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
China's Central Government Procurement Center has reportedly issued a ban on installing Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on government computers. The ban is supposedly in place to ensure computer security after Microsoft decided to end support for Windows XP last April, a legacy OS that was released to the...
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Games aren't getting any smaller these days, and though Microsoft gives gamers 500GB of internal storage to play with on the Xbox One console, you might find that you're filling it up faster than you thought you would. What's a hardcore gamer to do? Hang tight -- it would appear that Microsoft is getting ready to...
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The United States Justice Department has brought forth criminal charges against several members of Unit 61398 of the Chinese military, alleging that these members hacked into computer systems of six American businesses, including Alcoa Inc., United States Steel Crop, Allegheny Technologies Inc, Westinghouse Electric...
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It's official -- AT&T has agreed to acquire DirecTV, the largest satellite TV provider in the U.S. with 20 million customers, for approximately $48.5 billion. It's a stock-and-cash transaction deal worth $95 per share based on AT&T 's Friday closing price, which represents a 10 percent premium. DirecTV shareholders will receive $28.50...
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Apparently fed up with being rejected by Snapchat, Facebook for the past several months has reportedly been working on a video sharing and chatting application of its own. It's called Slingshot, and like Snapchat, it allows users to send short video messages to recipients with just a few taps. However, it's not yet...
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Adidas is relaunching its "mi adidas" app late this summer, though it comes with a twist to sneaker customization. This time around, mi adidas users will be able to apply any photographic image, including Instagram photos, to the 2014 model ZX Flux. Once you're happy with the result, Adidas will build the customized...
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When Marcel Fernandes Filho was 13 years old, he smashed his Dell computer in a fit of rage because the monitor wouldn't stop flickering. Suddenly without a PC, the young teenager from Brazil began using his iPhone 3GS more often. Such began his journey to becoming the world's fastest texter, as recognized by Guinness...
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Imagine that you're a 911 dispatcher and you receive a text message that reads, "OMG, sned hlp nao! Its an emergency! no joke, lol!" That's something emergency responders are going to have to figure out, because as of now, all four major wireless carriers in the U.S. -- Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint -- are offering text-to-911 service...
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You can now use eBay's PayPal service to pay for purchases made through Google Play, the search giant announced. The new feature went live in a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada, and Germany. If if you live in one of 12 countries being served by the new feature, you'll find PayPal as a payment option in your Google Wallet....
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More console gamers are choosing Sony's PlayStation 4 than Microsoft's Xbox One system. This was confirmed by market research firm NPD Group, which pegged the PS4 as the best selling game system in the U.S. for the fourth consecutive month, followed by the Xbox One, which Microsoft confirms sold 115,000 units in...
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One could make an argument that Microsoft is the king of mixed messages. Just look at how the Redmond software giant has handled Windows XP over the years -- it was given several reprieves before finally being shunned for support, though it still received an out-of-cycle patch for Internet Explorer to address a...
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The 4K Ultra HD revolution is in its infancy, but if you want to be an early adopter of the technology, there are several resources available. One of those is Sony's 4K Ultra HD Media Player (FMP-X10), which is now available to pre-order from Sony's online store. The cost is $500, and while that sounds steep (because...
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If you thought Comcast wouldn't try to defend its "Worst Company in America" designation as voted by Consumerists' readers last month, think again. The broadband company holding the Golden Poo award has gone on record saying it wants to move to a usage-based billing model similar to how the wireless industry works...
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One of the more bizarre stories in the history of gaming has yet to write an ending. We're talking about the rapid rise and intentional decline of Flappy Bird, a stupidly simple game that at its peak was raking in more than $50,000 per day through in-game ads. After gaining attention in the media, the game's...
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It might seem hard to fathom, but $300,000 is hardly the most expensive lunch date ever. In fact, it's not even the most expensive lunch date with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. In a charity auction last year, the winning bid to spend some time with Cook eating and chewing the fat came to over $600,000, which obliterated...
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This is a big month for mobile. In a couple of weeks, LG will unveil its G3 superphone at a press event in New York City, and before that, Microsoft will hold a press event of its own (also in NYC) to announce a new Surface device. Speculation has been that it will be a Surface Mini model to compete with the 7-inch...
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This may come as a shock to the system if you were expecting Ubisoft's upcoming Watch Dogs title to run at Full HD 1080 (1920x1080) on your PlayStation 4 console, especially after Sony straight up said "the game will run at 1080p and 60 frames per second on the PS4" in a recent blog post, but it's actually going to...
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Sometimes we wake up to little surprises in our inbox, such as this morning when we discovered an email from LG inviting us to a press event in New York City in a couple of weeks. Rather than play it coy and keep the unveiling cryptic, LG flat out says on the invitation that it's planning to unveil the oft-rumored and...
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A sleeping giant has awoken in the mobile space, that giant being Intel, which slept through the initial transition in the mainstream market place. Not anymore. We're seeing Intel's Atom parts find their way into more and more mobile devices, and if leaked information turns out to be true, the forthcoming ASUS MeMO...
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Microsoft is finally going to give gamers what they've wanted since the Xbox One launched -- a cheaper version that doesn't come bundled with a motion controlled Kinect sensor. Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, made the announcement in a blog post today, saying Microsoft will begin selling a Kinect-free Xbox One console for...
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As part of BlackBerry's attempted comeback tour, the Canadian handset maker today officially unveiled its new BlackBerry Z3, Jakarta Edition smartphone during a launch event in Jakarta, Indonesia. As the model name implies, this budget friendly device is being built exclusively for Indonesia, though the other notable...
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The number of connected devices offering access to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu continues to grow. Heck, don't be surprised if the capability is baked into the next smart toothbrush you buy. What most of these devices have in common is they typically don't sit behind a paywall, though that isn't true of...
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