Talking Tom and Friends

Talking Tom and Friends is the flagship franchise of multinational entertainment company Outfit7 Limited. As of August 2015 there are six characters (Talking Tom, Talking Angela, Talking Ginger, Talking Ben, Talking Hank, and Talking Pierre) and 15 apps within the Talking Tom and Friends umbrella brand. Since June 2010 the apps have achieved more than 3 billion downloads.

The characters

Talking Tom

Talking Tom is the lead character in the Talking Tom and Friends franchise. Tom is a wisecracking, adventure-seeking anthropomorphic cat, described as the "world’s most popular cat."

Talking Tom is a fully animated interactive 3D character that users can tickle, poke and play with in the apps. Users can also get Tom to repeat what they say. The original Talking Tom Cat app was launched in July 2010 for iOS, closely followed by Talking Tom 2 in 2011.

The My Talking Tom app was launched in November 2013. This interactive app sees users raise their very own Tom from a kitten to a fully-grown tomcat, caring for him and customizing his fur, clothes and home. My Talking Tom had over 11 million downloads and was the top games app in 135 countries worldwide within 10 days of its launch.

Coppa Italia

The Coppa Italia (Italian for Italy Cup, officially known as TIM Cup because of its sponsorship) is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Juventus leads the way with ten wins, followed by Roma with nine. Roma has contested more finals, 17, while Juventus follow with 15. The holder can wear a "tricolore" cockade (Italian: coccarda), like the roundels that appear on military aircraft, and qualifies for a UEFA Europa League spot for the next season.

Format

The competition is a knockout tournament with pairings for each round made in advance; the draw for the whole competition is made before a ball is kicked. Each tie is played as a single leg, with the exception of the two-legged semi-finals. If a match is drawn, extra time is played. In the event of a draw after 120 minutes, a penalty shoot-out is contested. As well as being presented with the trophy, the winning team also qualifies for the UEFA Europa League (formerly named the UEFA Cup). If the winners have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League via Serie A, or are not entitled to play in UEFA competitions for any reason, the place goes to the next highest placed finisher in the league table.

Talking Angela

Talking Angela is a chatterbot app developed by Outfit7 as part of the Talking Tom and Friends series. It was released in December 2012 for iPhone and iPad, January 2013 for Android, and January 2014 for Google Play. The My Talking Angela app was released in December 2014.

Internet personal information hoax

In February 2013, Talking Angela was the subject of an Internet hoax claiming that it encourages children to disclose personal information about themselves, which is ostensibly then used by pedophiles to identify the location of these children. The rumor, which was widely circulated on Facebook, claims that Angela, the game's main character, asks the game's user for private personal information using the game's text-chat feature. (This feature is turned off when "child mode" is turned on in the game's preferences.) Other versions of the rumor even attribute the disappearance of a child to the app, or claim that it is run by a pedophile ring. The former rumor originated from an article on Huzlers.com, which has since been shown to be fake, as are many articles on the (satirical) website.

Serie A

Serie A (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈa]), also called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since the 1929–30 season. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league, the Lega Serie A, was created for the 2010–11 season. Serie A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical national league. Serie A is the world's second strongest national league according to IFFHS and has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists: Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record twenty-six different occasions, winning the title twelve times. Serie A is ranked 4th among European leagues according to UEFA's league coefficient behind La Liga, Bundesliga and Premier League, which is based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the Europa League during the last five years. Serie A led the UEFA ranking from 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999.