a leased $30 million mansion at Coatesville near Auckland on Friday, 20 January 2012 (NZDT, UTC+13). This was pursuant to a request from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that the four be extradited for racketeering and money laundering. The raid was timed for the birthday celebration of Dotcom. Assets worth $17 million including art works and cars were seized. The four men arrested were Kim Dotcom (founder; 38 years old, from Germany), Finn Batato (CMO; 38, from Germany), Mathias Ortmann (CTO and co-founder; 40, from Germany) and Bram van der Kolk (29, from the Netherlands).


title: Megaupload

text: On 23 January, Dotcom appeared in Auckland's North Shore District Court for a bail hearing. The crown argued against bail on the basis that he was a flight risk with a helicopter on his front lawn, while defence lawyers argued that the helicopter could not fly far enough to reach another country. They also said that Dotcom denied any criminal wrongdoing. Judge David McNaughton expressed concern at the discovery of two shotguns at Dotcom's mansion during the police raid, and deferred a decision on whether to grant bail, saying that he needed more time to review the submissions. The request for bail was turned down, with Judge McNaughton saying that "he was denied due to the risk [that] Mr. Dotcom would flee jurisdiction and the possibility that if he reached Germany he wouldn't be extradited to face the charges". On 3 February 2012, an appeal to the High Court of New Zealand upheld the decision to deny bail.


title: Megaupload

text: On 22 February 2012, North Shore District Court Judge Nevin Dawson overturned the previous rulings and granted bail to Kim Dotcom, saying that the risk of flight had diminished after his assets had been seized.


title: Megaupload

text: On 5 March 2012, a formal request for the extradition to the United States of Kim Dotcom and three other senior Megaupload staff was filed in a New Zealand court.


title: Megaupload

text: On 30 April 2012, the New Zealand High Court ruled that around $750,000 of Kim Dotcom's assets could be returned, including a Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG and Toyota Vellfire that had been seized during the raid on his home. The assets in 63 bank accounts and around thirty other vehicles remained in custody. A paperwork error by the New Zealand authorities meant that Kim Dotcom's property had been seized in January 2012 without giving proper notice. The restraining order on his property was granted in April 2012. During April 2012, US district court judge Liam O'Grady stated "I frankly don't know that we are ever going to have a trial in this matter," as he found out that the company had never been formally served with criminal papers by the US.


title: Megaupload

text: On 28 June 2012, New Zealand High Court judge Justice Helen Winkelmann ruled that the search warrants used to raid the home of Kim Dotcom were invalid, saying "The warrants did not adequately describe the offences to which they related. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid."


title: Megaupload

text: On 10 July 2012, a decision on whether Kim Dotcom and other Megaupload employees should be extradited to the United States was delayed until March 2013, in order to allow further time for legal arguments to be heard. New Zealand judge Justice Helen Winklemann said that U.S. authorities would need to provide evidence of "Internet piracy" before Dotcom was extradited.


title: Megaupload

text: On 24 September 2012, New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key ordered an inquiry into whether staff at the Government Communications Security Bureau had unlawfully spied on Kim Dotcom and the other defendants in the case. Key commented "I expect our intelligence agencies to operate always within the law. Their operations depend on public trust."


title: Megaupload

text: On 7 July 2014, it was reported that the proceedings to extradite Dotcom from New Zealand to the USA had been delayed until February 2015.


title: Megaupload

text: On 8 September 2014, the Court of Appeal ruled that the New Zealand Police is to return seized electronic devices unencrypted back to Dotcom and those involved.


title: Megaupload

text: On 23 December 2015, New Zealand judge Nevin Dawson ruled that Kim Dotcom, as well as three of his colleagues, can be extradited to the United States to face copyright infringement charges. Mr. Dotcom's lawyers said they would appeal the decision.


title: Megaupload

text: Media reports covering the case highlighted several points from the indictment used to support claims of illegal activity. The indictment provided instances alleged to show criminal behaviour, as well as indicating design points of Megaupload's operating model as being evidence of criminal intent:


title: Megaupload

text: Defense attorney Ira Rothken says that the raid was unjustly swift and did not give his client the opportunity to defend himself, quoting a similar case involving YouTube as an example of a completely different turnout.


title: Megaupload

text: Legal commentators point out that while the indictment may be correct and Megaupload might have acted as a criminal conspiracy as said, a number of points in the indictment are based upon selective interpretations and legal concepts (described in one article as "novel theories" of the law) and could be challenged in court. A "Los Angeles Times" analysis stated that the author was "struck by how far the indictment goes to find something nefarious"; likewise a TechDirt analysis concluded that while the founder of Megaupload had a significant history of "flounting the law", evidence has potentially been taken out of context or misrepresented and could "come back to haunt other online services who are providing perfectly legitimate services". Both analyses concur that other evidence could show criminality; the concerns were not irrefutable. The legal concerns included:


title: Megaupload

text: The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides safe harbor for sites that promptly take down infringing content. Safe harbor does not exist if the site has actual knowledge and does nothing about it. Moreover, the DMCA "safe harbor" is less important in criminal cases than civil cases because defeating the first element, lack of knowledge or awareness of infringement, may be easier for the prosecution than meeting the "willfulness" requirement for criminal copyright liability.


