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Sharp Jump sidekicks its way onto Cincinnati Bell
Canada's Mobilicity relaunched the Sidekick LX as the Mobiflip out of nowhere late last year -- and the odd trend's picking up stream, it seems. Next is Cincinnati Bell, rechristening Sharp's latest (and most likely last) Hiptop model the "Jump." Now, seeing how Microsoft and Danger are shutting down the Hiptop back end on May 31st, we can only assume that both the Jump and the Mobiflip are both specially modified to bypass the cloud, much the same way Verizon tweaked and relaunched the Kins to turn them into low-end texting machines without the benefit of the Kin Studio. It's an odd move, but we suppose Sharp had some inventory to clear out -- and $39.99 on contract ain't bad for a WVGA device with a full QWERTY keyboard, we suppose. [Thanks, Adam]
The Perfect Ten: The secret lives of NPCs
It is fun, I've decided, to overthink things in life. This is especially relevant in MMOs, where we've long since taken absolutely bizarre staples as the accepted status quo. Sure, it's all polite fiction that allows developers to merge necessary game mechanics with a veneer of credibility, but many elements of MMOs simply fall apart when put under the microscope. Case in point, the NPC. Is there a figure in online games that more symbolizes the thin barrier between the server database and user playerbase than the non-player character? NPCs exist to fill the world with warm bodies so that places don't feel empty, yet they also exhibit no more life than a mannequin with a tape recorder strapped to its back. These cardboard cutouts of the MMO scene are either reanimated corpses struggling to remember basic quest-giving instructions, or else they're prisoners of a foul witch who has struck the entire land with a paralyzing spell. So even though it's 2011 and you'd think that NPCs would be showing us more signs of life than swiveling slightly when we approach, I'm happy to jump in and offer my opinion as to the secret life of these figures. What makes them tick? What do they get out of helping -- and prodding -- us into action? Why don't they ever sleep or use the bathroom? Just who are these people we encounter and dismiss every day?
T-Mobile offers Sidekick owners half off Samsung phones or waived ETFs
Well, we knew T-Mobile was promising an "easy transition" for Sidekick owners once Danger's long-running cloud service was shut down later this spring, and we now finally have the details on exactly what that transition will entail. According to a letter sent to Sidekick owners and obtained by TmoNews, the carrier will be offering either fifty percent off "select" Samsung phones purchased on a new two-year contract, or a waived early termination fee between March 31st and May 31st for those that prefer to just pack up and go elsewhere. Hit up the source link below to read the complete letter if you haven't already received one yourself.
RIP, Danger, 2002 - 2011: Microsoft axing service on May 31st, T-Mobile promises an 'easy transition'
Oh, come on, you saw this coming: Kin represented what was supposed to be Danger's rebirth under Microsoft's half-billion-dollar umbrella -- and when that failed, there wasn't really a future for these guys in the cards. We've received a statement today from T-Mobile breaking the news that Danger's cloud services will be decommissioned after May 31st, and the problem with Sidekicks is that they're more or less paperweights without a connection to Danger's servers... so if you're still using one, you're definitely going to need a new phone. For T-Mobile's part, they're saying that they'll "provide offers... to help make an easy transition" from old phone to new, and they'll be sharing those offers in the coming weeks. If anything, we wouldn't be surprised if the carrier was simply waiting for its all-new, Samsung-made, Android-powered Sidekick to be ready in the hopes that they'll be able to keep folks in the Sidekick fold even though Danger's gone. They're also providing web-based tools and Sidekick apps to get data off the devices, so you can't say they're not doing all the right things in light of the situation. Smart of Microsoft to make sure the statement comes from T-Mobile, too, since it means the carrier can get out ahead of the panic before it starts. See the full statement after the break.
T-Mobile Sidekick 4G in the wild, made by Samsung?
If these first in-the-wild shots of T-Mobile's upcoming Android-powered Sidekick 4G turn out to be legit -- and we've no reason to doubt them, especially considering TmoNews' track record -- then we'd say the carrier has done a reasonably good job porting the classic Sidekick design and pulling it into the modern age off the strength of a big display... and, of course, a modern operating system. Interestingly, word on the street is that the new model is made by Samsung, not Sharp; historically, Sharp has made all of the Sidekicks with the exception of the forgettable Slide, which was a Motorola one-off. Looks like the swivel display has been replaced by a tilt-slide, but most importantly, the device looks the same when open and closed, which should put a warm, fuzzy feeling in the hearts of old-school Sidekick users. Who's excited?
