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Microsoft recovers 'most, if not all' Sidekick customer data
Steve Ballmer must have busted out his secret stash of magic dust, as Microsoft has just come out with the announcement that it has recovered "most, if not all, customer data" that was lost during the recent Sidekick debacle. Following the wildly embarassing fiasco attributed to a "system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up," T-Mobile and Redmond have "rebuilt the system component by component" and now promise to restore data to affected users in the most expedient fashion possible. Guess that means you won't be getting $100 from T-Mobile for losing your Tetris high scores after all. [Thanks, Abe G.]
Peek offers disgruntled Sidekick owners a free Pronto, internet high-five
As Microsoft and Apple have so precisely demonstrated, there's nothing like a face full of egg to make the competition fire up the sucker punch machine. Take Peek, for example, who is now offering angered Sidekick users (you know, the ones that probably lost all of their data recently) a gratis Pronto for their trouble. All that's required is an image of you, a frowny face, your wiped Sidekick and a T-Mobile bill -- once that's sent over to Peek's dedicated inbox, you'll soon receive your Pronto in the mail. 'Course, it's up to you to foot the $20 monthly bill for keeping the thing active, but hey, free's free. Kind of.
T-Mobile offers Sidekick users olive branch, $100 (update: not for everyone)
We'd heard T-Mo was thinking about doing more for Sidekick customers who've had their data wiped by Microsoft / Danger / Hitachi's botched server upgrade, and we just got a statement confirming that any affected customers will be getting a $100 gift card for their troubles in addition to that free month of service. T-Mobile also says that recovery of "some" lost content may be possible, but we're not holding out hope -- and if we'd just been shafted like this, we're not sure we'd want to buy even more stuff from Team Magenta. Full statement after the break. Update: It looks like T-Mobile's having some success recovering data on certain accounts after all, and we're hearing that the carrier's official policy here is that only folks who still don't have their data recovered after two weeks will be eligible for the $100 -- everyone else will have to make do with the free month of data alone. It's a bummer, but if you read the verbiage on the statement closely, you'll notice that they give themselves the wiggle room they need to pull this off. Thanks, David C.!
The T-Mobile Sidekick data failure, and what it means to iPhone users
You may not have heard about the recent loss of data for T-Mobile Sidekick users; after all, this is an Apple-focused site and there probably aren't as many Sidekick owners out there as there are iPhone users. I'll explain the situation, and how it could happen to anyone depending on cloud-based data stores for their mobile devices. The Sidekick is made and supported by Danger, which since April of 2008 has been owned by Microsoft. As such, all of the personal information on the Sidekicks was stored on servers owned and operated by Microsoft. During the last week, Danger / Microsoft had hired Hitachi to do an upgrade to their Storage Area Network (SAN). That's usually not a problem, as the owner of the data (Microsoft in this case) performs a backup of all the data in case of an issue. Well, something went wrong, and it appears that Danger / Microsoft did not have a backup in place. The result is a catastrophe for Sidekick users. T-Mobile sent out a statement last week explaining the situation, and placing the blame directly on Microsoft and Danger: "Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device -- such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos -- that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger."
T-Mobile 'considering additional measures' to compensate Sidekick owners
The official line is still that T-Mobile customers affected by Sidekick amnesia will be given a months' credit on their data plan, but that may not be the end of it (and considering the magnitude of the issue for affected folks, we'd certainly hope not). At this point, they're leaving the door open to more by saying that they're "considering additional measures" to help soothe the souls of those who lost contacts, notes, schedules, apps, and everything else, but exactly what those "measures" are remains to be seen. Free phones? Free service? A gift certificate to a day spa? The full (albeit brief) remarks can be found after the break.
Sidekick failure rumors point fingers at outsourcing, lack of backups
Backing up your personal PC to external media might still be a novel concept for some, but any IT manager fresh out of school can tell you that regularly backing up mission-critical servers -- and storing those backups in multiple physical locations -- isn't merely important, it's practically non-negotiable, and it only becomes that much more critical before undertaking hardware maintenance. Alleged details on the events leading up to Danger's doomsday scenario are starting to come out of the woodwork, and it all paints a truly embarrassing picture: Microsoft, possibly trying to compensate for lost and / or laid-off Danger employees, outsources an upgrade of its Sidekick SAN to Hitachi, which -- for reasons unknown -- fails to make a backup before starting. Long story short, the upgrade runs into complications, data is lost, and without a backup to revert to, untold thousands of Sidekick users get shafted in an epic way rarely seen in an age of well-defined, well-understood IT strategies. The coming weeks are going to be trying times for both Microsoft and T-Mobile, a sideline player in this carnage that ultimately still shoulders responsibility for taking users' cash month after month and keeping tabs on the robustness of its partners' workflows. We're betting that heads are going to roll at both of these companies, formal investigations are going to be waged, users are going to be compensated in big ways, lawsuits are going to be filed, and textbooks could very well be modified to make sure that lessons are learned for the next generation of college grads tasked with keeping clouds running. Why there weren't any backups -- even older ones -- that could've been used as a restore point is totally unclear, so we're hoping Microsoft has the stones to come clean for the benefit of an entire industry that wants to understand how to make sure this never happens again.