title: Megaupload

text: In Megaupload's case, the indictment alleges DMCA provisions were used for the appearance of legitimacy – the actual material was not removed, only some links to it were, takedowns agreement was approved based on business growth rather than infringement, and the parties themselves openly discussed their infringing activities. The indictment says that Megaupload executives:


title: Megaupload

text: ... are willfully infringing copyrights themselves on these systems; have actual knowledge that the materials on their systems are infringing (or alternatively know facts or circumstances that would make infringing material apparent); receive a financial benefit directly attributable to copyright-infringing activity where the provider can control that activity; and have not removed, or disabled access to, known copyright infringing material from servers they control."


title: Megaupload

text: Prosecutors said in the indictment that Megaupload was not DMCA compliant, and cited the example of an alleged infringer on the site known as "VV." Over six years, VV had allegedly uploaded nearly 17,000 files to Megavideo.com, resulting in more than 334 million views. According to prosecutors, although numerous takedown e-mails had been sent, none of the files had been deleted.


title: Megaupload

text: In a television interview with 3 News, Kim Dotcom said he was not a "piracy king", and said that Megaupload had applied the provisions of the DMCA and went beyond it, by giving copyright holders direct rights to delete links. He also said that the indictment relied on a malicious interpretation of technical issues to construe its claim of criminal intent, and that there was significant legal use of Megaupload.


title: Megaupload

text: Kim Dotcom denied the charges filed against him and retained the services of Ira P. Rothken, an attorney who has defended several copyright infringement cases. Ira Rothken stated that there is no criminal liability for secondary copyright infringement under US law, quoting a similar case involving YouTube as an example of similar accusations which were dealt with as a civil case.


title: Megaupload

text: Dotcom initially hired Washington, D.C. attorney Robert Bennett, who had confirmed he was going to represent Megaupload in the copyright infringement case. On 22 January 2012, Bennett withdrew from the case due to a conflict of interest with another client. As of 23 January, attorney Paul Davison was quoted as representing Megaupload's founder, Kim Dotcom, in New Zealand. At the end of April 2012, a controversy emerged over legal representation. The law firm Quinn Emanuel, retained by Megaupload to argue for the retention of Megaupload's data, said in a motion filed to the court that there was a concerted effort by the United States Department of Justice to deny Megaupload fair legal representation. In the brief, Quinn Emanuel alleged that several law firms dropped out of the case after the DoJ informed them of potential conflicts of interest, arguing that they wanted to call clients of the firms as witnesses. Given the size of the Megaupload, Quinn Emanuel said this "conflict of interest" argument could be applied to any law firm with experience in intellectual property rights, denying Megaupload experienced representation in a case where both law and technical issues are involved. Quinn Emanuel received such a letter but rejected the DoJ's arguments.


title: Megaupload

text: Techdirt argued that while the founder of Megaupload had a significant history of "flouting the law", evidence had potentially been taken out of context or misrepresented and could "come back to haunt other online services who are providing perfectly legitimate services". Eric Goldman, a professor of law at Santa Clara University, described the Megaupload case as "a depressing display of abuse of government authority". He pointed out that criminal copyright infringement requires that willful infringement has taken place, and that taking Megaupload offline had produced the "deeply unconstitutional effect" of denying legitimate users access to their data. Other legal commentators have expressed more skepticism toward Megaupload's likelihood of defending against charges of aiding and abetting copyright infringement on "willfulness" grounds if the allegations of fact in the indictment turn out to be true.


title: Megaupload

text: The defence has drawn on procedural errors by the prosecution to challenge the case and in a judgement at the end of May 2012, New Zealand judge David Harvey granted the defendants the right to the disclosure of evidence held by the FBI in preparation for the extradition trial. In his 81-page decision, he came to the assessment that the DoJ is attempting to use concepts of civil law, in particular secondary copyright infringement, in a criminal case, which creates legal issues. He also confirmed that the charges in the indictment relating to money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud are not separate criminal acts but are dependent on the claim of criminal secondary copyright infringement. In a separate development in the United States, the defense has challenged the case against Megaupload as a whole, saying the US has no jurisdiction over a foreign company and the seizure of Megaupload's assets was unlawful. A second brief points out numerous legal errors in the indictment, declaring it "an experiment in stretching U.S. criminal law well past the breaking point."


title: Megaupload

text: Following the seizure of Megaupload, concerns were raised as to what would happen to the files that had been uploaded by its users. On 20 January 2012, the Justice Department stated that "It is important to note that Mega clearly warned users to keep copies of any files they uploaded" adding that "Megaupload.com expressly informed users through its Frequently Asked Questions ('FAQs') and its Terms of Service that users have no proprietary interest in any of the files on Megaupload's servers, they assume the full risk of complete loss or unavailability of their data, and that Megaupload can terminate site operations without prior notice." On 27 January 2012, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride wrote:


title: Megaupload

text: The Mega Servers are not in the actual or constructive custody or control of the United States, but remain at the premises controlled by, and currently under the control of, Carpathia and Cogent. Should the defendants wish to obtain independent access to the Mega Servers, or coordinate third-party access to data housed on Mega Servers, the issue must be resolved directly with Cogent or Carpathia.


