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
With Nintendo getting ready to roll out its next generation Wii U console on November 18, 2012, the company decided now was a good time to cut the price of its existing Wii hardware, or at least to announce it. Effective October 28, you'll be able to snag a black Wii bundle for $130 (MSRP), down $20 from the previous...
Read more...
Apple wasn't fooling anyone when it neglected to give its 13-inch MacBook Pro model the same Retina Display facelift that the 15-inch model received. Let's face it, Apple loves staggered release schedules, partly to build up hype to a particularly product or technology. We all know it's only a matter of time before...
Read more...
CyberPowerPC's system lineup just grew by three today with the introduction of its Zeus Storm series of desktops, which is represented by a trio of gaming systems that swing whichever way you do (AMD or Intel processors; NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards). The least expensive of the three is the Zeus 1000, an AMD-based system that starts at $1,429....
Read more...
It's said that one's man trash is another man's treasure, and while it appears Texas Instruments wants to rid itself of its mobile division, mega e-tailer Amazon sees the situation as a potential goldmine. To wit, Amazon is reportedly close to striking a deal to buy TI's mobile chip business, which incidentally is...
Read more...
Extrapolate from this what you will, but when it comes to browsing the Web, Apple's iPhone 5 device is generating more traffic than Samsung's Galaxy S III, according to data collected by Chitika Insights. The research firm says it conducted a "user agent analysis on millions of mobile ad impressions," and did so for a week straight (October...
Read more...
There have been more iPad Mini rumors lately than you can shake an Apple tree at, but rest assured, it will all soon be over. No, Apple hasn't confirmed the existence of a shrunken iPad tablet, however the Cupertino company is reportedly holding a press event on October 23rd, where it will almost assuredly launch the device. The invitation-only...
Read more...
Google Play is about to become a safer place to download apps. It sounds weird to say that after all this time, but it's not terribly uncommon to find malware laying in wait -- just ask the 80,000+ users who downloaded a fake copy of Bad Piggies. With the latest update to Google Play, it's been discovered that Google has introduced a built-in...
Read more...
Now that Mozilla has addressed the security flaw in Firefox 16 that prompted the developer to pull the build offline (it's now back online and ready for download), the focus has shifted to Firefox 17, which you can already snag via the beta channel. One of the things that's different with Firefox 17 is that it...
Read more...
Apparently taking a billion dollars from Samsung wasn't enough, Apple wants its rival's engineers, too. It's getting one in Jim Mergard, who previously served Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for 16 years as vice president and chief engineer before accepting employment at Samsung. Now he's going to work for Apple. It's not unusual to see top level...
Read more...
The coding and testing phase of Microsoft's next generation Office productivity suite -- Office 2013 -- is complete, with the focus now shifting to distribution. It starts with pushing the software out to RTM, or Release to Manufacturing, which means it's available to OEMs and business partners. "This is the most ambitious release of Office...
Read more...
If you're afraid of snakes, find a place to hide because the new Fang Taipan that just slithered into CyberPowerPC's lineup is every bit as potent as we've seen from a gaming a notebook. Exactly how potent depends on your budget, and if money's no object, you can deck this thing out with dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M...
Read more...
Will there or won't there be an iPad Mini? And if Apple is planning to launch a smaller size tablet, when will it launch? Those are both good questions, and unfortunately all we have to go on are rumors and speculation. One thing we can tell you, however, is that original iPad owners are the most likely to purchase an...
Read more...
It's long been suspected that Amazon either sells its Kindle hardware at cost or at a loss, choosing instead to price its mobile devices aggressively and rake in the profits through content sales, such movies, music, and apps. With regards to the new Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite models, Amazon isn't taking a hit on...
Read more...
Microsoft has high hopes for Windows 8, its next generation operating system that represents perhaps the biggest change to the Windows ecosystem since Windows 95. Intel would call this release a "tock"; Microsoft calls it the future of computing, one in which mobile and stationary products are unified with a...
Read more...
One of the downsides to Mozilla's rapid release schedule for Firefox is that new updates are at risk of being rushed to the public before they're ready for prime time. We're not sure if that's what happened here, but we do know that Mozilla yanked Firefox 16 from the web just a few hours after posting the download...
Read more...
Samsung has begun sending out invites for its Galaxy Note II press event in the U.S., which will take place in New York on October 24, just under two weeks from now. The Galaxy Note II, or "the next big thing," as Samsung likes to refer to it, is hardly a secret at this point, but what remains a mystery are pricing details and specific carrier...
Read more...
In what amounted to a bold move, Amazon took the unusual step of announcing a new product -- Kindle Fire H 8.9" 4G LTE Wireless -- without first receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Amazon was gambling on the fact that the FCC would eventually approve the 4G LTE radio plopped inside its flagship Kindle device,...
Read more...
Google's team of photography ninjas have been working overtime to add even more locales to the search giant's Street View technology in Google Maps. The result of all that hard work? Google Maps is now more robust and fleshed out than ever before, having today rolled out an update that effectively doubled the number...
Read more...
A self-proclaimed security enthusiast has exposed a major flaw in Facebook, one in which nearly every user's phone number can be used to view their personal information. His name is Suriya Prakash, and his method of cultivating numbers involves using Facebook's mobile site to bypass security limits imposed on the social networking site's regular...
Read more...
Twitter co-founder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey confirmed on Tuesday that he's accepted a reduced role at the microblogging service he helped create, but denied a report by the The New York Times that it had anything to do with employees complaining that he's "difficult to work with." According to the initial...
Read more...
Lost in the hubbub of the iPhone 5 launch and all the recent iPad Mini rumors is the fact that Apple also updated its iPod touch line. Like the iPhone 5, the new iPod Touch devices sport a larger Retina display that's now 4 inches, better hardware, Siri support, and for the first time an assortment of color options. They're also finally shipping...
Read more...
The Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio sparked a controversy when it rolled out its "Student Locator Project," which requires students to wear ID badges with embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) chips on a lanyard around their neck. Students are required to wear the tracking badges...
Read more...
