New media collective and production company Artists And Derelicts (AND) has signed director Armen Djerrahian. With a talent for photography and film rooted in the urban underground cultures of Paris, Djerrahian brought his passion for writing and directing to New York. Since making the move, Djerrahian has had the opportunity to work with some of the industry’s most iconic artists and brands, including a Vibe Magazine shoot with Usher, a series of short films he wrote and directed for Van Cleef & Arpels and ELLE, and an ad campaign he worked on with Spike Lee, among others. In 2010 he was nominated for a BET “Best Video of the Year” Award for directing R&B artist Melanie Fiona’s video “It Kills Me”…Julia Pepe has joined global editorial company Cutters as a producer in its NY office. Pepe comes over from mcgarrybowen’s Chicago office, where she was an associate broadcast producer. During her nearly three years with the agency, she produced high-profile, cross-media commercial and branded content projects for Cars.com, Disney, Kraft, and Sears. Pepe is also a filmmaker in her own right, having written, produced and directed independent films focused on a wounded Marine and other soldiers returning home from Afghanistan. Her background also includes stints working for various PBS productions, and serving as a reporter in the local NPR newsroom in Washington, D.C….
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More