title: Megaupload

text: In response, on 30 January 2012, Carpathia Hosting denied having access to MegaUpload files and issued a press release stating


title: Megaupload

text: Carpathia Hosting does not have, and has never had, access to the content on MegaUpload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers to MegaUpload's customers. The reference to the 2 February 2012 date in the Department of Justice letter for the deletion of content is not based on any information provided by Carpathia to the U.S. Government. We would recommend that anyone who believes that they have content on MegaUpload servers contact MegaUpload. Please do not contact Carpathia Hosting.


title: Megaupload

text: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has started a campaign to allow legitimate users of Megaupload in the US access to their data and wants the data preserved for that reason. It has chosen to represent one such legitimate user in court and thus has sided with Megaupload and Carpathia in asking the court to retain the data.


title: Megaupload

text: On 26 April 2012, Megaupload data negotiations began. Carpathia reported that maintaining the data costs over US$9,000 a day, and wanted to seek a formal resolution on whether to delete the data or release it to interested parties. United States district court Judge Liam O'Grady ordered all parties to return to the negotiating table. The U.S. Department of Justice noted that US$35 million had been paid by Megaupload to Carpathia, and alleged that Carpathia had knowingly profited from copyright infringement.


title: Megaupload

text: Following the shutdown of the Megaupload website, the website of the United States Department of Justice and other websites were taken offline following concerted denial of service attacks attributed to Anonymous.


title: Megaupload

text: Gizmodo concurred that it was "almost certainly the result of a quickly assembled DDoS [Distributed Denial of Service] attack—and easily the widest in scope and ferocity we've seen in some time", commenting that "if you had any doubts Anonymous is still a hacker wrecking ball, doubt no more". Links posted in chatrooms and on Twitter, when clicked on by unsuspecting Internet users, ran a web version of the application known as the Low Orbit Ion Cannon.


title: Megaupload

text: On 19 January 2012, Anonymous released a statement on Pastebin.com taking responsibility for the mass attacks on websites including those of RIAA, MPAA, BMI, FBI, and others. According to the RT network, Anonymous described the attacks as "the single largest Internet attack in its history".


title: Megaupload

text: On 31 May 2013, a New Zealand court ordered police to return any items not relevant to the case and to provide copies of relevant material to Dotcom and his associates.


title: Megaupload

text: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said he was satisfied with the shutdown of the website. He found the site's operators were reaping "criminal profits from the illegal distribution of copyrighted works". "The time has come for increased judicial and police co-operation between states" in the fight against online copyright infringement, he said in a statement.


title: Megaupload

text: Web organisations have raised concerns about possible effects of the Megaupload case on the future of file sharing, cloud storage, and Internet commerce. Various commentators including John C. Dvorak, Glenn Greenwald, and Julian Sanchez have written on the topic as well, particularly as it relates US government powers to take down a web site without a trial, even without new laws like SOPA. In fact, the U.S. Dept of Justice was able to rely on PRO-IP, a law passed back in 2008, in order to shut down Megaupload.


title: Megaupload

text: People who used Megaupload for personal and business storage, such as large audio and video files for family and work, have also voiced their complaints about the fact that they no longer had access to their files on the service. Examples cited in the media included staff at public interest group "Public Knowledge" who used it for large files, and Android cellphone software writers who described it as "one of the best ways to distribute [software] ... There are a number of similar sites for this use, but Megaupload was always the fastest".


title: Megaupload

text: File hosting websites limited the functionality of their services. FileSonic.com, one of the top ten file hosting services, withdrew the ability to share links to files. The site's main page added a banner stating "All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally." Other file hosting websites followed suit, including FileServe.com, FileJungle.com, Uploadstation.com, x7.to and 4shared.com, by shutting down, cancelling affiliate programs or allowing users to only download what they themselves uploaded. Another large file-sharing website, Uploaded.to, ceased services for users accessing from United States-based IP addresses.


title: Megaupload

text: According to MediaFire CEO Derek Labian, he and his file hosting company are not concerned by the Megaupload incident because "Megaupload was making a ridiculous amount of money with a ridiculously bad service... We don't have a business built on copyright infringement." A spokesperson for RapidShare similarly expressed a lack of concern, saying that "file hosting itself is a legitimate business", pointing out that Microsoft's SkyDrive operates on a similar basis.


title: Megaupload

text: BTJunkie, a website indexing torrent files, shut down voluntarily on 6 February 2012. The file hosting site Turbobit.net blocked access to U.S. visitors, and QuickSilverScreen, a site offering streaming video links, closed on 7 February 2012.


title: Transparency International

text: Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil societal anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities arising from corruption. Its most notable publications include the Global Corruption Barometer and the Corruption Perceptions Index. Transparency International serves as an umbrella organization. From 1993 till today its members have grown from a few individuals to more than 100 national chapters which engage in fighting perceived corruption in their home countries. TI is a member of G20 Think Tanks, UNESCO Consultative Status, United Nations Global Compact, Sustainable Development Solutions Network and shares the goals of peace, justice, strong institutions and partnerships of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG). TI is a social partner of Global Alliance in Management Education. TI confirmed the dis-accreditation of the national chapter of United States of America in 2017.


