James Farrell

James Farrell is the former editor-in-chief of Chiang Mai CityNews, where he wrote and managed daily news, features, op-eds and blogs on a diverse range of topics. Prior to this, in the same city of Northern Thailand where he lives, he was the longstanding deputy editor of the monthly magazine Citylife. He has written on culture, politics, travel, tech, business, human rights, for local, national, and international news services and magazines. He has a keen interest in the role technology is playing in the transformation of society, culture and politics, especially in developing nations. This is reflected in his not-so-successful first novel.

Latest from James Farrell

‘Google for Jobs’ will use machine learning to match jobs with candidates

Google Inc. aims to make job searching less painful with a new initiative announced at its Google I/O conference on Wednesday. Google for Jobs will employ advanced machine learning to better match people with relevant jobs relating to their search queries. Speaking onstage at the conference, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said online job searching had ...

Report: Apple will soon announce a trio of new MacBooks to fend off competition 

Apple Inc. will announce three new laptops at its June Worldwide Developers Conference, according to a report published Tuesday by Bloomberg. Sources familiar with Apple’s plans said the MacBook Pro, MacBook and MacBook Air will each receive updates which will be announced at the conference, which runs June 5-9 in San Jose, California. The Macbook ...

Pentagon turns to intelligence automation to hunt Islamic State

Overwhelmed by thousands of hours of Islamic State surveillance tapes, the Pentagon is catching up to the future by looking to machine learning and big data to help its military surveillance analysts. Codenamed Project Maven, an Algorithmic Warfare Cross Functional Team will sift through hours of video caught by drones flying over Iraq and Syria ...

Google uses artists and neural networks to turn your selfies into emoji

Google Inc. is bringing something novel to the world of emoji: a combination of neural networks and art that enables users to morph their selfies into emojis. Unlike current customized emoji apps, such as Snapchat Inc.’s Bitmoji, the new Google technology uses both machine learning and neural networks to map the user’s face and create ...

Anti-net neutrality spambots run wild on FCC’s web site

Just days after comedian John Oliver urged people to comment on the Federal Communications Commission’s website in defense of net neutrality regulations, reports have emerged that the website has been filled with fake comments in support of less regulation. Following FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s controversial plans to undo the Obama administration’s regulations that all Internet ...

With launch of smart debit card app, kids can now have a digitized allowance

New York startup Current is giving parents the opportunity to control their children’s allowance through an app that allows kids to use a Visa debit card. The app not only allows parents to see how and where the kids are using up their allowance but also lets them set tasks through the app. When the ...

FCC’s website goes down the day after John Oliver again urged public to defend net neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission said that the reason its site went down on Monday was not because of John Oliver defending net neutrality once again on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” show, but because of a cyberattack. In 2014 the British comedian’s diatribe defending net neutrality had led to the FCC’s website crashing under the load of ...

Facebook original TV: coming to a newsfeed near you next month

It seems like Facebook Inc. is gearing up to be the media company it has always denied it is. According to recent reports, the social media behemoth will release Facebook Premium TV shows sometime in the middle of June. The news of Facebook TV emerged after Business Insider said it spoke with numerous people close ...

Uber is now under criminal investigation for snooping on government officials

As if things couldn’t get any worse for ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc., the company is now under investigation over software it allegedly used to avoid police and transportation regulators, according to a report published by Reuters. The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a criminal probe concerning software Uber devised known as “Greyball,” created ...

Apple will invest $1 billion to create manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook announced today that the company is pledging $1 billion to a fund to help create advanced manufacturing jobs in the U.S. In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Cook said that Apple will reveal later this year the first investments in the fund, but did not give any details as to ...