T-Mobile confirms Galaxy S with 4G, Android-based Sidekick 4G are coming (update: pic)
Whoa, this is kind of out of the blue: on top of the Vibrant 4G that we've already had leaked ad nauseam (though he refers to it as a "Galaxy S 4G"), T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm mentioned at an event this morning that the company is preparing an HSPA+ Sidekick -- yes, a Sidekick -- albeit with Android slotted in place of the defunct Danger Hiptop operating system. For the record, T-Mobile hasn't had any Sidekicks in its lineup since the middle of last year, though it does own the Sidekick brand -- not Danger / Microsoft -- and would undoubtedly love to bring it back to relevance. Coincidentally, Mister Android himself, Andy Rubin, came from Danger -- so the Sidekick's starting to follow him around. Kind of like... you know, a sidekick. Both products are said to be "coming soon." Update: After the break, spot a picture of what the Sidekick might look like, likely courtesy of HTC -- there's no mistaking that QWERTY keyboard layout.
DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video)
From enhancing your WoW game to putting you in Tom Hanks's shoes, DIYers the world o'er really do seem to love Kinect. And what do we have here? Taylor Veltrop's Veltrobot remote telepresence 'bot uses the PrimeSense open source Kinect drivers for tracking the user's skeleton, with a modified Kondo KHR-1HV mirroring the operator's movements (which are received via 802.11n WiFi). Right now he is only controlling the arms, but with any luck we should be seeing complete control over all the robot's movements soon enough. Once the thing is finalized, Veltrop plans on releasing an open source development kit. And then? That's right: robot avatars for everyone!
Sharp Mobiflip channels Sidekick LX's vibes for Mobilicity
Thought the launch of the Kin ONEm and TWOm was strange? Here's another oddity with a Microsoft tie-in: Canadian startup Mobilicity has just announced the "Mobiflip," a phone that the carrier's own press release calls out as being "similar to the Sidekick LX." It's unclear whether what's left of Danger will be supporting the device -- the Sidekick line basically pioneered mobile cloud computing, after all -- but what we see of the interface certainly rings true to the Sidekicks of days gone by. It runs CAD $99.99 ($98) contract-free, which is a whole heck of a lot cheaper than its American doppelganger launched for -- $250 on contract, if you recall. Yowza! Follow the break for the press release.
PrimeSense's OpenNI provides the best Kinect drivers yet, from someone who would know
We've been so wrapped up in Kinect hacks lately that we actually missed a Kinect non-hack that emerged last week. PrimeSense, who built the initial Project Natal reference hardware for Microsoft, has released its own open source drivers for the Kinect. PrimeSense is working with Willow Garage (best known for its open source ROS robot operating system), and Side-Kick (a motion gaming startup) through a new OpenNI organization it set up, and the trio will be combining their powers for good. The OpenNI framework will cover low-level hardware support (drivers for actual cameras and other sensors), and high-level visual tracking (turning your body into a 3D avatar that kicks ass in a virtual world). This should be a boon to an already vibrant Kinect hacking community, and if the video above is any indication, we aren't far from Kinect-level interaction and gameplay on our lowly PCs. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
A City of Heroes-style mentoring system "in the long-term plan" for Cataclysm
UPDATE: The Escapist has posted the full text of their interview with Ghostcrawler, so I've replaced the "abridged" version with the actual exchange instead. Those of you who've played other MMOs (yes, they exist) might recall a feature from City of Heroes (yes, CoH did it before EQ2) that let you temporarily level down your character to a friend's level, allowing you to do any kind of level-relevant content together. Well, guess what? Blizzard is planning to let you do the same thing in a Cataclysm content patch, avoiding the type of situation you see above. The Escapist recently interviewed Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street about Cataclysm, and this exchange took place: Ghostcrawler: A very simple thing we've done is just put on your character panel what phase you're in. So that you can look and be like "Oh, so the reason I can't see you is because we're in different phases." Long-term, we're trying to work on a system where you can actually go back and forward a little bit. You might be able to scale your character down levels in order to go play with a friend, and even redo quests that you've done before. Part of the reason we're able to do that is because of the technology we originally developed for heirloom items, which are items that scale. And then for the Cataclysm expansion, we've changed spells, so they also scale with level. So instead of having ranks now, your fireball will just get more powerful as you gain levels. So since you can scale both class spells and items really easily, now we think we can actually let you lower