title: Transparency International

text: According to the 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, Transparency International was number 9 of 100 in the "Top Think Tanks Worldwide (non-U.S.)" category and number 27 of 150 in the "Top Think Tanks Worldwide (U.S. and non-U.S.)" category.


title: Transparency International

text: Transparency International was founded in May 1993. According to political scientist Ellen Gutterman, "TI's presence in Germany, and indeed its organizational development and rise from a small operation to a prominent international TNGO [Transnational Non Governmental Organisation], benefited from the activities and personal connections of at least three key German individuals: Peter Eigen, Hansjoerg Elshorst, and Michael Wiehen".


title: Transparency International

text: In 1995, Transparency International developed the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI ranked nations on the prevalence of corruption within each country, based upon surveys of business people. The CPI was subsequently published annually. It was initially criticized for poor methodology and unfair treatment of developing nations, while also being praised for highlighting corruption and embarrassing governments.


title: Transparency International

text: Starting in 1999 and ending in 2011, Transparency International published the Bribe Payers Index (BPI) which ranked nations according to the prevalence that a country's multinational corporations would offer bribes.


title: Transparency International

text: Since 2005, Transparency International has published thirteen Exporting Corruption reports. Exporting Corruption is a research report that rates the bribery-related performance of leading global exporters, including countries that are signatories of OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.


title: Transparency International

text: Transparency International is the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption. It brings people together in a powerful worldwide coalition to end the devastating impact of corruption on men, women and children around the world. TI's mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption.


title: Transparency International

text: The organization defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain which eventually hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.


title: Transparency International

text: It develops tools for fighting corruption and works with other civil society organizations, companies and governments to implement them. Since 1995, Transparency International has issued an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI); it also publishes a Global Corruption Report, a Global Corruption Barometer, and a Bribe Payers Index.


title: Transparency International

text: In 2010, Transparency International developed a five-year strategy with six strategic priorities organized by the following categories: People, Institutions, Laws, Values, Network, Impact.


title: Transparency International

text: In 2015, Transparency International (TI) developed a five-year strategy which sets out their collective ambition for the coming years. Together against Corruption: Transparency International Strategy 2020 is a strategy by and for the Transparency International movement. This strategy is based on more than 1500 external and internal contributions addressing both the corruption environment of today and the one TI anticipates in the years ahead.


title: Transparency International

text: The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. It is a composite index – a combination of polls – drawing on corruption-related data collected by a variety of reputable institutions. The CPI reflects the views of observers from around the world.


title: Transparency International

text: The Corruption Perceptions Index has received criticism over the years. The main one stems from the difficulty in measuring corruption, which by definition happens behind the scenes. The Corruption Perceptions Index therefore needs to rely on third-party survey which have been criticized as potentially unreliable. Data can vary widely depending on the public perception of a country, the completeness of the surveys and the methodology used. The second issue is that data cannot be compared from year to year because Transparency International uses different methodologies and samples every year. This makes it difficult to evaluate the result of new policies. The Corruption Perceptions Index authors replied to these criticisms by reminding that the Corruption Perceptions Index is meant to measure "perception" and not "reality". They argue that "perceptions matter in their own right, since... firms and individuals take actions based on perceptions".


title: Transparency International

text: Transparency International consists of chapters – locally established, independent organizations – that address corruption in their respective countries. From small bribes to large-scale looting, corruption differs from country to country. As chapters are staffed with local experts they are ideally placed to determine the priorities and approaches best suited to tackling corruption in their countries. This work ranges from visiting rural communities to provide free legal support to advising their government on policy reform. Corruption does not stop at national borders. The chapters play a crucial role in shaping its collective work and realising its regional and global goals, such as Strategy 2015. Transparency International's multi-country research and advocacy initiatives are driven by the chapters.


title: Transparency International

text: According to its 2012 Annual Report, it is funded by western governments (with almost €5 million from the UK government) and several multinational companies, including oil companies Exxon Mobil and Shell, hedge funds KKR and Wermuth Asset Management, Deloitte and Ernst & Young. Exxon Mobil itself was ranked in 2008 as the least transparent of 42 major oil and gas firms.


title: Transparency International

text: As far as organizational structure is concerned, one important leadership structure is their advisory council. The Advisory Council is a group of individuals with extensive experience in the areas of Transparency International's work. They come from diverse geographical, cultural and professional backgrounds. The council is appointed by the Board of Directors to advise them and to support the work of the organization as a whole.


title: Transparency International

text: According to the newspaper "Le Monde": "In its main surveys, Transparency International does not measure the weight of corruption in economic terms for each country. It develops a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) based on surveys conducted by private structures or other NGOs: the Economist Intelligence Unit, backed by the British liberal weekly newspaper "The Economist", the American neoconservative organization Freedom House, the World Economic Forum, or large corporations. (...) The IPC ignores corruption cases that concern the business world. So, the collapse of Lehman Brothers (2008) or the manipulation of the money market reference rate (Libor) by major British banks revealed in 2011 did not affect the ratings of the United States or United Kingdom." The organization also receives funding from companies that are themselves convicted of corruption offences. CPI's reliance on opinions of a relatively small group of experts and businesspeople, has been criticised by some. Alex Cobham, fellow at the Center for Global Development, states that it "embeds a powerful and misleading elite bias in popular perceptions of corruption". Others argue it is not plausible to ever measure the true scale and depth of a highly complex issue like corruption with a single number, and then rank countries accordingly.


