Director Brian Scott Weber has joined the roster of Rhythm + Hues Commercial Studios. He comes over from Los Angeles production house A Common Thread where his endeavors included a poignant Zerometh campaign for agency D Groupe in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. “Effect,” a spot from that Zerometh package, gained inclusion a couple of years ago into SHOOT‘s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery.
Weber has also helmed high profile work over the years for such clients as Chrysler, Chevy, Discover Brokerage, Duracell, L.A. Fitness, Lee Jeans, the New York Knicks, Universal Studios and Verizon.
Among Weber’s recent credits is a vampire-infused commercial for Busch Gardens, showcasing his use of in-camera and photo-real visual effects. On the music video front, he has directed clips for such acts as The Spirits, and Dashboard Confessional.
Rhythm + Hues exec producer Paul Babb was drawn to Weber’s expertise in live action and effects, his adroit meshing of those disciplines, and a directorial storytelling prowess spanning spots, music videos and interactive fare. The Belgian-born, Brooklyn-raised, Columbia University educated (architecture) Weber has a special knack for visually cinematic, thematically subversive work that manages to be both dark and playful at the same time.
Prior to A Common Thread, Weber’s spot production company affiliations included Palomar, FM Rocks and Johns+Gorman Films.
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