The film academy is continuing its new tradition of presenting honorary Oscars at an untelevised ceremony months before the Academy Awards.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak says the second annual Governors Awards will be held Nov. 13. The private dinner event will be produced by past academy president Sid Ganis, Sherak said.
“In its first year, it turned out to be a really great evening,” Ganis said. “It was the sweetest, most personal way for the academy to bring extra special recognition to those artists and their lifetime accomplishments.
“It was relaxed, it was of course not televised, and it was super star-studded. My job is going to be to at least duplicate what happened in that first year.”
Some of the academy’s highest honors, including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, may be presented at the event. The board of governors will meet in August to determine the 2010 honorees.
Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis received honorary Oscars and John Calley was presented with the Thalberg award at the inaugural Governors Awards last year.
“It’s still brand new, and it’s something that I’m almost positive will be around for a long, long time,” Ganis said. “We’ll keep making it something extraordinary, and we’ll make sure that it has its proper moments on the big show.”
Ganis, who served four years as academy president before Sherak took office in August, said he’s excited to help pay tribute to some of the legends in entertainment.
“This is about my heroes,” he said. “These men and women put out a lot of good, and for me to be a part of honoring them is pretty cool.”
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