Composer Steve Dancz has joined Oasis Recording, Atlanta. Dancz has worked as a record producer and A&R director while based in Los Angeles, and has composed and conducted orchestral scores for the television series Designing Women, and the feature Grim Prairie Tales….Wax Music & Sound Design/Radio Free Anxiety, New York, had added composer Erik Nickerson to its roster. His background includes composing original music for various Web sites, short films and television shows, including The Next Big Thing and The Deal…Animation director Bryan Huo has joined Toronto-based Guru Animation Studio. He had been working for Topix, Toronto, on spots for Pillsbury via D’Arcy, New York and Toronto….Digital Kitchen, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles, has added designer André Stringer. He had been serving as senior broadcast designer with Black Entertainment Television (BET), Washington, D.C., where he specialized in the network’s branding and promotional efforts. Stringer will be based in Digital Kitchen’s Chicago facility….New York-based Sound Lounge has promoted Rob DiFondi from staff assistant to mixer. His credits include work on Visa’s "Dress Shop," directed by Jonathan David of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander via BBDO New York….Michael J. Morelli has been named VP/Hollywood region business manager for the Kodak Entertainment Imaging division. He had been serving as general manager for the Kodak division in Australia and New Zealand since 1999. Morelli will oversee operations in Hollywood and 11 western states. Additionally, D. Brian Spruill has been appointed VP/director of strategic planning and business development for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging division. He will be responsible for developing, implementing and coordinating a worldwide global strategy for the next generation of the company’s film, digital and hybrid motion imaging technologies, products and services. Spruill had been VP/general manager of the Hollywood region of the Entertainment Imaging division since ’94….
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