Discord is the official chat and media sharing social media platform for everything gaming. It where gaming groups form their online social club and share their adventurous exploits with their teams, or as I prefer, Discord is the best place to get your hands on the latest release of ‘Solo Levelling’.
As we know that Microsoft and Discord were in talks with each other, with the news of Microsoft potentially buying the social media platform. However, the talks were quickly thrown out of the window, and with the recent announcement, it’s clear that Microsoft is out of the picture.
Recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced a partnership with Discord, and the company has made a minority investment in Discord, as part of the company’s latest funding round.
At PlayStation, we’re constantly looking for new ways to enable players around the world to connect, form new friendships and communities, and share fun experiences and lasting memories. It’s in this spirit that we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Discord, the communication service popularized by gamers and used by more than 140 million people every month around the world.
Together, our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network. Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together.
To bring these experiences to life for our players, Sony Interactive Entertainment has made a minority investment as part of Discord’s Series H round. From our very first conversation with co-founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, I was inspired by their lifelong love for gaming and our teams’ shared passion to help bring friends and communities together in new ways. Empowering players to create communities and enjoy shared gaming experiences is at the heart of what we do, so we are beyond excited to start this journey with one of the world’s most popular communication services.
Discord will soon be integrated into PlayStation as the social media platform is gaining immense popularity, and of course, the service is already integrated with Xbox since three years ago. It is presently unclear whether the integration with PlayStation will be similar or deeper than the Xbox.
IPL 2021 has been suspended following multiple instances of COVID-19 cases in the bio bubble that the BCCI created for the players. The number of cases was on the rise, with two from the CSK camp, 5 DDCA groundsmen and one from the SRH camp.
Here are the five mistakes that led to the BCCI having to postpone the IPL this year:
1. Not Holding the IPL in the UAE
The option of holding the IPL overseas was considered by the investors and stakeholders. They were convinced that it was the right option as well, due to the rising number of cases. It has been done before and could be done again, however that was not the perspective of the Indian Cricket Board.
2. Caravan Model
The decision to hold the tournament in six different venues, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru was controversial, to say the least. Especially given the fact that no spectators would be allowed in the stands, it made for unnecessary exposure for the players to their surroundings and in turn, the virus.
3. Lack of Safety Mechanisms
Last season, the BCCI hired UK-based company Restrata to create a bio bubble for the players. The technology firm did a decent job of protecting the health of the players but a similar strategy was not undertaken by the BCCI this season.
4. Lack of Coordination
Credit: BCCI
Hotels were booked at random by the teams, and there was a lack of planning for the accommodation for the teams and that has clearly shown on the records. One particular instance saw a team in Mumbai being put up in a hotel 10km from the stadium, with the hotel being a part of a commercial complex.
5. Weak Bio-Bubble
The bio bubble created by the BCCI was marketed as the safest place on earth, but with six COVID cases amongst the players, that claim does not hold true anymore. The player’s lives have been risked, and the pandemic situation has clearly been disastrously navigated by the organising committee.
During any time span in history, if you look through a list of the world’s best players, that list will more often than not be populated by forwards. After all: your friends and family are impressed by goals, not clean sheets, crunching tackles, or pass completion stats. 2021 is no different. Sure, goalkeepers and defenders are selling at higher transfer fees than they have ever before but the forwards are more important than ever.
The ranking for the top 10 world’s best forwards, from football magazine FourFourTwo, excludes out-and-out strikers such as Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, etc, they went for any player who operates wide or centrally but isn’t a conventional centre-forward/striker. You’d normally expect Barcelona’s number 10, Lionel Messi, to occupy the top spot here, but you’ll be surprised to see whose shadow he’s underneath this time.
10. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
(Image credit: PA)
Marcus Rashford has sparkled under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, maturing into an unstoppable forward, playing on either of the wings with his ferocious speed. He’s incredibly clever and skillful and his movement is superb: he was even Jose Mourinho’s most played player during his United tenure, which tells you everything you need to know about his mentality. He has scored 20 goals and assisted 13 in all competitions this season.
9. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Under Pep Guardiola, the English winger, Raheem Sterling has refined his game to the bare basics. He is all about goals and assists and he’s a pure output machine. He’s flourished into a world-class player as his ability to take players on has fans on the edge of their seats – even at home. And his link-up play with his midfield is often underrated too.
8. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
Harry Kane and Heung Min Son(Image credit: PA Images)
Son Heung-min’s speed, timing, effortless finishing with either foot could see you mistake him for a peak Cristiano Ronaldo in the PL. His extraordinary partnership this season with Harry Kane almost emulates the destructive partnership of Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo in the peak United Premier League era. Son has ascended from being Kane’s no.2 to striking fear into full-backs on his own.
7. Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich)
(Image credit: PA Images)
Tony Pulis at West Bromwich Albion might not be a fan but the rest of Europe is. Serge Gnabry is a Swiss-army knife of a forward, equally devastating with either foot and deadly on and off the ball.
The former Arsenal man, since moving to Bayern Munich, has established himself as one of the most complete wide-men in world football. He can create, he can score, and is just a joy to watch.
6. Phil Foden (Manchester City)
(Image credit: PA Images)
Somewhere along the line, Phil Foden earned the nickname of the “Stockport Iniesta”. To become one of the first names on Pep’s team sheet is quite an achievement. This is in part for his ability to create and score goals. But it’s the fact that he always pops up when it matters: goals against Chelsea and Liverpool testify, as do vital strikes in both the Champions League QF legs against Borussia Dortmund. It’s scary to think he’s years away from his peak.
5. Jadon Sancho (Manchester City)
(Image credit: PA Images)
Last summer’s tiring to and fro transfer saga between Dortmund and United would have been enough to derail some burgeoning careers, yet Jadon Sancho has simply got on with things.
The England winger looks on course for another season of double figures (currently six goals and 11 assists) for league goals and assists (last season, he became the first Englishman to achieve this feat since Matt Le Tissier in 1997), despite missing a number of games with a muscle injury suffered in February. With his close control, balance, trickery, and speed, he has all the hallmarks of a classic winger, yet his goalscoring record is good enough to rival most strikers.
4. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
(Image credit: PA Images)
Liverpool’s defensive issues this season have grabbed the headlines, but, further forward, Mo Salah has just put his head down and quietly got on with business. The Egyptian is the Premier League’s joint-top-scorer netting 19 and has been carrying Jurgen Klopp’s side during their woeful title defense. Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have been poor this season; without Mo, Liverpool’s plight would be a whole lot worse.
3. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
(Image credit: Getty)
Kylian Mbappe has scored 30% of his team’s tally this season. With seven assists, his combined goal contributions jump to 28 in 27 domestic appearances. He’s still only 22-years-old.
The Frenchman has been especially electrifying in Europe with eight goals in nine appearances. Five of those have come in the knockout stages, with three against Barcelona and two against Bayern. Heavyweights and minnows beware: this is a player with little regard for the opposition.
2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
(Image credit: PA)
Lionel Messi has scored 29 goals in 39 games. This is an astonishingly good return for a player who does not play as an out-and-out striker, however, Messi’s prime exploits have made the mere brilliance of his late-career seem ordinary. He might no longer operate at the peak of his powers but he remains one of the most potent goalscorers on the planet, well into his 30s.
Add in the 13 assists in all competitions (ten in La Liga), you get the full picture. Leo Messi is still contributing to a goal every game. As his pace and stamina slowly diminish, his vision and passing are only getting better. He’s different but still destructive. Older, yet wiser.
1. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain)
(Image credit: Getty)
Neymar may not be PSG’s goal-scorer-in-chief (that status belongs to Kylian Mbappe) but there’s no doubting his influence on the team, especially in Europe. The box office Brazilian has six goals in seven Champions League appearances this season, including a brace at Old Trafford in the group stages. He has contributed to 13 strikes in all competitions. Not impressive enough? Okay, but there’s much more to the 29-year-old than goals.
It’s Neymar’s creativity and leadership that makes him so crucial to the French giants but also his country. A pair of assists in Munich helped get revenge on Bayern in the Champions League quarter-finals and, on the big occasions, he consistently provided an outlet to teammates under pressure.
Author’s Take
Among the controversial omissions are players who could have easily made their way into the top five if they were at the peak of their powers. Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Greizmann, who is still on the verge of settling at Barcelona, and Eden Hazard, who in his Chelsea days could have even taken the top spot, but Real Madrid has been his injury home more than anything.
Talking about controversial ranks, we have to question if Englishmen Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden are yet qualified to be this close to the top. They are in some elite company up there so you do give it a thought about if they deserve their spots. However, some big performances in the latter stages of the season could provide their rank with some justice.
What is going to be talked about the most is the top spot. Personally, I do not feel Neymar deserves a spot above Messi, no one does really. The numbers Messi has been cracking up, with a Barcelona team that is below par, to say the least when compared to their yesteryear teams, is absolutely astounding. Neymar has world-class support in Angel Di Maria and Mbappe, Messi on the other hand is making any support look world-class.
