Executive producer/creative director Kelly Fuller and business manager Justin Bayett have teamed to form original music and sound design house Barking Owl. Based in Sherman Oaks, the new venture has signed sound designer/composer Michael Anastasi to an exclusive deal.
Anastasi did sound design for Santa Monica-based shop stimmung for nearly a decade while also touring globally with his band, Open Hand. He turned freelance in ’07 to focus solely on sound design and music composition, lending his audio acumen to spots for major brands, as well as feature films and the animated series The Drinky Crow Show on Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” block of programming.
Fuller launched her career producing music and sound design for commercials and features at tomandandy, LA. Most recently she served as EP/creative director at stimmung, where she shepherded creative projects for such clients as AT&T, Comcast and Gap.
Bayett worked in production at the former Smillie Films before moving on to later serve as an accountant for production house MJZ and controller for stimmung.
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