We open on a dog holding a leash in its mouth at the front door, clearly asking to be taken for a walk. Cut to three people–dad, mom and their daughter–seated on the couch, each encased in full body casts from head to toe.
The father asks his son Kevin seated in a nearby chair if he would take out the pooch who’s named Baxter. Kevin, incidentally, looks like your average teen. However, he stands out because he is not encased in a cast.
Kevin declines to take Baxter for a stroll, explaining that he’s busy. But he will be happy to have his Djinn characters take on the task. These animated creations (straight from video game land) approach Baxter, causing a fearful mom to repeatedly and urgently declare that they are “like monsters.”
Sure enough, there’s an explosion when the Djinn avatars reach Baxter. The smoke clears to reveal that the dog is too now in a full body cast.
A message appears on screen advising us to “Use your Djinn responsibly.” You can do so, playfully deploying dozens of Djinn characters, in the Nintendo DS game Golden Sun Dark Dawn. Also Nintendo DS systems are selling at a $20 discount.
Keith Schofield of Caviar directed “Body Cast” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. VFX house was The Mill LA.
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