Entertainment
‘Three Billboards…’, ‘Veep’, ‘This Is Us’ win big at SAG Awards
Los Angeles, Jan 22 (IANS) Film director Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” won three awards, including the marquee film ensemble prize, at the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards here on Sunday.
Actress Frances McDormand won for her lead role, and Sam Rockwell won for supporting role, reports deadline.com.
Actor Gary Oldman continued his awards-season run, winning Lead Actor for his performance as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour”.
On the small screen side, there were two wins for “This Is Us” — Ensemble in a Drama Series and Sterling K. Brown for Male Actor. “Big Little Lies” and “Veep” also won two honours each.
Actors Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgard took trophies for playing unconventional spouses in “Big Little Lies”, and “Veep” was voted the winner for Comedy Ensemble, with lead Julia Louis-Dreyfus also winning for the Selina Meyer role.
Dreyfus has been undergoing chemo treatments and was unable to attend the ceremony.
She tweeted: “I wish I could have been at SAG Awards tonight but have to admit it’s pretty fun to watch in my pj’s. So honoured to win. So proud to be a union member. So happy for my ‘Veep’ bozos for winning ensemble award. Miss being at the table with you all. How was the chicken?”
It was also Kidman’s first win in her 10th nomination.
Hollywood veteran star Morgan Freeman accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.
After accepting the honour from Rita Moreno, he said backstage: “I got on stage first time when I was eight and I played ‘Little Boy Blue’ in a pageant. By 12, there was no question (he wanted to be an actor.”
He later blew off a reporter’s question about whether Hollywood awards are “too white.” Instead, he focused on the career honour.
“You have to give that some thought because the title is Life Achievement. The inference might be to get off the stage, you’re done. My hope is that is not the case and they were saying congratulations, so far.”
–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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