Director Marius Holtz has signed with bicoastal RSA USA…. Director Patricia Murphy, best known for her spot work in the U.K., has come aboard Bravo Zulu, Santa Monica, for stateside representation….Word is that director James Dalthorp, formerly of now defunct 1/33 Productions, is headed for Santa Monica-based Area 51 Films….Bicoastal Gartner has added director Raymond Bark….Director Siraj Jhaveri has joined bicoastal Shelter Films….525 Studios, Santa Monica, has entered into a partnership with 3-D/visual effects firm Buf Compagnie, Paris. Via the deal, Buf gains a stronger foothold in the U.S. market. Also, Buf’s technology and workflow methodology are being integrated into 525. Pasquale Croce, a 3-D artist who earlier in his career worked at Buf, has come aboard 525 to spearhead its 3-D division and to train artists to use Buf’s proprietary 3-D database and resources….Phil Price, president and creative director of Click 3X New York, will exit the company effective Feb. 29 to pursue an as-yet-unnamed broadband content venture. Additionally, Click 3X N.Y. executive producer Julie Shevach has assumed the additional title of general manager….Chicago-based animation house Tricky Pictures is disbanding due to the departures of partner/animation director Bruce Alcock, who is returning to his native Canada, and executive producer Harriet Katz, who is relocating to San Francisco. Partner/head of sales Roy Skillicorn said that plans call for some of the equipment and staff to be absorbed into the West Coast office of Tricky’s sister live-action company, Backyard Productions. Skillicorn is considering restaffing the animation shop, although nothing final has been decided yet….Crew Cuts in San Francisco has added editor Mauro Camoroda and executive producer Amy Burlaga….Congrats to the Academy Award-nominated artisans with ties to the spot community including: best director nominees Spike Jonze (of bicoastal/international Satellite) for Being John Malkovich, and Lasse Hallström (of bicoastal/international@radical.media) for The Cider House Rules; Mehdi Norowzian (of bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures), who directed the Oscar-nominated live- action short film Killing Joe; best cinematography nominee Robert Richardson (of bicoastal Tool of North America) for Snow Falling on Cedars; and sound effects editing nominee Ren Klyce (of Mit Out Sound, Sausalito, Calif.) for his contributions to Fight Club….Director Nigel Dick’s telefilm 2gether debuts Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. on MTV. Dick is repped for commercials and videos via A Band Apart, Los Angeles….
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