Entertainment
Kapil Dev urges media to show stories of soldiers
Mumbai, Feb 1 (IANS) India’s first World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev, who was commissioned into the Territorial Army (TA) as an honorary lieutenant colonel in 2008, urged the media not to present sensational stories to audiences but to show stories of youngsters who sacrificed their lives for our country
Kapil’s comments came after he attended Atharva Foundation’s special initiative to pay tribute to the Indian armed forces along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Vikram Gokhale, Aftab Shivdasani, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Rohini Hattangadi here on Wednesday.
Talking about the Atharva Foundation’s initiative where dignitaries felicitated Indian soldiers and their families, the legendary cricketer said: “I felt really happy to be a part of this great initiative because here we felicitated and had conversation with our real heroes. People involved with this imitative are really passionate people.”
“I think it’s like a mission and we have to carry forward this mission and I think lot of things depends upon media that how much preference they want to give to such initiatives through their broadcasting.
“I would like to urge media that we shouldn’t present sensational stories for the audience instead of that, we should show stories of youngsters who sacrificed their lives for the country,” he added.
With three-time champions India preparing for the final of the ongoing ICC Under19 World Cup against Australia on Saturday, Kapil hoped that the Prithvi Shaw-led side returns with the trophy.
“I hope that Under 19 team will come back winning World Cup,” he said.
When asked what advice he would like to give the youngsters of the country, he said, “I feel youngsters of our country should at least, once think about joining the security forces because your thought to join security forces is really important, afterwards other things automatically follow in that journey”
Talking about the Atharva Foundation’s initiative where dignitaries felicitated Indian soldiers and their families, Rohini Hattangadi said, “Today is a very important day because we are felicitating our Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect us and our country.”
“I feel fortunate to be part of this initiative. I want to congratulate Atharva Foundation who has organised such huge initiative. I think we don’t need to join our army to show our patriotism. We can express our patriotism by doing small things like keeping our surroundings clean and helping each other in crisis.”
–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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