Bicoastal Hornet Animation has signed Michael Coronado to handle West Coast sales as part of the company’s spot expansion, which includes moving into a larger New York office. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Hornet develops, creates and produces computer animation, visual effects and motion graphics for commercials, promos, music videos, feature title sequences and logo treatments. With an extensive sports portfolio, Hornet, which is headed by CEO Jon Slusser, has clients that include the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, New York Rangers and Utah Jazz….Graphic Nature, a Glendale, Calif.-based animation/visual effects house, has hired Sarah Mahoney as its director of sales and new business…. Dattner and Associates, Los Angeles, has signed DPs Danny Ruhlmann, ASC; Simon Duggan, ASC; Mandy Walker, ASC; Ross Emery, ASC; and Geoff Hall, ASC, for spot representation.…DP Pat Darrin has joined Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in commercials, features and television….
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