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
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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Maingear, a builder of boutique PCs for gaming and content creation (and anything else, really), is rolling out a refresh of its North series desktops. Normally this type of thing would coincide with a new line of CPUs or GPUs from AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA. In this case, however, Maingear's refresh is based on Fractal...
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The one constant in this world is perpetual change, and that especially holds true in the realm of tech. Being able to adapt is key. As such, AMD is updating some of its FreeSync requirements to be more in line with the hardware and capabilities of today's displays, versus when AMD introduced its take on VESA's...
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Deviating from the stock cooler that came with your CPU (if it even came bundled with one) doesn't necessarily have to be a costly proposition. There's a thriving market of budget air coolers, and joining them is Arctic's newly unveiled Freezer 36 series offering a variety of trims. In addition to being aggressively...
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It's clear by now that consumer graphics card will continue to be fed by Graphics Double Data Rate (GDDR) memory standards rather than making the leap to High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the latter of which is more costly and more suitable for data center accelerators and high performance computing (HPC) solutions. And as...
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Samsung is teaming up with Best Buy to offer some nifty discounts and bonuses on its latest-generation Galaxy Book4 lineup, including the Galaxy Book4 Ultra, Galaxy Book4 Pro 360, Galaxy Book4 Pro, and Galaxy Book4 360. The bonuses vary depending on whether you place an order at Best Buy or direct through Samsung, but...
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Microsoft is teaming up with Best Buy (and also Paramount Game Studios and GameMill) to offer SpongeBob SquarePants fans the ultimate game console—a delightfully themed Xbox Series X and colorful wireless controller. Officially called the Xbox Series X - Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Special Edition Bundle, the...
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A class-action lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that Apple has created an "illegal monopoly" with its iCloud storage service. According to the lawsuit, "iCloud is no better (and often inferior" to alternative cloud storage services, but through "surgical...
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It was only a matter of time before Apple ported its custom M3 silicon over to its MacBook Air lineup and that time has arrived. As for the anticipated iPad refresh with OLED displays, that announcement might be coming soon as well, with rumors swirling that Apple is opting for a series of online launches in place of...
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Monitor makers have been slow to adopt DisplayPort 2.1/2.1a connectivity, which is a bummer if you're in urgent need of a display and want to future-proof your setup (as much as possible, anyway—true future-proofing is an impossible task). Well, that's about to change. Gigabyte has introduced a trio of new displays...
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If you've ever thought to yourself, 'Self, I sure do like mini PCs but gosh, I wish I could have one with water cooling baked in', then you're in for a treat. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) this month, the Mega Mini Gaming G1 from a mobile-focused company called Techno is being billed as the world's smallest...
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We're barely two months into 2024 and it's already shaping up to be a tough year as it applies to job security in the tech industry. Unfortunately, layoff announcements have been coming in at a steady pace. Google, eBay, Discord, Riot Games, and Sony PlayStation have all announced reductions in head counts over the...
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in the words of Jon Peddie Research, a market research firm with a pulse on the tech industry (and especially GPUs), it was "another great quarter" for both PC-based GPU and CPU shipments. In more words, JPR reports that the global GPU market reached 76.2 million units last quarter while CPU shipments skyrocketed by...
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