At press time (3/21), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had stopped accepting applications for new H-1B visas this current fiscal year. That’s because the INS reached the annual allotment of 115,000 such visas. The allocation was supposed to last a full year, from October 1999 through this September. Two years ago, the allocation was raised from 65,000 to 115,000 H-1Bs to help U.S. high-technology firms—including visual effects and CG houses—cope with a shortage of qualified American workers. Talk has begun on Capitol Hill regarding drafting new legislation that would further increase the number of available high-tech visas….Bicoastal Cylo, with an office in London, has signed director Mark Valentine….Curious Pictures, bicoastal, inked a deal to represent Stockholm-based animation studio Filmtecknarna F. Animation (directors Jonas Odell and Jonas Dahlbeck) in North America….Colin Brown has been named CEO of Cinesite, worldwide, and COO of its European subsidiary, Cinesite (Europe) Limited, based in London. He has headed Cinesite (Europe) since it was founded in ’94. Additionally, Ruth Scovil, who was formerly in corporate strategic planning at DreamWorks, has become president and COO of the U.S. subsidiary, Cinesite Inc., based in Hollywood. Cinesite is the digital motion imaging division of the Eastman Kodak Company….Robin Shenfield has been appointed CEO of London-headquartered The Mill Group, which encompasses post/effects facility The Mill, effects shop Mill Film and Mill Motion Control. Shenfield was one of the original founders of The Mill….
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