The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office is investigating the financial records of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp (EIDC), the body that oversees the joint Los Angeles City/ County Film Office. The ongoing audit went public with news that the DA’s office and local law enforcement officials last week raided and seized records from the EIDC’s Hollywood office as well as the private residence of EIDC president Cody Cluff. According to reports in the Los Angeles Times, the EIDC is being scutinized for alleged misappropriation of funds, related to certain entertainment and travel expenses, as well as political contributions. However, no charges had been filed at press time, and the EIDC denies any wrongdoing. An EIDC spokesman contends that the investigation is misguided because the organization doesn’t receive pubic funding—and as a private corporation designed to promote filming in Greater Los Angeles, the EIDC has incurred legitimate, justifiable marketing expenses, which are being wrongly contested by the DA’s office. These include expenditures on entertainment events (i.e., Lakers games, concerts) to court film industry decision-makers about keeping and/or bringing lensing business into Los Angeles….Director Melanie Bridge has signed with bicoastal/international Partizan for commercial representation. She will continue to be repped in Australia and New Zealand by Sweet Shop, Auckland, New Zealand….Nick Felder, formerly a senior producer at Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York, has joined Lowe New York, as executive VP/director of broadcast production….Feature filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore), who helms ads via bicoastal The Industry, has directed three spots in the debut campaign for Ikea from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami. Additionally, Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander, helmed an ad in the package….Deutsch, New York, and rap/hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons have decided to dissolve dRush, their three-year-old urban marketing agency….Jason Bentley, a DJ at Los Angeles radio station KCRW, and his producer/music supervisor, Mark Burgoyne, have joined Machine Head, Venice, Calif, as music supervisors. Additionally, Bentley will be doing original music out of the shop…..Continuing its winning ways, Gorgeous Enterprises, London, and director Frank Budgen figured heavily in the top awards at the 40th International Advertising Festival of Ireland, held last week in Kinsale, Ireland. The Budgen-helmed "Sofa" for Reebok out of Lowe London, was named the Grand Prix television winner, while the powerful child abuse PSA "Cartoon," for the National Scoiety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), also helmed by Budgen, was awarded the cinema Grand Prix. Additionally, Gorgeous garned the Palme D’Or for the festival, which is presented by the Institute of Advertising Practicioners in Ireland (IAPI). Budgen is repped stateside by bicoastal Anonymous Content….Mark Barasch has become president of ServiDigital Studios—a New York-headquartered video editing/audio post facility owned by parent company Palace Production Center, South Norwalk, Conn. Barasch is best known as the founder of since closed Barasch Music Sound, which he sold in late ’01 in exchange for an equity interest in Creative Content Artists—a postproduction holding company which recently closed all its operations. (SHOOT 8/23, p. 1). The president’s chair at ServiDigital had most recently been occupied by Michael Shapiro, who despite stepping away from that position several months ago, continues to maintain a relationship with the company on a freelance basis. Coming to Servi with Barasch are sound designer/mixer P. Dennis Mitchell—a colleague from Barasch’s old company— and mixers Bob Elder and Kenny Fredrickson, both most recently with the CCA-shuttered audio post shop East Side Mix….Managing director Karen Gahl-Mills has exited The Rhythm Café, Chicago….
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