Grace Silverstein of Santa Monica-based independent rep firm Reel Grace has taken on the West Coast for RMI, the New York-headquartered music house (with an L.A. studio) headed by owner/composer Robert Miller….Susanne Kelly has joined New York-based music/sound design/mix house Headroom Digital Audio as director of marketing….DP Eric Trageser has signed with Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in features, commercials and music videos….Cinematographer Manfred Reiff has signed with Ambitious Entertainment, Sherman Oaks, Calif., for worldwide representation…. DP Christopher Probst and production designer Matthew F. Holt are now available exclusively through the Lyons Sheldon Prosnit Agency, Los Angeles…. Cinematographer Doug Chamberlain and production designer Michael Perry have signed with bicoastal Paradigm for exclusive representation…. Production designer Anne Ross has joined The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation….Orlando Management, Sherman Oaks, Calif., has signed production designer Bill Lakoff for representation. His credits include spots for The Gap, Levi’s, Victoria’s Secret, Earthlink and Domino’s Pizza, as well as music videos for such artists as Stained, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Kid Rock and Missy Elliot….
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