title: Transparency International

text: At its annual members' meeting in November 2013 in Berlin, Transparency International's national chapters from Germany and Ireland proposed a resolution calling for the "end of the prosecution of Edward J. Snowden... He should be recognized as a whistleblower for his help to reveal the over-reaching and unlawful surveillance by secret services...He symbolizes the courage of numerous other whistleblowers around the world."


title: Transparency International

text: The final resolution that was passed by the plenary excluded any reference to Snowden, and excluded a call for "comprehensive protection on whistleblowers from all forms of retaliation". The original resolution was weakened following the intervention of the USA chapter. Five months earlier, in June 2013, representatives from Transparency International declined Snowden's request to meet him at the Moscow airport. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch met Snowden to support his asylum request, but Transparency International refused.


title: Transparency International

text: In January 2015 it was reported that Transparency International accepted $3 million from the German engineering multinational Siemens, which in 2008 paid one of the largest corporate corruption fines in history – $1.6 billion – for bribing government officials in numerous countries. In 2014, Siemens made the donation to Transparency International after pleading guilty in 2008 to bribery charges relating to widespread corrupt practices in Greece, Norway, Iraq, Vietnam, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Venezuela, China and Russia.


title: Transparency International

text: Transparency International applied for and received the funding from Siemens, even though TI's due diligence procedures prohibit the organization from accepting money from corporations that want to "greenwash" their reputations by making donations to TI. "If any corporate donor is accused of having been involved in corruption, the donor can expect no protection from TI," the procedures state. Transparency International received the funding from the "Siemens Integrity Initiative" about a year after the "Initiative" hired former TI staffer Jana Mittermaier, raising questions of a "revolving door" that has benefited both the organization and the company.


title: Transparency International

text: Several of TI's national chapters also have accepted money from Siemens: $660,000 for TI USA, $600,000 for TI Italy, $450,000 for TI Bulgaria, and $230,000 for TI Mexico – each for a period of three years. "This really shows that Transparency International is not as pure as people think," a TI insider told Corporate Crime Reporter. Transparency International Managing Director at the time, Cobus de Swardt, said, "We did not file an application to Siemens, we applied to the Siemens Integrity Initiative. There's a difference. We have not applied to Siemens." However, according to Siemens, the money for these grants is "provided by Siemens".


title: Transparency International

text: In August 2015 former TI staffer Anna Buzzoni went public regarding retaliation she and her colleagues faced after reporting to managers questionable financial dealings at TI's Water Integrity Network. Two of Buzzoni's project responsibilities were suspended and she was transferred against her will. She left TI shortly before internal whistleblower guidelines were adopted in June 2014.


title: Transparency International

text: Due to a "lack of confidence", TI's chapter in Croatia was disaccredited by the organization's board of directors in November 2015. The previous year, several leaders of the Croatia chapter challenged the legality of the chapter president's election. The president was accused of falsifying records, conflicts of interest, and arbitrarily expelling 10 chapter members who opposed the hiring of staff against the organization's rules. The Croatian government eventually revoked the president's appointment.


title: Transparency International

text: In January 2017, the TI Secretariat confirmed that its International Board of Directors decided on 10 January 2017 to strip its US affiliate – Transparency International USA – of its accreditation as the National Chapter in the United States.


title: Transparency International

text: The stated basis for the dis-accreditation was the board's recognition of differences in philosophies, strategies, and priorities between the former chapter and the Transparency International Movement. Elsewhere, it was reported that TI-USA came to be seen in the United States as a corporate front group, funded by multinational corporations. TI-USA's funding was provided by Bechtel Corporation, Deloitte, Google, Pfizer ($50,000 or more), Citigroup, ExxonMobil, Fluor, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Marsh & McLennan, PepsiCo, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Raytheon, Realogy, Tyco ($25,000–$49,999), and Freeport-McMoRan and Johnson & Johnson (up to $24,999). TI-USA previously awarded an annual corporate leadership award to one of its big corporate funders. In 2016, this award went to Bechtel. In April 2015 the Secretariat defended the decision by TI-USA to give Hillary Clinton its Integrity Award in 2012. Since January 1, 2020, Transparency International has an office in the United States.


title: Transparency International

text: In 2017, Cobus de Swardt stood down as Transparency International’s Managing Director, following a dispute with the organisation’s Board of Directors. De Swardt agreed a settlement with a Transparency International in a Labour Court in Berlin.


title: Transparency International

text: In August 2019 accounts from seven current and former TI Secretariat staff were reported in "The Guardian" alleging a "toxic" workplace culture at the organisation.


title: Transparency International

text: De Swardt's successor, Patricia Moreira, left in 2020 after making similar accusations to those of De Swardt, accusing the Board of failing to protect whistleblowers, as well as corruption.


