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
They grow up so fast, don't they? We're of course talking about all those Angry Birds and thieving pigs who collectively turn two years old today. That's right, it's been 24 months to the day since the masses fell in love with Rovio's instant classic, and this love affair has led to the destruction of countless pigs and structures, we don't...
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It's been a busy week for Microsoft. The Redmond software giant rolled out its much anticipated Xbox Live Dashboard update with a brand new look and fancy new features like voice controlled navigation, and it also launched an iOS app as well as an app for Windows Phone 7 users. And to kick things off, Microsoft is letting all Xbox Live Silver...
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You know exactly the kind of content you're likely to find at www.KUgirls.xxx and www.KUnurses.xxx, and so do officials at Kansas University, which is why they're making a mad dash to grab illicit web domains. No, KU isn't going to cash in on the adult entertainment industry, it's just trying to prevent pornographic webmasters from being able...
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Microsoft's Xbox 360 had another record month in November and remained the top selling console for the fourth consecutive month with 1.7 million unit sales in the U.S. alone, according to data released by market research firm NPD Group. That's a 23 percent year-over-year jump, but perhaps more importantly, Microsoft...
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Word to the wise -- if you find a killer deal on a mechanical hard drive and you need more storage, go ahead and pounce. As you're probably well aware by now, recent flooding in Thailand hit the hard drive industry pretty hard, and that's been resulting in higher prices all around. It's also causing a shortage of...
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Everything in moderation, right? Don't go spouting off such nonsense to the insane folks at German audio equipment maker Behringer, who just pimp-slapped the consumer market with the iNuke Boom. What is it, you ask? Only the loudest iPod and iPhone dock in the world, not to mention the heaviest at 700 pounds, and the...
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Know what happens when an armored vehicle company decides to go green? You get the Jo-Mojo, a lightly armored open-top electric low-rider with a top speed of 125MPH and a bulletproof exterior. Yep, this thing steers clear of gasoline, has a respectable amount of get-up-and-go, and can take a bullet, should the need...
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The Razer Blade gaming notebook by Razer is one sexy looking laptop that didn't make it into our Holiday Gift Guide this year, but that's partially because we had no idea when it would be available. Until now, that is. According to reports, it's going to ship in time for Christmas, and if you're confident it will live up to the hype, you can...
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If you should happen to run across a USB flash drive on the subway, you may want to leave it there, assuming you weren't planning to take it to lost and found to begin with. There's a good chance it's infected with malware, and that doesn't just apply to USB keys you find on the ground, but ones you buy at auction...
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Adobe on Tuesday confirmed the existence of an unpatched zero day vulnerability rated as "critical" in Adobe Reader X (10.1.1) and earlier versions for Windows and Macs, Adobe Reader 9.4.6 and earlier versions for UNIX, and Adobe Acrobat X (10.1.1) and earlier versions for Windows and Macs. In theory, the critical vulnerability could cause...
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PayPal today issued a public apology after it came to light that a scrooge in the payment service's accounting department froze an account belonging to an organization collecting donations in order to hand out toys to underprivileged kids. The site's 'mistake' was using the "Donate" button, which a PayPal rep informed them was only for nonprofit...
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Like that scene in Step Brothers, HTC has been earning and burning, snapping necks and cashing checks as if it was pitching to be the main attraction at the Catalina Wine Mixer. It's been a stellar year for HTC and Android both, with each one feeding on the success of the other. But just like the law of gravity, what...
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This Holiday Gift Guide is sponsored by Epson—makers of the World’s Fastest 2-sided inkjet printer, the Epson WorkForce Pro. Run your business at full speed with Epson. Notebooks, Ultrabooks and netbooks, oh my! Road warriors never had it so good, and though the holiday shopping season is in full swing, don't worry yourself...
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Google and Mozilla have a common enemy in the browser wars in Microsoft, but perhaps more importantly, the two software companies have an even greater common interest: money. Since that's the case, it would be in both of their interests to work together if it means lining their pockets with cash, and that's what the two have decided to do....
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The holiday shopping season is upon us, and that means setting aside some hard earned funds to buy your family and friends gifts because, well, that's the kind of thing we do this time of year. But lest you forget about yourself, Cooler Master today announced the Elite 431 Plus, a mid-tower computer case with some...
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The Kindle Fire is Amazon's attempt to blaze a trail in the low cost Android tablet market, and if doing so ends up applying a bit of competitive heat to Apple and its dominating iPad line, then so be it. To be clear, Amazon isn't pitching the Kindle Fire as an "iPad killer" nor will you find any veiled marketing attempts to cast this as Amazon's...
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A bustling shopping mall in Canada is ending a more than century old tradition of having kids line up for hours to sit on Santa's knee to tell the bearded gift giver what they want for Christmas. This year they'll need to sign up in advance for a one-hour story time session on Saturday morning, in which they'll also...
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Firefox's future has never been as uncertain as it is right now. Let's start with the market share numbers and work our way from there. Depending on which web analytics firm you put your faith into, Mozilla's browser has either given up it's second place position to Google's Chrome browser, or is really close to doing so. NetMarketShare, for...
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If you're trying to configure an iMac system to arrive in time for the holiday season, you'll have to cap your storage at 1TB. Next day shipping is available on iMacs with a 1TB mechanical hard drive, 256GB solid state drive, or 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD from the Apple Store, but if you choose one of the 2TB HDD options, you'll have to wait 5-7...
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Do you remember what you were doing 19 years ago today? Odds are high you didn't own a mobile phone, though you may have been rocking a beeper (yes kids, beepers used to be cool). But believe it or not, the very first SMS text message was sent off nearly two decades ago, much to the bane of linguists who twitch every time they see a shorthand...
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As long as it's for fair use, people living in Switzerland have what amounts to a green light to download copyrighted music and movies without any repercussions. And as far as the Swiss government is concerned, copyright holders might as well go pound sand if they're not willing to adapt to the changing landscape. Piracy is, and will remain...
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It's still just the beginning of December, but now that we've made it past Thanksgiving and have had time to let all that turkey settle in our bellies, it's time to go shopping for gifts. And just in time for the holiday shopping season, ThinkGeek just announced the availability of nine officially licensed Portal 2 products, including a Portal...
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