Post-Its
New York-based rhinofx has added 3-D digital artist Chris Moore, 2-D graphic designer Neo, and 3-D digital artist Bogdan Mihajiovic to its staff. Additionally, staffer Jill Hughes has been promoted to production manager….Janine Bottazzi has been promoted to producer at visual effects/animation studio Guava, New York. She will oversee effects and animation work for commercials, music videos and other media, and serve as a liaison between clients and Guava’s artistic staff. Guava is a sister shop to Nice Shoes, New York….Misha Stanford-Harris has joined Rushes Postproduction, London, as senior producer. He comes over from Guava where he spent the past three years. He has worked on assorted commercials (Mercedes-Benz, British Airways, Bacardi) and music videos (Fat Boy Slim, The Smashing Pumpkins). Prior to moving to New York, he worked at VTR, London….The Mill, New York, is staffing up, securing Angela Botta, formerly of Nice Shoes, as telecine producer, and Jo Arghiris, who joins the New York production team from The Mill’s London headquarters. The Mill, New York, expects to have a new Flame and two new Smoke suites operational by June. The shop’s Spirit suite was upgraded to HD last month….Editor Greg Chamberlain, formerly with Southern California’s Pistolera Post and prior to that Red Car, Santa Monica, has joined Crash & Sue’s, Minneapolis. The addition of Chamberlain marks post house Crash & Sue’s diversification into offline editing services….Denver-based creative digital studio !mpossible Pictures has promoted editor James Frazier to director of operations, and added designer/editor Heather Arment, who comes over from The Alliance, Colorado Springs….Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More