Rob Williams
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Since its introduction a couple of years ago, Google's AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) project has gained quite a bit of adoption, and for good reason. AMP exists to let people load webpages on their mobile devices quicker, thanks to Google's automatic caching that comes into play when visiting an AMP URL. Scripts that...
Read more...
It didn't take long after President Trump's presidential inauguration for decisions to be made that impacted a lot of people in one fell swoop. That couldn't be more true than with the recent executive order to temporarily bar entry into the US for a series of predominantly Muslim countries, including Syria, Iraq, and...
Read more...
Given how popular drones are nowadays, it's becoming more common to see them put to use in new and imaginative ways. Unfortunately, folks don't always know where and when it's safe to fly them. In some cases, users might know, but still disregard the rules put in place for safety in the skies, and instead just take...
Read more...
What's that sound? Oh, it's just the collective sound of Fallout fans who'd rather not game on mobile platforms letting out a collective "Finally!". That's right: Bethesda's super-hot mobile game based on the Fallout universe, called Fallout Shelter, is coming to Xbox One, as well as Windows 10 PCs. Sorry, PlayStation...
Read more...
Just a couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the Israeli security firm Cellebrite, and how it suffered a major data breach. After the information began to trickle out, it seemed like no real damage was done. Cellebrite itself said that what leaked was an old, irrelevant backup. A new discovery, however, questions that...
Read more...
At Microsoft's WinHEC 2016 conference, which took place in December in Shenzhen, the company outlined suggestions of what the hottest devices in 2017 should include. The company has finally made its presentation public, so we can get a feel for what's coming this year. Admittedly, not much should be a surprise, but...
Read more...
Activision Blizzard Launches Consumer Products Division Spearheaded By Former Mattel And Disney Exec
If you're a fan of any Activision or Blizzard game series, then there's a new reason to be excited. Announced today, parent company Activision Blizzard is launching a new division focused squarely on consumer products. Love Overwatch? Expect to see an even greater selection with your geek gear soon.
To launch this...
Read more...
Here at HotHardware, we've talked a lot about the importance of keeping good backups. On a personal level, a failed backup would affect just a couple of people (if not just one); but carelessness in the enterprise can can affect a lot more people. Unfortunately, this is a lesson GitLab has found out the hard...
Read more...
When ransomware strikes, its impact could range from mild to severe. Sometimes, ransomware targets regular users, while other times, it targets important mega-corporations (or even police stations). In this latest incident, it affected a hotel, and subsequently ran the risk of affecting all of its guests.
Here it...
Read more...
For what we're sure are obvious reasons, Google has long blocked certain types of attachments from being sent through its Gmail service. Those include .bat (Windows Batch), .exe (Windows executable), and .msc (Microsoft Management Console). Soon, .js (JavaScript) will be joining the prohibited ranks.
This is the...
Read more...
If you've been drinking, it's not outside the realm of possibility to believe that you might gain a hankering for some Tostitos. Apparently, the company understands this demographic well, as it decided to integrate a breathalyzer into a special edition bag of chips that aims to tell those who might think about driving...
Read more...
Microsoft has just released a brand-new Insider Preview build for Windows 10, and if you've been anxious to give the new 'Game Mode' a test, it's now available. However, it's important to mention right from the get-go that this particular build ironically breaks many "popular" games, so if you're worried about being...
Read more...
While it's not that hard to find a notebook preinstalled with Linux nowadays (you still need to put some effort in), what's even rarer is finding a Linux notebook that's branded with some GNU goodness. That changes with the Slimbook. Ahem, "KDE Slimbook".
Slimbook is a Spanish notebook provider that thrives on...
Read more...
With BioWare's Mass Effect: Andromeda set to launch in less than two months (March 21st, to be exact), we had a hunch that there would be an influx of trailers before then. As it happens, we were right! A couple of days ago, BioWare released a video that highlights the Pathfinder Team, which introduced the game's two...
Read more...
The upcoming 'Creator's Update' for Windows 10 is shaping up to be one of the best "service packs" (if we can call them that) that Microsoft has ever released. While it's not the most exciting feature being added with the update, enhanced security is something that will be appreciated by a broad spectrum of customers...
Read more...
Performing any sort of research can be tedious, but when it's scientific research, that tedium can be brought to a new level. The reason is simple: there's a mind-boggling amount of information out there to comb through, and while much of it can be accessed by those who need it, the real challenge is actually finding...
Read more...
Valve releases more updates to Steam than we care to count, but the latest one, which dropped over the weekend, is going to make a lot of people very happy. With this update, players can finally move their games from one location to another, pain-free.
Power users have been able to move their games via manual...
Read more...
These days, machine-learning along with artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly capable, and we're seeing their use applied to things we might not have immediately expected. Case in point: last month, we talked about how AI was being used to craft the most perfect beer.
But as wonderous as AI beer may...
Read more...
If you're in a situation where your phone has data, but your tablet doesn't, and Wi-Fi isn't an immediate option, things can get frustrating pretty quickly. Consider checking into a hotel, for example, which only allows one or two devices to connect to the Wi-Fi - that's a major roadblock for those with their...
Read more...
Nintendo confirmed this past week that the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would be the big N's final release for the Wii U, much to the chagrin of the fans who've stuck by the console since its release in 2012. Nonetheless, if Wii U owners are not planning to make an immediate jump to the Switch, it...
Read more...
Hot on the heels of our coverage of an in-depth guide showing you how to make your own "NES Classic Edition" with a Raspberry Pi, ASUS strikes with a DIY kit that it says is about twice as fast as the RPi 3. The DIY retro gaming arena could be heating up with more powerful options!
The Tinker Board, as ASUS calls...
Read more...
It appears that the first Mac malware discovery of 2017 belongs to "Quimitchin", a strange little find that targets, of all things, scientific research. The "strange" part of the malware comes from the fact that it features system calls that have long been deprecated, or at least haven't been relevant for quite some...
Read more...
