Shawn Oliver
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Not one to rest on its laurels (or platters, as it were), Seagate is introducing a slew of new products just days after tickling the small business arena with its new BlackArmor external storage solutions. Today, the outfit is bestowing upon the storage world a bevy of new FreeAgent external drives: the FreeAgent Go for Mac with USB, FreeAgent...
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Wow, can you believe it? At long last, Boxee is on Windows. It's sort of strange how one of the world's most popular applications first arrived on Mac, then Linux and on Windows last, but at least the world's most popular operating system can now run the program natively. In what we're considered the company's most significant announcement...
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A few months have gone by since we've seen any new machines from Gateway, but the company is following the crowd this month by introducing back-to-school PCs long before most kids are even thinking about the next term. The two new lines introduced today are the small form factor SX Series and the compact DX Series mini-tower line, both of...
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HP's "Mini" line of netbooks emerged quite some time ago, and while it has basically remained true to its roots, we're glad to see the line evolving somewhat to react to changes in demand. The Hewlett-Packard Mini 5101 is a more business-like machine, one's that classically styled and plenty powerful for the average business user. The 2.6lb....
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It's the summer, and if you've planning on traveling any--on vacation or otherwise--you'll probably be wishing you had some sort of mouse to carry along with your laptop. In case any of the other ones that have come out recently weren't quite your cup of tea, Belkin has a few newcomers that just might be.The Wireless Comfort Mouse and the...
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Hear ye, hear ye! If you've been tossing around the idea of putting Windows 7 on your rig, you should probably get a move on. The Windows Team has chimed in to remind us all that Windows 7 Beta users will soon be annoyed into upgrading to Windows 7 RC1, while even those on the sidelines best grab the latter soon.Starting on July 1st, Windows...
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Man, what a month for cellphones! The Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS and T-Mobile myTouch 3G were just the beginning, as HTC has revealed its newest smartphone in back-to-back launch events in London and New York. While the handset hums along on Android, it's not a typical version of the OS. HTC asserts that its Hero is the world’s first Android-based...
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It's hard to believe that the machine we'll be inspecting in the pages ahead is actually real and shipping. It's not so much a feat of engineering as it is a feat in product development. You see, we just wrapped up our evaluation of Asus' 1008HA Seashell three weeks ago, and already we're being treated to the second "Seashell" model to...
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With broadband speeds on the rise elsewhere in the world, we're proud to see Verizon bumping the rates of its fiber-based FiOS Internet Service. Available in far too few places in the US, this service is known for its blazing fast download rates. But know, it'll be known for its blazing fast upload rates. With the use of YouTube and video...
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Just days after Apple started to ship its newest lineup of MacBook Pro units, the company has already issued a firmware update. Why so fast, you ask? For whatever reason, Apple decided to ship some of its hard drive-based MacBook Pro units with a SATA drive interface pegged at "just" 1.5Gbps. Apple followers would know that the non-Pro 13"...
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Belkin's latest media streaming solution certainly isn't the first to utilize Powerline, but it's the first that we've seen in quite some while that really instills confidence. Engineered specifically to handle the high pressures of HD streaming, the Belkin Gigabit Powerline Adapters are made to handle Gigabit speeds as high as 1000Mbps, which...
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Intel has been floundering a bit around in the pocket mobile and handset space for some time now. After grabbing a solid foothold in the netbook market (seriously, what netbook doesn't have an Atom under the hood these days?), the company is now looking to take the mobile space ever more seriously. In order to do so, the Intel has formally...
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Facts are facts, and while one may have assumed the netbook was just a fad, it's now clear that the sector is strong. To that end, Samsung is making sure it's not going to miss out on the growth, this week announcing that it is sampling a SATA-interface mini-card solid state drive (SSD) with some of its customers. Not surprisingly, the company...
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Kodak. A name synonymous with "camera." A legend and an icon in the industry. And yet, even it can't resist technological changes forever. As the world continues to go digital and the idea of shooting on "film" becomes more far-fetched with each passing day, Kodak has been forced to slam the axe on its KODACHROME Color Film. In a tear-jerking...
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Wow, talk about a sudden influx of new phone choices. Within the span of just a few weeks, American mobile users have been introduced to Palm's Pre on Sprint, Apple's iPhone 3GS on AT&T and now T-Mobile's myTouch 3G on (you guessed it) T-Mobile USA. Officially, this phone is the followup to the T-Mobile G1, the planet's first-ever Android-based...
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Had enough of Acer's Aspire netbooks? Good, because the company has just revealed two new machines that are about as far as one can get from small, light and underpowered. The newest Aspire notebooks fall in the multimedia/gaming-centric Gemstone line, both incorporating 16:9 widescreen displays, Dolby surround sound and--gasp!--full size...
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Back in March of this year, Seagate added a pair of new BlackArmor NAS devices to its growing portfolio, and now the company is issuing three more in the direction of small business owners. The firm's BlackArmor series is known for being all-business, and these two are no exception to that rule.The newcomers include the BlackArmor NAS 220...
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It's a tough time for Blu-ray to be really hitting its stride. Many consumers are still wary due to the battle with HD-DVD, and frankly, many are still content with DVD. In too many cases, upscaled DVD looks "good enough" for consumers, and only those with oodles of disposable income are willing to fork out for Blu-ray. Blu-ray player prices...
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It's no Android phone, but it's still pretty snazzy. Samsung's latest entry into the smartphone arena goes simply by "Jet," and it definitely sports a motif that matches its label. Boasting a sleek, full touchscreen design, the Jet is said to be "smarter than a smartphone." Samsung has included a multi-task manager and support for Microsoft...
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Think you can handle up to 250 video displays at once? If you're Samsung, you're leaning "yes." Thanks to an all new Video Wall system introduced this week, up to 250 panels can be controlled by a single server, thus creating a "virtual monitor" of sorts that can display an obviously wide variety of material in real time. The Ultra-Definition...
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Samsung just got done wowing us with a memory announcement of its own, and now Micron is dashing in to ensure that it too receives a bit of RAM attention this week. Catering to performance-oriented notebook users, Micron has announced that users can now take advantage of optimized battery life and portability with a new line of low-voltage,...
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It has to stop at some point, right? Or does it, really? With Windows 7 just months away from a public release (October 22, if you needed a reminder), Microsoft is yet again showing its soft spot for Windows XP. Right or wrong, the general public view of Windows Vista is that it didn't live up to the hype, and in many respects, WinXP is a...
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