title: Transparency International

text: The German newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported that Transparency International dismissed Moreira "without giving any reasons". The article added that, "dozens of employees, including high-ranking ones, have left the organisation in recent years. Even long-standing and deeply committed employees complain that TI is involved in political intrigues in which some are only interested in their own progress. For a non-governmental organization whose goal is to fight corruption around the world, and which collects millions of dollars in funding from governments and companies every year, this is a disturbing finding."


title: Transparency International

text: In 2021, de Swardt published a book accusing Transparency International of abuse of power and silencing whistleblowers. De Swardt also presented a video published on YouTube by his publisher, Springer, criticising corruption at Transparency International.


title: Transparency International

text: Transparency International's political impartiality, as well as its own transparency, have been called into question over hacked conversations of prosecutors in Operation Car Wash, leaked to "The Intercept". In these, chief prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol and head of TI Brazil, Bruno Brandão, discuss a "backstage campaign" to "disarm resistance on the left", fund selected candidates, and target others, seen as adversaries, using social media. Plans extended to preparing a series of false accusations ("denúncias sem materialidade") intended to damage the reputation of former president and potential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and lead up to a chat in which participants celebrate the election of Jair Bolsonaro.


title: Transparency International

text: In April 2022, Brazil's auditing court announced that it had opened an investigation against Transparency International over the illegal imprisonment of Lula da Silva.


title: Matthew Moy

text: Matthew James Moy (born February 3, 1984) is an American actor and artist. He co-starred as Han Lee on the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls" and provides the voice of Lars Barriga on "Steven Universe" and "Steven Universe Future".


title: Matthew Moy

text: fourth-generation Chinese-American. He attended the University of California, Davis, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Japanese and a minor in linguistics. Moy's father was a high school teacher, while his mother was a language therapist. He has one elder sister.


title: Matthew Moy

text: Moy has appeared on several television shows, including "How I Met Your Mother", "Criminal Minds", "Zeke and Luther", "Good Luck Charlie", and "Kickin' It", and had a recurring role as Shawn the Mathlete on "iCarly". He played Trang in the ninth season of the sitcom "Scrubs". He has also made guest star appearances on "Big Time Rush" as famous blogger Deke and on "The Middle" as Takayuki, the Heck family's Japanese foreign exchange student. He appeared on the fifth episode of the Syfy reality game show "Cha$e" and voices Lars Barriga on the Cartoon Network animated series "Steven Universe", a role which has earned him critical praise.


title: Matthew Moy

text: Moy co-starred as Han Lee on the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls", from 2011 to 2017. Moy's character was criticized by writer Andrew Ti as perpetuating "every possible Yellow Panic stereotype with an actually fairly impressive level of thoroughness" and his use of broken English was characterized as being played "like some sorry minstrel show." Moy responded to criticism by stating that "[w]e’re a comedy, and we often go right to the edge. It doesn’t bother me. I’ve encountered this all my life. I’ve been made fun of all my life." In July 2017 Moy was cast as Zack Smith/Microbe in "Marvel's New Warriors" on Freeform. While a pilot was filmed, Freeform dropped the series and it was ultimately cancelled after languishing for a year.


title: Matthew Moy

text: Moy played Ron, Grover's best friend, in the 2010 independent film "The Grover Complex". He played Chuck in the 2011 film "No Strings Attached" opposite Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman.


title: Matthew Moy

text: Moy voiced Firefly in the 2009 video game "", Raus in "White Knight Chronicles", and Shroomboom in the Skylanders reboot of the franchise.


title: Matthew Moy

text: When not acting, Moy enjoys drawing and painting, as evidenced by his Instagram account. He has credited Rebecca Sugar with giving him additional painting lessons during his time on "Steven Universe".


title: Matthew Moy

text: In 2012, during the filming of the second season of "2 Broke Girls", Moy unknowingly suffered a minor stroke in his sleep, waking to feeling weakness and motor skill loss in his right side. He drove himself to urgent care, and doctors discovered bleeding in his brain, but no further deterioration. The loss of motor skills in Moy's right side required a year of physical therapy, including walking with a cane for assistance on sets and re-learning to write with his right hand, but he has since made a full recovery. Moy kept the incident private from media until 2017.


title: Fuller's earth

text: Fuller's earth is any clay material that has the capability to decolorize oil or other liquids without the use of harsh chemical treatment. Fuller's earth typically consists of palygorskite (attapulgite) or bentonite.


title: Fuller's earth

text: Modern uses of fuller's earth include as absorbents for oil, grease, and animal waste (cat litter) and as a carrier for pesticides and fertilizers. Minor uses include filtering, clarifying, and decolorizing; active and inactive ingredient in beauty products; and as a filler in paint, plaster, adhesives, and pharmaceuticals. It also has a number of uses in the film industry and on stage.


title: Fuller's earth

text: The English name reflects the historic use of the material for fulling (cleaning and shrinking) wool, by textile workers known as "fullers". In past centuries, fullers kneaded fuller's earth and water into woollen cloth to absorb lanolin, oils, and other greasy impurities as part of the cloth finishing process.


