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
One of the few (legal) ways you can stream Game of Thrones to your living television set is to subscribe to HBO through your satellite or cable TV provider and login into HBO Go. You can also buy episodes to stream on Amazon Prime, but if it were up to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, you'd also be able to stream HBO...
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Nintendo's second quarter financial report reads something like this: 'Thank you investors! But our revenue growth is in another castle!' The game company reported 84.8 billion yen (or about $1.08 billion) in revenue during its second fiscal quarter of 2012, which is a lot of money, but also representative of a 9.7 percent drop from the 93.9...
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Windows users seeking refuge from malware don't have many places to go, including Apple's iOS App Store, which was recently discovered to be harboring files containing a Windows virus. A user on Apple's support forum first reported the discovery after ClamXav flagged his "InstaQuotes-Quotes Cards for Instagram" download as being infected....
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Boutique system builder AVADirect is now offering a 30-day dead pixel warranty option for all Clevo Quickship notebooks. For those who purchase the warranty add-on, AVADirect will guarantee the notebook screen won't suffer from any dead pixels for up to a month from the date of receipt. That's groovy if even just a...
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Ouya (pronounced ooh-yah) is one of the more fascinating projects to hit Kickstarter. What started off as a plea to raise $950,000 for an open-source Android console has now brought in nearly $5.5 million in pledges, with a little over two weeks still to go. Clearly there's a ton of excitement surrounding the project...
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Dell today dropped us a line to let us know about its next generation Precision mobile workstations built for engineering and design professionals. The OEM rolled out two new models, including the Precision M4700 and M6700, which Dell claims are the world's most powerful 15-inch and 17-inch mobile workstations...
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The thing about gaming laptops is that the majority of them sport limited upgrade opportunities. Outside of whitebox units, you're not likely to be able to yank out the discrete GPU and slap a new one in there, and if you're a gamer, it's imperative you choose the best graphics subsystem you can afford. Right now one...
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Quick! What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Western Digital? If you're like most people, you immediately thought of hard drives and other storage products, which have been WD's bread and butter for several decades now. But the times, they are a changin', and in case you haven't noticed, Western Digital is no longer...
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We get it, inputting a user password when purchasing a paid app protects users from unscrupulous thieves and hackers who could otherwise run up an enormous credit card bill (or chew through your iTunes credit) if your iDevice is lost, stolen, or hacked. But must we go through the rigamarole of punching in a password...
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The unfortunate truth in mobile is that it's not uncommon for handheld devices to sport non-upgradeable internal storage, a trait that's embraced by Apple and seems to be catching on with low-cost Android devices. To wit, neither Amazon's Kindle Fire or Google's Asus-built Nexus 7 tablet sport expandable storage...
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Nothing ruins the wireless party quicker than a Wi-Fi dead spot, those annoying nooks and crannies that, for one reason or another, can't seem to hold a wireless signal. Netgear wants to help you eliminate those dead spots with its new Wi-Fi Booster for Mobile (WN1000RP), a compact device that amplifies an existing...
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Samsung has to be thrilled with the pace at which its Galaxy S3 smartphones are flying off of store shelves. The handset maker has reportedly sold more than 10 million Galaxy S3 devices around the globe in just under two months since the smartphone's official release, or so claims Shin Jong-kyun, president of...
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Best Buy's Geek Squad is once again making headlines for nefarious reasons. This time it's because a woman says she trusted a Geek Squad employee with transferring her contacts and photos from a cracked iPhone to a new iPhone 4S, which would have been fine except that the employee allegedly burned a CD of her photos...
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An unlikely partnership was formed when HTC acquired a controlling interest in Beats Audio, the headphone company co-founded by hip-hop/rap artist Dr. Dre. In August 2011, HTC purchased a 51 percent stake for $300 million and promptly gave itself exclusive rights to build smartphones with Beats Audio sound. That arrangement worked well for...
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Hulking desktop towers were once all the rage, and for some, they still are. As a whole, however, the PC industry is trending towards smaller, more compact systems. With that in mind, the mini-ITX form factor is picking up some steam in enthusiast circles, and it's because vendors like EVGA are getting on board with packing big features onto...
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Given that competition is helping to drive prices down, we're of the opinion that there can never be too many players in the solid state drive business, and a week ago we learned that MSI was getting ready to join the SSD party. It was LSI SandForce that originally spilled the beans by plastering MSI's name on a...
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From a hardware standpoint, Google's $199 Nexus 7 tablet is viewed as a win compared to Amazon's Kindle Fire device, which lacks some of the amenities found on the Asus-built slate. But one area where the Nexus 7 doesn't trump the Kindle Fire is in regards to a rear-facing camera. Neither device has one, and in both...
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There are plenty of economic uncertainties to go around in the global market, but despite it all, International Data Corporation believes the demand remains strong for semiconductors, particularly those used in smartphones, media tablets, and automotive electronics. By the time 2012 comes to a close, IDC predicts...
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Watch out Verizon, Comcast is gunning for your ultra high-speed Internet customers. In response to Verizon's Quantum FiOS service, which tops out at 305Mbps downstream / 65Mbps upstream for $205 per month, Comcast is said to be readying a new 305Mbps downstream service tier, though a few important questions remain...
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Street cred isn't easy to come by on your own, but sometimes it can be bought. Just ask Seagate, which is rumored to be interested in buying out OCZ, an established player in the enthusiast solid state drive (SSD) market. As the story goes, Seagate is trying to make up for lost time from being late to the SSD party...
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Diablo III proved deadly for an 18-year-old gamer who died at an Internet cafe in Taiwan after playing the hack-and-slash title for 40 straight hours without taking a break. Local media reports he didn't eat for nearly two days until he ultimately collapsed and died. Police are currently investigating the official cause of death with the help...
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Business is good for Verizon Wireless (VZW). Real good. For the second consecutive quarter, Big Red posted double-digit percentage growth in year-over-year earnings, which went up 12.3 percent. Verizon's Wireless division generated record-high margins, thanks in part to millions of smartphone sales. CFO Fran Shammo...
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