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
With so many conflicting reports on the state of Windows 8, it's difficult to get a grip on exactly where it stands in the grand scheme of things at this early stage. For example, Microsoft just the other day proudly proclaimed that it's sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses during its first month of availability. Not too shabby, but now StatCounter...
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If wireless carries got together for a game of dodgeball and had to pick teams, we have a feeling T-Mobile would be the last one picked. That would definitely be the case if Apple was put in charge of the event. To wit, Apple's iPhone has been on the market for over five years, has been upgraded five times (after the original iPhone, there...
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Microsoft's official Twitter account for Surface delivered a gut punch to potential Surface Pro shoppers by confirming that battery life on the x86 tablet will be less than that of its ARM-based Surface RT slates. Much less. "Hey Shahroom, #Surface Pro will have approximately half the battery life of Surface RT," @Surface tweeted on Thursday,...
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Acer's making it easy to grab a C7 Chromebook in time for the holidays. Initially, the $199 laptop was available via Google Play, BestBuy.com, and in Best Buy stores, but you can now find it at TigerDirect, Newegg, and Staples.com, the company announced today. "Our customers' enthusiastic response to the Acer C7...
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Nintendo's Wii U jumped out to a fast start, selling 400,000 units during its first week of sales. It's become difficult to find the console in stock anywhere, that is unless you're willing to pay inflated prices on eBay or Craigslist. However, it's also the only new generation console in town, but for how long?...
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We've already given you some pretty groovy gift ideas for the holiday season, but perhaps the coolest item that will be up for grabs is the original 1966 TV Batmobile owned by George Barris. It's actually a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car that was heavily modified for the live action TV series starring Adam West...
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The slumping PC market was badly in need of a shot of adrenaline, and unfortunately, Microsoft's Windows 8 may not have provided that boost. According to data compiled by The NPD Group, Windows device sales have actually fallen 21 percent year-over-year since Windows 8 launched on October 26. Notebook sales have struggled the most, dropping...
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Kids in South Korea really love their digital gadgets. That's probably true of children around the world, but in South Korea, handheld devices are creating a "digital addiction" for millions of young ones, even kids as young as 3 years old. Instant messaging on the go, high resolution gaming in the palm of your hand...
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Barnes & Noble posted a $2 million profit for its fiscal second quarter, and it's largely thanks to booming Nook sales, which contributed to consolidated revenues of $1.9 billion. Nook digital content sales jumped 38 percent for the quarter compared to last year, while the entire Nook segment -- readers, digital...
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One thing you might run into when shopping value oriented parts is that the manufacturers often cut corners to keep the price tag down. It comes with the territory. Along those lines, the idea behind Gigabyte's new HD motherboard series is to offer budget DIY home theater PC (HTPC) builders a line of inexpensive mobos...
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Good news for Verizon Wireless subscribers hoping to score a Galaxy Note II this holiday shopping season. Your time has come -- Samsung's hybrid phone/tablet device is available for pre-order at Verizon right this very moment for $300 (with a two-year service contract), and will be available for purchase in stores and...
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We get it, choosing a baby name is tough. There are books to help with the task, and this thing called the Internet. The list of names is literally endless, since you can choose to name your baby however you wish -- unfortunately not everyone uses sound judgement when doing so. Sure, it's bad form to diss on a baby's name, so we'll direct...
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Don't kick yourself if you missed out on the Black Friday madness or slept through Cyber Monday without snagging a single deal to brag about. There are still juicy sales items to be had, one of which is Nokia's Lumia 920 smartphone for $70 at Amazon (with a qualifying data plan and 2-year service agreement with AT&T, of course). That's...
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Way back in the old days, phones were used for making voice-to-voice calls. That's even true of the first cell phones. How rudimentary we were back then! Today, almost every mobile phone owner uses their cell phone to take picture and send or receive text messages, while at least half also access the Internet to send or receive email. Pew...
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With so much at stake in the mobile sector, companies seem to be suing each other left right over various technology patents. The newest lawsuit comes from Nokia, which is seeking a BlackBerry sales ban in the U.S. and U.K. over Wi-Fi related patents. The Finnish handset maker wants Research In Motion (RIM) to pay royalties on sales of any...
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Remember those super skinny iMac models Apple introduced in late October? Apple at the time said it would begin shipping its new iMacs in December, but the 21.5-inch model will actually be available to purchase starting November 30, 2012, the Cupertino company announced today. The 27-inch iMac is still scheduled to ship next month. "Redesigned...
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You've probably heard the saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," but did you ever equate it to being prepared for the inevitable robot uprising that will threaten the human race? Probably not, but that isn't stopping a group of Cambridge researchers from at least entertaining the idea. "Many...
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Samsung sees itself as being a major player in the PC space. The company's also apparently confident in the future of Windows 8, though it doesn't plan to stop selling Windows 7 systems just yet. All combined, Samsung's VP of IT Business Solutions, Jin Park, predicts his company will ship 16 million tablets and laptop computers based on Windows...
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OCZ Technology Group today announced a new solid state drive line capable of up to 100,000 IOPS of random read performance. Powering the company's new Vector SSD Series is a next-generation Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller with firmware that was developed completely in-house, OCZ says. "The development of the Indilinx...
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Kim Kardashian, the American socialite and reality television star who turned 32 years old last month, had previously said she wanted an iPhone 5 for her birthday. It seems an appropriate gift request, considering both her and Apple's latest smartphone were the top searches on Bing in their respective categories. In the field of technology...
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A long, drawn out legal battle with Apple notwithstanding, Samsung has been on a roll lately. It's Galaxy S III recently jumped past 30 million units sold to become the top selling smartphone, surpassing the mighty iPhone. More recently, Samsung said it shipped 5 million Galaxy Note II phone/tablet (phablet) hybrid...
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At the risk of inundating you with Cyber Monday deals that we know you're capable of digging up on your own (our readers are tech savvy, after all), here's another heads up on a bargain that seemed too good to sweep under the rug. Presumably for today only, AT&T is offering the HTC One X for just $0.99 with a qualifying data plan and two-year...
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