MAM
Aviva gives its customers a Grand Slam opportunity
MUMBAI: Life insurance company Aviva has announced that it will give six Indian youngsters in the age group of 12-15 years the opportunity to be a part of the year’s first tennis Grand Slam, The Australian Open, in early 2006.
The lucky six will be able to be a part of the Asutralian Open 2006 as ball boys and girls.
Aviva Ball-kids trials will take place in New Delhi in November. This is part of Aviva’s continued support and sponsorship of the Aviva Ballkids at the Australian Open. Aviva states that it is the first corporate ever to sponsor ball-kids at the Grand Slam tennis tournament and has a four-year deal from 2005 to 2008 with the Australian Open.
Over 100 children of Aviva Life Insurance policy holders will be recommended to the Australian Open to join in and participate in the All India Tennis Association (AITA) programme for the ballkids trials. Six will be selected to represent India.
Those selected will be part of a contingent of 36 Aviva Ball-kids from across Asia who will be flown to Australia in January to feature on court beside some of the biggest names in world sport, and be seen by hundreds of millions worldwide.
This initiative is a part of Aviva’s agenda to partner with the local community and provide opportunities to people the company is associated with. Trials of the youngsters put forward by the AITA and Aviva will take place on the weekend of 26-27 November 2005 in New Delhi. The selection process looks at a range of factors including hand-eye coordination, concentration levels, work ethic, reaction times, rolling of the ball and general tennis knowledge. The selected ball-kids will be flown to Melbourne in early 2006 for
further training to be ready for the Grand Slam tournament, which runs from 16-29 January 2006.
For the last two years, since 2003, youngsters have been selected from India, Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand and New Zealand to be ball kids at the Australian Open. This year will see Aviva Ball-kids selected from India, the Philippines, Singapore, Korea to be part of Australian Open 2006.
Aviva Life Insurance marketing director Vivek Khanna says, “Aviva believes that responsible investment in youth development and training plays an important part towards a more sustainable future. Aviva has a long association with sports and the Australian Open is one more step in promoting youngsters in that direction. We are very pleased to bring this to the Indian youth.
“We are always looking at innovative ways of connecting with our customers and this is yet another opportunity to reward our policy holders. Our Customers will recommend their children to be Aviva
ball kids at the Grand Slam next year.”
Apple rarely announces minor updates with much fanfare, and iOS 26.4 is no exception. No dramatic redesigns, no flashy keynote moments. What it delivers instead is a focused set of improvements that sharpen the experience you already have. If that sounds underwhelming, spend a week with it. You will change your mind.
Apple Music Learns to Listen Better
The biggest shift in this update lives inside Apple Music. Apple has brought AI-powered playlist generation to the app, and it works on mood rather than genre. Type something like “rainy evening at home” or “running late on a Monday,” and it builds a playlist that actually fits. This is not algorithmic guesswork dressed up in new clothing. It genuinely reads the intent behind vague descriptions and responds well.
Alongside this, a new concerts feature scans your listening history and surfaces live events happening near you. It is a smart bridge between your digital music habits and real-world experiences. Apple is quietly making the case that a music app should do more than just play songs.
Shazam also gets a meaningful upgrade. It can now identify songs without an internet connection. This might sound like a minor convenience, but anyone who has tried to Shazam something at a crowded venue with patchy signal will tell you it is anything but minor. The feature works locally on-device, which also means it is faster.
CarPlay Gets Smarter Controls
CarPlay has been updated with deeper integration for intelligent voice assistants. The goal is to reduce how often drivers need to look at a screen or tap anything at all. You speak, things happen. It is a clear step toward making the driving experience safer without stripping away functionality. The integration feels natural rather than bolted on, which is a harder thing to achieve than it sounds.
The Fixes You Feel Every Day
This is where iOS 26.4 earns its keep. Keyboard responsiveness has been improved, and the difference is noticeable immediately. Typing feels more accurate and less combative. Accessibility features have been refined across the board, with better contrast options and adjusted spacing that makes the interface easier to read without forcing you into larger text sizes.
The Health app has also been updated. It now surfaces more actionable insights from your daily data rather than just displaying numbers. If your sleep patterns have shifted or your activity levels have changed, the app now contextualises that clearly instead of leaving you to interpret raw figures on your own.
These are the kinds of changes that do not photograph well for a press release. They also happen to be the ones that make your phone feel genuinely better to use.
A Few Other Additions
New emojis have been added in this update. They will find their way into your conversations faster than you expect. Family Sharing has also been updated, with more granular control over shared payments and subscriptions. If you share an Apple account with family members, this puts clearer limits on who can spend what, which has been a long-requested fix.
What This Update Actually Represents
iOS 26.4 is Apple doing what it does best when it is not trying to make headlines. Every addition here serves a clear purpose. The AI music features are genuinely useful. The CarPlay improvements address a real safety concern. The small UI fixes accumulate into a noticeably smoother daily experience.
There is no bloat. Nothing feels experimental or half-finished. That discipline is harder to maintain than it looks, especially as operating systems grow more complex with each passing year.
If you have been holding off on updating, this is the one worth installing.
