*GEEK ALERT*
Want more proof of the Sidekick 2009 being out in the wild? Check out this entry in our server’s log files:

216.220.208.186 - - [09/Feb/2009:19:40:34 -0500] “GET / HTTP/1.0″ 200 68967 “-” “Mozilla/5.0 (Danger hiptop 5.0; U; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050920″

What does that mean? Well the User Agent (aka web browser name) of “Danger hiptop 5.0″ means someone with a Sidekick 2009 visited hiptop3.com as recent as Feb 9th. We checked some older logs and there’s a ton of visits in the past few weeks too. Not only does this confirm that there are devices out there, it also confirms that it’s running DangerOS 5.0. If you’re curious about what other Sidekicks report as their User Agent, check out this handy post on PBD.

So Mystery Sidekick 2009 Users, how does the site look on the nice new screen? Want to send us a screenshot?

If a Sidekick 2008 for $0.01 is too expensive for you, or you already have a T-Mobile account, there’s another way for you to snag a Sidekick for free. KevJumba is running a video contest where you can win a Sidekick plus a $500 American Express gift card. You’ll have to get your creative juices flowing and make a video in response to his video and he’ll choose a winner on Jan 26th. Let us know in the comments if you’ve posted an entry so we can check it out.

Yes, you read the title right. Amazon is back in the business of offering Sidekicks for super super cheap. They’ve got the Sidekick 2008 up for $0.01 after an instant discount of $250 if you sign up with T-Mobile and stay with them for over 3 months. Unfortunately this doesn’t work for existing T-Mobile customers, but for those of you out there thinking of getting your first Sidekick, or coming back from another carrier, now is your chance. The product page says that it’s the black T-Mobile Sidekick, but it comes with the green shell as well. In the end, the color doesn’t matter since you’ll be customizing it with your own shells and free Sidekick themes.

T-Mobile Sidekick Black Phone (T-Mobile) for $0.01

This one is dedicated to all the Black and White Hiptoppers. Aaron (one of the original Hiptop pranksters) fished out some old stuff from back in the day and we thought we’d share it with you. First up is a smoking hot ad for the Hiptop that makes me want to go out and buy 2 Black and White Hiptops even now.

A man known for his great jokes, Aaron once fooled a lot of people into thinking he had the much-coveted color hiptop before anyone even knew what it looked like:

image via Flickr

And noone can forget when he got the original OTA:

And we leave you with your “Fun Fact of the Day” - Aaron was the originator of the Cat Remote rumor that kind of launched Hiptop3.com

Here’s a blast from the past. It’s the old Snoop Dogg Sidekick II commercial. It reminds me of a terrible joke:
Q: What does Snoop use to wash his clothes?
A: Bleeeyaaach

You can check out some other Sidekick commercials, including the old Johnny Chase ones in our previous post on Sidekick commercials.

According to AdMob, a mobile advertising network, the Sidekick II is still in the top 20 handsets in the United States. This stat is based on ad impressions, so take it with a grain of salt. However it’s still interesting to see it ranking so high over 4 years after it’s release! Of course the iPhone has taken the number one spot, but we’re not sure why more recent Sidekick models aren’t showing up. If you want to check out the full report, you can grab the PDF.

via Washington Post

Who said nothing comes for free? Tomorrow, Saturday Nov 15th, pop over to your favorite T-Mobile store and tell them to hook you up with some free minutes. It’s a “Customer Delight Day” so you’ll be able to score 100 free minutes. Bring a friend and T-Mobile will double that to 200 free minutes. Get a friend to sign up for a T-Mobile contract and you can get $25 credited towards your next bill too. Here’s the details:

T-Mobile’s Customer Delight Day
Saturday, November 15
At your local T-Mobile Store:

Drop in and be rewarded!
* Get 100 FREE bonus minutes just for stopping by — a $40 value
* Get 200 FREE bonus minutes if you bring a friend — an $80 value
* Refer a customer to T-Mobile and get a $25 credit on your next bill
* Sign up for T-Mobile @Home and get the first month free — a $10 value!

