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

Leak: Microsoft Band 2 won’t make you look like a burglar

As we await Microsoft’s big hardware event on October 6th in New York most of the excitement, gossip and never-ending leaks concerning the new gadgets have been about Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 laptop/tablet and a couple of flagship Lumia phones going by the name of Talkman and CityMan. The Microsoft Band 2 however, which is ...

Mr. Robot Vs. the film Hackers 20 years on

It’s been 20 years since Hackers came out. At the time, the public for the most part was unfamiliar with hacking and hacking culture. It was a revelation of sorts, totally ridiculous, yet also prescient. Two decades later we have just witnessed the best hacking thriller television program ever made: Mr. Robot.  While it’s unfair ...

Epic Fail: Cortana doesn’t understand Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella in front of large crowd

Microsoft’s CEO was left with egg, or rather milk, on his face at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco when the company’s digital assistant Cortana couldn’t make out what he was saying. The crowd seemed to find it amusing, and Nadella took it well, but an upset like this is not at all good for ...

“Feels like texting works like email”: Microsoft’s messaging app Send now available for Android

Microsoft’s Send app, which combines email with instant messaging, was first released for iOS in July this year for Office 365 users. As of now, the app is available in preview for Android users, and while it was originally only available for customers in the U.S. and Canada, Microsoft says Send for iPhone and Android ...

Skype out-cutes everyone as Microsoft adds Muppet ‘Mojis’ and more to messaging

Skype has been livened up with the introduction of Mojis, a step up, or perhaps around the bend, from the previously used emoji (pictograph) and emoticon (typographic display). Whether an improvement in communications in chat, or just jumping the shark apropos how much silliness we add to our conversations, is for you to decide. The ...

Surface Pro 4. Microsoft Band 2 and new Lumia phones expected to showcase at Microsoft’s October 6th event

The much talked about Surface Pro 4, as well as Microsoft’s new Lumia flagship phones are expected to be launched at a New York press event on October 6th. The event will showcase a number of Microsoft’s new products that run Windows 10. This will include the above, and also the Microsoft Band 2. Although ...

Mr. Robot nailed it this summer: Here’s a list of new tech-based/sci-fi series coming this Fall

It might be hard to top USA Network’s hacking series Mr. Robot, but there are a handful of promising new series that look interesting coming this Fall. We’ve already written about what we consider to be the best tech-based movies over the last few years, and extensively covered the often brilliant realism of Mr. Robot, so here’s a ...

Microsoft’s much anticipated new Office will roll-out at the end of this month

September 22nd is the date Microsoft’s Office 2016 will roll-out for Office 365 Personal and Home users, the company has stated. Microsoft said that on that date the suite will become ‘broadly available’, although customers with a volume licensing agreement can download Office 2016 on October 1st. As the first Office release built for Windows ...

A list of Microsoft’s impressive Office updates for iPad Pro and Apple Watch

Microsoft has announced a flurry of Office updates for Apple’s iPad Pro, iOS 9 and watchOS 2. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook and Translator will all see enhancements for Apple’s new devices, news that was partly delivered by Microsoft ‘s Office executive Kirk Koenigsbauer at Apple’s big event. The updates will include multitasking features for Apple’s ...

Microsoft’s HoloLens will try space travel again following first disaster: but when will consumers be able to get their hands on the headset?

Microsoft’s augmented reality headset HoloLens impressed NASA so much that in June they attempted to send two of them to the International Space Station. Unfortunately HoloLens didn’t quite make it. The unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying the headsets to ISS blew up shortly after launching, making it the third resupply mission failure in just a few ...