Sony Comes To A Screeching Halt Targeted By Massive Ransomware Hack

It appears that Sony has become the victim of a massive ransomware hack which has resulted in the company shutting down. An unnamed source spoke to Business 2 Community claiming that the company shut down after its computers in New York and around the nation were infiltrated. The source, according to the website, is an ex-employee of Sony Pictures who has a friend that still works for the company. According to the source’s friend, allegedly, every computer in Sony’s New York Office, and every Sony Pictures’ office across the nation, bears an image from the hacker with the headline “Hacked By #GOP”...

Amazon Fire TV Review, A Competent Media Streamer

by Jennifer Johnson - Fri, May 16, 2014

The ability to stream movies and other content to your TV is relatively commonplace thanks to set top boxes such as the Roku 3, Apple TV, gaming consoles that support streaming, and built-in functionality that comes with many of today’s Blu-ray players and TVs. Even so, there’s always room for additional competition, right? Amazon believes there is, and recently launched its Fire TV to prove it. Amazon Fire TV provides access to a number of popular services including Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, Showtime Anytime, Pandora, tunein, YouTube, Vimeo, Crackle, and much...

Microsoft Xbox One, The Full Review

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Nov 19, 2013

The Xbox One is more than just a game console. We know that may be blatantly obvious to many of you, but we want to drive that point home from the get-go. The gaming, home entertainment, and mobile/computing industries are vastly different than they were when the previous-gen Xbox 360 launched in late 2005. Since then, there’s been unprecedented intermingling and consolidation across these markets and Microsoft took it all into consideration in the design of the Xbox One. Of course, the Xbox One plays games—really well, actually. With its updated hardware, more refined controllers,...

Google Chromecast Review: Yes, It's Worth Every Penny

by Marco Chiappetta - Fri, Aug 09, 2013

Google announced its Chromecast media streaming device last week and immediately caused quite a stir amongst technology enthusiasts. Not only was the Chromecast seemingly easy to use, but its low $35 price point made it attainable by virtually anyone. It didn’t hurt that Google was throwing in a three month trial of Netflix with the device as well, but that deal was suspended almost as soon as it was announced due to overwhelmingly high demand. The Google Chromecast is a simple device to understand. It is basically a small HDMI dongle that physically plugs into an HDTV (or other display)...

Cadence 4-Bit Binary Watch: Upping Your Geek-Cred

by Marco Chiappetta - Fri, Sep 09, 2011

We geeks are a diverse bunch that run the gamut from pretty-boy, genius, millionaire entrepreneurs that regularly change the world, to socially inept, stereotypical nerds that really have no place leaving the confines of our cubicles (I fall somewhere in between). And our interests are equally as diverse. Don’t agree? Come to a big tech-centric trade show and do some people watching for a few hours, then we’ll talk. Until then, I’m sticking to my guns. But if there’s one thing all of we geeks have in common, it’s our love for cool gadgets--especially those that can...

MonsterVision MAX 3D Eyewear System with Active Sync

by Marco Chiappetta - Fri, Jul 08, 2011

While in the process of reviewing the ASRock Vision 3D home theater PC a few months back, I became entrenched in all things 3DTV. At the time, I had already been building up a new home theater around a Samsung 3D TV and the opportunity coincidentally arose to evaluate a 3D-capable device, so I jumped at the chance. With that ASRock HTPC and some support from NVIDIA and Cyberlink, I was able to check out 3D photos, 3D Blu-Rays, 3D TV, and of course 3D games. Throughout the review process, I had been using the Samsung active-shutter glasses included with my TV. While I found them to be decent, I...

Boxee Box Review, Updated and Netflix Ready

by Dave Altavilla - Tue, Feb 22, 2011

Free flowing bandwidth; it's an enabler.  There was a time when no one had cable modems or DSL lines. Remember that?  Alright, fair enough, neither do we.  Regardless, having a 10Mb+ data connection to your domicile is a thing of beauty, because there's obviously so much you can do with it.  The question becomes not so much what the cable or telecom companies tell you, or sell to you, with respect to what you can do with it, but rather what a little imagination, and some optimized hardware and software can do with it.  And that's exactly the premise by which service...

Woz: Once A Genius, Always A Genius

by Marco Chiappetta - Wed, Jun 17, 2009

I have been intrigued by all things electronic since a very young age. Even before I started grade school, I can remember taking apart my brothers' AFX cars to see how they worked, and modding the electrical contacts on the underside of the cars, in the trigger throttles, and on the track to make the cars go faster. I would pull apart transistor radios, walkie-talkies, old calculators, you name it. I found it interesting and fun, and still do today, although now I'm ripping apart notebooks, netbooks, graphics cards and the like. Few things got put back together properly back then, but over...

Celebrate Square Root Day (No, Seriously)

by Michael Santo - Tue, Mar 03, 2009

Hot on the heels of "1234567890" day comes Square Root Day. This rare "holiday" occurs when the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits of the current year. So, today can be expressed as 03/03/09 (in Europe or the U.S., for once!). 3 is the square root of 9, so you can see how today would be Square Root Day. The last Square Root Day was (quite obviously) in 2004 ... 2/2/04 or Groundhog Day, in fact. The next one is 7 years off in 2016 or 4/4/16. While there's no luck or superstition associate with the day, there is some cash! Ron Gordon, a Redwood City, CA teacher, is...

