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
Were you just about to upgrade your phone to something newer? Hold the boat, player. Before you proceed with your order, be advised that AT&T will begin taking pre-orders for Samsung's Galaxy S 5 smartphone tomorrow in the U.S. You can stop by AT&T's website or one of the company's retail stores to place your...
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Somewhere in the land of missed opportunities are millions, if not billions of fantastic photographs and videos that were never taken. Maybe not Pulitizer Prize worthy, but definitely some real gems that we'll unfortunately never get to see. Why not? Think about how many times a fleeting photo opportunity presented...
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Microsoft's been pushing its OneNote app pretty hard in the last few months, first by updating it for Windows 8.1 with new features, and more recently by porting it over to Mac and iOS where users can download and use OneNote for free. Apparently the offer of using OneNote for free was too good to refuse, as it...
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Good news, fowl obsessed gamers, the casual game that became a bizarre phenomenon is coming back. We're of course talking about Flappy Bird, the creation of Dong Nguyen, who once revealed his addictive title was generating $50,000 per day through in-game ads. It was that revelation that made his decision to yank Flappy Bird from iTunes and...
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Pictures, videos, and other forms of digital data aren't getting any smaller, and you may find that your tablet or smartphone is suddenly short on space. There are a variety of solutions available, one of them being Toshiba's new Canvio Wireless Adapter, a simple yet creatively designed gadget that adds wireless...
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Microsoft nearly flipped the used games market upside down when it first began revealing details about its Xbox One console prior to launch, though in the end, the Redmond outfit listened to its customers and reversed course. As a result, not only is the used games market still thriving, it's expanding and drawing interest from new players,...
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If you've been thinking about subscribing to Pandora One, you'll want to make a decision sooner than later to avoid paying a higher price. Beginning in May, the cost of an ad-free Pandora One subscription is going up to $4.99 per month. That's a dollar more than what it costs now and it's intended to help offset...
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Apple is a company that's constantly in motion -- if it's not launching new products, then it's refreshing existing ones and tweaking its lineup. Such is the case at present starting with Apple's decision to snuff out the iPad 2 and replace it with the resurrected iPad 4, which the Cupertino company had discontinued...
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In terms of gaming, Linux is on a roll lately. The latest company to throw its weight behind the open source platform is GOG.com, which says it's been working on bringing Linux games to its service for the past few months. There's still work to be done, buy by this fall, GOG.com plans to launch at least 100 classic...
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There have been plenty of rumors suggesting Amazon will offer a set-top box of its own, but according to new reports, it appears the e-commerce giant might be readying a streaming device similar in form and function to Google's nifty Chromecast dongle. More than just for streaming movies and TV shows, those close to...
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The web is always awash in iPhone rumors, and right now all the chatter is focused on Apple's forthcoming iPhone 6 device, assuming the Cupertino outfit sticks with its current naming convention. Regardless of what it ends up being called, you can feel reasonably assured that Apple will release another handset, and...
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I'm a short Italian a hair-length away from being 5-foot 9-inches tall, yet despite my height deficiency, I know what it's like to play basketball above the rim. It's not because I have an amazing vertical like Nate Robinson or, for your old school ballers, Spud Webb, both whom have won the slam dunk contest. No --...
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Apple is doing pretty well for itself in the smartphone market, but there's always room to do better, especially in the lower-end segment where inexpensive Android devices are virtually unchallenged. To offer up some increased competition, Apple is rumored to be releasing an iPhone 5C model with 8GB of internal...
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It's been one heck of a ride, but like all good things, the Windows XP era is officially coming to an end next month. For many users, the XP era ended long ago, though according to market research firm StatCounter, around 2 out of 10 PC users are still rocking the legacy OS after all these years, which is more than...
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Teenagers are doing it, and so are young adults. Heck, even some older folks are doing it, and none of them seem to mind having a public audience. They're doing it on trains, on buses, in restaurants, and everywhere else when the urge arises. Some of them do it in groups, others prefer a single partner, and a great...
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Despite receiving mostly high scores and praise from review sites and gaming publications, Namco Bandai's Dark Souls II is the subject of a controversy over its in-game graphics. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers have taken to the Internet to voice their collective displeasure regarding what they feel are...
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The lucky residents of San Antonio in the great state of Texas will probably be next to have access to Google's uber-fast fiber-optic network. As part of a long-term contract, Google will lay down 40 "fiber huts," which are 12-foot by 26-foot communications shelters that contain the infrastructure for Google's fiber-optic gigabit Internet....
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This shouldn't come as a complete shock to anyone who's been around the online block a time or two, but no web browser is 100 percent secure. That much was once again proven at the annual Pwn2Own hacking event held at the CanSecWest security conference. By the second day of the event, every major browser had fallen --...
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Edward Snowden, former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) who blew the whistle on the U.S. government's spying efforts by disclosing thousands of classified documents -- is he a hero for what he did, a traitor, or something else? It's a discussion point that may be debated for decades for come, and is certainly being talked...
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After being on the market for around four months, the Xbox One's controller still doesn't work natively with Windows-based PCs. The natives are growing restless and you may have heard rumors that support for the controller is never coming. Microsoft's Albert Penello caught wind of the rumors and took to a forum post...
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Remember when the only Android tablets on the market were models in the $500 range? That seems like a century ago, and it might as well have been, as low-cost Android slates are now the norm, not the exception. It's becoming a tough landscape to compete it, and to ensure its Wikipad 7 tablet isn't overshadowed by less...
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There will be no deduction of geek cred points if you've never heard of Steiger Dynamics, a relative newcomer to the scene. However, from this point forward, you may want to make a mental note of the company, which is breathing some fresh air into the growing home theater PC (HTPC) market. Introduced at the Consumer...
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