We have one holdover from the Xmas season to share with you–an animation spot which turns its viewers into guests at a holiday party. We are introduced to several attention-getting characters at the party such as a woman with mistletoe mounted on her head. Dubbed the mistletoe opportunist, she smacks her lips in anticipation of a kiss while nervous male colleagues flee.
We also have a dancing doofus, a gent with would-be hoofer moves that are a bit embarrassing.
And then there’s the mashed potato Santa, a guy who takes the holiday potatoes and puts them on his face, creating a makeshift Santa Claus beard.
A voiceover intervenes, noting that if you want to be the life of the holiday party, you don’t have to resort to such antics. Instead just give the gift of the Oregon Lottery scratch-off game Life of the Holiday Party.
Eric Wiese of LAIKA/house, Portland, Ore., directed this cel animation piece for agency Borders Perrin Norrander, Portland. Animators were Wiese, Joe Merideth, Aaron Sorenson and Chris Purdin.
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