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
In lieu of making a stink about Microsoft's plan to directly compete with its hardware partners with its Surface tablet a la Acer, Lenovo a few days ago unveiled a Windows 8-based slate of its own, the upcoming ThinkPad Tablet 2. Lenovo was only willing to share a handful of details, including the fact that it will be...
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Forget about Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.x), many Android handset owners would be happy if they could just unwrap Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.x) already. If you happen to own an HTC device that was previously promised an ICS upgrade, hang tight, your Android update is coming within the next couple of weeks, the...
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Part by part, pieces and photos of Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 model keep leaking to the Web, and the latest pre-release glimpse is supposedly that of the battery pack that will power the device. The new battery is said to feature a slight bump in capacity to 1440 mAh, up from 1430 mAh in the iPhone 4S and 1420 mAh in...
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Here's one for anybody feeling nostalgic this weekend. An unaired commercial for Apple's original Macintosh from way back in 1983 has landed on YouTube courtesy of Andy Hertzfeld, currently a Google software engineer who co-created the Mac nearly three decades ago. The ad features snippets of interviews from the...
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We just heard from a very reliable source, deep in the trenches of the mobile battle ground, that Motorola is gearing up to launch its Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD smartphones in October, provided the handset maker is able to move enough current generation Razr/Razr Maxx devices between now and then. If not, the good ol'...
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Here's a treat for you Android modders heading into the weekend. Work on CyanogenMod 9 is now finished and ready to download as a stable release for the majority of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) supported devices. Going forward, Cyanogen will turn his attention away from ICS (Android 4.0.x) and focus on Jelly Bean (Android...
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Google employees enjoy some killer perks. These come in the form of free legal advice and discounted legal services, travel insurance, on-site physicians and nurses, free haircuts, foosball and other game tables provided in various buildings on campus, laundry facilities, and other neat benefits. But did you know that Google will even take...
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Popular tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 built by Asus seem to prove that the late Steve Jobs was dead wrong in saying 7-inch "tweener" devices have no place in the market, but maybe what he meant to say is that Apple users aren't interested in such things. If that is what he meant to say, then a...
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There have been all kinds of rumors and speculation surrounding Microsoft's next generation Xbox game console (codenamed Durango), and one of them is that it will ship with an improved Kinect motion camera device. How much improved? The answer to that question may have been revealed in a sample image purportedly taken from a Kinect 2 device...
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Need a job for the holidays? You might be in luck. Microsoft plans to open at least a dozen so-called 'pop-up' retail stores across the U.S. and Canada, from Massachusetts to California, this coming holiday season. These "Microsoft Holiday Store" locations are undoubtedly an effort to kickstart Windows 8 and...
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You're not really supposed to know about this because Apple isn't advertising it, and heck, it might not even be true. But word on the Web is that Apple's retail locations have authorized employees to price match discounted iPhone 4 and 4S models, provided the lower price is from a major retailer or wireless carrier...
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More than 63,000 backers pledged a grand total of $8,596,475 to the Ouya project, which is supposed to be a low cost Android console that's small in size but big in functionality, including media center capabilities courtesy of support from XBMC. Ouya is one of Kickstarter's most successful projects to date, at least...
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Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., issued a note this week on the sorry state of Research In Motion (RIM) and conveyed little faith that BlackBerry 10 OS will be the savior that RIM needs it to be. However, Misek also brought up the possibility that Samsung could either buy RIM outright or license the...
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When Apple rolled out Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, the company claimed the operating system introduced over 200 new features to the Mac platform, but reduced battery life wasn't supposed to be one of them. Nevertheless, a large number of users have taken to Apple's support forum to complain about major dips in battery life after installing...
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You can't argue with the convenience of streaming video, provided you're rocking a fast enough Internet connection to watch your favorite movies without annoying hiccups and sudden drops in picture quality. As it turns out, consumers are also finding all those video rental kiosks convenient, and combined with...
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Get ready to view Steam in a whole new light, folks. Valve's uber-popular digital distribution platform has been all about games up to this point, but moving forward, it's also going to serve up other kinds of software, from creative applications to productivity programs, Valve announced today. Valve described the...
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At long last, Facebook has finally unveiled a new mobile ad platform for app developers to grow their business and "reach and re-engage their users," the social networking site announced on its developers page. For the time being, only a select set of beta partners have access to the mobile ad network while Facebook...
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Solid state drives (SSDs) are the sexy storage options these days, but those trusty (and affordable) mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) are still relevant and garnering attention from hardware companies. Enter Toshiba, which today announced the broadening of its HDD portfolio with new models featuring 2TB and 3TB...
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Notebook makers aren't the only ones trying to cram big performance parts into little form factors. Desktop system builders are attempting the same thing, and if you require proof, all the evidence you need is packed inside Maingear's Potenza Super Stock (SS) gaming PC. Built around the mini-ITX form factor, the Potenza SS is a small form...
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Much to the chagrin of Acer and Microsoft's other hardware partners who are less than thrilled with the Redmond company's decision to launch a Windows 8-based tablet of its own, it appears Microsoft's Surface strategy isn't going to be a one-and-done affair, after all. Instead, recent reports suggest Microsoft is...
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Sprint, the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S., reported a $1.37 billion loss in the second quarter, and likened the challenges his company faces to that of a football game. He told the press that it's like "blocking and tackling" every quarter, every year. But what happens when you call a bad play? Towards that end, was it the right...
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Motorola is going to reveal a new 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) smartphone, but before it does, the company wants you to venture a guess. A censored pictured and post on Motorola's Facebook page tip the impending release and don't offer much in the way of hints, though clues will be given throughout the week. "Let's...
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