Shawn Oliver
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
It's happening everywhere, really. Movie set-top boxes around the world are growing functionality at an alarming rate. Boxee has arrived on the Apple TV. Amazon Video on Demand is on Roku. And now, Pandora -- the world's most loved internet radio source, unscientifically speaking -- is on Vudu.Aside from boasting one of the largest high definition...
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Man, if MSI doesn't stop popping out new notebooks, people are seriously going to have a tough time deciding whether to jump in now or wait all the way until tomorrow to see what's "just around the bend." As the flood of new MSI machines amazingly continues, the U110 ECO has become the freshest of the fresh for the moment. Not surprisingly,...
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Oh, brother. Hot on the heels of some mildly good news from Advanced Micro Devices comes yet another downer. Just to give you a bit of background before we dive in, AMD just recently closed a deal that spun off its manufacturing into a newly formed company that was eventually coined GlobalFoundries, Inc. Being the logical thinkers that they...
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Astoundingly, it looks like the darkest DRM days are behind us. As more and more companies digest the fact that DRM only hurts the legitimate buyers and gives pirates even more incentive to plunder for illicit bounty, we're seeing the DRM shackles removed from music stores across the web. The latest major company to cast aside the chains...
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These days, it's all about social networking. If your app doesn't integrate "friends" in one way or another, chances are it won't last long in today's hyper-connected universe. Thus, it makes perfect sense to see Hulu adding a splash of friendship on its very first birthday. Believe it or not, the online video portal -- which has been under...
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If you've been waiting ever patiently for new Nehalem server chips since the microarchitecture was detailed at IDF way back in August of 2008, we have wonderful news to pass along. Following a short, exclusive release within Apple's newest Mac Pro systems, the Nehalem-class Xeon server microprocessors and platforms are reportedly gearing...
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So, here's a thought. You know how vehicles sold in America have a "city" and "highway" MPG rating? And you know how cellphone companies rate their devices with a "standby time" and "talk time?" Why don't notebook makers follow suit? That terrific talking point is coming at you courtesy of AMD's senior vice president and chief marketing officer...
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Here lately, MSI has definitely been on the notebook kick. Day after day, we've seen new laptop after new laptop emerge to fit pretty much every budget and every wish list. Today, however, the company is breaking from the norm to talk up its sound equipment; more specifically, its X-Fi-enabled motherboards.MSI asserts that of all the mainboards...
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With all of the conference tournaments going on, you can just feel it in the air. The calendar says March, the jerseys are coming out and you just know the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is but days aways. And you -- you hard-worker, you -- are stuck in the office, or on the road, or somewhere not near a beautiful HDTV.Fret not, dear worker...
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It's tough to fathom that it was 2004 when we were drooling over Nintendo's cutest, if not a touch bulky, handheld ever: the DS. Originally hailed for its groundbreaking usage of dual screens (one of which was touch-friendly), the system was a runaway hit from day one. Here we are, nearly five years later, listening to Nintendo gloat about...
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Not satisfied with simply introducing a new platform that's more diminutive than the already tiny Mini-ITX, VIA has stepped in with an all new media system processor that aims to bring power efficiency to 1080p-capable systems. The VX855 MSP offers up hardware-based H.264 video acceleration in a staggeringly small, highly integrated single...
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Another weekday, another MSI notebook. After detailing a new line of gaming and multimedia laptops at CeBIT this month, the company seems to be trickling out even more as the month of March marches on. Yesterday it was the bargain-minded VX600; today it's the stylish and nimble VR430.MSI's latest (for now, anyway) notebook features a decorative...
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A-DATA has been on a surefire roll of late with new introductions in its flash memory family, and it seems that roll isn't stopping today. Shortly after delivering a 512GB 2.5" XPG SSD, the company has now introduced a slightly less high-end model that's half as roomy but still exceptionally fast. The 2.5" SATAII SSD 300 Plus features an all...
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During our recent time with Asus' Eee PC 1000HE, we tried playing back a 1080p movie trailer just for kicks. To our surprise, it did manage to stutter along and get through it, but it was far from "watchable." And that was with an Atom N280 within. Now, we're seeing a diminutive new media PC with Intel's aging 1.6GHz Atom N270 that can reportedly...
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It's kind of funny, really. Not even a month ago, we didn't know if Sirius would actually be a company come mid-March. Now, we're looking at an outfit with real potential for growth and success. Interesting how a perfect suitor and a good move to partner with a hot-as-fire device can change things, huh?We've heard that Liberty Media (DirecTV's...
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Frankly, it's getting difficult to even keep track of all the new notebooks coming from the assembly lines at MSI. After introducing a new crop at CeBIT last week, the company has issued today the VX600, a bargain-minded machine that aims to provide decent everyday performance and enough power to handle the occasional multimedia duty. In order...
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It's not like Hitachi Displays really needs any bad news considering just how poorly LCD sales are going right now, but regardless of that, it's still facing a fine that none of us would be fond of facing. The Japanese electronics manufacturer has just agreed (begrudgingly we're sure) to pay a staggering $31 million fine for its role in a...
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Fusion-io, the company famous for producing the world's fastest and most expensive SSD solution, is back again with another blazing fast innovation. This time, we're drooling over the ioDrive Duo, which is hailed as the fastest and most innovative SSD this planet has ever seen. Per usual, the server-based PCI Express SSD offering is aimed...
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While AMD's dedicated chip sales may be sagging, the company has still found reason to celebrate. With the success of the Wii comes the inevitable success of AMD, at least in small part. Today, Advanced Micro Devices proudly announced that the 50 millionth ATI 'Hollywood' graphics processor has shipped from Nintendo today, and if you're having...
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Another week, another pair of IBuyPower gaming desktops to tempt your ever-stressed credit limit. This time, we've got the Gamer Fire 640 and Gamer Paladin F830, both of which check in under the $2000 ceiling and aim for the mid- to high-end gamer. Also, these each are outfitted with NVIDIA's GeForce 3D Vision and come bundled with a Samsung...
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Obviously, most of the focus in Redmond these days is on Windows 7 Beta. So it's pretty shocking to see a new wave of hardware roll out of Microsoft's labs this week, particularly hardware like a notebook cooling pad and colorful mice. With notebook sales outpacing desktops by a solid three-to-one margin (according to Microsoft, anyway), the...
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Sometimes, there's no point in challenging the current king. Instead, it's much simpler to just sit back, concede to second place and leave all the stress to the aforementioned champion of the domain. That seems to the be mantra wrapped into Samsung's latest desktop hard drive, which falls just 500GB shy of matching Western Digital's current...
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