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
Politicians and fear mongers love to blame society's ills on violent video games. It's a rally call we've heard time and again, despite the fact that there are numerous studies out there -- both old and new -- debunking the claims that violent games transform gamers into these unfeeling creatures that go on shooting...
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AT&T recently updated its privacy policy in an attempt to offer more transparency to its subscribers. As part of the update, Ma Bell revealed that it now plans to harvest and sell to third parties anonymous usage and location information to third parties, which in turn will result in targeted and more relevant...
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Has Samsung seen its best days? It's far too early to tell, though some analysts are at least entertaining the question of whether or not the South Korean handset maker has peaked after a somewhat disappointing quarter. Samsung missed modest expectations for its quarterly earnings guidance, which was partially due to...
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There is still a market for adventure games. Industry veteran and founder of Double Fine games Tim Schafer proved it when he opened a Kickstarter campaign for a then-untitled adventure game (now called Broken Age) seeking a modest $400,000 in funding. Fans of Schafer's resume (The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac...
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As you probably discovered the first time you picked up a fancy camera, be it a digital SLR or a high-end point-n-shoot, photography isn't easy. Automatic settings, while serviceable in some situations, can also result in crappy photos. Adding to the challenge is trying to shoot in the dark, which is something many of us will attempt tonight...
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Still unclear about this whole Glass thing from Google? Don't worry, you're not alone. In part to address privacy concerns and offer some clarity to its Glass project, Google recently posted an extensive FAQ page broken up into four categories. It addresses general Glass questions, specifications, security and privacy...
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The battle for short video supremacy is heating up, and Twitter has every intention of ensuring its Vine application stays relevant. Hence the latest update to Vine. Not just any update, mind you, but the "biggest, most exciting" one to date, with "even more coming soon," Colin Kroll, co-founder and CTO of Vine...
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Cha-ching! That's the sound that best describes Don Mattrick's transition from President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zynga. The social game maker apparently wanted Mattrick in a big way, and putting its money where its mouth is as, Zynga could end up...
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Douglas Carl Engelbart, American engineer and inventor of the computer mouse, passed away in his home in Atherton, California, on July 2, 2013 at the age of 88, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cause of his death is not immediately clear, though his daughter told LAT that his health had been on the decline the...
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Though Samsung has yet to release an official statement, it's being reported in a Korean newspaper that the company has now sold 20 million Galaxy S4 devices in the past two months since launch. If true, it would be an impressive feat and represent a doubling of sales since just over a month ago when Samsung announced...
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Yahoo, apparently in the mood for a Qwiki, went and acquired the startup for an undisclosed sum, the company announced today. Currently exclusive to Apple users, the Qwiki app turns pictures and videos from the iPhone's camera roll into brief movies to share. Users can rearrange, add, or remove pictures and videos...
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Well now, color us intrigued (that is a color, right?). Paul Deneve, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, is joining Apple to work on...well, we're not sure what. Officially, Deneve will lend his expertise to "special projects" and serve as a vice president in his role...
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For users of the now defunct Google Reader service, Flipboard was supposed to serve as a saving grace of sorts by offering back in March to swoop in and automatically migrate their feeds. All a user had to do was create a Flipboard account and then sign into their Google Reader account via Flipboard prior to its...
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Motorola's pitching itself as one of the good ol' boys in a new ad boasting about its Fort Worth, Texas assembly plant and the fact that you'll be able to customize its unreleased Moto X smartphone tomorrow. The full-page ad is scheduled to run today in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal...
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Billionaire businessman Carl Icahn may ultimately fail in preventing Michael Dell from acquiring the company he founded and taking it private, but he isn't going down without a fight. Icahn keeps coming back to the table with new proposals, and the latest development is that he's seeking a meeting with Dell's board of...
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Let's be brutally honest, shall we? The failure of Microsoft's Surface RT and Pro platforms to catch on with consumers the way the iPad and Android tablets have isn't because Surface stinks. That would imply there's a problem with the hardware, and for the most part, there really isn't. Instead, the blame falls on Microsoft's shoulders for...
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Ask any person who owns a dual-monitor setup and they'll all tell you they couldn't fathom going back to a single display. Maybe you're one of those people, and if so, you know exactly the feeling we're talking about. But what if you could enjoy all the benefits of a dual-monitor configuration from a single monitor? Would you be game to reclaiming...
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Motorola decided to tease the launch of its upcoming Droid Ultra smartphone by setting up a product page on its website devoid of any product shots. Instead there's a little gray box with the device's name and a bold tagline that reads, "Think Thin." That's certainly not a problem, as each new generation of smartphones seem to be slimmer than...
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Anticipation is running high for the Galaxy Note III, just as it typically does for pretty much any Samsung device, hence why the company poses such a big threat to Apple in the mobile space. But that's a story for another day. The topic here is the Galaxy Note III and when it will release to retail. Assuming the latest leaked information...
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Microsoft has reason to celebrate today, as its Windows Store is now filled with over 100,000 Windows 8 apps. It's an important milestone en route to a much larger goal of building out a rich ecosystem, and while it's true Apple and Google have Microsoft beat in the apps department, the Redmond outfit reached the 100,000 mark much faster than...
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Vine sure has been making the rounds the lately. After amassing 13 million users on iOS since launching in late January, Vine saw fit to swing over to Android earlier this month. Lest anyone think the video sharing service is leaving any stone unturned, it's now available to Kindle Fire users in the Amazon Appstore...
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So long, Samsung, and thanks for the chips. That's the message Apple effectively sent its rival in the mobile space after inking a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to build and supply the complex processors found in its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. The impending breakup with Samsung...
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