Shane McGlaun
Shane has been into tech since his dad brought home a Pong game when he was a toddler. A passion for gaming led to a passion for PC tech and hardware. That passion was eventually turned into a career writing about cool gadgets, computers, and automotive technology for some of the biggest publications online and in print. Shane also has a passion for the outdoors and when not writing about tech can be found hiking the trails of Colorado whilst keeping an eye open for nefarious rattlesnakes and bears.
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
While VR is the big thing for gaming, there is another similar tech that PC makers and software giant Microsoft really want to take off in a big way and that is mixed reality. VR and mixed reality are similar in that both have virtual constructs in them, but in VR everything that the user of the tech sees is virtual...
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As more and more people move to adopt virtual reality (VR) for gaming, the hardware market is beginning to heat up. In July, the Oculus Rift VR headset was slashed from $599 down to $399. HTC also chopped the price of the Vive VR headset by $200, bringing the cost of entry to a permanent $599.
Sony is used to being...
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Smartphones have virtually replaced the iPod and other MP3 players for most people, and use them to listen to all of our tunes on-the-go (either on-device or through a cloud streaming service). The catch is that not all smartphones are created equal when it comes to their music playback prowess. LG has a new flagship...
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If you were one of the unlucky former owners of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Samsung has offered you a big discount on its newest flagship. There are some caveats to the deal if you read the fine print. We already knew about a couple of the caveats of the trade-in program, including that you have to buy the device from...
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Sometimes it's easy to feel like game developers are only interested in our dollars with microtransactions and remasters of old games selling for as much as new and current games. Then something comes along that makes you think some devs really do care more about players and the games themselves than money. Normally...
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One of the things that have set PC and console gamers apart from each other since the console first landed on the scene, is the platform input and control method. PC gamers typically play with a mouse and a keyboard, while the console gamer plays with a gamepad. Sure gamepads will work with Windows PCs, but it's hard...
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The big event of the weekend was certainly the boxing match last night between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC champ Conor McGregor. The fight was a spectacle during the promotion and many people shelled out $99.99 to watch the fight via pay-per-view (PPV). However, for some fans, the crushing demand for the fight...
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PC gamers who also happen to be fans of the Final Fantasy franchise have a lot to be excited about. The latest installment in the franchise is coming to Windows 10 PCs complete with the ability to support 4K resolutions. Despite the fact that other games in the franchise have seen PC ports, the game is still more of a...
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Samsung both literally and figuratively can't afford another battery debacle like it suffered with the Galaxy Note 7. That particular smartphone had two recalls for battery overheating issues, which led a huge number of fires. To keep the new Galaxy Note 8 from suffering the same fiery fate as the Note 7, Samsung is...
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The Internet of Things (IoT) sounded like a great idea at first glance when it first began picking up steam. However, the problem with giving every single gadget that we come in contact with access to the internet is that no one really thought much about security, leaving many these things vulnerable to viruses and...
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Sometimes in the entertainment world, we don't receive all the answers we want. Take the '80s flick "The Last Starfighter"; geeks of that generation have waited for a sequel to that film for decades. The same can be said for the Half-Life franchise, a hugely popular game franchise from Valve and from all indications...
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KFC has a new employee training tool in the works that locks trainees, who want to learn to fry up chicken with the secret recipe in a room, and doesn't let them leave until they learn the process. The good news for trainees is that the room is virtual, but it is still doesn't make it any less weird.
KFC released a...
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HTC was once one of the top smartphone manufacturers in the world, but is now having a hard time competing against the likes of Samsung and Apple. HTC has seen its market value decline a whopping 75 percent over the last half decade, leaving it valued at around $1.8 billion. The smartphone maker currently holds less...
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Windows users taking part in the Windows Insider Program have a new version of the OS to check out. Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16273 for PC has been released via the Fast ring and Skip Ahead. This release also features some updates on how new builds will be released over the next few...
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Fall is almost here, which means cooler weather (unless you live in Texas where fall weather is at least three months away) and sports to watch on TV. This is when many cord cutters start to get nervous. It's great to not have to pay that cable (or satellite) bill, but it's not so great to miss out on all the cool...
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Sony made a number of smartphones and tablets that it claimed were water resistant and could survive rain and spills without damage. There was only one problem though; Sony didn't do ta great job making the devices water resistant. When customers initiated warranty claims citing water damage, Sony didn't do much to...
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Microsoft was on hand at the Hot Chips 2017 show and rolled out a new deep learning acceleration platform dubbed Project Brainwave. Microsoft's Doug Burger says that the platform is a "major leap forward in both performance and flexibility for cloud-based serving of deep learning models." Microsoft says that it...
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Attention all Age of Empires fans, we have some fantastic news. Age of Empires 4 is in development for Windows 10 PCs. The announcement was made yesterday that the game is being developed by Microsoft Studios with Relic Entertainment in charge of the project. The franchise has been without a new title since 2005 when...
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DJI has announced that it has a new firmware for the Spark drone coming this week, and it will be mandatory for everyone. The update brings with it enhancements for flight safety and performance, and owners who don't install the new firmware update by September 1 won't be able to fly their Spark drone.
DJI says...
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Hacker group OurMine claims to have hacked the official PlayStation Twitter and Facebook pages Sunday night. The group took credit for the hack and posted several messages to the social media accounts, which have now all now been deleted.
Before the messages were deleted, they were copied for posterity...
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Minecraft is an incredibly popular game that is enojoyed by people of all ages and used in some schools to teach kids about programming. Microsoft is taking advantage of that popularity with the launch of the Xbox One S Minecraft Limited Edition bundle (1TB). The console comes with a Minecraft Creeper controller...
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A smart thermostat like the Nest is a great way to help you save money on your electricity and heating bills. Nest is able to do this by learning what temperatures you like and then setting itself automatically depending on the time of day. It also learns when you are out of the home using integrated sensors and the...
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