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
Almost everything you could possibly want to know about the PlayStation 4 can be found in a massive FAQ posted by Sid Shuman, Sony's Social Media Manager. The title of the document is "PS4: The Ultimate FAQ," a fitting description for a question and answer guide that spans 11 different categories and covers 160...
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When so-called "phablets" first emerged -- those devices that are bigger than your typical smartphone but smaller than a tablet -- there was a question mark surrounding whether or not consumers would snatch these things up. Well, Samsung keeps proving that there's a market for smartphones with ginormous touchscreen...
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If we asked you to name five gaming PC manufacturers, Lenovo probably wouldn't make the list. No other company in the world ships more PCs than Lenovo, but of those machines, relatively few are dedicated gaming boxes. Traditionally, Lenovo has focused its efforts on business class desktops and laptops, though the company is known to play...
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Nintendo thought it was getting a jump in the next generation console wars by lobbing the first grenade with its Wii U console, but on hindsight, the hardware maker may have effectively shot itself in the foot instead. While Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are both expected to light up the sales charts...
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One of the features Apple touted when unveiling the iPhone 5S was that the battery life is supposed to be much improved compared to previous models. However, the Cupertino company has now confirmed that a "limited number" of iPhone 5S models may peter out prematurely due to a manufacturing defect in the device's battery. "We recently discovered...
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Heads up for all you California motorists, and perhaps drivers in all 50 states. If you're donning a pair of Google Glasses while behind the wheel of your car, you might get a ticket. Cecilia Abadie found that out the hard way when she was issued a citation by a police officer in California for what essentially...
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Following months of back and forth between Michael Dell, Dell's board of directors, and a few outspoken shareholders such as Carl Icahn, the world's third largest PC maker is now back in the hands of the man who started it all. Dell announced today the completion of its acquisition by Michael, the company's founder who was also serving as...
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Amazon on Tuesday launched its Kindle MatchBook service, which allows you to purchase -- or receive for free -- the Kindle edition of print books that you've previously purchased new from the online site. Perhaps you want to free up some space on your bookshelf and donate your dead tree copies, or maybe you're getting...
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If you're still rocking Windows XP, we admire your dedication and ability to squeeze over a decade of use out of an operating system you presumably purchased long ago (nobody pirates XP, right?), but the end is nigh if you care at all about security. Come April 2014, Microsoft will cease supporting the legacy OS, thereby leaving your system...
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When Windows Vista first came out, it was plagued by problems, including performance issues and compatibility woes (most of which were resolved with the first Service Pack). At the time, there were some who predicted that Linux would supplant Windows as the mainstream OS. That didn't happen, of course, partly because SP1 solved most of Vista's...
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Investors are still trying to figure out how to react to Apple's Q4 financial results for its fiscal year that ended in September. Apple posted quarterly revenue of $37.5 billion and a profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.25 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $36 billion and a profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per...
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It's not unprecedented for mobile apps to receive billion dollar valuations. One need only look at the sum Facebook paid for Instagram, a mobile photo sharing apps that allows users to add filters to their photography. It's a simple app, but because of its widespread appeal, the developers earned a ginormous payday...
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Prior to the Internet, we all watched our favorite TV shows and movies on these big, bulky television sets with curved glass and just a handful of channels to flip through, even on cable. Television viewing has evolved over time, and now that so many people live connected lifestyles, it would be silly to ignore mobile...
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It's hard to believe there's a full fledged system packed inside Apple's slim and sexy iMac chassis. It was roughly a year ago when Apple revamped its all-in-one line, tasking the company's engineers to flatten the design as much as possible without sacrificing performance. What emerged was a sleek display measuring just 5mm at its edge with...
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It's not too often that we advocate playing the waiting game -- something newer, bigger, faster, shinier, etc. is always around the corner -- but if you're contemplating a graphics card upgrade, this is one of the rare times where it makes sense to wait just a little bit. Why is that? On November 7th, NVIDIA will...
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We've been skeptical of the whole smartwatch movement since it began, and though it's still early in the game, there might already be evidence that these devices just aren't going to be as popular as manufacturers hoped they would be. Case in point is the unusually high return rate Samsung is seeing for its recently...
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Waking up to an annoying alarm is certainly effective, albeit a jarring way to start off the day. What if you could wake up to the smell of jasmine or a freshly baked cinnamon roll instead? If you own a smartphone, you can. A Japanese company has come up with a device that plugs into the audio port on your iPhone or...
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Nokia's recently announced Lumia 2520 tablet is drawing high praise from Qualcomm, the company who's Snapdragon 800 processor is powering the device. There's nothing unusual about that -- Qualcomm has a vested interest in the Lumia 2520's success -- but what's interesting is that the praise is coming at the expense of...
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AMD ended the work week by making available the same Catalyst 13.11 beta drivers that reviewers were allowed to use when evaluating the Radeon R9 290X graphics card (be sure to check out our in-depth review). The beta release adds support for both that card and the regular Radeon R9 290, along with the rest of the...
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Anticipation is running high for Google's next smartphone, the Nexus 5, especially since you can no longer purchase the Nexus 4 direct from Google Play (both 8GB and 16GB models are sold out and aren't likely to be coming back). There have been plenty of leaks associated with the Nexus 5, including a rough draft of the device's entire user...
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Yes folks, there will be a patch made available for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 console the moment it's released next month, and it's a pretty big one at 300MB. Though the last thing you want to do when you unbox a new console is sit around and wait for software updates to be installed, this one looks to be well...
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At long last, Twitter is close to being traded on the stock market (New York Stock Exchange), and according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), owners plan to offer up 70 million shares for $17 to $20 each for its initial public offering (IPO). The company hopes to raise $1.4 billion, which...
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