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
Windows 8 devices haven't been able to reinvigorate a slumping PC market to this point, but if Microsoft keeps slashing prices, perhaps things will change. If you pop your head into the Microsoft Store online, you'll discover several recently discounted tablets and convertibles, including one that's been marked down...
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Hewlett-Packard announced some changes to its Board of Directors, beginning with Raymond J. Lane relinquishing his role as Chairman. Ralph V. Whitworth will step into the role on an interim basis as the board searches for a permanent replacement. In addition, the two longest serving members of the board -- John H. Hammergren and G. Kennedy...
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When it comes to the U.S. market, Apple's iPhone line is the single most popular category of handsets. During the three-month period ending in February 2013, there were 133.7 million smartphone owners in the U.S., 38.9 percent of which were toting an iPhone, according to data provided by the comScore MobiLens service...
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After successfully launching in South Korea last month, the LG Optimus G Pro has found its way to Japan through NTT DoCoMo, though it wields a smaller screen. For whatever reason, LG decided to implement a 5-inch display in Japan versus the 5.5-inch panel used in the South Korean market. LG didn't say why it went with a smaller form factor,...
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Considering how long it took T-Mobile to crash the iPhone party where all of its wireless peers have been hanging out for quite some time now, you'd think the Dutch-owned carrier would spring for balloons and streamers to announce it's now accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5. You'd also be wrong. Without any fanfare or a fancy press release,...
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We won't go so far as to call this a fire sale, but holy moly, Best Buy is offering some deep discounts on Apple's 3rd generation iPad tablets. We're talking price savings up to 30 percent with prices starting as low as $315 for a 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi, down from its normal selling price of $450. That's a savings of...
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Rovio, creator of the wildly popular Angry Birds franchise, has every reason to smile. The developer announced its financial results for the company's full calendar year for 2012, noting that total consolidated full year revenue ballooned to €152.2 million (around $195 million), up more than 100 percent compared...
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Traditional phone companies are faced with the reality that it's cheaper to make calls over the Internet, and also relatively easy, even for novices. It shouldn't be all that shocking, then, to learn that Skype users are spending 2 billion collective minutes daily using Microsoft's VoIP software. To put that into perspective, 2 billion minutes...
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Blizzard was very forthcoming in admitting that Diablo III is "not living up to its full potential" in terms of the co-op experience, adding that "it can often feel not worth the effort" to jump into multiplayer when playing solo "can often feel easier and more efficient." If you feel the same way, you'll be happy to know that co-op was a...
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In some ways, the PC market is a lot like a chess battle, only with more players involved. You have to know when to strike your opponent, where to hit them, and what pieces to use when making your move. There's a ton of strategy involved, and things don't always work out as planned. For Google, the time might be ripe...
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It's fair to say that the majority of PC gamers wield Windows-based boxes, but that doesn't mean you can't frag on a Mac. There's some high end gaming hardware available, including EVGA's new GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition graphics card. The card is exactly what it sounds like -- a GTX 680 intended for Macs. EVGA's card...
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Cisco's stock is up slightly today following an announcement that it plans to acquire Ubiquisys, a privately held firm based in the U.K., for approximately $310 million in cash and retention-based incentives. Ubiquisys is a leading provider of intelligent 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) small-cell technologies, and...
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Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is right around the corner and the question remains, will the Cupertino outfit unveil a new iPhone? Furthermore, will Apple announce multiple iPhone models, as previously rumored? We'll have to wait another two months to find out, but in the meantime, the latest rumor is that Apple will...
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While Apple works feverishly to squash bugs in its 6-month-old iOS 6 software, rumors are already starting to spread about iOS 7, including talk of a delay. Take that with a grain of salt since Apple hasn't announced development of iOS 7 or provided a release date of any kind, but nevertheless it appears development...
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Staunch Chrome and Firefox users aren't going to like this statement, but Internet Explorer has won the browser war, or so it seems. It wasn't always a foregone conclusion that IE would win. After the demise of Netscape, Firefox emerged as the first legitimate threat to IE's throne, and then Chrome came along and...
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Pirates flocked to BitTorrent in record numbers to download the season premiere of HBO's Game of Thrones. Within an hour of the first torrent being uploaded, there were 163,088 people sharing the single file, breaking the record for the largest BitTorrent swarm ever. That's according to TorrentFreak, which notes that...
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Dan Porter, former CEO of OMGPOP, never has to work another day in his life if he doesn't want to. Nor is obligated to work at Zynga, the casual game company that purchased OMGPOP last year for $183 million after "Draw Something" became a virtual overnight sensation. Unlike Midas, not everything Zynga touches turns to...
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It has been quite a while since we last put an mSATA solid state drive (SSD) under the microscope. It's actually only been about two years, and if you care to jump into our time machine, you can see what we had to say about Intel's 310 Series mSATA SSD in 80GB form. The idea then was the same as it is now -- to offer full-size SSD features...
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Recent data released by Flurry Analytics reveals there are now around 1 billion smartphones and tablets in use around the world every month, and as the device base grows, so too does the diversity of screen sizes. That's largely thanks to Android, the most prolific mobile platform on the planet. With so many screen sizes to choose from, which...
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When Steve Jobs fell ill and began medical leave in January 2011, Tim Cook took over as acting CEO of Apple, a position that became permanent seven months later following Jobs' resignation. We all know what happened after that -- Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in October 2011, leaving Tim Cook without a mentor. At...
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When highways get clogged, one solution is to build more lanes, and by that same token IEEE has put together a study group to explore the development of a 400Gbps Ethernet standard to support the exponential growth in network demand. "Traffic is growing everywhere—more Internet users, more ways to access the...
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AT&T today announced that it will begin offering Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 8.9" tablet on April 5 "at an affordable price." It's the 32GB model with 4G LTE connectivity, but just how affordable is it? Well, for a limited time, AT&T says customers who purchase the $399 tablet with a two-year data agreement will receive up to $150 off,...
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