title: Fuller's earth

text: The original spelling was without an apostrophe, but the apostrophe became more common in the 19th century, both before or after the "s". "Fuller's earth" is the most common spelling today, but both "fullers earth" and "fullers' earth" have been widely used.


title: Fuller's earth

text: Fuller's earth consists primarily of hydrous aluminum silicates (clay minerals) of varying composition. Common components are montmorillonite, kaolinite, and attapulgite. Small amounts of other minerals may be present in fuller's earth deposits, including calcite, dolomite, and quartz. In some localities fuller's earth refers to calcium bentonite, which is altered volcanic ash composed mostly of montmorillonite.


title: Fuller's earth

text: In 2005, the United States was the largest producer of fuller's earth with an almost 70% world share followed at a distance by Japan and Mexico. In the United States fuller's earth is typically derived from deposits of volcanic ash of Cretaceous age and younger (glacial clays do not form fuller's earth). Fuller's earth deposits have been mined in 24 states. The first discovery of fuller's earth in the United States was near Quincy, Florida, in 1893; previously it was imported from England. In 1939 mines near Quincy produced half the U.S. production.


title: Fuller's earth

text: In the United Kingdom, fuller's earth occurs mainly in England. It has been mined in the Lower Greensand Group and the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire. The Combe Hay Mine was a fuller's earth mine operating to the south of Bath, Somerset, until 1979. Other sites south of Bath included Frome, Lonsdale, Englishcombe, Tucking Mill, and Duncorn Hill. Although these sites had been used since Roman times, William Smith developed new methods for the identification of deposits of fuller's earth to the south of Bath. Other English sources include a mine near Redhill, Surrey (worked until 2000), and Woburn, Bedfordshire, where production ceased in 2004.


title: Fuller's earth

text: Hills, cliffs, and slopes that contain fuller's earth can be unstable, since this material can be thixotropic when saturated by heavy rainfall.


title: Fuller's earth

text: Fulling is an important step in the production of woolen garments, and can be traced back to ancient times. Cuneiform texts from Mesopotamia mention a raw material, (, : 'gypsum, plaster'), literally "white earth", which was delivered to fullers for the finishing of cloth. There are several Biblical references to fulling (2 Kings 18:17; Isaiah 7:3 and 36:2; Malachi 3:2; Mark 9:3), but the materials used to whiten the fabric are not specified. Pliny the Elder mentions several types of fuller's earth ( in Latin) from a variety of locations, each with different properties and therefore different uses.


title: Fuller's earth

text: The first references to fulling mills are from Persia, and by the time of the Crusades in the late eleventh century, fulling mills were active throughout the medieval world.


title: Fuller's earth

text: The use of fuller's earth across the Indian subcontinent dates back to at least 1879. While its household use and transportation by local carts in the Sindh region predates the 1800s, export by rail was first recorded in 1929 in British India.


title: Fuller's earth

text: In addition to its original use in the fulling of raw fibers, fuller's earth is now utilized in a number of industries. Most important applications make use of the minerals' natural absorbent properties in products sold as absorbents or filters.


title: Caroline Aaron

text: She is known for her performances in films like Mike Nichols' "Heartburn" (1986) and "Primary Colors" (1998), as well as Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), "Alice" (1990), and "Deconstructing Harry" (1997), and Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993). She also appeared in Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and Stanley Tucci's "Big Night" (1996). More recently, she appeared in "21 Jump Street" (2012) and its sequel "22 Jump Street" (2014).


title: Caroline Aaron

text: She is also known for her work on television, including guest roles on "Wings, Frasier, Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Desperate Housewives, Transparent", "Madam Secretary", and "The Good Fight".


title: Caroline Aaron

text: Her Broadway roles include Woody Allen's "Relatively Speaking", "I Hate Hamlet", "Social Security" and "The Iceman Cometh" starring Jason Robards.


title: Caroline Aaron

text: She is currently a regular on the critically acclaimed and Primetime Emmy Award-winning show "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (2017–present), with her comic performance of a Jewish mother winning her two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series alongside the rest of the series' cast.


title: Caroline Aaron

text: Aaron was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Nina Abady ( Friedman) was a civil rights activist; Alabama-born, she was of Syrian Jewish descent, and worked full time to support her three kids after Aaron's father, who was of Sephardic Jewish (Lebanese-Jewish) descent, died. Aaron's elder sister, Josephine Abady, a theatre director and producer, died from breast cancer on May 25, 2002, aged 52.


title: Caroline Aaron

text: Aaron attended American University in Washington, D.C., studying performing arts. She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.


title: Kay Burley

text: Kay Burley (born Kay McGurrin; 17 December 1960) is a British broadcaster and writer. She is a presenter on Sky News and hosts "Kay Burley", the breakfast slot on the channel. She also worked for BBC Local Radio, Tyne Tees Television, and TV-am.


title: Kay Burley

text: Burley was brought up in Beech Hill, Wigan, Lancashire, the daughter of parents who worked in a cardboard-making factory. She attended Whitley High School (closed 1990).


title: Kay Burley

text: Burley worked for BBC local radio and Tyne Tees Television, before joining TV-am in 1985 as a reporter and occasional newsreader. From 1987, she presented TV-am's first hour, filling in for Caroline Righton and covering for Anne Diamond during their maternity leave.


