Entertainment
SC declines early hearing on plea against ‘Padmaavat’ (Lead)
New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday declined to hold an early hearing on a plea challenging the grant of U/A certificate to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film “Padmaavat” by the Censor Board.
Referring to its Thursday’s order refraining states from standing in the way of the movie’s January 25 release, Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said they would hear the matter when it comes up in normal course.
Lawyer M.L. Sharma had moved the court challenging the grant of Censor Board certificate to “Padmaavat” which its critics say distorts historical facts.
While staying the “notifications and orders” banning the release of the controversial film by the Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan governments, the top court said the remaining states will not do anything to obstruct the release of the film.
It also reminded the states that maintaining law and order was their responsibility and it should discharge it if any attempt was made by the “self-appointed guardians of history” to obstruct the screening of the film.
Earlier in November last year, the top court while rejecting the plea seeking to block the release of the film “An Insignificant Man”, based on AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, had said, “Courts should be extremely slow in passing restrain order” as there can’t be curbs on the freedom of speech and expression.
Observing that the filmmakers and writers should be allowed to enjoy freedom of speech and expression, the court had said that all the creators have a right to enjoy their works in production of films and dramas.
Way back on January 13, 2012, while slamming the Tamil Nadu government for banning the screening of film “Dam 999”, Justice Asok Ganguly (since retired) heading the top court bench had said, “The law is clear and the freedom of speech and expression has to be protected. If you are apprehending the breach of peace and law and order it is your duty to take steps to prevent
the same.”
–IANS
pk/rn
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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