OSCAR or Open System for CommunicAtion in Realtime is AOL's flagship instant messaging and presence information protocol. Currently, OSCAR is in use for AOL's two main instant messaging systems: ICQ and AIM.

Despite its name, the specifications for the protocol remain proprietary. AOL has gone to great lengths to keep competitors (namely Microsoft, XMPP, and Cerulean Studios) from implementing compatible clients for their proprietary messaging systems. In 2002, AOL signed a contract with Apple, Inc., allowing them to use OSCAR (as well as AOL's own code libraries) in their iChat application. This allowed iChat users to interact with ICQ and AIM users directly. The deal also permitted users of Apple's .Mac service to log into the AIM network using their .Mac email addresses. (This has carried over to Apple's MobileMe service.)

As of 2009^[update] large parts of the protocol have been reverse-engineered and implemented by an ever-increasing number of third party clients.

The OSCAR protocol can be used separately from AOL's network. In fact, AOL expands on the general concept of OSCAR, adding systems for service side buddy lists and icons, as well as features for file transfers (using Bonjour.)

Simon Pegg (born Simon John Beckingham; 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and starred in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.

He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film, Benji Dunn in Mission: Impossible III and its sequel Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Thompson in The Adventures of Tintin. Much of his major work has been in collaboration with some combination of Wright, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, and Dylan Moran. He also starred in and co-wrote Paul (with Frost) and Run Fatboy Run (with Michael Ian Black).

Pegg was born in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England, the son of Gillian Rosemary (née Smith), a civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham, a jazz musician and keyboard salesman. His parents divorced when he was seven and he took on the surname "Pegg" after his mother re-married. He attended many schools, including Castle Hill Primary School;^{[citation needed]}Brockworth Comprehensive Secondary School;^{[citation needed]}The King's School, Gloucester; and later Stratford-upon-Avon College to study English literature and Theatre.He studied drama at the University of Bristol and wrote his undergraduate thesis on "A Marxist overview of popular 1970s cinema and hegemonic discourses". At Bristol he appeared in a Drama Society production of Howard Barker's Victory alongside Sarah Kane and David Greig.^{[citation needed]}

Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born Wolfgang Johannes Topfschnig; July 8, 1949) is an Austrian celebrity chef, restaurateur, businessman and occasional actor. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions.

He was born to Maria Worth and a butcher, who abandoned her before their child's birth. In 1956, Maria married Josef Puck, who adopted Puck. The marriage produced another son and two daughters.

Puck learned cooking from his mother, who sometimes worked as a pastry chef. He trained as an apprentice under Raymond Thuilier at L'Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence, at Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and at Maxim's Paris before moving to the United States in 1973 at age 25. After two years at La Tour in Indianapolis, Puck moved to Los Angeles to become chef and part owner at Ma Maison restaurant.