Entertainment
Texas Governor hails Senate approval for Harvey funding
Washington, Sep 8 (IANS) Texas Governor Greg Abbott has hailed the US Senate’s approval of a $15.25 billion hurricane Harvey fund to the state.
“The response by the federal government has been swift and effective, and the passage of a bill allocating an initial down payment for recovery and rebuilding is a continuation of their assurances to stand firm with Texas,” Abbott said in a statement on Thursday after the Senate voted to allocate the fund to Texas for the aftermath of Harvey.
Harvey made landfall on August 25, as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, has displaced more than 1 million people and damaged some 200,000 homes in a path of destruction that stretches for more than 480 km, reports Xinhua news agency.
So far, 71 people were confirmed dead.
The Houston area has been devastated by severe flooding, after receiving about 1.4 metres of rain.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it was working to accelerate buyouts of repeatedly flooded properties in Houston area.
The buyouts following Hurricane Harvey aimed at helping Houston citizens escape from perennially soggy neighbourhoods and keeping the federal government from paying to rebuild homes time and time again.
FEMA was receiving thousands of Harvey claims and paying out millions of dollars every day. By the end of Wednesday, more than 80,000 Texans had filed claims and FEMA had issued about $76 million in advance payments.
–IANS
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Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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