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
It's not just fast CPUs and graphics cards that can benefit from beefy coolers, so too can the latest crop of solid state drives (SSDs) that shuttle data through the PCI Express 5.0 bus. That being the case, we suspect we'll see more drives emerge with towering coolers like the one MSI has plopped on its Spatium M580...
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It hasn't been a full two months since Apple's Vision Pro headset released to retail, but that's apparently enough time for it to go on sale. Sorta, kinda, that is—Apple is not offering the Vision Pro for a discount (not yet, anyway), but the folks at Woot, which is owned by Amazon, are offering up Apple's high-tech...
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In a recent 10-K filing with the the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), games retailer GameStop said it was putting in place "initiatives to reduce headcount" as part of a "strategic plan to achieve profitability." Separately, GameStop reported $1.79 billion in fourth quarter revenue for its fiscal 2023...
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Apple is making preparations for its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, otherwise known as WWDC, which will run several days in June—it gets underway on Monday, June 10 and commences through Thursday, June 14, 2024 at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. It's an in-person event, though Apple will also host a livestream that anyone can
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CyberPowerPC is refreshing its Tracer gaming laptop line with its upgraded Tracer VIII series, and once again buyers can optionally choose to pick up a detachable liquid cooling setup to keep temps at bay. It won't set you back a ton of cash, either, though buyers will have to decide if the added cooling is worth the...
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Have you checked the pricing on DDR5 and DDR4 memory pricing lately? Neither one is through the roof, thankfully, but costs are apparently still on the rise. According to the folks at TrendForce, a market research firm with a pulse on the memory industry, DRAM suppliers continue to tweak inventory levels in an effort...
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If you happen to own anything that's been signed by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, it could bring in quite the haul at auction. We saw this a couple of years ago when an Apple computer check endorsed by both co-founders Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold for $163,929 (including buyer fees), and now a slightly more...
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Perhaps in parallel universe operating on an altered timeline, the Commodore 65 succeeded the hugely popular Commodore 64 and solidified its place in the history of computing. But in this universe on this timeline, the C65 (or C64 DX) failed to launch, instead existing only as a rare prototype. Incidentally, that also...
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The Quest 2 is starting to become old news, but that's only because it's been supplanted by the Quest 3, as well as Apple's new Vision Pro hogging all of the VR headlines. Nevertheless, the Quest 2 is one of the more affordable entries into the land of VR (especially compared to the $3,499 Vision Pro), and even more...
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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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