Chris Woods of Recommended Media directed this :60 online video centered on a race–between a precision driver putting the VW Golf R through its paces and Anthony Brooks, billed as being one of the world’s fastest Rubik’s Cube puzzle solvers. This “Fast vs. Fast” battle hinges on whether the VW Golf R can complete one lap of a precision driving course before Brooks solves the Rubik’s Cube with one hand. Oh yes, and Brooks is a passenger in the speeding Golf R while he’s attempting to complete his Rubik’s Cube task.
The driver is Eric Norris, an accomplished racing driver and stuntman in more than 100 movies, and Chuck Norris’ youngest son. “Performance Cuber” is one of four videos pitting a VW model (two featuring the Jetta GLI and one the GTI) against a speed champ–speed guitarist John Taylor, speed talker Fran Capo, and beat-boxer JFlo.
Videos were shot at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, Calif., on four separate tracks by DP Mitchell Amundsen. Agency is Deutsch 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