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
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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Put your dancing shoes on and/or bust out your air guitar (or any other instrument you're good at fake playing), Microsoft's Xbox Music service is now available on virtually any operating system via web browsers. Serving as a replacement to Zune, Xbox Music launched last year for Windows 8 devices and on the Xbox 360...
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All good things eventually come to an end, and for the thousands of people who used Google Reader, the search giant's RSS reader was indeed a good thing. You'll notice we're referring to Google Reader in the past tense. We're jumping the gun by a few hours, but by the end of the day, Google will pull the plug on its RSS reader, rendering the...
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Apple has yet to officially confirm plans to launch a smart watch device, but there remains little doubt the Cupertino company is at least flirting with the idea, if not already in the advanced design phase. Serving as further proof that a smart watch is in Apple's future, the company has gone and filed a trademark...
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In a matter of months, Microsoft and Sony will launch their respective Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles to retail, and as evidenced by declining dollars being spent on gaming goods, it appears gamers are especially anxious to get their paws on these next generation devices. That doesn't mean that today's consoles will suddenly fall by the...
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If the only thing stopping you from picking up a Chromebook is the lack of support for Microsoft Word and/or Excel, you'll be happy to know that there's an update to the developer channel build of Chrome OS that adds the ability to edit both types of files on an experimental basis. Chromium evangelist François...
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There will indeed be another version of the DirectX application programming language (API), though Windows 7 users won't be invited to the party. Neither will Windows 8 users, for the matter. Microsoft confirmed that DirectX 11.2 will be exclusive to Windows 8.1 and its Xbox One console, or at least that's the way it...
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Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) came and went with nary a new iPhone announcement, but that doesn't mean the Cupertino outfit isn't readying the launch of another generation of smartphones. Potentially serving as further evidence that Apple's close to announcing a new model, a French website posted what...
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Been considering a move from your current platform over to Windows Phone 8? If you're on the fence, Nokia hopes its trade-up offer will serve as the nudge you need to jump ship and swim over to a Lumia device. As long as you're a U.S. resident, the Finnish phone maker will pay you up to $300 for your old phone in the...
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When looking at the makeup of Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 (PS4) console, it's essentially a PC platform in console skins. Sony's quite proud of the hardware underneath the PS4's hood, which includes a custom AMD Jaguar 8-core x86 processor, 8GB of unified GDDR5 memory, 500GB hard disk drive (HDD), and a GPU that's...
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It wasn't just lip service when T-Mobile re-branded itself as the "Un-carrier," the wireless outfit is making an honest-to-goodness effort to get on par with and perhaps one day surpass the competition. For that happen, fleshing out its 4G LTE network is paramount, and T-Mobile is working on doing just that. In fact...
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The company formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM) has some soul searching to do. After all the big talk, new platform and device launches, and even a name change to signify brighter days ahead, the company now known as BlackBerry notched an $84 million loss, or 13 cents per share, according to the firm's first...
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As if Samsung Galaxy S4 owners don't already have enough bragging rights over most of the competition in the smartphone space, they can now be one of the first to kick the tires on Android 4.3, the next iteration of Jelly Bean. A bit of bravado is required, however, as the firmware that's floating around isn't yet an...
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Sony last week issued and then quickly pulled a firmware update for the PlayStation 3 after a flurry of complaints surfacing claiming the new software was bricking their consoles. Oops! Making good on its promise to investigate the issue and come up with a fix, Sony announced another firmware update to both repair the...
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Samsung today announced the availability of its Curved OLED TV at an event held in Seoul, South Korea. One of the major upsides to using a curved panel is that viewers will be able to enjoy "true-to-life" pictures no matter what their viewing angle or vantage point, Samsung says. It also features a "Multi View"...
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Scandinavian browser maker Opera Software was the recent victim of a hacker attack in which the infiltrators made off with at least one old and expired Opera code signing certificate. The attackers were then able to use the certificate to sign some malware and distribute malicious software under the pretense that it's...
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Verizon Wireless likes to boast about its 4G LTE network being the most robust in the business, and by the end of next year, Big Red will put its money where its mouth is at by offering smartphones that only run on 4G LTE. It's a bold move, but Big Red isn't making the jump blindly and hoping for the best. Just the...
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You always have to take these figures with a pinch of salt when a company has a vested interest in the outcome, but according to Lookout, a mobile company that builds both free and paid security apps for iPhone and Android devices, over a million Android users downloaded some form of adware in the past year. Lookout...
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Microsoft's hardware partners weren't exactly thrilled with the company's decision to launch Surface RT and Pro tablets, especially Acer, which warned Microsoft time and again that isn't easy competing in the hardware space. Nevertheless, Microsoft forged ahead, and though its Surface slates aren't making much of a...
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In a perfect online world, we'd all sing, "A surfing we will go, a surfing we will go, heigh-ho the derry-o, a surfing we will go," and off we'd go without fear of malware or malicious links or any of the other cruft that litters the web. Unfortunately, reality is far removed from most nursery rhymes, and the web is a...
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