New York-based cYclops Productions has signed Calabazitaz Tiernaz for exclusive spot representation. Calabazitaz Tiernaz is a Mexican directing collective comprised of brothers Everado and Leopoldo Gout; producer/director/cinematographer Mario Mandujano and producer Jorge Canedo are also available via the arrangement….Scott Williams, principal in Flipside Editorial, San Francisco and Santa Monica, is forming Retina, a telecine house in San Francisco. The new shop—a totally separate venture from Flipside—is scheduled to open on May 1. Its resources will include a Spirit 2K telecine system and a Quantel iQ hi-def editing system…..Industry vet Mike Dowd is launching Vapor Post. The Miami-based digital postproduction facility is slated to open on March 1….Los Angeles-based 1171 Production Group has added two music video directors: Ethan Lader and the mono-monikered Farah….Easyway Editorial, Dallas, has added Brad Briggs, Grant Pye and George Kelly to its roster, marketing them exclusively in Texas…. This past weekend, Conrad L. Hall posthumously won the coveted Annual Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Award in the feature film category for Road to Perdition. Best known as a feature cinematographer, Hall—who died on January 4—also directed numerous commercials via the now defunct spot shop Wexler/Hall. This marked the record-setting fourth time that Hall topped the ASC’s feature competition. The ASC Award was accepted on Hall’s behalf by his son, DP Conrad W. Hall….
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