Dogecoin was fun in the global crypto market till now. Plenty number of memes were created whenever Elon Musk tweeted in favor of Dogecoin. Currently, this crypto enters the Top 5 Global Cryptocurrency ranking. It holds the 4th position globally.
On Tuesday, 4th May the price of a Dogecoin goes up by around 38% and in the last 7 days, the figure is around 103.5%. At the time of writing this post, a single Dogecoin costs $0.5525.
As I mentioned earlier, Dogecoin stands #4 as per the total market cap. According to CoinMarketCap, Dogecoin has a total of $71,521,415,569 market cap. XPR comes just behind Dogecoin with $64,102,739,695.
by – CoinMarketCap
Ahead of Dogecoin, there are Bitcoin at #1, Ethereum at #2, and Binance Coin at #3. These have market caps worth $$1,027,506,143,868, $393,942,710,394, and $96,117,367,510 respectively.
Achraf Hakimi has been recently confirmed as the Serie A winners for the 2020-21 season as Inter Milan finally managed to end Juventus’ winning run. Hakimi and his team will be crowned as the Italian champions soon.
The former Real Madrid man reflected on his old club and clarified it was not true that he didn’t want to return to Madrid.
Hakimi told El Chiringuito, via Marca: “They had the chance at the time. I have to clarify that people have said a lot, and they’ve said that I didn’t want to go back to fight for my place, but it wasn’t like that.”
“Real Madrid was my home and I would have liked to play there, but the circumstances led to the club deciding otherwise. Everyone knows I would have gone there to win my position.”
Hakimi added when asked if Real Madrid had an option to buy him: “I think so. At the moment, neither [Zinedine] Zidane nor Florentino [Perez] have congratulated me.”
He further added on his issue with Real Madrid: “I don’t know if it was Zidane or the club. There was” also the issue of the pandemic and I don’t really know what happened.
“But I don’t blame Zidane or the club. I think it was a consequence of the circumstances brought on by the pandemic and I had to leave.”
Jose Mourinho has been shockingly unveiled as the new manager for Roma starting next season. The Special One was sacked in April from Tottenham Hotspur, and the exit was decided based on the rather humiliating 3-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb.
There have been rumours that indicate that Maurizio Sarri was the first choice for the job, but those have been squashed by Fabrizio Romano saying that Sarri was never a candidate for the Roma job in the first place. Mourinho was always their ‘secret candidate’ and the deal has now been made official.
Here is what the Portuguese tactician had to say regarding the next chapter in his illustrious managerial career:
“After meetings with the ownership, I immediately understood the full extent of their ambitions for AS Roma. The incredible passion of the Roma fans convinced me to accept the job and I cannot wait to start next season. Daje Roma!”
Paulo Fonseca will be departing the club after two years in charge of the capital club. This season has been excessively underwhelming for Roma, who are guaranteed to miss out on a top six finish. Additionally, they were also knocked out of the Coppa Italia and the Europa League early.
Mourinho has signed a three year contract from 2021 to 2024, and his last spell in Italy saw him lift the treble with Inter Milan in 2010. While that might be too far off for Roma right now, things could be looking on the upside for them next season.
Leicester City are currently third in the Premier League with 63 points, albeit only two clear of fourth-placed Chelsea. While Jamie Vardy has been unable to score the much-needed goals to help solidify their chances of securing Champions League football, Kelechi Iheanacho has stepped up this time.
The Nigerian striker has scored 9 goals in his last 8 league appearances and has also been a crucial part of Leicester’s progression to the finals of the FA Cup. Interestingly, Iheanacho scored 14 goals in his last 76 appearances for Leicester and has now managed to score the same amount in his last 14 games for the club in itself.
Kelechi Iheanacho has scored 1️⃣4️⃣ goals in his last 1️⃣4️⃣ games for Leicester!
Last season, the forward scored 10 goals across all competitions, and this time around, he has almost doubled that tally with 17 goals and games yet to be played. The 24-year-old currently stands as one of the only reasons why Leicester City are still in a Champions League place.
Additionally, if they do manage to hold on to the position, Iheanacho will be the one to thank for it due to his consistency in front of the goal since March.
