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President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S.In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote, complaining that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw” filmmakers and studios away from the U.S. “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”It wasn’t immediately clear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It’s common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: ImpossibleThe Final Reckoning,” for instance, are shot around the world.Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom.Yet Trump’s tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelming dominate the domestic marketplace.China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossing more than $2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, it earned just $20.9 million.In New Zealand, where successive governments have offered rebates and incentives in recent years to draw Hollywood films to the country, the film industry has generated billions of dollars in tourism revenue driven by the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films, which featured the country’s pristine and scenic vistas. More recently, the blockbuster “Minecraft” movie was filmed entirely in New Zealand, and U.S. productions in 2023 delivered $1.3 billion New Zealand dollars ($777 million) to the country in return for NZ$200 million in subsidies, according to government figures.New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was awaiting more details of Trump’s measures before commenting on them but would continue to pitch to filmmakers abroad, including in India’s Bollywood. “We’ve got an absolutely world class industry,” he said. “This is the best place to make movies, period, in the world.”The Motion Picture Association, which represents major U.S. film studios and streaming services, didn’t immediately respond to messages Sunday evening.The MPA’s data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced $22.6 billion in exports and $15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023.Trump, a Republican, has made good on the “tariff man” label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened.By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead.Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas.Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood to bring it “BACKBIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”U.S. film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the U.S. was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production.The group’s annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the U.S. made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth and New York ninth.The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually, up from $330 million.Other U.S. cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to lure film and TV productions. Those programs can take the form of cash grants, as in Texas, or tax credits, which Georgia and New Mexico offer.“Other nations have been stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday night after returning from a weekend in Florida. “If they’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States we should have a tariff on movies that come in.” Associated Press writers Gary Field in Washington and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report from Washington. Jill Colvin and Jake Coyle, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Youve probably heard of Charles and Ray Eames, the designers behind the iconic Eames chair and ottoman, and Georgia OKeefe, the trailblazing artist. But you might not know about how these artists were connected during their careersor the art that came from their camaraderie. Herman Miller, in collaboration with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, is bringing that history to light with a new limited-run furniture line. The New Mexico Collection, set to be released on May 20, celebrates the Eameses, OKeeffe, and designer Alexander Girard, the founding director of Herman Millers textile division. Included in the launch are 300 special Eames Wire Chairs, retailing for $1,995, and 100 iterations of the never-before-sold Girard Snake Table, retailing for $895. Both of the items offer a look into the intertwined artistic legacies of three designers whose work continues to shape the art world today. [Photo: Mariko Reed for Herman Miller] An oft-overlooked network of friends Georgia OKeeffe first met Alexander Girard and his wife, Susan, when the couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1953. OKeeffe had already been living in the remote rural town of Abiquiú, New Mexico, since the 1940s, and was already a household name across the country at the time of their meeting for her lush and evocative depictions of the natural world, many of which were inspired by flora and fauna native to her local surroundings. [The Georgia OKeeffe Museum] can’t say for sure exactly when and how they met, but suffice it to say there weren’t too many world renowned artists and designers living in that area, and apparently they felt a real kinship, says Kelsey Keith, brand creative director at Herman Miller. For the New Mexico collection, Keith visited the museums archives, where she learned that there are records of 20 to 30 years of correspondence between the Girards and OKeeffenot just to advise each other on artistic projects, which they did plenty of, but also to trade the kinds of casual stories that maintain a decades-long friendship. They ended up traveling together all over the world, Keith says. Girard and his wife would go on these folk art collecting trips to Central and South America and to Japan, and [OKeeffe] actually accompanied them on some of those trips. I think you have to be pretty good friends with someone to take those kinds of trips together. It was through the Girards that the Eameses entered the picture. Girard was already close to the Eameses; in fact, the design duo had actually landed him his job. When the Eameses first began to design furniture for Herman Miller in the 40s (the company has now owned the exclusive distribution rights to Eames designs for decades), Charles and Ray asked for Girard to be brought on with them as a real design partner, not just someone to sort of decoratively apply fabrics after the fact, Keith says. Through this professional collaboration, the Girards and the Eameses became both close colleagues and friends. The Girards soon introduced the Eameses to OKeeffe. While their friendship wasnt as close, since the Eameses lived a state away from OKeeffe in Los Angeles, they also kept up a correspondence, and were known to attend the Girards annual Christmas parties. At the heights of their careers, the personal links between Girard, OKeeffe, and the Eameses informed the work of all four creatives. A new design and a revived prototype The new Eames Wire Chair Low Base and Girard Snake Table both serve as a window into this period of artistic cross-pollination. The chair is inspired by a wire chair originally gifted by Ray Eames to OKeeffe as decor in her Abiquiú home and studio. OKeeffes home and studio are now preserved as museum exhibitions, and for good reason: Her minimalist-yet-aesthetically pleasing and highly curated approach to interior design draws visitors to view her former residence year-round. Suffice it to say, OKeeffe had high standards when it came to outfitting her space. Rays chair surpassed them. [Photo: Mariko Reed for Herman Miller] Georgia loved [the chair] so much that she wrote a thank-you note and actually asked for another one just like it, which is hilariousthat someone sends you a gift, and you’re like, I love it so much, can I have one more? Keith says. But she could do that, obviously. The original chair has a little label on it that Ray hand-drew to Georgia. Instead of making an exact replica of Rays original gift to Eames, Herman Miller decided to create a product that would merge elements of the Eames design and OKeeffes interior decor. The New Mexico Collections wire chair is a classic Eames frame on a low base, an homage to the fairly low ceilings and smaller furniture in OKeeffes home. The chair is upholstered in a bikini style (think two inverted triangles stacked together) with an chre and sienna striped fabric designed by Girard and intended to match with the Abiquiú homes adobe interiors. While the new wire chair is a contemporary design made from archival elements, the Girard Snake Table is a close replica of a prototype made by Girard in the 50s that was never widely produced (though it occasionally pops up on auction sites.) The table features a splayed-leg aluminum base and steel top, printed with a custom illustration of a snake made by Girard. Snake imagery was a preoccupation of both Girards and OKeeffes. OKeeffe was so enamored with the snakes form, in fact, that when an archaeologist fan sent her a preserved skeleton, she had it encased in a bench in her living room. Today, visitors to the OKeeffe house will find the snakes final resting place, as well as an original pillow made by Girard featuring one of his snake drawings. [Photo: Mariko Reed for Herman Miller] This is New Mexico, so snake motifs are really prevalent, Keith says. I think what’s interesting about this is that Girard interpreted that motif in his own wayin a very graphic senseand then [OKeeffe] also took inspiration from the natural world, and had this snake skeleton embedded in the banco in her house. For Keith, the New Mexico Collection truly came together when she was able to see the final products arranged in OKeeffes home, overlooking the New Mexico landscape through sweeping glass windows. I will say, I think we hit it just right, because when we brought in the limited-run products to photograph in [OKeeffes] house, they fit so perfectly, it looks like they were meant to be there, Keith says.
