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
Oh the horror! The inhumanity! The injustice! Say it isn't so! What are we bellyaching about? Not much, really, but plenty of Netflix users are none too happy with the online DVD rental streaming service's decision to remove the 'Add to DVD Queue' from streaming devices. "We're doing this so...
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Ruh roh Shaggy, get ready to fork over an extra $10/month to Sprint to cover the wireless service provider's "Premium Data add-on charge to activations of smartphones." But don't worry, the additional funds coming out of your pocket is how Sprint shows it's "committed to providing its...
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Even those of you who really have been living under a rock or in a cave are undoubtedly aware that Apple's iPhone is coming to Verizon. Some of you already have February 10, 2011 circled on your calendar, the day this long-anticipated partnership between Apple and Verizon will finally take...
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Taking aim at serious photography buffs and enthusiasts who "need to shoot like the pros," SanDisk today introduced its new Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-I card. What is UHS-I, you ask? For those of you not savvy to the newly released SD 3.0 specification, that's the new Ultra High Speed technology...
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The British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) released figures for music sales in 2010, sparking a debate over whether or not piracy is playing a role, or at least a significant one. According to BPI, combined 2010 digital and physical album sales declined 7 percent overall in volume to 119.9...
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Zotac today announced its first Zbox series of mini-PCs equipped with USB 3.0 technology -- the Zbox ID41 series. The boring name belies what's a fairly sexy nettop, made even more so with the addition of SuperSpeed ports (two on the back panel). There's also four USB 2.0 ports (two on the back, one on the front, and one on the top panel)....
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Before we get bombarded with emails and angry comments, let's clear the air real quick. We're well aware that by a technical definition, a Mac is a PC (personal computer). But when we use the term, we're generally referring to Windows-based PCs (and sometimes Linux). Clear? Awesome. That said, according to IDC's latest figures, Mac sales posted...
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To the best of our knowledge, ECS just did something no other motherboard maker has yet done. What is it, you ask? They jumped on the 3D bandwagon by releasing a new motherboard "specially designed for 3D home theater" setups. ECS brings a bunch of buzzwords to the table to promote its latest...
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Google has decided to renege on its promise to support both H.264 and open source codecs in its Chrome browser, dropping support for the former and vowing to completely back the latter. This change will take place in the next couple of months, the search giant said in Chromium blog post. "We expect even more rapid innovation in the web media...
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Let's say you pick up an iPod touch with 8GB of storage. A few days go by and you realize with all the movies and music you're shuttling to and fro, you probably should have shelled out for the 32GB version. Just return and exchange, right? Sure, so long as you're cool with paying a 10 percent...
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At the end of February, Nintendo will finally launch its 3DS handheld console in Japan, followed by a worldwide release in March. As those release dates near, Nintendo has begun serving up additional details about its 3D-capable gaming...
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Talk about stretching a dollar. In a regulatory filing, Apple announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs, was again compensated just $1 in annual salary for 2010, which is something he has been doing for over a decade now. "In 2010, Mr. Jobs’s compensation consisted of a $1...
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Thin is in, playa, or at least that's the message Sony Ericsson sent at this year's CES convention in Las Vegas. Unveiled at the show was the company's new Xperia arc smartphone, a slim and lightweight device measuring a scant 8.7mm at its thinnest part, yet boasting an extra wide 4.2-inch...
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It only took 24 hours for Apple's newly opened Mac App Store to record over one million downloaded applications. That's impressive, not only because Apple just opened the doors yesterday, but also because it was achieved with a mere 1,000...
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Call if a Fusion frenzy if you want (just don't confuse it with the launch title for the Xbox), because Acer's new Aspire One 522 is equipped with an AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). As a result, Acer says the Aspire One 522 is "ready for a next generation user experience and...
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Apple doesn't attend trade shows like CES, instead holding its own press events from time to time, but that doesn't mean the Cupertino company is oblivious to the buzz in the tech world being generated from Las Vegas. Capitalizing on the hoopla and excitement that always comes around this time...
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We're already familiar with phone/PC hybrids -- they're called smartphones, and these days nearly everyone has one. But Speakal's just-announced BTS8 is a phone/PC hybrid of a completely different sort. It's an office telephone and miniature computer all rolled into one, and you won't be...
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When we think of SanDisk, we typically think of CompactFlash cards and other storage mediums for photography buffs (like the SanDisk Ultra SDXC memory card line). But SanDisk also dabbles in solid state drive options, some of which you'll...
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There was some concern early on that Intel's upcoming second generation Core processors would prove to be poor overclockers, but if that's the case, boutique system vendor Maingear certainly didn't get the memo. Instead, the OEM today announced the expansion of its "Super Stock" options to all...
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NEC this week announced the its new 23-inch MultiSynic EA232WMi display intended for corporate, financial, healthcare, engineering, CAD, and other professional applications. Why so? Part of the reason is because of the sexy LED backlit IPS panel, which offers superior viewing angles and better color accuracy than what you'll find on your average...
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After reports surfaced that Research In Motion's upcoming PlayBook tablet might suffer from poor battery performance, RIM was quick to downplay the issue. According to RIM, any testing done on existing units were performed on pre-beta...
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After months and months of speculation, Sandy Bridge is finally here, at least in pre-launch form. The big question on everyone's mind is, does Intel's newest silicon live up to the hype? See for yourself! We answer that question, and more, in both our in-depth "Intel Core i7-2820QM Mobile...
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