Steve Garfinkel, probably best known for his 14-year tenure at Eastman Kodak Company, serving as Eastern regional manager for the company’s Entertainment Imaging Division, collapsed and died on Aug. 18. His sudden passing was felt by the many in the industry whose lives he touched.
Garfinkel, who had recently begun a new chapter in his career when he joined PostWorks, New York, as director of cinematography services, was also a cinematographer and a member of IATSE Local 600, and an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Garfinkel had a camera in his hand since childhood. He borrowed the family movie 8mm camera at the age of nine, bought an old Bolex at 13 and continued to work in film ever since. Garfinkel graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in film. He worked at NBC TV News, Showtime Network, both in postproduction and broadcast engineering, served on the TV crew of Live From Lincoln Center, and landed at Movielab in N.Y. before coming aboard Kodak, working with studio feature productions and film students.
John Johnston, whose experience includes 33 years in the Kodak Motion Picture Business Unit, holding positions in sales, marketing and management, had Garfinkel as a member of his sales team. Now executive director of the Production Equipment Rental Association (PERA) as well as of the New York Production Alliance, Johnston reflected on Garfinkel, describing him as “a teacher, a giver and a friend. He was probably the most knowledgeable person I will ever meet on film and the history of Kodak. I always said if George Eastman had any offspring, the DNA test would prove Steve was a prodigy. He was creative, smart, funny, quirky and loveable….Speaking as his friend, there is none better. Steve was known and loved by cinematographers, film students and I swear almost everyone in New York City.
“Upon moving to the city in 1997, I stopped into the Cornelia Street café one night after an event, with a swag bag in tow. The bartender asked me what I did. I said, ‘worked for Kodak.’ He asked me if I knew Steve Garfinkel. Steve had helped him on his student film at NYU. Steve dedicated his career to his customers, especially those who needed a little help. Of course as a manager watching budgets, he held perennial first place on the cost side. But I’m sure those few rolls of film have paid many, many dividends to Kodak over the years, a good investment in the future. Steve moved on from his career at Kodak last fall and reinvented himself with PostWorks New York. Doing what he knew, knowing what he did and always, always there for the customer.
“We are all shocked and saddened that Steve has left us so unexpectedly,” continued Johnston. “I took some time to think about Steve today. I laughed and cried. But I smiled when I imagined the first person he looked up upon entering heaven was George Eastman. I figured that after a serious discussion with George on the current situation at Kodak, he declared Kodachrome as the Official Film of Heaven and organized a Celestial Cinematographer Society with Connie Hall and Lazlo Kovacs.”
Garfinkel is survived by his wife Denise, his first wife Jodie and their children Ariel, Jesse and Daryl.
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