15 – Kelechi Iheanacho is the first Nigerian player to score 15 goals in a season in all competitions for a Premier League club since Odion Ighalo scored 17 in 2015/16 for Watford. Seniorman. #EmiratesFACuppic.twitter.com/9QtlWId0rJ
Iheanacho has mostly been deployed as a replacement for Jamie Vardy during his time at Leicester, but recent injuries have made Brendan Rodgers deploy Jamie Vardy and Iheanacho together. That combination has paid off well since the goals are coming in steadily.
We could finally be seeing a turnaround in the fortunes of the Nigerian, who, with the right amount of confidence, could be trusted with the task of replacing Vardy in time.
According to BILD in Germany, Borussia Dortmund have a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ in place to let Jadon Sancho leave if the right bid arrives for him. The amount demanded was about €120 million last season, and the player was on the verge of joining Manchester United before negotiations collapsed.
This season, that amount has been reduced drastically and the Schwarzgelben will accept a bid in the region of €75-80 million. This has caused clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool to join Manchester United in the pursuit of the winger.
Borussia Dortmund will be open to sell Sancho in the summer if the ‘right bid’ will arrive, after one year ago he was one step away from joining #MUFC. 🚨
BVB will be asking less than €120m to let Sancho leave this year – but… no late bids at the end of the window. 🟡⚫️ #BVB
In the case of Liverpool, there is a good chance that the Reds won’t be able to meet that asking price without selling one of their current front three of Salah, Mane or Firmino. But now that the asking price has dropped down by more than a fourth, other big clubs across Europe could also be interested.
Sancho had to endure an extremely shaky start to the 20/21 season, and it was a while before the youngster was able to find his form again. With that said, the 21-year-old has scored 12 goals and assisted 15 across all competitions, which is a remarkable return given his situation.
Borussia Dortmund are in the finals of the DFB Pokal and will face RB Leipzig for the trophy. They also managed to get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League before being eliminated by Manchester City. A top-four finish looks difficult for the black and yellow club but will be a priority nonetheless, and Sancho is a valuable asset for them to achieve this target.
The Chinese smartphone company, Redmi, looks set to launch its first hard-core gaming smartphone in the global market. The company introduced Redmi K40 Gaming Edition last month in the home country but now its looks like this might be unveiled on a global stage. This is because the smartphone has emerged in the database of Google Play Console.
For the Indian market, Redmi might launch this device as a POCO branded device. A few reports have suggested the name of this gaming handset to be POCO F3 GT. Though, there is no confirmation on these reports by the POCO India.
The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition flaunts a 6.67-inch OLED display with a centrally positioned punch-hole and it comes with a high refresh rate of 120 Hz. The screen resolution of the device is 1080 x 2400 pixels. The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition has IP53 rated dust and splash protection. They have a 440ppi pixel density.
It is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 1200 mobile processor and runs on MIUI 12.5 based Android 11 OS. The smartphone is paired up to 12 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of built-in storage. The front glass is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. It also supports JBL powered stereo speakers and a side-facing fingerprint scanner.
Interestingly, the smartphone has physical pop-up gaming shoulder buttons. In terms of optics, the device is well-equipped. It comes with a 64 MP main camera, an 8 MP ultrawide lens, and a 2 MP macro camera.
For selfies and video chats, the smartphone offers a 16 MP camera on the front. The back camera module comes with RGB lighting. The smartphone houses a powerhouse 5,065 mAh battery cell and is paired with a 67W rapid charging support. Let’s see if the same device will be launched in the global markets or not.
Verizon Communications Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but is incorporated in Delaware.
The telecommunication conglomerate Verizon announced it will sell its media group to Apollo Global Management, a private equity group, for US$5 billion. The sale includes all the properties that once belonged to AOL and Yahoo, bought in 2015 and 2017 by Verizon.
However, the interesting thing in the deal is that Verizon bought both the companies for a whopping of $4.4 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively. The deal on the other hand marks the sale of all the properties for only $5 billion, which marks a significant loss for Verizon.
According to sources, the sale will be completed in the latter half of 2021 and the telecommunication conglomerate will receive $4.25 billion in cash and a 10% stake in the properties sold.
The properties include popular websites like TechCrunch and Engadget. They were conglomerated as Oath in 2017 and rebranded as Verizon Media Group in 2018. They will continue to operate at Apollo Global Management under the Yahoo brand.
Apollo Global Management is not a small name in the business and the management also owns Michaels which is a prolific crafts retailer and the Venetian resort in Las Vegas. The properties are now undertaken by Apollo once belonged to the internet giant who was a leader in the worldwide web. And Time will tell spin them back into gold. At their peaks, AOL and Yahoo boasted market capitalizations of $200 billion and $125 billion, respectively.
