Street Talk
Director Joachim Back, formerly of Copenhagen-based production house Bacon, has joined Park Pictures, New York. Known for slightly absurd, comical storytelling, Back just helmed a Viagra spot for the Canadian market for The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto….Jeff Farnath has exited his CEO post at Vinton Studios, Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles. He will continue under contract with the character/computer animation studio as a consultant. Bob Harold, a Vinton Studios board member and Nike, Inc. Finance executive, will serve as interim CEO at Vinton until a permanent successor is found for Farnath…..Global creative agency Attik has returned to New York, setting up an office in the Tribeca district. Company partner William Travis heads up the Big Apple operation. The Attik continues to maintain shops in Huddersfield, U.K., headed by partner James Sommerville, and San Francisco under the aegis of partner Simon Needham….Patrick O’Donoghue has joined Talent Solutions, New York, as broadcast business manager. Talent Solutions is a division of Beaucoup Chapeaux. O’Donoghue has been in advertising business affairs for 10-plus years, eight of which were spent with Wieden+Kennedy in its Portland, Ore., New York and Amsterdam offices….The Hugo Awards, honoring the best in television, and presented by Cinema/Chicago and the Chicago International Film Festival, were held on March 31 in the Windy City. The Gold Hugo Award for best commercial campaign went to the “Sour Altoids Campaign” out of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, and directed by Craig Gillespie of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ). The Gold Hugo for best commercial went to Anheuser-Busch’s “Applause,” directed by Joe Pykta of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA for DDB Chicago…..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