T-Mobile: we probably lost all your Sidekick data
Well, this is shaping up to be one of the biggest disasters in the history of cloud computing, and certainly the largest blow to Danger and the Sidekick platform: T-Mobile's now reporting that personal data stored on Sidekicks has "almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger." They're still looking for a way to recover it, but they're not giving users a lot of hope -- meanwhile, servers are still on the fritz and customers are being advised not to let their devices power down because anything that's still on there will be lost the next time the device is turned on. Another communique is promised from T-Mobile on Monday to give everyone a status update on the recovery efforts, but at this point, it's not looking good at all.
Danger's server woes leave Sidekicks in the lurch
Look, Danger, we know that you're hard at work on... ahem, "other things" right now, but can you please just take five and figure out what's wrong with your servers? Sidekicks rely very, very heavily on the ability to phone home for even basic tasks -- looking up contacts, browsing the web, you name it -- and it seems that Danger's data center has been on the fritz for a solid two days now with symptoms ranging from text message weirdness to dead address books and everything in between, up to and including a completely unusable experience. Frantic calls to T-Mobile are resulting in comped bills for some subscribers, so if you're affected, you might want to give 'em a ring. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
T-Mobile brings Facebook and paid Twitter apps to older Sidekicks
The original Sidekick was one of the first devices to push phones as deeply social text-based tools, and that trend continues today -- which naturally makes tight integration with Facebook and Twitter absolutely vital. The fresh 2009 version of the Sidekick LX has been available with both of these, and T-Mobile is now retroactively offering them to owners of the original LX, the Sidekick 2008, and the Sidekick Slide (remember that?). There's a catch, though -- while Facebook's free, Twitter is going to run owners of the older Sidekicks $1.99 a month, despite the fact that it's no charge to LX 2009 owners. Seems exceptionally bogus to us -- but then again, considering how great the latest LX is compared to every other Sidekick ever made, owners might just use this as an excuse to take the plunge. Both apps are now available. [Via Phone Scoop]
T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 down to $175
Would-be Sidekick LX 2009 owners have one less reason to keep dragging their feet this week with the dropping of the model's price (in both Carbon and Orchid variants, of course) down to $175 on contract after discounts from the original retail price of $250. We're not sure what's ultimately responsible for the price cut beyond the usual ultra-rapid retail shelf aging process and the gnat-like attention span of consumers like ourselves, but either way, the move helps put the high-end featurephone back in line with some of its contemporaries (we're sorry, but running more than a BlackBerry Tour or an iPhone 3GS on subsidy makes about as much sense as mail-order beef). So, does this tip the scale for anyone out there? Who's taking the plunge? [Via Hiptop 3] Read - Carbon Read - Orchid
WAR producer's letter details major 1.3.1 changes and lays out plan for near future
The newest Warhammer Online producer's letter starts off by detailing all the major changes coming with patch 1.3.1, including revamped city siege, open RvR enhancements, and social improvements. Basically, it's a lot of stuff we've heard about already. However, things get really interesting when Jeff Skalski starts talking about what is on the horizon for patch 1.3.2. There are some gems.It sounds like Mythic is planning on uncoupling the fortresses from zone capture. This is a major RvR campaign design shift but the details are pretty vague at this stage. They will also be reworking the earlier tiers of the game in an effort to retain newbies and make alting more pleasurable. This could work quite nicely with the sidekick/buddy system they are working on as well. Finally, they're continuing to tweak crowd control and hint at a potential new Live Event tied to the "Daemon Moon." Maybe it will involve the Khorne Daemon Prince in the image above.
Exchange support coming to Sidekick LX 2009 today for $4.99 a month
If you're a kid stuck in a grown-up's body, there's a good chance you're pining after a Sidekick -- you know, just like the kind you had back in the day when you listened to Blink 182 and loitered on your skateboard around the plaza in front of the office building that has since enslaved you. Problem is, Sidekicks have never really been work-friendly devices -- owing in part to their utter shunning of Exchange -- which means you get stuck with a BlackBerry and an incessant desire to swivel the display. It's kind of sad, really, and passers-by think you've gone mad as you sit on the park bench pressing your thumb desperately against a screen that will never, ever rotate, no matter how fricking hard you press. It's cool, though, T-Mobile's got your back: enter Sidekick Sync, an app that was promised when the Sidekick LX 2009 was launched and is finally available. It'll be hitting the phone's Download Catalog starting this afternoon, offering push email, attachment viewing, calendar and contact sync, and pretty much every other Exchange feature that strips you of your youthful innocence. For the pleasure of avoiding RIM's powerful grasp, you'll pay $4.99 a month -- but can you really put a price on being able to wear DC apparel at the age of 30?
