James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Mr. Robot is going to get so dark its star actor has been told he can tap-out from time to time
This article contains spoilers for Season One. Season One of USA Network’s acclaimed hacker series Mr. Robot ended with a twist of sorts,as it became clear that a round table of elites, including Phillip Price, the CEO of E Corp, were seemingly on good terms with Whiterose (BD Wong), the occasionally transgender hacker affiliated with ...
Microsoft’s AI ‘Little Bing’ gets a job as a news anchor in China
Microsoft’s artificial intelligent chatbot, Xiaoice, aka Little Bing, has recently been delivering the weather on the Chinese TV program ‘Morning News’. Previously employed as a personal assistant on messaging services such as WeChat, Weibo and Line, Xiaoice started as a trainee at the news center earlier this week. Using big data and smart cloud technology ...
It seems we might finally get to see a Microsoft Surface Phone in 2016
Rumors of a Microsoft Surface Phone have been doing the rounds for some years now, but it seems now that Redmond has given us some concrete evidence that the chimerical smartphone is on its way. This follows an interview with Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela and Windows Weekly. During the interview, a round-up of Microsoft’s ...
What were the best genre sci-fi movies of 2015?
It’s been a comeback year for sci-fi, ending with the return of Star Wars in the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as well as other films from our childhood attempting to rekindle the drama they once created on a global scale. Notably: Terminator: Genisys; Jurassic World; Mad Max: Fury. Out of the above ...
A drone selfie? Welcome to the Twitter drone
It’s a little too early to say how this will pan-out (pun intended) but Twitter has recently filed for a patent for a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that will be able to take photos and videos while being controlled via people’s Twitter accounts. How does it work? Twitter says that the drone’s location and the ...
Intelligently designed TV: Highly anticipated tech series coming in 2016
The portrayal of computer technology on television, either of those that create it, work in it, or of the manifestation of it in our lives, is suddenly at a point where we can feel content it’s being depicted with intelligence and thoughtfulness. Geeks are not so outlandish these days, they’ve been humanized, just as hackers ...
Now if you say ‘Hey Cortana’ on your Android phone you’ll no longer be heard
Following Microsoft’s introduction of its digital assistant, Cortana, for Android devices earlier this month, there has recently been quite a setback: your device will no longer understand you when you say, “Hey Cortana”. According to WinBeta this stems from problems relating to the microphone and, “incompatibilities with Google’s own ‘OK Google’ feature of Google Now.’ It ...
Here’s why Mr. Robot wasn’t just the best tech series of 2015, but maybe the best ever
We were aware after watching the first few episodes of USA Network’s hacker series Mr. Robot that in terms of a show depicting how computer technology has transformed our lives, for better and sometimes for worse, that we were looking at something groundbreaking. Not only was the hacking itself verisimilitudinous to the point of geeks ...
Cortana can now help you find what to watch on Netflix with revamped Windows 10 app
Microsoft reports that 110 million devices are currently running Windows 10 for, “billions and billions of hours” each month. Many of those hours were spent on Netflix, one of the first, and most downloaded and frequently used Windows 10 apps, according to Microsoft. We can now expect that frequency to rise after Microsoft reported that ...
An improved Skype for Business comes to Android
Microsoft’s Skype for Business app is now out of preview and available from Google Play. Android users that were previously using Lync 2013 will receive an automatic update to the Skype for Business app based on their device’s settings, says Microsoft. Having spent a few months in preview based on feedback Microsoft has made some changes, one of which ...