Entertainment
Hillary reads ‘Fire and Fury’ at Grammys, Haley fumes
New York, Jan 29 (IANS) Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards and took part in a comedy bit taking a jab at US President Donald Trump.
The former presidential candidate, along with Cher, Snoop Dogg, Cardi B, John Legend and DJ Khaled were among those who read excerpts from Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” — the hit book about billionaire’s first year in the White House, CNN said.
The bit on Sunday night showed Grammy host James Corden holding auditions for the book reading, in hopes of nabbing next year’s Best Spoken Word Album with famous musicians trying out for the coveted role.
Clinton’s face was covered by the book when she first appeared on screen in the pre-taped sketch, but the crowd cheered when she lowered the book to reveal her face.
Clinton read the famous line about Trump’s love for fast food: “He had a longtime fear of being poisoned. One reason why he liked to eat at McDonalds. No one knew he was coming and the food was safely pre-made.”
The Grammys producers reached out to Clinton’s camp a couple of weeks ago.
They toyed with a couple of different passages from the book before settling on the except about Trump’s McDonald’s habit, a person involved with the taping, which took place last week in New York City told CNN.
The sketch has already drawn the ire of at least one prominent White House figure. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley fired off a tweet shortly after the bit aired.
“I have always loved the Grammys but to have artists read the ‘Fire and Fury’ book killed it,” Haley tweeted. “Don’t ruin great music with trash. Some of us love music without the politics thrown in it.”
Haley took to the radio waves on Thursday to say that a rumour sparked by the book is “absolutely not true,” referring to a detail in “Fire and Fury” that alleges that she carried on an affair with President Trump.
The book has sold 1.7 million copies, according to publisher Henry Holt and Co. “Fire and Fury” has also been No. 1 on the New York Times best seller for three weeks.
–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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