Entertainment
Farhan Akhtar touched Robert De Niro’s feet (Movie Snippets)
Mumbai, Sep 14 (IANS) Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar says he once touched legendary Hollywood actor Robert De Niro’s feet.
“When I met Robert De Niro for the first time, I was completely speechless. I didn’t know what to do and I was just like… in awe… And then I touched his feet,” Farhan said on TV show “Yaar Mera Superstar Season 2”.
“Because I (had) decided (that) in my life if I ever meet him, he is the only person whose feet I’m gonna touch. So, I did touch his feet. And he was very sweet. He gave me a nice big hug,” Farhan added.
Farhan appeared on the show to promote his new film “Lucknow Central”. The episode of “Yaar Mera Superstar Season 2” featuring Farhan will be aired on Sunday.
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Abhishek Bachchan appears on KBC for noble cause
Actor Abhishek Bachchan will be seen as a special guest on his father and megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s show “Kaun Banega Crorepati 9” to promote the social work done by Goonj Foundation.
Abhishek, along with founder of Goonj Foundation Anshu Gupta, will be seen on the Friday Special episode “Nai Chah Nai Rah”.
“I’m a great admirer of the work done by Mr Anshu and his team towards the development of the villages across the nation. After listening to his story of dedication on ‘KBC’, many will be inspired and should come forward to support the cause. It was a pleasure to share the stage of KBC with him and help him in his endeavour,” Abhishek said in a statement.
“Kaun Banega Crorepati 9” is aired on Sony Entertainment Television.
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Aparshakti Khurana visits Iskcon temple
Actor Aparshakti Khurana, who is seen onscreen as the host of “Om Shanti Om”, visited the ISKCON temple here to seek blessings for the devotional music reality TV show.
Aparshakti visited the temple on Wednesday along with a few contestants of the show to seek blessings of Lord Krishna.
“‘Om Shanti Om’ is a one-of-its-kind show on Indian television and I am extremely fortunate to be part it. I truly believe in that divine connection and visited ISKCON temple with a few contestants to seek blessings of Lord Krishna for the success of the show,” Aparshakti said in a statement.
“We also prayed for the other contestants as everyone is putting in a lot of hard work and efforts in giving some outstanding performances on the show,” he added.
The Star Bharat show features actress Sonakshi Sinha, composer Shekhar Ravjiani and singer Kanika Kapoor as judges, while yoga guru Baba Ramdev is seen as the Maha Guru.
–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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