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

This will be huge: Facebook live-streaming video coming to iPhone users in the US and soon to the rest of the world

iPhone users in the U.S. will now be able to stream what’s happening to them on the go via Facebook’s new live video feature. Although the feature is only available to people in the U.S., Facebook announced that live video will be rolled-out to the rest of the world in the “coming weeks”. The feature, ...

To like or not to like is probably a silly question: Facebook finally yields to consumers and adds cutified sentiments

‘Like’ was never enough for Facebook Inc. users, considering many feeds consist of news reports detailing things such as massacres and missing Malaysian planes, not to mention the break-up of a school friend you haven’t seen or cared about for 20 years. Billions of Facebook users had a frisson of hope last year when it ...

2016 is the year Microsoft will make ground on Google for consumer cloud dominance, according to expert

Reports suggest that if you work for a large company, one that has been in existence for a while, looked after by a commensurately sized IT team, then the chances are you’ll be working with Microsoft’s Office 365 rather than Google Apps. “Office 365 organizations are more than 4x larger and are five years older ...

Now there’s no excuse for not doing what you said you’d do with Cortana snooping on your emails

Can you imagine this: You promised your girlfriend/boyfriend last week, in an email, that you’d accompany him/her to the gym (you put on a ton of weight over the holidays). You never made it to the appointment. “I forgot,” you tell your loved one. “Impossible,” is the reply you’re met with. “Cortana would have reminded ...

Synchronicity: A wormhole love story not in touch with its characters

“The power to cross the universe in an instant; the impossible becomes possible; all the unbelievable things you could accomplish; the eternal questions you could answer… and you want to get laid.” This piece of dialogue – part of a witty repartee amongst 101 minutes of quasi-seriousness – could stand as the synopsis for the ...

Microsoft updates Office Apps for iOS, including new inking tools for iPad and iPad Pro

iPad and iPad Pro users can now use the Apple Pencil, or their finger, in Office, Microsoft has announced. The update includes the addition of a new ‘Draw’ tab in the Office ribbon so users can access inking, drawing and writing tools quickly. Instant inking has also been added so that an iPad will detect ...

Xbox One gets free EA access today, update for preview members is on the way

Xbox Live members can get free access to the Electronic Arts digital catalogue, starting today January 19th, up until January 24th, a move that is encouraging gamers to download the EA access app. It might seem too much of a good deal, but there doesn’t seem to be any catches. Usually EA access would set ...

Sci-fi series Black Mirror is a nightmare you have to experience

British TV series Black Mirror, created for Channel 4, can at times be almost unwatchable. If you’re not unsettled while viewing what might best be called tech-gone-wrong, an ugly yet fascinating exposé on technological immersion – the downside of omnipresent cameras – a nightmarish trip through social media – then it’s likely you are one ...

You can now Skype from Slack

On the week of its 10-year anniversary – a decade of video calling at least – Skype has been busy announcing a flurry of breakthroughs. First it was the news that group video calling has become available to mobile, and later we heard that real-time translation in Skype has finally been rolled-out to all Windows ...

Living the dream: Skype’s real-time translation now available to all Windows users

Microsoft has just gone one step further in its mission to help bring down the language barrier. Skype translator is now available to all Skype for Windows customers (the roll-out actually started in October 2015), Microsoft announced in a blog post. Over a year ago the Skype Translator preview was released in partnership with Microsoft ...