Shawn Oliver
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
This week may be as big a week in the company's history as Microsoft has ever had. We know, that's a pretty bold statement, but there's a lot of evidence to back that up. Microsoft has been drowning in negative press and negative vibes for most of Vista's life; it has tried for years to spit-shine the image of its "Wow!-inducing" operating...
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Heads-up, PC enthusiasts! Windows 7--Microsoft's self-proclaimed "best OS ever" is launching to the public tomorrow. Tomorrow, junior! It hasn't even been three full years since the launch of Windows Vista, but already Microsoft is looking to put the past behind it and get on with the new. A recent survey by iYogi has...
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Just when you thought the e-reader market couldn't get any wilder, it does. We've got Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Reader, Barnes & Noble's Nook, a host of other smaller devices and now this: the Entourage eDGe. The self-proclaimed "Dualbook" is sort of a e-reader/LCD book in one, with two screens that fold open and...
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There's no denying that YouTube is big. Really big. But is it this big? The video streaming site that Google picked up a few years back for a handsome sum is still struggling to become profitable, but handling events such as this may be exactly what it needs to do. Just last month we heard that YouTube was in talks to...
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Watch out, Kindle. You've got some competition--real competition. While the market gets saturated with e-book readers, Barnes & Noble has stepped in to shake things up in a big, big way. Until now, every other e-reader that hit the market was just another subpar offering. No other reader has really threatened the Kindle's dominance, but...
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TomTom's dedicated GPS business has thrived for years, but things are changing. Navigation applications are now moving to smaller devices, and oftentimes to devices that aren't made by the same company as the one making the software. Even TomTom has a navigation app for the iPhone, along with loads of other rival firms. And you can bet that...
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There's launching products for the holiday season, and then there's launching products for the holiday season. Apple pulled off what we imagine only Apple could pull off this afternoon, launching an incredible amount of new wares for the world to enjoy as shopping season kicks into full gear. From updated NAS drives to ground-breaking new...
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Just a decade ago, mentioning the phrase "cellphone etiquette" would probably get your laughed at. Today, it's a reasonable conversation to have. Just as the world has taken to an unofficial list of inflight Wi-Fi rules, the mobile community is also largely abiding by an unwritten set of rules that guide cellphone...
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Aircell's Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi has found its way into quite a few planes, though we can safely say that finding Internet on a plane is much like finding a needle in an ocean. But, to be fair, finding Internet on planes when flying Virgin America is a cinch--after all, it's one of the few airlines in the world to equip...
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If 2007 was the year of the notebook, and 2008 was the year of the HDTV, we think it's pretty safe to say 2009 is the year of the e-reader. Weird, right? Not in a million years would we have guessed that Amazon's highly covered foray into the e-ink market cause such a huge stir, but at this point, it's hard to think of all the e-readers on...
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Whenever Microsoft decides to push out a new operating system, PC makers--like clockwork--push out all new systems in order to showcase new wares on a new OS. Take Gateway, for instance, who has just released three new machines that are based on none other than Win7. The trifecta includes an 11.6" machine, which Gateway insists is an "ultraportable"...
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You know us--we'll never turn a blind eye to a good megacorp vs. megacorp battle. Be in Intel vs. NVIDIA, AMD vs. Intel or Dell vs. HP, we love to watch the shots from the sidelines. And folks, this is a good one. Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, recently sat down...
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Still haven't picked up an Xbox 360? Man, where have you been all these years? All kidding aside, we're pretty sure some of you are still getting by on your Super Nintendo, and while that's definitely fine (F-Zero for life!), but the time to get with the here and now has arrived. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has arrived in a...
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Motorola's CLIQ hasn't even shipped to T-Mobile USA customers, and already the outfit's "comeback phone" (not to mention its first-ever Android phone) is being greatly overshadowed. And by another phone in the Motorola family, no less. In a rather odd move on Moto's part, the company has seemingly tied the knot with Verizon Wireless for its...
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What comes to mind at the mention of "Memorex?" Blank optical media? A flash card maybe? A pocket camcorder? Unless you've somehow already heard of the all-new MyVideo, we're guessing the last option isn't the one you chose. Joining the likes of HP, Sony, Flip Video and a host of other companies out there looking to make a splash in the blossoming...
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It's almost the holiday season--do you know what that means? It probably means that you'll be giving at least one digital photo frame away as a gift, even though that person either a) won't use it or b) will re-gift it soon after. For whatever reason, these frames have become the "fruitcake" of the digital era...
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Ah, the elusive Android netbook...well, sorta. We've been hearing for quite some time now that mainstream PC makers were looking to shove Google's phone-centric operating system onto netbooks to give buyers another option when it came time to select a mini PC, but to date, few have shown interest in actually coming...
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Sony's PlayStation 3 "Slim" has only been on sale for a few months now, and while Sony has stated that sales are way, way up, we still didn't expect a 'round 2' to be available this soon. For those not content with the single "Slim" offering on the shelf (a 120GB model for $299), Sony will soon deliver a higher capacity model to US consumers...
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Whether or not Verizon Wireless wants it that way or not, RIM's BlackBerry Storm 2 is as good as official. The long-awaited successor the universally panned Storm is finally out, with the first carrier to come clean about it being Vodafone...way across the pond. Walt Mossberg (among other outlets) has also confirmed that the handset will soon...
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The SlingMobile application for the iPhone may be great for some, but for everyone else there's Monsoon's HAVA. The highly anticipated app, which was already launched on other platforms, has finally made its way past Apple's app security patrol and onto the App Store. What's it do? Put simply, it allows allows HAVA customers to view and control...
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There was once a time where the Bluetooth SIG was looking into pairing BT devices with Bluetooth, and even now, Bluetooth 3.0 relies on 802.11n for high-speed transfers. But we get the feeling that Wi-Fi wouldn't think twice of stabbing that "other" short-range communication protocol in the back, as evidenced by a new...
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It's a crazy world we live in. While some industries are shutting retail locations down to cope with a slower economy, the consumer electronics realm seems to be ramping up for growth. While Apple has already made the (smart) decision to open a 24/7 location in the Big Apple, Best Buy still has yet to open a single...
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