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
When word first leaked out that Apple was developing a tablet, many assumed the end result would cost consumers a small fortune. It's Apple, after all, and whether the so-call Apple Tax is real or imagined, Apple products usually tend to cost more than their Windows-based counterparts. So when Apple launched its first...
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Brace yourself for a new Tomb Raider game. After a long hiatus courtesy of developer delays and other bumps in the road, Lara Croft appears ready to once again challenge gamers as the franchise gets a reboot. To help spark excitement among fans of the series, as well as those who perhaps have never played a Tomb Raider title, a teaser trailer...
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Tapping into sunlight to provide solar energy is generally good for the environment, most people can agree on that. But the technology behind today's solar cells isn't as efficient as you might think. Today's 'Grätzel cells' are the standard for low-cost solar panels and are relatively easy to manufacture. That's...
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Show of hands, how many of you own a BlackBerry device? Anyone? Hello!? Oh wait, there's a hand in the back, and one more far off to the side. Now raise your hand if you own an Android or iOS device. Holy moley, that looks like everyone else, save for that crazy guy in the back flapping his arms yelling something...
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Power supplies might be the least glamorous part of a PC build, yet ironically enough, some would argue they're the single most important component you can pick out, especially if you intend to overclock and/or are rocking high-end hardware. Unlike cases and peripherals, most PSUs aren't all that flashy, but...
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If this whole software and hardware business doesn't pan out for Microsoft, the Redmond outfit might have a future in used car sales. Need proof? Just wait until you see Microsoft's pitch on why altering its various Terms of Service agreements to forbid class action lawsuits is a good thing...for you! "When a customer...
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Dell hasn't exactly been shy about the fact that it's working on a tablet based on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 platform -- several OEMs are. But what we haven't known, at least until now, are the specifics. For example, is Dell planning to launch a full-size tablet like the iPad, or a smaller slate like the Kindle Fire? And what hardware...
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Most businesses don't give a flying flip about owning the latest and greatest product just for the sake of having it, especially when their current solution is working. Case in point, there are still thousands of IT departments rocking Windows XP, both because it works and also because it's perceived as being too...
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The good spirited folks over at GreenPois0n.com have just released Absinthe 2.0, one shot of which will jailbreak your iPod, iPhone, or iPad device running iOS 5.1.1. Absinthe 2.0 has been much anticipated and represents a "large collaborative effort between Chronic-Dev Team and iPhone Dev Teams," not to mention "many...
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Slowly but surely, the writing is on the wall that netbooks aren't long for this world, and Toshiba is one of a growing number holding the marker. Netbooks are being shoved aside in favor of Ultrabooks, which are arguably just as portable, if not more so in some cases, but offer far better performance and, more...
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If you're a fan of fanless embedded systems, there's a good chance you'll like Habey's upgraded BIS-6569A, which is a small form factor PC with a 10W Intel Atom D2700 processor clocked at 2.13GHz and Nvidia GeForce GT520 GPU with 1GB of dedicated GDDR3 video memory tucked inside. Even though it measures just 7.5...
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It's said that nothing is certain but death and taxes, but whomever first uttered those words clearly didn't own a PlayStation. For if that person did, surely he/she would have added 'PlayStation Network downtime' to the list of life's absolute certainties. As it were, that's precisely the case today, as Sony spends...
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Deciding to upgrade your notebook storage to a solid state drive is the easy part. SSDs are faster than whatever mechanical hard drive you're rocking, and you can expect a performance boost in day-to-day activity, whether it's simply booting the OS or playing with programs like Photoshop. So what' the hard part?...
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As is often times the case, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, and perhaps that's the motivation behind Google's upcoming 7-inch tablet. Rumor has an official Google tablet sized the same as Amazon's Kindle Fire is en route and will start shipping in June, with an official launch to take place in July. Citing "sources...
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More moving and shaking took place in the storage industry today, as Seagate and LaCie announced an exclusive agreement whereby the former will acquire a controlling interest in the latter. Specifically, Seagate plans to purchase from Philippe Spruch, LaCie's chairman and CEO, and his affiliate, all of their shares...
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Remember when hard drive capacities were measured in megabytes instead of gigabytes? Perhaps you can recall using cassette tapes to store your data. Those digital dark ages are long gone, and today's hard drives are much more capacious, but with solid state drives coming down in price, are HDDs on their last legs? Not...
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We're on the homestretch of Windows 7 being Microsoft's flagship operating system for consumers, and in a matter of months, Windows 8 will roll into view with its Metro UI sitting in the driver's seat. Microsoft appears to have built Windows 8 with a ginormous emphasis on touchscreen computing, which is great for tablets and all-in-one desktops,...
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It was almost a month ago to the day that Qualcomm Atheros introduced the world to its Killer Wireless-N 1202 Wi-Fi module (with Bluetooth) and Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet controller, but the former sat in limbo since then without a launch partner. Well, it's found one in Dell, which plans to make its Alienware...
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Save for the readily available GeForce GTX 670 graphics card, procuring a Kepler-based videocard from Nvidia is no easy task. If you do happen to get your mitts on one, however, you'll want to hop over to Nvidia's driver download site and grab the latest drivers, version 301.42, which happen to be the first...
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The vibe Silicon Valley must be getting from the masses is that low cost, pint-sized PCs are the wave of the future, hence why we're seeing so many of them recently. The most popular of the bunch right now is the Raspberry Pi PC, but lo and behold, VIA is jumping in the ring with a $49 APC Android PC. "APC brings the...
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Several reports have popped up online claiming that Google's Chrome browser is winning the brutal browser wars, having topped Microsoft's Internet Explorer in overall usage yesterday, as noted by StatCounter, an independent website analytics company. It was, according to StatCounter, a one-day victory, albeit on a global basis. "While it was...
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Google can go ahead cross off "Acquire Motorola Mobility" from its to-do list, because as of today, the acquisition is officially a done deal, the sultan of search announced in a blog post. The deal, which jumped over several regulatory hurdles, including getting approval from the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry...
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