We open on a college student fast asleep at his desk next to his textbooks. It’s 11:25 a.m. and we see from a self-reminder note that he has a final exam in history at 11:30.
So much for studying hard until the wee hours paying off at test time. It looks doubtful he will even be awake at test time. But not to worry. Historical mini-figures come to life from the textbooks and make every effort to arouse him–initially to no avail as a volley of arrows and even detonation of an explosive fail to get him up.
Finally Napoleon, Da Vinci and Cleopatra have a sure-fire idea. They notice a nearby Coke bottle sitting on the desk and devise a plan to use the familiar “psshht” sound of the bottle opening to awaken him. Sure enough the popping open of the Real Thing does the trick and the student dashes off hopefully to ace his final.
Daniel Kleinman of Epoch Films and Rattling Stick directed “Finals” for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland. Moving Picture Company was the VFX house. Editors were Steve Gandolfi and Isaac Chen of Cut+Run.
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