Ray Willington
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Careful not to attribute this to the Instagram acquisition -- after all, that still hasn't cleared all regulatory hurdles and officially closed. But it's becoming ever more obvious that Facebook is growing beyond just being a social network; it's a legitimate company now, a software company...
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2012 is shaping up to be a major year for mobile operating systems. For those fortunate enough to own a smartphone, these are exciting times. Competition is fierce, and the winner is you. Regardless of which platform you're keen on, you can bet that each of the major players are pushing...
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So, this is interesting. Evidently, making $1.6 billion in pure profit in a quarter isn't enough to justify keeping 27,000 on the payroll. It's obviously never that easy, nor that cut and dry, but HP is choosing a quarter where it profited...
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It's been a strange month, maybe even year, for Yahoo. But with the CEO runaround and the Alibaba stock deal out of the way (for now), it's time to get down to business. Browser business. With Google seeing monumental success with Chrome, and even Apple to some extent with Safari, it's Yahoo's...
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Anyone who has spent any amount of time in a vehicle with a voice-recognition system understands how lackluster most of them are. Even fancier rides usually have pathetic voice systems. Most drivers don't even bother to use the majority of...
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Remember webTV? It's not coming back in the same way that it left, but it's clear that more web browsing is going on on TVs now that "Smart TVs" are finding their way into homes. Hillcrest Labs is announcing today an entirely new level to...
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Sometimes, weather just doesn't cooperate. For times when rain and mist quite literally moisten your parade, most folks would be content with simply not taking photographs. But if you're armed with Pentax's new 16MP K-30 DSLR, you can shoot away without too much worry. The company's latest...
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Voyager Mobile one day, and now, Virgin Mobile the next. These days, it's the prepaid carriers making just as many waves as the postpaid ones, and Virgin Mobile is stepping up its game with a new $40 Unlimited Talk and Text plan ideal for...
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Another mobile carrier in the States? Well, we can't really complain about increased competition, now can we? With the MVNO library growing by the month (seemingly, anyway), here's another to consider: Voyager Mobile. After a slight delay...
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Samsung and Apple. It's the tech war of the decade, and the two titans are at each other's throat in the public eye. Despite doing business with one another in backrooms for chips and whatnot, there's no love lost when it comes to design...
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Bringing the Internet to rural places is one thing, but bringing it to every corner of the sky? That's a goal that we can also get behind. Gogo has delivered Wi-Fi to huge amounts of aircraft crisscrossing America. But, to truly dominate, you need the whole world looking your way. Thus, the...
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Windows 8 is coming this year. At this point, it's accepted. It's almost taken for granted. But building an entire operating system is an insane job, and doing it time and time again is even crazier. Microsoft has been pounding away at...
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What if your next display was one that you wore on your head? It could be. Silicon Micro Display has just announced their new ST1080 glasses, an almost futuristic gizmo that allows for 1080p playback right in front of your face. It's similar in scope to the Vuzix displays that are already out...
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The machine shown here may not look nearly as good as the latest Digital Storm PC or Alienware laptop, but that's not the point. The point is to put a lot of power into a portable package, and make it sip power in a way that monster towers can only dream of doing. VIA knows a thing or two about efficiency, with the new VIA AMOS-3002 being...
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Unsure if you've noticed, but Ultrabooks have been looking mighty sharp of late. With vendor after vendor aiming for an ever-tighter, slimmer piece of the notebook pie, Acer has outdone itself with the new TravelMate P243 series. It's...
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As devices shrink, so too much storage. It's just how it goes. SSDs have taken the place of HDDs in tighter tablets and notebooks, and Samsung is hoping to squeeze even more out of every memory chip it makes, too. With smartphones becoming...
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When it comes to Android, it's all about skinning for partner OEMs. For Samsung, there's TouchWiz. For HTC, there's Sense. And for LG, there's an all new Optimus UI 3.0. The company is introducing its latest UI overhaul, which applies to...
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RunCore has spent loads of time over the years trumpeting their high-speed SSDs, but here's something else that's probably even more novel. The company has just launched its InVincible Solid State Disc drive. A cute name, yes, but there's...
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The Ultrabook category is still alive and well, and in fact, still growing. Sony has just announced a new VAIO S, available in 13.3" and 15.5" screen sizes. The S Series 13 and 15 will ship with rigid cases crafted from magnesium, aluminium and carbon fibre (depends on model), with the S...
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LaCie's design instincts haven't changed much over the years, but that's certainly not a bad thing. This week, the company announced a new 2-bay network-attached storage solution aimed at small businesses and power users. The LaCie 2big NAS, design by Neil Poulton, is powered by a 2GHz...
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Intel's 3rd-generation Core i7 CPUs are certainly forces to be reckoned with, but they aren't the best option for most businesses. In order to give enterprise users an option, too, the company's introducing a 3rd wave of their Core vPro CPUs. These units are shipping now, aimed at notebooks...
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What if your mobile carrier were a company you actually trusted and liked? Most folks in the U.S.A. would scoff at such a notion, but we can't fault newcomer Voyager Mobile for trying something radically different. The company has announced a new MVNO plan that'll run on Sprint's nationwide...
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