your level down if you want to play with somebody else. I kinda wanted to have that for Cataclysm launch, but it's a feature we're working on. John Funk: So do you think that's saying that, like cross-server dungeons, it might be patched in before the next expansion? Ghostcrawler: Yeah. I mean, we gotta get this one out the door first to know how much we need to do for the patches that come afterwards, but it's definitely in the long-term plan. We hadn't heard anything about this feature before, but it sounds great -- this way, you can play with a lowbie friend without drastically reducing his experience gain, and you'll always have something to do together. Heck, it could even pave the way for making old raids relevant again. I'm excited to see how this plays out! World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Kin listed as at least $240 million writeoff in Microsoft earnings report
Here's a tidbit in today's Microsoft quarterly earnings that we previously overlooked: a $240 million cost of revenue "primarily... resulting from the discontinuation of the Kin phone, offset in part by decreased Xbox 360 console costs." In other words, the company took at least a quarter billion hit due to manufacturing, distribution, and support costs of the Kin (according to Microsoft's definition of "cost of revenue"). We don't know how much Xbox 360 offset, unfortunately, but we can add this figure to the $500 million Danger acquisition and the full marketing cost for the product (which we also don't know, but anecdotally, it was on par with other major campaigns) to reach... well, at least $800 million in regret for the folks in Redmond.
T-Mobile kills off current Sidekicks, Kin says 'welcome to the club'
It's truly remarkable to see almost every trace of a successful, well-established Valley start-up's work wiped out in the span of 24 hours, but here we are: T-Mobile's discontinuing the Sidekick line as of tomorrow, July 2, which effectively means that the Sidekick LX 2009 will no longer be available. As a refresher, the latest Sidekick LX was the last product holistically engineered by Danger as it got shoehorned into Microsoft -- square peg in a round hole, as it were -- before repurposing the team to work on the just-killed Kin line. In a way, it's a miracle that the LX ever went back on sale following the nightmarish data issues they'd gone through last year, so we suppose it's a silver lining that they made it this far -- but still, it's sad to see Danger's years of design effectively vaporized without a trace like this. For what it's worth, T-Mobile says that it's working "on the next chapter of [its] storied Sidekick franchise" and to "stay tuned" for a "fresh" experience, but since T-Mobile owns the Sidekick brand (not Danger / Microsoft), we've got every reason to believe these new products will be based on Android considering the carrier's huge investment in its myTouch line. Adios, Sidekick -- we'll do one last screen flip in your honor.
STO's Season One: Update Two soft lands today
Star Trek Online players are in for a treat today as Cryptic's next content patch hits the servers. Titled in such a way that we think they're going to count to 10 eventually, Season One: Update Two (Mark Three, Variant Four, Version Five) comes bundled with a number of new features and quality of life improvements for all to enjoy. The premiere features of this patch are the new Accolade and Squad Support systems. Accolades are your basic MMO achievements with a Star Trek veneer, although if you collect enough of them, you can earn real benefits for your character (such as passive resistances) in addition to titles. All we can say is that if there isn't an accolade for the number of "Picard Maneuvers" you've done, then Cryptic needs to get on that and make it so. Squad Support is a new version of Cryptic's famous Sidekick system from City of Heroes. It paves the way for friends of varying levels to group together for missions and fleet actions by temporarily raising or lowering the rank of the group to match the squad leader's. Season One: Update Two contains several other additions, so head over to STO's site and check them out!
Microsoft One and Two Project Pink phones appear in Verizon database? (updated)
What's this? Two devices apparently of Microsoft origin in Verizon's database prefixed by MSONE and MSTWO on the eve of Microsoft's big presser -- an event widely thought (and even announced) to be the unveiling of Project Pink. We're also seeing Sharp, the Sidekick manufacturer named on the Turtle and Pure looking handsets that passed through the FCC. Really though, "One" and "Two?" Surely those words are just placeholders awaiting today's event before getting properly named, right? Who knows... when you're believed to be launching a competing platform against your own Windows Phone 7 OS while simultaneously keeping the WinMo 6.x dreams alive for businesses, hell, anything goes. Update: 9 to 5 Mac is suggesting that the actual retail names of the devices will be Kin. As in next of, as in family. Since the company has an event in just a few hours, we'll obviously know for certain very soon, but it does look likely given the use of Kin in the listing above.
