Sasha Stern has joined bicoastal Epoch Films as East Coast sales representative. Stern will be based in Epoch’s New York office….F.M. Rocks Commercials, Santa Monica, has hired Peter McCann of MI Management, New York, for representation on the East Coast….Kari Romeo has joined bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures as East Coast sales representative. Romeo will be based in Chelsea’s New York office….Los Angeles production house Seed has secured Chris Zander and Lauren Bleiweiss of New York-based Zander Reps to handle the East Coast. Seed was formed earlier this year by its parent company, Science+ Fiction, a two-year-old branded programming think tank/production studio owned by commercial production vets Blair Stribley and Roy Skillicorn (of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif., and Chicago), producer Steven Mendelson and former ILM Commercials VP/GM Kevin Townsend….Rex Edit, Venice, has signed Kelley A. Class, Marina del Rey, Calif., for representation on the West Coast and in the Midwest….Caren Colodny has joined earth2mars, New York, as director of business development…. DeepMix Music, Hollywood, has signed Michelle Stuart and Maria Stenz of New York-based Stenz & Company for East Coast representation….Production designer Marla Weinhoff is again available for commercials via bicoastal Paradigm after having completed the feature Heights….
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