Happy Friggin' Holidays

by Marco Chiappetta - Sun, Dec 28, 2008

Although the Holiday Season is supposed to be a time for celebration and for reconnecting with family and friends, a few tragic stories inevitably come to pass. I'm sure many of you have read the news recently and are well aware of some of the ugliness that went down over the past few days. But I never thought something as terrible as a murder would take place right in my own back yard during the holidays. He Never Saw It Coming... My wife and I are both animal lovers. We keep a couple of bird feeders out year-round and also feed the squirrels, chipmunks, and other assorted furry creatures...

The Olympics in HD. Just Plain Better.

by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Aug 21, 2008

I love technology.  I know that's probably pretty obvious to anyone who comes to a site named "HotHardware", but I just had to say it. So, what has inspired me to state the obvious in this blog post?  The Olympics.  As my partners in crime here on the site can attest, I'm not much of a sports guy.  Save for idolizing Roy Jones Jr. and following boxing and a little bit of MMA, I don't stay on top of any other sport.  But when the Olympics roll around, for some reason, I watch daily--no matter the event.  Perhaps it's because I feel a sense...

Max Payne, The Movie. My Fingers are Crossed.

by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Jul 10, 2008

As I'm sure you're all well aware, Hollywood has a long history of producing sub-par (way sub-par) movies based on popular video game franchises.  With a few rare exceptions, just about every movie based on a video game, from Super Mario Brothers to Doom, has stunk on multiple different levels.  We'll give Mortal Kombat a pass because Bridget Wilson was in tights practically the whole movie, and a Resident Evil sort of worked, but you get the point. From the looks of the Max Payne trailer that was just posted today, however, it appears Hollywood may actually get this one right. ...

X-Arcade Tankstick - Dual Controller With Trackball

by Jeff Bouton - Fri, Jan 18, 2008

Many of us have fond memories of playing video games in the arcade of a local bowling alley, popping 25 cents into the machine on a regular basis to keep the fun going.  Back then, that was the main way to get your game on, displaying your skills for all to see.  If you can remember dropping quarters into the slot of a machine running Pole Position, Galaga, Missle Command or any other game of that era, you might like the business model of X-Arcade. Reminiscent of the days when quarters ruled the video game market, X-Arcade has built a product base of custom game controllers...

Help for Geeks: A Smart Closet

by Michael Santo - Mon, Nov 19, 2007

The stereotype is that geeks can't dress themselves, or rather, that they can't dress stylishly.  Technology is here to help them get past that minor obstacle.If you've ever stood in front of your closet trying to figure out what to wear for an important meeting, a new high-tech wardrobe invention might be just the thing for you.The "smart wardrobe" keeps track of when you wore an item, where you wore it, and can even tell you when your clothes need to be dry-cleaned.If you're not sure what tie matches your suit, if your skirt is too tame for your new animal print pumps, or whether you should...

And People Wonder Why Geeks Are Lonely

by Michael Santo - Wed, Oct 31, 2007

A recent survey indicated that as many as 25% of people would be happy left all alone, as long as it was in cyberspace.Conducted by Zogby International, a polling firm in Utica, N.Y., the survey questions were e-mailed to a scientifically selected sample of nearly 9,800 U.S. adults, who offered precise feedback to not-so-burning questions like, "Can the Internet serve as a substitute for a significant other?" To that question, 24 percent answered "Yes." Apparently, a good broadband connection and all the possibilities it opens up would compensate for not having a companion who might, after all,...

GeekSquad Pilfering Media?

by Chad Weirick - Sun, Jul 08, 2007

Have you ever dropped off your PC for repairs and wondered if the techs might be looking over your private media collection? If so, you’ve not alone. The Consumerist decided to do a little research on the subject, using the Geek Squad techs as their test subjects. Instead of just using logfiles for evidence, they actually have video of the alleged incident. “To investigate claims by current and former Geek Squad techies (see "The 10 Page Geek Squad Confession - "Stealing Customers' Nudie Pics Was An Easter Egg Hunt"), we loaded a computer with porn and rigged it to make a video of itself....

Geeks Are Love Machines!

by Chad Weirick - Sat, Apr 07, 2007

Wired.com has all the proof you'll need to convince your prospective partner that you'll be a good lover. <insert your own joystick joke here> "I've read recently that geeks make better lovers because they are so unaccustomed to romance that they will do anything for their mates. Also because geeks don't have the social skills to cheat (wanna bet?). Yeah, ha ha, let's chuckle at the stereotypes. Might as well add that geeks won't waste valuable relationship time watching football. Or that geeks are clueless and fashion-impaired and have the social skills of a bowl of fruit. But you...

iPhones Are For Geeks; Prada Is For The Glitterati

by Gregory Sullivan - Thu, Jan 18, 2007

LG electronics announced they've got an answer to that touchscreen phone wonder, Apple's iPhone. Instead of making it cheaper, they're making it available in February in Europe, and they're charging even more for it than an iPhone will cost. How? By teaming with fashion giant Prada LG's Prada Phone is being produced in partnership with the Italian fashion brand. It is set to go on sale in late February for 600 euros ($780) at mobile phone dealers and Prada stores in Britain, France, Germany and Italy, and comes to Asia in March....