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E-Commerce
Live and on-demand video constituted an estimated 66% of global internet traffic by volume in 2022, and the top 10 days for internet traffic in 2024 coincided with live streaming events such as the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and coverage of the NFL. Streaming enables seamless, on-demand access to video content, from online gaming to short videos like TikToks, and longer content such as movies, podcasts and NFL games. The defining aspect of streaming is its on-demand nature. Consider the global reach of a Joe Rogan podcast episode or the live coverage of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launchboth examples demonstrate how streaming connects millions of viewers to real-time and on-demand content worldwide. Im a computer scientist whose research includes cloud computing, which is the distribution of computing resources such as video servers across the internet. Chunks of video When it comes to video contentwhether its a live stream or a prerecorded videothere are two major challenges to address. First, video data is massive in size, making it time-consuming to transmit from the source to devices such as TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones. Second, streaming must be adaptive to accommodate differences in users devices and internet capabilities. For instance, viewers with lower-resolution screens or slower internet speeds should still be able to watch a given video, albeit in lower quality, while those with higher-resolution displays and faster connections enjoy the best possible quality. To tackle these challenges, video providers implement a series of optimizations. The first step involves fragmenting videos into smaller pieces, commonly referred to as chunks. These chunks then undergo a process called encoding and compression, which optimizes the video for different resolutions and bitrates to suit various devices and network conditions. When a user requests an on-demand video, the system dynamically selects the appropriate stream of chunks based on the capabilities of the users device, such as screen resolution and current internet speed. The video player on the users device assembles and plays these chunks in sequence to create a seamless viewing experience. For users with slower internet connections, the system delivers lower-quality chunks to ensure smooth playback. This is why you might notice a drop in video quality when your connection speed is reduced. Similarly, if the video pauses during playback, its usually because your player is waiting to buffer additional chunks from the provider. Dealing with distance and congestion Delivering video content on a large scale, whether prerecorded or live, poses a significant challenge when extrapolated to the immense number of videos consumed globally. Streaming services like YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix host enormous libraries of on-demand content, while simultaneously managing countless live streams happening worldwide. A seemingly straightforward approach to delivering video content would involve building a massive data center to store all the videos and related content, then streaming them to users worldwide via the internet. However, this method isnt favored because it comes with significant challenges. One major issue is geographic latency, where a users location relative to the data center affects the delay they experience. For instance, if a data center is located in Virginia, a user in Washington, D.C., would experience minimal delay, while a user in Australia would face much longer delays due to the increased distance and the need for the data to traverse multiple interconnected networks. This added travel time slows down content delivery. Another problem is network congestion. As more users worldwide connect to the central data center, the interconnecting networks become increasingly busy, resulting in frustrating delays and video buffering. Additionally, when the same video is sent simultaneously to multiple users, duplicate data traveling over the same internet links wastes bandwidth and further congests the network. A centralized data center also creates a single point of failure. If the data center experiences an outage, no users can access their content, leading to a complete service disruption. Content delivery networks To address these challenges, most content providers rely on content delivery networks. These networks distribute content through globally scattered points of presence, which are clusters of servers that store copies of high-demand content locally. This approach significantly reduces latency and improves reliability. Content delivery network providers, such as Akamai and Edgio, implement two main strategies for deploying points of presence. The first is the Enter Deep approach, where thousands of smaller point-of-presence nodes are placed closer to users, often within internet service provider networks. This ensures minimal latency by bringing the content as close as possible to the end user. The second strategy is Bring Home, which involves deploying hundreds of larger point-of-presence clusters at strategic locations, typically where ISPs interconnect: internet exchange points. While these clusters are farther from users than in the Enter Deep approach, they are larger in capacity, allowing them to handle higher volumes of traffic efficiently. Infrastructure for a connected world Both strategies aim to optimize video streaming by reducing delays, minimizing bandwidth waste and ensuring a seamless viewing experience for users worldwide. The rapid expansion of the internet and the surge in video streamingboth live and on demandhave transformed how video content is delivered to users globally. However, the challenges of handling massive amounts of video data, reducing geographic latency and accommodating varying user devices and internet speeds require sophisticated solutions. Content delivery networks have emerged as a cornerstone of modern streaming, enabling efficient and reliable delivery of video. This infrastructure supports the growing demand for high-quality video and highlights the innovative approaches needed to meet the expectations of a connected world. Chetan Jaiswal is an associate professor of computer science at Quinnipiac University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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