Limited time offer. Participating locations only. See store for details. Offers are valid for qualified T-Mobile postpaid and FlexPay customers who are in good standing. Limit one offer per qualifying line. Offers can not be redeemed for cash or other value. Referral Credit Offer: The referred customer must activate a qualifying T-Mobile voice data postpaid or FlexPay plan at a participating T-Mobile store. The credit may take up to 2 billing cycles to appear on the referring customer’s bill. T-Mobile @Home Offer: Qualifying rate plan, credit approval and two-year agreement required. $10 monthly fee will be credited to account. The credit may take up to two billing cycles to appear.

via BGR

Got a broken Sidekick that’s not covered by insurance? Maybe you dropped it and now you need to fix your Sidekick LCD screen. Or maybe your trackball is just incredibly dirty and you want to pull it out and clean it. Well if you’ve got nimble fingers and are good with a tiny screwdriver, you’re in luck. We came across a site called Fix My Sidekick which has a number of tutorials including photos on how to take apart your Sidekicks. Here’s a sampling of some of the articles:
* How to Replace the Sidekick LX Faceplate and LCD Lens
* Fix a White LCD Screen on Your Sidekick
* How to Remove and Clean Sidekick 3 Trackball
* Fix The Backlight on Your Sidekick
* How to Replace a Sidekick 3 Screen
etc.

Check them out if you’re suffering from the broken Sidekick blues and are still holding out for a 3G Sidekick before buying a new one. You can also get replacement parts (or a new Sidekick if the repair fails) from SidekickShopper.com.

image via FixMySidekick

Want to theme your Sidekick LX or 2008/Gekko to mimic the G1 device? CubanitaStylezz, a talented and well-known theme artist, has put some G1 Themes up for the Sidekick. You can get them over at sk08Themes.com and skLXthemes.com.

So, I just wanted to make a post about the status of the 2008 Halloween Hunt… there is none this year. Why you may ask? A few reasons. Allow me to explain.

First off (And this is a big one), the code that powers the halloween hunt is more trouble than it’s worth. Things are so not efficient. It takes HOURS to set everything up, insert items into the list, create team emails (That task alone takes 4 hours), adjust teams, etc. It’s a hassle. Approving posts takes days, and is hard to do with multiple people. (This was tried last year and just caused more problems) The original plan was to recreate the whole site, and make everything light years better. Unfortunately this didn’t happen. (The reasons for this will follow too.)

Second off, I have no time. I’m busy working on paying projects. There’s no money in the Halloween Hunt. It’s not sponsored by anyone, no one pays me to do it. It’s all out of my pocket, which is looking pretty empty these days, as my paying projects haven’t yet paid off. I keep the site ad free to save bandwidth on the device and make it load faster and frankly, I hate ads. If I got paid hourly for the work that goes into the hunt, I’d be a very rich individual. Let’s just say when there is a hunt, the whole month of October gets devoted to it, and it’s still not enough to do everything.

Now, up until a hour or so ago I was highly considering still doing a hunt… although scaled back. (It’s tradition… it has to go on, right?) However, the actions of some individual or individuals has led me to say, “F**k it.” An individual sent me a link to an urban dictionary post containing the following;

exiva

a larger than average male (we are not sure on the fact that he is a male… will get back to you on that one). He loves Danger Inc. with his heart, and will suck their c**ks to get their attention. Unfortunately, (s)he is a failure at life and his/her apps suck c**k (not Danger c**k though)

God damnit, that dude(tte) is trying to submit his lame ass app and is being an exiva by sucking danger c**k.

Now, why would I waste my time and put off my projects and squeeze in time to do something entirely for free for someone who decides to post that? I wouldn’t. I don’t care anymore. The hunt was something I had volunteered to do… out of courtesy to the community. But if people go ahead and post this crap, why waste my time? Is it fair to kill off the hunt for the actions of one or two individuals? No. But, again, I don’t care. It’s [now] my hunt, and I’ll do whatever I so choose with it. Should MikePop or divinity choose to continue the hunt, more power to them. I will not be putting it on this year.

I had considered posting a name of the individual who I think did this, but I’ve chosen not to. It’s not worth it.

Oh, also, Volcom? I don’t care about your prizes. Seriously, they might end up in the trash tomorrow. Call Danger and whine to them about it.

So, Happy Halloween everyone and thank you Hiptop3 for the space to post this. Maybe I’ll be back next year with the hunt… Who knows.

-exiva