Shawn Oliver
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
It may not be the first USB 3.0 flash drive to be announced, but it's still one of the first (and it's blazing fast). PQI, a mainstay in the flash storage industry, has just introduced its newest USB stick, and this one is significantly more important than its last.A week after unveiling a pair of USB 3.0 external...
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The DirecTV 12 satellite just launched into orbit, enabling DirecTV to bring even more HD channels to its users. What else could it bring? A 3D channel, maybe.With the amount of high-def television networks seeming to expand by the day, we know it's just a matter of time before adding HD channels isn't enough to sway consumers over from one...
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Redbox. It's a name that is now linked directly to one-night DVD rentals on the cheap, and as if Netflix had not done enough already to put a kink in Blockbuster's business model, Redbox has all but destroyed it. These famously red boxes are now littered about at Walmart locales, grocery stores and other shopping...
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The HDTV business is booming, and even though they aren't nearly as buzz-worthy as they once were, that's clearly not stopping consumers from picking them up. High-def sets have withstood the test of time thus far, with more and more consumers jumping at the chance to upgrade to a flat-panel as each year passes by...
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The world continues to get smaller and smaller, and business is simultaneously becoming more and more a global matter. It's tough to do any business these days without some sort of interaction with someone in a foreign land, so knowing foreign languages has become increasingly important. Of course, it's not exactly...
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Each and every time that we think the e-ink and e-reader market has reached its temporary peak, we're reminded yet again exactly what "temporary" means. LG Display, a giant in the monitor and HDTV arena, has just signed a cross-licensing agreement with Taiwan's Prime View International Co., and it'll be buying up $30.5 million worth of that...
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First it was the influx of the pico projector, and now it seems that the projector-equipped phone is the next "big thing." Okay, so maybe we're jumping the gun a bit there, but it is sort of interesting that not one, but two projector phones have surfaced during the same month in the lead-up to CES 2010.Just a few weeks after LG introduced...
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Google threw a wrench in everyone's expectations when it announced that the Chrome OS wouldn't be widely available to install on just any machine. Unlike Windows 7, which can be installed on pretty much any x86-based machine, Chrome OS will be customized for a specific set of hardware components that Google deems fit. It's an interesting approach,...
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Electric vehicles sound fantastic in theory, but there's still the issue of charging the vehicles. Energy, even the kind not found in traditional fuel pumps, requires fossil fuels or a green alternative to make, and burning loads of coal in place of petrol doesn't exactly sound like a great compromise. Toyota seems to...
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Sanyo's Eneloop charging system has been growing at a rapid pace, but obviously not quite rapid enough. The company has just unleashed its latest in the line: the Eneloop Music Booster. As you might expect, this device is a rechargeable DV9V battery unit made specifically for music devices, and while most modern day...
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Asus, making vacuum cleaners? What on Earth is the world coming to? We know 2012 is supposed to bring about some fairly crazy happenings, but we aren't even out of 2009 yet! As the Roombas dominance in the robotic vac arena streaks towards its end, Asus--a mainstay in the consumer PC market--has decided to take a shot at ousting the king....
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If you somehow managed to not get that point and shoot camera for Christmas that you had been begging for, Samsung just might have something that'll suit your fancy coming up. We suspect that the company will make this "more official" sometime soon, but given that a fully detailed product page has already been...
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As the decade winds down, it's fun to look back and think just how different our world is now compared to this time in 1999. One of the easiest ways to see just how drastic the chances have been is to look at Amazon, which just put out some rather staggering fun facts. Without a doubt, the company's own hardware...
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We never really thought USB-connected monitors would take off, but take off they have. In the case of Mimo, the demand for them has soared so greatly that they've been able to stay in business and thrive by selling secondary monitors that connect via USB alone. One of the main drivers in making the whole USB monitor revolution tick is DisplayLink,...
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We recently had the chance to review an Asus gaming notebook with a mobile Core i7 within, and needless to say, we were rather blown away. If the trend continues, we're guessing the upcoming X77 will be just as impressive. Of course, Asus has yet to come forward and confirm that this machine is in fact a product it plans to produce, but the...
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It has probably happened to you if you've ever owned a desktop LCD or desktop tower: the curse of the not-quite-long-enough extension cable. It's pretty difficult to move a whole desk once you've got it set in place within your home, but adding an extension cord doesn't take much effort at all. The only problem is that a bright orange extension...
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We had initially called the story about the school employee getting the boot for using school PCs to run SETI the weirdest tech story of 2009, but man, this one is giving the SETI one a run for its money at the tail end of the year. A former Massachusetts prison inmate has been nailed with an 18-month prison sentence...
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Apple just can't catch a break. In the rumor department, not the sales/performance department. Even with the holidays upon us, the rumors are flaming up higher than ever, with the latest asserting that the company will be hosting a product event next month. Eagle-eyed folks have noticed that Apple has reserved space in late January at a venue...
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Not sure if you've noticed, but the human eye is pretty perceptive. So perceptive, in fact, that camera manufacturers have been attempting to create cameras that can see the same colors as a human eye for years, and while some have been created, they've all been so enormous that they're generally not useful to folks who would care to use them....
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The International Consumer Electronics Show is upon us, and that means new kit from every direction will be flowing our way. MSI is a big player in the motherboard, desktop and notebook space, so it makes sense to hear that it'll also be using the show to showcase new gear. One previously unmentioned machine that'll be making its debut in...
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Here's some news you just won't believe: on average, people spend more time on the Internet now than they did in the past. Shocking, isn't it?! A new Harris Poll has found that adult Internet users are now online an average of 13 hours per week, though the actual usage of those surveyed varies rather significantly. 20% of adult users are online...
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Let's see: we enjoy cars, and we enjoy Wi-Fi. So what's stopping us from enjoying them both at the same time? Just a small piece of hardware and a cell tower. We've already witnessed General Motors partner up with Autonet Mobile to bring more hotspots into its vehicle lineup, and as any true rival would, Ford is today...
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