title: Kay Burley

text: Burley was recruited by Andrew Neil, and joined Sky Television, launching the Sky One Entertainment Channel in November 1988 with her own documentary, "The Satellite Revolution". She moved to the fledgling Sky News in 1988.


title: Kay Burley

text: She was part of the team that covered the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on Sky, breaking the news of the princess's death shortly after 5 a.m. on Sunday 31 August 1997. She broke the first UK news of the September 11 attacks, shortly after the first tower had been hit. She fronted Sky News coverage from Sri Lanka following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunami. In 2005, she was prominent in Sky News's coverage of both the general election and the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. In 2013, she fronted the coverage of the birth of Prince George.


title: Kay Burley

text: Burley is an occasional contributor to the tabloid "Sunday Mirror", and in the summer of 2006 appeared occasionally on Channel 5's news bulletins. She has stood in for Iain Dale on his "Sunday Politics" show on London talk radio station LBC 97.3 and joined LBC Radio on 23 March 2014 along with "The Sun"'s managing editor Stig Abell to present a show from 8 to 11 a.m. on Sundays.


title: Kay Burley

text: Burley was a contestant for the second series of the ITV reality television show "Dancing on Ice", beginning on 20 January 2007. She skated for MacMillan Cancer Care, in memory of her mother, who had died of breast cancer. She gave her appearance fee to the charity. Burley and her partner, Fred Palascak, went out of the show in the fifth week, after competing against actress Clare Buckfield and her partner, Andrei Lipanov. She appeared on the second series of "Celebrity Hunted", in 2018.


title: Kay Burley

text: In September 2018, it was announced that Kay Burley would have her own show on Sky News, "The Kay Burley Show".


title: Kay Burley

text: In September 2019, it was announced that Burley would be moving to breakfast time to host "Kay Burley @Breakfast". On 3 October 2019, Burley hosted her final afternoon show on the channel ahead of the first morning slot on 14 October 2019.


title: Kay Burley

text: On 10 December 2020, Burley was suspended from presenting her eponymous show for six months, because she had breached London's tier 2 coronavirus restrictions. Before then, she had scrutinised those who had broken the rules over the previous six months. On 7 June 2021, Burley returned to the channel with a simple greeting, "it's great to be back", before reporting the news headlines.


title: Kay Burley

text: In a 2008 interview with the former girlfriend of serial killer Steve Wright, Burley was criticised for asking her whether, if the couple had enjoyed a better sex life, he would not have committed the crimes.


title: Kay Burley

text: Images from 2008 show Burley appearing to strangle photographer Kirsty Wigglesworth outside the Naomi Campbell hearing, which a Sky News spokesperson explained by saying "Kay Burley was provoked by a hard hit to the face with a camera." But the Associated Press said: ‘Kirsty is absolutely sure that she’s not the person who bumped Ms Burley with a camera. She was the victim of an unprovoked and inexcusable attack.’


title: Kay Burley

text: In February 2010, Burley apologised to guest Peter Andre who "fought back tears" after she aired comments by Dwight Yorke who criticised Andre after he volunteered to adopt Katie Price's first child (Yorke's son and Andre's stepson) Harvey. Burley wrote in her online blog that Andre consequently "sobbed on my shoulder".


title: Kay Burley

text: During the 2010 general election, Burley's interview with electoral campaigner David Babbs from 38 Degrees was criticised for "bias and aggressive behaviour". Burley said, in part: Ofcom rejected any complaints over Sky News coverage of the event, despite receiving 2,800 complaints. Burley was subsequently heckled by protestors while reporting from College Green, who continuously chanted "sack Kay Burley", prompting Burley to say "Lots of demonstrators shouting 'fair votes now' – not sure what they mean by that" and "They don't like "The Sun", they don't like us, they don't like Rupert".


title: Kay Burley

text: In September 2010, commenting on the News International phone hacking scandal, part of an exchange between Labour MP Chris Bryant and Burley went viral, whereby Burley asks Bryant to cite information claiming that phone hacking was "endemic" in other newspapers. Bryant did, accusing Burley of being "a bit dim" and saying:


title: Kay Burley

text: Burley also falsely claimed that if he had changed his PIN, Bryant would not have been hacked. Bryant responded in an article for "The Independent", saying that "My PIN had nothing to do with my phone being hacked. Someone phoned Orange, my mobile network provider, and tried to pretend to be me in order to gain access to my voicemails". Bryant has since asked on air for Burley to apologise about the interview.


title: Kay Burley

text: On 5 October 2012, Burley was accused of insensitivity after she broke the news of the probable death of missing five-year-old April Jones live on air to volunteers who had been assisting in the search for her. The interviewees were unaware that the case had become a murder inquiry.


title: Kay Burley

text: During the 2015 general election, Channel 4 and Ofcom received more than 400 complaints against bias in their treatment against Labour leader Ed Miliband in favour of Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron, including a "town hall" part of the programme which Burley moderated. Burley repeatedly questioned Ed Miliband about his relationship with his brother David, at one point telling him: "Your poor mother".