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
In a conference call with investors, Activision discussed the success of its Skylanders series, which is a Spyro the Dragon spinoff that's played along with toy figures through a "Portal of Power." Young children between 6-11 years old represent the target demographic, and that's something that concerns Activision...
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Surface Pro reviews are out, and unfortunately for Microsoft, they're more sobering than spectacular. Two common complaints among the glut of early evaluations is that Surface Pro suffers from poor battery life and that it's expensive, debuting at $899 and up. It's even more pricey if you jump to the 128GB model...
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It's a tossup between Linux and Mac as to which is the red-headed stepchild of computer gaming, though things are improving on both platforms. As it pertains to the latter, Electronic Arts announced the official launch of its Origin game distribution service to Mac, giving Apple users access to many of the same features found on Origin for...
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It's been seven long years since Sony launched its PlayStation 3 console, so it's a bit of an understatement to say that a refresh is needed. That's not to say that Sony hasn't done a good job extending the lifespan of the PS3 with slimmer models, firmware updates, and add-ons like the Move controller, but could you imagine playing a high-end...
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Numbers are a funny thing, and contrary to their very nature, far from absolute when a human element is involved. The latest mobile data from two market research firms underscores this dilemma and proves you should always take market share figures with a pinch of salt. One of those firms is Strategy Analytics, which...
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We'll have to consult with Vegas to see what the over/under is on the number of 7-inch tablets introduced at the Mobile Word Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain later this month, but in the meantime, we have a pretty good idea on one we'd like to see. It's the so-called "Fonepad" from Asus, a 7-inch Android 4.1 Jelly...
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No self respecting power user is giving up his or her desktop for a tablet, plain and simple. At the same time, can you say the same thing about your less savvy friends and family members? My neighbor doesn't own a desktop or a notebook, but he does have an iPad, and there are others just like him, people who just need a device to surf the...
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All it takes is for one bad apple to spoil the bunch, and when a Twitter staff member inadvertently selected a pornographic Vine video as an Editor's Pick, all hell broke loose and it was suddenly "Game over, man!" for teens under the age of 17 years old. Twitter quickly yanked the video and apologized for what it deemed "human error," but...
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If you're a performance junkie, investing in a solid state drive (SSD) is a no-brainer at this point, especially with the way prices have fallen this past year. Narrowing down which SSD to purchase, well, that's another story. To help make the decision a little easier, OCZ for a limited time is offering a free Far Cry...
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One thing about Google is that the company never rests, often blindsiding the public with products or services nobody outside of Mountain View saw coming. The original Chromebook was one such product, but might it only have been a precursor to something much more fantastic? One look at a Google's promotional video...
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For as much criticism as iTunes consistently receives, it hasn't prevented music lovers from downloading songs time and again. Just the opposite, Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 25 billion songs from the iTunes Store to date. In case you're curious, the 25 billionth song was "Monkey Drums" by Chase...
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Social butterflies beware, there's a brand new strain of the Facebook Token Hijacker malware going around, and it preys on victims who want to score a pair of free UGGs boots. What makes this malware "special" is that it's armed with improved obfuscation techniques to keep its dirty code hidden from anti-malware...
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Instagram addicts can now get their fix of filtered photos even when their mobile phone batteries run out of juice. How so? The Facebook-owned service announced that you can now browse your Instagram feed on the web from your desktop or laptop, just like you do on your mobile device. All you have to do is head to...
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A new report conducted by Cisco underscores the magnitude of the mobile movement we currently find ourselves in. With everyone toting smartphones, tablets, phablets, and even Ultrabooks and ultra-thins, mobile traffic is exploding, having grown 70 percent in 2012. On a global scale, mobile users accounted for 885...
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AMD isn't yet ready to welcome its upcoming Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics cards to the world, but the company is preparing for the impending launch, in part by publishing initial open source Linux drivers. Found in the Mesa graphics library, the open source drivers pertain to the Radeon HD 8870 and 8850 graphics cards. Barring any delays...
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Why choose between speed or capacity when you can have both? So proposes memory maker G.Skill, which claims its new Trident X Series 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3-2800 memory kit (F3-2800C11Q-32GTXD) is the fastest clocked 32GB kit you'll find on the entire planet. "Being the first to introduce such large capacity memory kit running at an incredible speed...
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It happened. Dell today announced it has signed a definitive merger agreement in which company founder, Chairman, and CEO Michael Dell will acquire the company for approximately $24.4 billion. Microsoft and Silver Lake Management are also involved the transaction, which had been rumored for weeks. "The Dell Board of...
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The 55th Annual Grammy Awards will return to the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 10, airing live on CBS from 8-11:30 PM, but might we already know the winners? We would if it were up to Spotify users! The streaming music service analyzed its data streams to predict which nominees would walk away with...
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IBM on Tuesday announced that the way it's going to compete with Hewlett-Packard and Oracle in the server space is by offering lower priced and easy-to-configure solutions for small-to-medium size businesses (SMBs). Towards that end, IBM rolled out eight new servers powered by its latest Power 7+ processor, starting...
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Life is good for ARM, the British chip designer that's riding the mobile wave just as fast and furious as it can. In its most recent financial report, ARM posted a pre-tax profit of 80 million pounds (~$126.2 million) on revenue of 164.2 million pounds ($~262.8 million), representing positive growth of 16 percent and 19 percent, respectively....
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If you're not yet ready to buy that special someone a diamond for Valentine's Day, perhaps an Android tablet is in order. It sends a message that you care on a level higher than chocolates and flowers, but without the clingy commitment that a diamond suggests. Lucky for you, Amazon has slashed the price of its Kindle...
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Despite a horrendous first half by the San Francisco 49ers, the Super Bowl turned into a nail biter and almost sparked talk of "Powergate" following a power outage (and subsequent delay) that shifted the momentum. The Baltimore Ravens were able to hold on, however, living up to their billing as a team of destiny. But...
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