Millennium Pictures, Santa Monica, has signed director Marshall Vernet for exclusive U.S. spot representation…..Paris-headquartered Thomson–whose Grass Valley unit makes the Spirit–announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire 33 1/3 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of Canopus Co., Ltd, a Japan-based developer of HD desktop video editing software, through a private transaction with Canopus chairman/CEO Hiroshi Yamada, and members of his immediate family. Thomson also disclosed that it will launch a public tender offer for the remaining Canopus shares in order to fully acquire the company….Director Mark Walton has joined Mindfield Pictures, Detroit, for Midwest representation. His credits include spots for such clients as Daimler Chrysler, The Salvation Army, BC Tel and Kraft. Walton’s roots are on the agency side of the business. He worked for J. Walter Thompson and McCann Erickson, both in London, and later served as creative director at Canadian ad shops Leo Burnett and MacLaren:Lintas…..If you are a member of the commercialmaking community who has a film that will be screened during the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and would like the project to be considered for coverage in SHOOT‘s Sundance roundup, send a screener to senior editor/creative and production Kristin Wilcha c/o SHOOT, 21 Charles St., Suite 203, Westport, CT 06880. You can also email info to kwilcha@shootonline.com….
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