Cryptic's Bill Roper on balancing powers in Champions Online
When news came in of the Champions Online launch being delayed to September, a few of the writers at Massively were despondent. It's always better for a game to launch once it's solid rather than release in a buggy state, though. While we wait for the re-scheduled September 1st launch, we're keeping up with the news and interviews surrounding the upcoming superhero title. In fact, we've just come across an MMOCrunch interview with Bill Roper, executive producer of Champions Online you might be interested in. Roper gets into how some of the game mechanics in Champions Online will play out, and explains a bit about how travel powers like flight and teleportation can be countered by those without such capabilities. (For example, how does a ground-based melee character engage a kiting opponent in flight?) He also touches upon the game's sidekick system, which will allow newer players to temporarily boost their powers to keep up with higher level friends. Alternately, the sidekick system will give advanced characters the ability to tone their powers down to the level of their appallingly weak lower level buddies.
Microsoft's "Pink" smartphone to be Microsoft-branded?
Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft's mysterious "Pink" smartphone project? Good, cause we've got a few -- and the first is potentially huge. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of "Pink" is now that it's a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what's left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded -- as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What's more, Redmond wouldn't be letting third parties use this new UI -- Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who've made Sidekicks in the past. It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back -- companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it's another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft's selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild -- we haven't even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it's based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or... you get the idea. Hey Microsoft -- you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products? Read - ZDNet Read - AdWeek
How would you change T-Mobile's Sidekick LX 2009?
T-Mobile's Sidekick LX 2009 represented a huge leap forward in the hiptop sector. Not only was the swiveling motion as smooth as ever here, but this was the first Sidekick that seemed to really take its user interface seriously. To that end, we're interested in knowing how you -- the opinionated consumer -- feel about Danger's latest effort. Are you impressed by the grown-up features? Does the form factor still have a place in your life? Is the UI snappy enough? Do you still get enough stares from potential mates when you whip it out on the subway? The floor's yours, make it good.
3G Sidekick LX 2009 now available on T-Mobile
No doubt, the latest Sidekick looks pretty much like the swivel-screen Hiptop of yore. But as you'll recall from our review, the new 3G Sidekick LX takes the original tweener aesthetic high-end to match its aging user base. That means one of the best displays (854 x 480 pixel) available on a US handset and new 3G and assisted GPS radios to upload geotagged pics on the quick snapped by the LX's 3.2 megapixel camera with flash. Available now for $250 (after instant discount, mail-in rebate, and 2-year commitment) in your choice of carbon or orchid paint.[Via PhoneArena]
T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 review
T-Mobile's Sidekicks have been cult favorites stretching all the way back to the original grayscale model -- a device with a design only a mother could love, may we add -- when it launched nearly seven years ago. Though the unusual form factor with the addictive spring-loaded pivoting swivel has largely prevented it from attracting a mainstream audience, the countless teens and twenty-somethings who've latched on to the Hiptop ecosystem have cited many of the same reasons for loving it since day one: an easy, foolproof UI, push email, high-quality customizability, decent web browsing capabilities, and a stellar messaging-optimized layout (remember that QWERTY was little more than a twinkle in most manufacturers' eyes back in 2002). At its launch, the first-generation Sidekick LX represented a new high end for the franchise -- big shoes to fill for the 2009 model of the same name. Does it live up to the hype? More importantly, could this be the first Sidekick complete enough and robust enough to reach new audiences? Read on.
T-Mobile's Sidekick LX 2009 will be $249 for new customers
You still can't order it unless you got in on the pre-sale, but T-Mobile has now confirmed pricing for new customers wishing to pick up a fresh 2009-vintage Sidekick LX: $249. That'll be an after-rebate price on a two-year contract, while existing T-Mobile subscribers will continue to pay the $199 they've enjoyed during the pre-sale so far. Loyalty occasionally pays, it seems.
New Sidekick LXs trickling into buyers' hands ahead of launch
Sure, T-Mobile said May 13 for the Sidekick LX 2009's official date with destiny, but if they want to start drop-shipping units a few days early, we don't think anyone's going to complain. In-the-wild unboxings certainly seem to back up stories that devices are already being shipped to those who've pre-ordered it ahead of release -- and call us crazy, but we think we prefer these shots to that creepy viral video unboxing from a while back. Enjoy the shots, and if you didn't (or couldn't) pre-order, we might suggest viewing them very, very slowly so they last through to the 13th. [Thanks, Ed]
Engadget Podcast 143 - 04.24.2009
In case you aren't hip to the Twittersphere, Josh, Nilay, Paul and Engadget's own Twitter bot put out their feelers for listener questions this week, and got a lot of great material for discussion. Inquisitive minds wanted to know which wild conjectures these fine men believe about the Zune HD, how particularly evil Time Warner Cable is, and other matters related to Chinese phone manufacturers and The End Times. If you failed to seize upon this opportunity to ask, or found your own question heartlessly ignored, make sure to take advantage of the various avenues of contact listed below and ask away! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Producer: Trent Wolbe Song: Ghostbusters 00:02:36 - Is this the Zune HD? 00:23:08 - Time Warner Cable lays out broadband capping plans, says $150 for "unlimited" use 00:28:25 - Time Warner Cable to axe DOCSIS 3.0 trials without tiered billing? 00:33:53 - Time Warner and Embarq can't compete with city-owned ISP, trying to outlaw it 00:47:37 - Ugobe files for bankruptcy, Pleo facing extinction 00:53:28 - Keepin' it real fake 01:09:03 - T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 video hands-on Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.
