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

Microsoft seeks tight-lipped testers for pre-release of Skype for iPhone

Microsoft is presently looking for select, “enthusiastic Skype users” to give feedback in a testing program for Skype for iOS. Testers must be 18 or over and have a valid email address, as well as a Microsoft account or Skype account. The rest is “easy as pie”, says the team at Skype, although participants will ...

Microsoft and PayPal hook up to make devices point-of-sale readers

Technology relating to credit card processing via smartphones has become very popular lately, and the market for point-of-sale devices is stiff with competition. Microsoft has now jumped on the point-of-sale bandwagon in a bid to outmarch other tech giants such as Amazon and its Amazon Local Register card reader. The Redmond company eased into the pay-as-you-please race ...

Leaks from Microsoft as Windows 10 demo for phones looks to be on its way

Only a week before Microsoft will hold its Windows 10 event on January 21st the company, though taciturn prior to the event, has given indications that we may soon see a demo of the much talked about product, for phones, available at the end of January. Following the recent release of the Phone Insider app ...

Microsoft unhappy with Google (again) for releasing a Windows 8.1 vulnerability two days before patch

Two days before Microsoft was due to release a patch for a vulnerability in Windows 8.1 Google inspired the ire of the Redmond giant by disclosing information about the bug in its Project Zero security program. The flaw, if exploited, could allow an attacker to have full user privileges on their target’s machine. This is ...

Will the Windows 10 web browser outshine rivals and top Google?

While Microsoft has been tight-lipped concerning its long overdue replacement to Internet Explorer sources have given some indication to The Verge as to what we might expect in the browser, codenamed Spartan. Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant, will play in a big part in what’s already being dubbed as a feature-tastic web browser that may put ...

Privacy concerns rise after former Microsoft Bug Bounty developer asked to decrypt laptop at French airport

Katie Moussouris, chief policy officer at HackerOne who played a major role in developing Microsoft’s Bug Bounty Program, has aired her concerns after she was not only asked to turn on her laptop (standard procedure) at France’s Charles de Gaulle airport recently, but was asked to log-in to her device. After tweeting the incident, netizens became ...

Office for Android tablet impresses early users as preview becomes available to anyone

After gaining positive feedback following Microsoft’s invite-only Office for Android preview last November, the Redmond company is now letting anyone download the preview apps from Google Play. The preview is available to users with 7-10.1 inch Android tablets with an ARM processor, now eligible for KitKat and Lollipop. After Microsoft released Office for iPad last year ...

Microsoft targets developing markets with world’s cheapest Internet-ready phone

In a move to gobble up the phone market in developing countries, Microsoft has recently unveiled an internet-ready device that will go on the market for just $29. The Nokia 215, Microsoft says, is the “most affordable” phone yet with Internet capabilities. It will be available in select countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East ...

Xbox One powers up for developers as Microsoft strives to stay ahead in the console war

If gamers were wondering lately why certain games were performing better on Microsoft’s Xbox One compared to other consoles, including Playstation 4, they now have their answer. Xbox One developers have been given the opportunity to use more CPU power, according to information disseminated by the hacking group H4LT. Developers, who previously only has access ...

Microsoft sues scammers based in India offering bogus technical support for US customers

Earlier this month Microsoft cracked down on fraudsters working on US soil for offering bogus technical support using the Redmond company’s trademark, and now they’ve spread their net to India where a team of scammers are alleged to have a similar modus operandi. The fraudsters, who claim to be a legitimate team affiliated with Microsoft, ...