Ray Willington
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Who owns a smartphone? The better question may be: who doesn't own a smartphone? The Pew Research Center has just conducted a poll, and they found that one-third of American adults own a smartphone. Actually, a bit more: 35%. And that's just adults; based on the amount of kids we see walking...
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Windows 7 is big. Really big. Huge. In fact, Steve Ballmer announced today that Microsoft has shipped 400 million licenses of Windows 7. The company has been seriously rolling since the OS was launched two years ago. The statement was made today as Steve opened up the annual Worldwide Partner...
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Got a big-screen Android tablet coming your way? It's not unlikely. With 7" tablets all but extinguished, it's clear that 10+" tablets are the future. And in order to address that, Google's announcing that there's a new mode for use with...
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That Facebook phone? It's coming, and it'll be arriving to AT&T later this month. Just in time for the wild, wild high school summers, HTC's Status will be landing on AT&T starting July 17. The phone is up for pre-order starting today, offering a 2.6" touch panel, a dedicated Facebook...
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Backup hard drives are a dime a dozen these days, but Clickfree has something that none of those others have: guaranteed no-click backups with some of the slickest software doing it. These drives probably aren't the best for power users who love to manually initiate every process that happens...
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iRiver's Story HD e-reader isn't the newest e-reader on the block; it's been around, as they say. But starting on July 17, it will be available for sale in Target stores nationwide and on Target.com, and more importantly, it will become...
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Bigfoot Networks has quietly gone from a niche startup that only targeted hardcore gamers, to a company that seems to be cracking into new parterships all the time. They've already managed to get their products into mainboards and GPUs...
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iPad case, anyone? How about one with a built-in solar panel? It's possible to have the both of those with Element5's newest product, the Mini L Solarbag. It's a Swiss-made case that'll hold your iPad, iPad 2 or any other iOS device with a Dock Connector. There's also a bit of room for...
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There's good news, and bad. The good news is that a new Nyko accessory (the Zoom) will be shipping on August 23rd, and it aims to reduce the amount of room you need for Microsoft's Kinect to pick up moves effectively. As it stands, you need around 10' of space for it to work properly. But the...
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Microsoft's cooking up a new mouse? It sure looks like it! Without any fanfare to speak of, the Microsoft Explorer Touch Mouse has popped up across the pond at a Christmas in July event. First snapped by Pocket-lint, this new touch/haptic-sensitive mouse was seen first at a showcase, and even still hasn't officially been announced. The real...
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We've seen that companies who actively listen and respond positively to their customers always end up winning. It's the companies that ignore the obvious feedback that end up having to worry. HTC is one of those companies who have gone out of their way in order to address some of the loudest concerns of their users. Most recently, that has...
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Updates, updates. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. The world's full of 'em, and Maingear is giving one of their flagship gaming notebooks yet another burst of power if you're willing to spring for it. The company's new Clutch-15 series notebook can now be ordered with NVIDIA's...
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Is Spotify making their U.S. debut as early as this coming week? That's the word on the street. After opening up an invite page and officially announcing that they're coming to the States after years of doing well in Europe, the company (which is based in London) will reportedly launch the...
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Not sold on the Kindle? If you're head over heels for the Kobo eReader Touch Edition, there's actually a good bit of good news to share. The company's continuing the update process surrounding the device, with a new v1.9.5 firmware update...
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Good news and bad news this weekend for HTC Thunderbolt owners on Verizon Wireless. The good news, per usual, shall come first. That involves a new firmware update (still Froyo) that's being pushed to handsets as we speak. It improves data...
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Ouch. We know Apple has tons and tons of spare cash on hand, but no one's really interested in handing over $8 million of it for no good reason. This weekend, the Cupertino, CA-based company was asked to pay Personal Audio LLC a whopping...
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Here's a great concept: integrate messaging services that are on your phone, with your PC. That way, whenever a message comes to your phone while you're on your PC, well, you'll be able to reply without having to reach down and mess with your handset. MightyText is enabling that kind of...
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My, oh my. Is the world ending? Is the sky falling? What, exactly, is going on here? New data from tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan has proven that U.S. music album sales are up for the first six months of 2011, compared to a year ago...
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Google+ (or Google Plus, if you're saying it aloud) has taken the social networking world by storm. It's certainly not the next Facebook (it's actually quite different), but there's no doubt that people are anxious to join in and see what the hubbub is all about. One that that social...
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One of the most storied characters ever will soon be coming to one of the most storied mobile platforms ever. And then, coming to another one. Reportedly, Nintendo is gunning to bring Pokemon where it has never been before: iOS and Android. That's right, the two biggest smartphone platforms in...
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Nintendo may see companies like HTC, Google, Sony Ericsson and Apple as the real rivals in the mobile gaming space, but the whole 'can't beat 'em, join 'em' phrase doesn't apply universally. Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman for the company, recently told Bloomberg that their strategy to develop...
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iCloud, Google Music, Rhapsody -- where to turn? There seems to be a sudden influx in cloud-based music storage and streaming services, and while we aren't complaining about the competition, it's getting tougher to weed through and figure out what's actually worth honing in on. Amazon has just...
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