Showing 1 - 10 of 35
Lang Lang in Bangkok
Life, Boonsong Lipimas, Published on 10/06/2025
» When Lang Lang enters a room, he brings with him a palpable presence -- like the first stirring chords of a great symphony. At just 42, the Chinese virtuoso has achieved what many musicians aspire to -- sold-out performances at premier global venues, collaborations with artists ranging from Herbie Hancock to Metallica and a unique role as a cultural bridge between East and West.
Beware the AI bots
Life, James Hein, Published on 04/06/2025
» I recently joined a Facebook group that supposedly represented Kat Timpf, a regular presenter on the Gutfeld! show. I posted a couple of comments and a couple of weeks later, I received a tag in social media purportedly from Dana Perino, a regular on the Fox show The Five. Initially this was a surprise. Why would a famous TV star want to chat with me? After a few chats, it became obvious something was off. The tag name in Messenger was just Dana Perino but the conversation had a few structural errors, not something a former press secretary would make.
Classical piano sensation Lang Lang to perform in Thailand
Life, Published on 19/05/2025
» Lang Lang, one of the world's greatest pianists, will perform his first-ever recital in Thailand, at the Main Hall of the Thailand Cultural Centre, Ratchadaphisek Road, on May 31 at 7.30pm.
Loei gears up for Phi Ta Khon Festival
Life, Published on 20/06/2024
» The town of Dan Sai in Loei will host the annual Bun Luang and Phi Ta Khon Festival from July 7-9. Influenced by a Buddhist folktale, the celebration will transport worshippers back in time to when Prince Vessandorn, one of Buddha's past lives, returned to the palace after meditation. People came out to greet him at the entrance as spirits had accompanied him from the forest to the city.
RBSO plays Holst for Queen Suthida
Life, James Keller, Published on 18/06/2024
» In honour of birthday celebrations of Her Majesty Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana, and in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Culture and B.Grimm, the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (RBSO) delivered another high-spirited performance at the Thailand Cultural Centre recently. Directed by Resident Conductor Vanich Potavanich, the first item on the programme could hardly have been any more suitable as a tribute to the universal majesty of royalty.
Inspiring innovators
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 11/10/2023
» In order to promote creative ideas and cultural potential to drive the economy at both the national and international level, the Creative Economy Agency (CEA) established the Creative Excellence Awards (CE Awards) in 2023.
Is the new Twitter just like the old?
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/02/2023
» The Twitter situation is complex and somewhat confusing. On the one hand, all kinds of people from The Babylon Bee satirical website to former US president Donald Trump have been allowed back on the platform. The stated aim is to allow freedom of speech to be supported by Twitter once again. On the other hand, you can be banned by linking to a public photo of a public person on a public platform. The rule for the latter appears to only be for friends of Elon Musk. A YouTube channel I enjoy watching, The Quartering, did this after someone else had been banned and was also almost instantly banned himself. This is of course wrong in every respect especially given the individual in question, apparently now hypocritically, is always banging on about freedom of speech. Update, the ban is permanent.
Samsung's A series phone is a big fat L
Life, James Hein, Published on 26/10/2022
» Nothing at all back from Samsung corporate on the A53-5G, if that changes I'll let you know. The new phone is a brick and after some research it turns out that more often than not Samsung only has a local warranty. I've since spoken to a number of people who've had issues with charging.
Tech giants, gatekeepers of the cloud
Life, James Hein, Published on 11/05/2022
» AWS, Microsoft and Google collectively made up 65% of global spend on cloud computing in Q1 2022, and their share is increasing year-on-year. At least two of these organisations have shut down users and companies they decided did not align with their ideologies. If you put your data on the cloud, it sits somewhere. In many cases, it's on the servers of these three companies who may or may not decide to cut you off without warning sometime in the future. It is also important to remember these three companies have servers across the globe and if a country decides to remove itself from the pack, it could take a peek at what you are storing there.
Elon's Twitter bid reopens censorship debate
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/04/2022
» Without a doubt, the biggest news of the last couple of weeks has centred around Elon Musk. It started with a tweet where he asked his followers if they thought that Twitter followed free speech principles. Over 2 million responded, with 70% indicating it didn't, and some asked him to buy Twitter. A week or so later he purchased 9.2% of Twitter. This triggered a swathe of wild speculation. Elon then rejected an offer to sit on the board because this would limit his ability to purchase more stock. A week or so later he offered to buy all of the remaining Twitter shares for US$54.20 (1,840 baht) a share, above the current market price and well above pundits' sell price only a little while earlier. The Left went crazy. The board started talking about introducing a financial "poison pill" share approach to both increase the number of and dilute the value of Twitter shares to make it more difficult for Musk to purchase more than 15% of Twitter.