Director Jonathan Nowak has signed with New York-based production house Argyle Brothers for commercial representation. The director/writer's short film Man & Machine: A Naked Robotic Love Story, is slated to premiere at the 2011 SXSW Festival which gets underway this week. Nowak joins an Argyle directorial roster that includes John Mastromonaco and Hubert Davis….SapientNitro has appointed Stephen Mui as executive creative director of its Shanghai office. He will lead a team of traditional and digital creatives to develop integrated creative strategies for clients such as Mars, Volvo, NBA China, Unilever and Coca-Cola. Mui brings with him 25 years of marketing and advertising experience from Leo Burnett and JWT, as well as a global perspective attained from having worked in China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. Mui began his career as a designer in Hong Kong, and went on to lead the creative division of Leo Burnett Guangzhou. He served most recently as managing partner, executive creative director at Newsun JWT Guanghzou, where he led a team of 60 creative professionals that won numerous awards at the Cannes Lions, Spikes, New York Festival, Effies, London International Awards, and other competitions. Mui recently spent a four-month stint in San Francisco to expand his creative scope to the new media arena, immersing himself in the latest social networking trends….
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