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
Samsung had its best quarter ever, posting a quarterly profit 7.04 trillion won ($6.6 billion), up an eye-popping 76 percent from 4.01 trillion won a year prior. Revenues for the quarter came to 56.06 trillion won ($52.06 billion) on a consolidated basis, up 7 percent sequentially. The company's Mobile Communications...
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A market research firm forecasts media tablet shipments around the world will reach 145 million units in 2013. New players, a wider range of lower cost tablets to choose from, and increased interest from business sectors will help media tablets to "continue to take the market by storm," ABI Research says. "The rate of innovation is slowing...
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Chinese computer maker Lenovo is reportedly taking a long, hard look at acquiring Research In Motion (RIM), a Canadian handset and mobile software company. Lenovo, which is jockeying for position with Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the world's largest PC supplier, has already spoken with RIM about its interest in acquiring the company. The two sides,...
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So long, THQ, and thanks for the pie. The North American game developer and publisher responsible for Saints Row, the Red Faction Series, Company of Heroes, and other titles auctioned off its assets to competitors for around $72 million. "We were hoping that the entire company would remain intact, but we expect to...
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Amazon on Thursday announced the acquisition of Ivona Software, a text-to-speech firm out of Poland. Ivona Software's voice recognition technologies are already utilized by Amazon's line of Kindle Fire tablets, and the company also provides text-to-speech products and services for thousands of developers, businesses, and customers around the...
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Nokia's strategy to buddy up with Microsoft and essentially go all-in with the Windows Phone platform is paying off. The Finnish handset maker turned a modest profit in the fourth quarter of 2012, coming out ahead on the balance sheet by 202 million euros ($269 million). That's not much, but it's just the sort of...
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Kudos to Imangi Studios for showing the Android platform nearly equal love as iOS. Whereas Android users had to wait nearly 8 months before the company's original Temple Run title was ported over from iOS, Temple Run 2, now available in Google Play, took only a week to make the leap, having launched first to iOS on January 17. Temple Run 2...
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Great ape keepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo found themselves inspired by an "Apps for Apes" program that's been implemented in a dozen zoos around the world, and so they decided to try it out with their six orangutans. Each orangutan is able to interact with an iPad tablet, though only if they show interest...
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Samsung on Wednesday sent out emails announcing that its ATIV Odyssey handset will be available to purchase in the U.S. starting tomorrow. You'll be able to pick one up from Verizon on the web or in stores for $50 (after a $50 mail-in-rebate) with a two-year service agreement. A quick refresher on the specs. The ATIV Odyssey sports a 4-inch...
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Prince Harry of Wales is a pretty good shooter, both in real-life and when playing video games. In fact, he credits his time playing games on an Xbox and PlayStation with making him a better shooter, and maybe even a better pilot. The 28-year-old spoke candidly about his tour of duty, flying Apache helicopters, and...
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Don't worry folks, the White House hasn't lost its marbles (well, not based on this, anyway) by encouraging citizens across the nation to start hacking. The U.S. government doesn't want you to break into banking systems, and after Matthew Broderick almost started World War III in the 1980s, we're pretty sure it...
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Apple can stick to its guns all it wants by refusing to release a lower-cost iPhone model, but at some point, the Cupertino company has to face the reality that the iPhone isn't the trend-setting device it once was. Remember when the iPhone was a status symbol and the coolest handset on the block? Now it's merely a...
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Have you found yourself feeling sad, depressed, or even unusually angry lately? Maybe you need to stop checking Facebook for awhile. A joint study conducted by two German universities found that Facebook envy is a real thing, and perhaps as many as one out of three people actually feel worse and less satisfied with their lives after visiting...
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Verizon on Tuesday released its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2012, noting that its wireless business saw an 8.5 percent year-over-year increase in service revenues, along with 2.2 million retail net additions. The company also said that its 4G LTE service is now available to more than 273 million people...
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Steve Ballmer, the outspoken and oft times animated CEO of Microsoft, might not always be the easiest boss to work for. It all depends on who you ask, and if you sit down for a spell with Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft from 1983 to 2002 in a high-level position, he'll paint Ballmer as a bully who forces out...
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The business world isn't all that different from the world of sports. In either case, if your team isn't performing at a high enough level, you go out and hire better talent. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) just did that, adding a pair of experienced chip engineers, one of which previously worked for Qualcomm and the...
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One thing Samsung doesn't lack is a funny bone. Ask Apple, which has been repeatedly bopped on the head with it through a series of advertisements, both on TV and out in the wild. Want a second opinion? Talk to Research In Motion (RIM), Samsung's latest target in a new ad poking fun at people who refuse to give up their BlackBerry devices....
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Hey U.S. gamers, would you like a side of PayPal with your PlayStation Network (PSN)? You can have it, now that Sony is extending the same courtesy to PSN subscribers living in North America as was already available to those who reside in Europe. It's more of an end-around process to use PayPal, as the option to add funds to your Wallet using...
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There are some basic rules to follow when selecting a password. For example, while we're sure your significant other is a fine person, using their name as your password is a terrible idea. Same goes for your son's birthday. The object is to select a series of characters and symbols that's nigh impossible to guess, but it doesn't stop there....
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If we might be allowed to exaggerate for a moment, Apple finds itself in dire straits these days. Here are the facts: Apple's stock is only worth $500 per share, the company's slice of the smartphone pie in the U.S. is just 18.5 percent, and the iPhone has lost its luster compared to sexier Android phones and the...
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We're only a few weeks into the New Year and there's already an exciting gaming project in Kickstarter. It's Vendetta Online, an existing twich-based, sci-fi themed MMORPG that's available on a number of platforms. In fact, two years ago it was the first PC 3D MMO to make the leap to mobile and is now available for...
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Acer might have been on to something when it warned Microsoft that competing in the hardware space is no easy task. Undeterred, Microsoft entered the battlefield with its Surface RT tablet, an ARM-based slate running a gimped version of Windows 8 that doesn't support legacy applications. It's an okay tablet for...
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