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
At long last, LaCie's 2big Thunderbolt Series has arrived and is up for sale on the company's website, provided you have the scratch. Initially available in 4TB and 6TB sizes, these big drives command equally big price tags, with the lower capacity model costing $649 and the larger size drive going for $799. That...
Read more...
You often hear computers being compared to cars, especially when it comes to tinkering and overclocking, but whereas there's nothing sweeter sounding than the loud roar of a big block engine, PCs are most admired when they run silently. That's not always easy to accomplish, and to help you towards that goal, Cooler Master just launched its...
Read more...
The only people who concern themselves with non-removable batteries are those who are afraid to get their hands dirty and/or anyone who gets squeamish when thinking about prying open pricey electronics gear. Luckily for them, and for the rest of use who appreciate a good old fashioned teardown, the folks at iFixIt are...
Read more...
Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission gave Google their respective blessings to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, the two agencies said in separate announcements. Taking it one step further, the DoJ also said it would allow Apple, Microsoft, and Research In Motion (RIM) to purchase...
Read more...
Get ready to see Firefox like you've never seen it before. Mozilla is working on an all new version of its popular browser for Windows 8, which will include a new Firefox front end and system integration points that will better integrate with the Metro UI environment. It will be a full-screen browser focused on touch...
Read more...
Forget about your classic Air Jordan sneakers from Nike, or your Kobe 7 kicks and Lebron 9 shoes (both also from Nike). Arguably the coolest pair of sneakers ever were the Converse Weapons, which could be bought about two-and-a-half decades ago in obnoxious yellow or garish green, depending on whether you favored Magic Johnson or Larry Bird....
Read more...
Shares of Apple rose to above $500 for the first time ever on Monday, continuing a rally that began over two weeks ago when the Cupertino outfit reported record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. Those and other positive figures weren't...
Read more...
The second Patch Tuesday of 2012 falls on February 14, otherwise known as Valentine's Day, and instead of a box of chocolates or flowers, Microsoft is giving its users the gift of security via nine security bulletins. Four of the updates are rated Critical and other five are labeled Important by the Redmond software...
Read more...
Remember netbooks? If you haven't already been bitten by the Ultrabook bug and don't want to spend upwards of $700 on a higher end machine, next-generation netbooks built around Intel's Cedar Trail platform are finally starting to trickle out. Acer was one of the biggest players during the netbook's original run, and the company's all-new...
Read more...
The current trend in laptops is towards smaller, slimmer, and lighter devices, hence why Intel gave birth to the Ultrabook form factor. But if you think anything less than a full-fledged desktop replacement is for mobile wimps, Eurocom has a new system that might be right up your alley. It's the Panther 4.0, a beast of a system built around...
Read more...
If you're looking to upgrade to a new handset with AT&T and re-up your contract, you'll save a few bucks by making a decision today rather than waiting until tomorrow. Effective Sunday, February 12, AT&T is reportedly going to double its upgrade from $18 to $36, a move the company says is necessary to cover overall costs associated...
Read more...
Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet continue to sell like hotcakes, assuming hotcakes sell like, well, Kindle Fire devices. The point is Amazon successfully launched a 7-inch competitor to the iPad and all the also-rans in the tablet space, so if you're Amazon, what do you do for a second act? Launch a bigger version, of...
Read more...
Despite what you may have read or heard recently, Raspberry Pi Foundation's much anticipated $25 PC will be available to purchase by the end of this month, the company said in a statement today. There had been some confusion as to when consumers would be able to get their hands on one after snippets of an upcoming interview with Raspberry...
Read more...
Gabe Newell, head of Valve, has begun emailing Steam users today to let them know he and his company continue to investigate last year's security breach in which hackers vandalized Steam's forums. He also wants to give users a heads up that a backup file containing encrypted credit card details and other personal...
Read more...
Here we thought HTC was going to slow things down a tick after announcing another round of comparatively disappointing financial results, but so far that hasn't been the case. HTC said it was going shift its strategy from bombarding the marketplace with a bevy of devices to concentrating on a just a few well polished handsets, and while that...
Read more...
Lenovo's been on a roll as of late, and as a result, it's been rolling in the dough. The PC maker reported pre-tax income of $192 million for its third fiscal quarter ended on December 31, 2011, a whopping 59 percent year-over-year increase and a record high, along with record quarterly sales of $8.4 billion. Those...
Read more...
It doesn't take a detective to figure out that today's mobile devices are getting smaller, slimmer, and more powerful, which means less room for heat dissipation and potentially lower battery life. To help with both of those side effects, Micron today introduced a new product category of low-power DDR3 solutions...
Read more...
Apple iPad launch events are arguably less exciting these days now that Android has picked up its game with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) and the emergence of low-cost tablets like the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, but if you've been itching for a new tablet to come out of Cupertino, it looks like you'll get some relief next month. John...
Read more...
Your PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles can stand upright or lay on their sides, so shouldn't your home theater PC (HTPC) be able to do the same thing? That depends entirely on which computer case you choose. Cooler Master's new Elite 361 mini tower is one of just a handful of cases that have been designed to work their mojo in either...
Read more...
You can only tease so long before it's time to put up or shut up, and after creating a bit of buzz over its glass-covered Envy 14 Spectre laptop with sneak peeks dating back to before CES, Hewlett-Packard has made its newest Ultrabook available to purchase online starting at $1,400. That's well above the sub-$1,000 price point Intel would...
Read more...
AMD apparently isn't finished attaching its Athlon II moniker to Llano parts, as evidenced by a couple of new Athlon II X4 processors the chip maker quietly introduced this week. Specifically, AMD added the Athlon II X4 638 and 641 to its official product price list. Both of these are based on AMD's Llano architecture and ship without an integrated...
Read more...
Apple may have bitten off more than it cares to chew when it purchased the iPad trademark from Taiwan's Proview Technology for a mere $55,000 back in 2006. There's now a dispute over whether Apple was granted permission to use the trademark in mainland China. Proview says that was never part of the deal, Apple says it...
Read more...
