Paul Lilly
Paul is a seasoned geek who was first seduced into the world of computers and technology by the Commodore 64, and through the years he’s courted a number of OSes and platforms from DOS on up to the latest version of Windows. Having joined the HotHardware team in 2011, Paul is now a mainstay of the site covering the news beat and reviews, and resident wiseguy who keeps the mood light. He’s also an experienced freelance technology writer whose work has appeared in a number of online and print publications.
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
TV technology sure has evolved over the past several decades. Remember when buying a big screen TV meant spending a fortune and sacrificing a large chunk of your living room for a bulky rear projection unit? Today's models are far sleeker, the visuals are leaps and bounds better, and perhaps most importantly, they're...
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Razer Iskur V2 Gaming Chair: MSRP $649 Razer's Iskur V2 gaming chair is easy to assemble and offers an adjustable built-in lumbar support system that can pay off if you take the time to find your sweet spot. Sleek Design 4D Adjustable Armrests Looks And Feels Premium Generous Recline Angle (Up To 152 Degrees)...
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Intel's GPU driver team has made a habit out of delivering massive performance increases on a surprisingly frequent basis. The latest round comes by way of the latest Intel Arc beta driver, version 31.0.101.5379, which brings big gains of up to 174% for Arc A-series graphics cards, and up to 117% for Core Ultra CPUs...
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Qualcomm is making a spirited push to expand the reach of on-device AI experiences to more affordable smartphones, rather than limiting it exclusively to premium handsets. We got a glimpse of this earlier this week with the unveiling of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which essentially a tamer version of Qualcomm's flagship...
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It's not always easy to discern between real and staged videos on the web. That's probably never going to change, whether TikTok ends up banned in the US or not. However, a potentially bigger issue is the ongoing rise and sophistication of deepfakes, which use AI-generated tricks to create realistic scenes and...
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Most people would agree that OLED is the best display technology on the market right now, in terms of overall image quality, though it's biggest weakness is its inherent propensity to permanently burn images into the screen in certain situations. Perhaps not for much longer—a research team spearheaded by the...
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Monitors makers continue to make a push into OLED territory, a move that is either long overdue or, depending on your perspective, too late with mini LED having emerged as a premium option as well. Regardless, OLED monitor options are growing, the latest being AOC's 45-inch class Agon Pro AG456UCZD that's now...
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Smartphones generally fall into one of three categories: high-end, mid-range, and entry-level (otherwise known as budget). In reality, it's a bit more nuanced, as demonstrated by phones like the OnePlus 12 Google Pixel 8 series, which straddle the line between mid-range and high-end at competitive price points...
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Qualcomm today introduced a cheaper version of its flagship mobile silicon, which it's calling the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. The idea is to offer "the most sought-after 8 series capabilities" to a wider range of premium Android smartphones. That specifically includes on-device generative AI features with support for large...
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The NBA playoffs are just weeks away and same goes for the NHL, while opening day of the MLB season is not just days off in the distance. If you're a sports fan, now is a great time to bring home a big screen TV. And even if you're not into sports, this is still an opportune time to be in the market for an upgrade, as...
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Intel's latest flagship processor, the Core i9-14900KS, is a beastly slice of silicon as we discovered in our review. It also needs ample cooling to take full advantage of the binned chip's full potential. To help with that, boutique builder Maingear is offering a delidded option on some of its desktops when...
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At long last, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed a vote to raise the minimum high-speed fixed broadband speed threshold, increasing the baseline download benchmark from 25 megabits per second (Mbps) to 100Mbps. That's a fourfold increase, or a whopping 300%, and quite frankly it's a long overdue bump...
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Even the Hatfields and McCoys eventually settled their differences and ended their long-running feud, which lasted from 1863 to 1891 (a truce signed by both families in 2003 officially put the matter to rest). In the modern era, we get to witness a different kind of feud, between Epic Games and Apple. Fortunately it's...
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As much as Apple may envision its $3,500 Vision Pro headset being adopted by consumers on a mass scale, it's priced more like a development kit or a professional tool, be it in an enterprise setting or, as is the case in the UK, a hospital. More specifically, Cromwell Hospital recently employed Apple's fancy spatial...
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When Tim Berners-Lee transformed the early internet with the invention of the World Wide Web while at CERN, it was a much different time. It started in earnest in 1989 with a memo proposing a global hypertext document system, though as he readily admits now, the web's "trajectory was impossible to imagine" at the...
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In case haven't noticed, the cryptocurrency market is on an upswing led by Bitcoin's surge to record highs over the past couple of weeks—it's now trading at around $73,000. Historically speaking, as Bitcoin goes, so does the entire crypto scene. Fortunately, miners don't pose a threat to the supply of graphics cards...
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You might be tempted to leave your laptop plugged in while not in use to ensure that the battery will always be topped off. After all, battery life is paramount to the laptop form factor, otherwise it's a glorified desktop replacement. However, despite your good intentions and the seeming logic of keeping a laptop's...
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Apple recently refreshed its MacBook Air lineup, infusing the latest models with its custom M3 processor, faster Wi-Fi connectivity, and the ability to support two external displays at up to 5K and 60Hz with the lid closed (or a single external display at up to 6K and 60Hz with the lid open). All good stuff, but one...
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LG is releasing a handful of high-end OLED gaming monitors for 2024, each with a fast 240Hz refresh rate. The displays range in size from 32 inches for the smallest variant on up to 45 inches for the largest model. None of them are inexpensive, but for gamers with relatively deep pockets and a hankering for OLED's...
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Back in its heyday, Blockbuster was the go-to store for renting movies on VHS tapes and, later, DVDs. There were over 9,000 brick-and-mortar Blockbuster stores at its height, along with more than 84,000 employees. I remember the mom-and-pop video store I worked at as assistant manager having a bear of a time trying to...
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Sometimes it only takes a little spark to ignite a fire, which then quickly spreads. Need proof? We're seeing this play out in real time, metaphorically, as major monitor players update their respective warranties for longer coverage and to explicitly guarantee against image retention, otherwise known as burn-in. The...
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It's nearly Mario Day, otherwise known as March 10 (or MAR10), but you don't have to wait for the official date in order to score some pretty neat deals for your Nintendo Switch console. Nintendo and its retail partners are getting a jump on the annual event with a bunch of discounts, most of which are centered on...
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