Sidekick LX 2009 basks in the warm glow of a minor firmware update
In the event that Sidekickgate didn't scare you right out of using anything involving Danger, you've got a bit of good news this week -- if you've got an LX 2009 model, anyhow -- on news that a new firmware has been pushed out over-the-air. Details are thin, but it looks like the biggies here are support for backing up contacts to T-Mobile's Mobile Backup service (independently of the normal sync that happens to Danger's servers) and a host of bug fixes, which are always a pleasant thing for improving the user experience in the field. It's hard to say how many LX 2009s are still in active use and how many more are realistically gonna be sold, but yeah -- if we had to guess, the writing's on the wall for Sidekick as we know it, so at this point, cherish every FOTA like it's your last.
T-Mobile cautiously resumes Sidekick sales at lower prices
After a protracted "let's be absolutely certain we're in the clear" period, T-Mobile has gone ahead and lifted its self-imposed moratorium on Sidekick sales following that little meltdown you may have heard about. Oh, and there's a bonus, too: they're a little cheaper this time around. The Sidekick 2008 has dropped to $49.99 on contract while the top-of-the-line LX 2009 has shed $25 down to $149.99 on contract, so if you were looking for an excuse to live dangerously with your precious address book, this might be as good of a reason as any. Then again, what are the odds of lightning striking twice?
T-Mobile posts Sidekick contact recovery instructions
That Microsoft / T-Mobile tag team has been doing a pretty decent job of cleaning up the disaster area left by the Sidekick data loss, and now the first item on the recovery menu is ready for collection. Sidekick users can hit up the My T-Mobile webpage to download their contacts and then restore them either to their Sidekick or whatever device they've replaced it with. Extensive how-to instructions are available at the read link, which also furnishes us with the reassurance that "Microsoft/Danger continues its efforts to recover pictures, calendar entries and to-do lists, which may be available in the future."[Thanks, Abe G.]
Microsoft to restore remaining Sidekick contacts this week, other stuff 'shortly thereafter'
Sidekick users tend to be an active, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants bunch, so it's gotta hurt like the dickens when they don't have access to their schedules and little black books -- but hey, at least it's still recoverable, right? Microsoft has just posted a quick update to keep everyone abreast on the progress of its Sidekick data recovery, and it sounds like they'll be able to have remaining missing contacts back in action this week with the rest of the data -- to-dos, notes, photos, and the like -- following on "shortly thereafter." Anyone who didn't lose information in the debacle should be unaffected by the recovery process, but for those who did, these backup tapes couldn't possibly load into Danger's feisty data center fast enough.
Entelligence: Cloud's illusions I recall
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. It's been the story of the week. T-Mobile Sidekick customers were told that all of their data might be lost and warned not to turn off their devices to prevent losing what's already on them. It's about the worst case nightmare scenario for any vendor and it underscored the weakness and vulnerability of cloud-based computing with no other means of backup and storage. The Sidekick story is complicated, and there's much rumor and speculation as to what went wrong and how. To be clear, Sidekick is a T-Mobile branded-and-sold device and service, but the Sidekick technology comes from Danger, a former startup now owned by Microsoft, which T-Mobile pays to keep Sidekick going. Trust me, there's going to be lots of finger pointing and perhaps a few class-action lawsuits before this all comes to an end. While finger pointing is fun, it's not the issue. (And, as grandpa used to say, when you point your finger at someone else, three fingers point back at you.) Some argued with me last night that cloud computing is perfectly safe, it's the company deploying that you need to look to. OK. I accept that. Only thing is that Danger's been doing this pretty well since 2002 and at no point did I ever see a single warning from anyone that dealing with T-Mobile, Danger or Microsoft might be a bad idea when it comes to personal data solely living in the cloud.
First Sidekick class-action lawsuits predictably get underway
Our usual rule is to ignore attention-seeking class-action lawsuits until they make it past the critical step of being certified by a judge, but we think it's pretty wild that the Sidekick debacle has already resulted in two separate suits in two different states. That's a turnaround time of just a few days, really -- and now that Microsoft is saying it can restore most of the lost data, it'll be interesting to see if these cases can push on past the early stages. Both the California and Washington state cases allege that T-Mobile misled customers into thinking their data was secure, but for some reason we're particularly amused at the California case filed by a mother whose aspiring model and singer-songwriter daughter lost "photos and song lyrics" she'd entrusted to her Sidekick -- honestly, what judge can't relate to her situation?
