White Plains, New York-based computer animation/visual effects house Blue Sky Studios has closed its commercial division. The company, which is owned by 20th Century Fox, will now focus on animated features. Currently in the works is Ice Age, to be directed by Chris Wedge….Director Roger Lunn has signed with New York based Link for U.S. representation. He is repped in Europe by Frontier Pictures, London….Sound designer/music composer Claude Letessier has joined Primal Scream, Santa Monica…. Chicago-based Chameleon Music is launching SoundPunks, an Internet music and sound design division ….Director Michel Gondry of bicoastal/international Partizan is wrapping up work on his feature film directorial debut, Human Nature, which will open in theatres in March; Gondry will be available for commercials at the end of October…….Director McG is again available for spots via Los Angeles-headquartered A Band Apart Commercials after wrapping his feature directing debut, Charlie’s Angels….Lizzie Friedman and Francesca Silvestri, who head the Hollywood-based motion picture/TV division of bicoastal commercial house Moxie Pictures, are co-producing A View From the Top for Miramax Films. Gwyneth Paltrow has committed to star in the film, which Friedman and Silvestri sold as a property to Miramax in 1999, when they maintained Friedman/Silvestri Entertainment. Friedman and Silvestri came aboard Moxie earlier this year (SHOOT, 6/23, p. 1)….
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