Entertainment
B-Town celebrities condemn murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh
Mumbai, Sep 6 (IANS) Bollywood personalities like Shekhar Kapur, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar have condemned the death of senior Kannada journalist and social activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead at her residence by unidentified men on Tuesday.
Celebrities not only condemned Lankesh’s murder, but also the unsolved murder of three other outspoken critics of right-wing extremist ideology — M.M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar.
Here’s what they have tweeted:
Shabana Azmi: Gauri Lankesh shot dead outside her home. Shocking, devastating. Dabholkar, Pansare (and) Kalburgi culprits must be punished.
Javed Akhtar: Dhabolkar, Pansare, Kalburgi and now Gauri Lankesh. If one kind of people are getting killed which kind of people are the killers.
Shekhar Kapur: To kill someone for their views is not democracy, its beginnings of a Banana Republic, where violence speaks louder than words. Gauri Lankesh.
Renuka Shahane: Another liberal, rational voice snuffed out by ‘unidentified assailants’. Gauri Lankesh RIP. Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare. Who killed them?
Farhan Akhtar: Shameful. What kind of society are we becoming? Deepest condolences to the family and hope justice is delivered soon.
Shirish Kunder: When “intellectual” becomes an abuse, words are replied with bullets.
RIP. Gauri Lankesh.
Ashoke Pandit: Silence of INC (Indian National Congress) India leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Randeep S Surjewala, Manish Tewari on the inhumane killing of Gauri Lankesh is shameful.
Dia Mirza: This is deeply disturbing. Culprits must be found and punished. Gauri Lankesh.
Anubhav Sinha: As the news progresses news anchors are beautifully subtly pushing it between ‘slip’ and ‘cover’. Between TMC (All India Trinamool Congress) and Congress. Gauri Lankesh.
Saiyami Kher: Lord Ganesh bids us goodbye, watching the death of a gutsy journalist. He must be so glad he’s leaving. Gauri Lankesh.
–IANS
dc/nv/vm
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.
Content provided by Adverloom