The Danger servers shutdown today. It’s hard to put into words the impact that Danger and the Hiptop had on the entire wireless industry, as well as me personally. I know that it also played a personal role in a large number of people’s lives.

For a trip down memory lane you can check out the Sidekick timeline and Geekwire has a recap of the history of the Sidekick.

Some other blasts from the past for Sidekick die-hards:
– The old blue camera that plugged into the headphone port that only did 120×90 pixels?
– The excitement of the silver camera that let you take 320×240 pictures!
– The Hiptop Halloween Hunts
– Danger’s Official Timeline (circa 2007)
– Remember 10 Pin Bowling? Blockade? Cognet? HipPaint? the hacked Google Maps application?
– How about all the code names? Shuriken, Gekko, Zante, m1, m2, Aspen, Blade
– The rise and fall (thanks to Popular Science) of the Developer keys.
– hiptopinfo.com, hiptop.com, hiptop.bedope.com, skdr.net, skholla.com, The Danger Zone, hiptop411.com, hipalbum.com, and more…
– Discovering the hidden feature of custom themes. Thanks Jurai!
– T-Mobile’s Sidekick/Grammy tour and all the release parties
– The countless FCC leaks
– The Snoop Dogg commercial where he was asking for help with his laundry
– Who remembers Johnny Chase?

And last but not least.. where’s my cat remote?

If you’ve got a story or a memory to share about the Sidekick, please leave it in the comments. We’d love to hear how it touched other people too.

Danger Developers are receiving an email from Microsoft/Danger informing them that the sales of “one-time donload content” will be discontinued as of March 2nd. Yes, as in tomorrow. So if there was ever a theme, ringtone, or app you wanted to purchase from the Sidekick catalog, you better grab it today.

Free stuff and subscription based apps will remain in the catalog. After tomorrow it sounds like the only way to get ringtones or themes will be via the free sites: Sidekick-Themes and Skringers.

It’s official, T-Mobile issued a press release regarding the end of the Danger Sidekick service as we know it. The servers will go down on May 31st.

Statement: Danger Service for T-Mobile Sidekick

Bellevue, Wash. — Feb. 28, 2011 PST

After May 31, 2011, the Danger Service (a subsidiary of Microsoft) used by T-Mobile Sidekick customers for data services will no longer be available on Sidekick devices.

T-Mobile will provide offers for our Sidekick customers before May 31, 2011, to help make an easy transition from their existing Sidekick device to a new device. We will have more information to share about these offers with our customers in the weeks ahead.

To ensure the best possible transition for our loyal Sidekick customers, an enhanced Web tool is available on myT-Mobile.com to easily export their personal data, including contacts, photos, calendar, notes, to-do lists, and bookmarks, from the Danger service to a new device, computer, or a designated e-mail account. An application is also available in the Sidekick Catalog to make it easy to export personal data to the Sidekick’s memory card. Many T-Mobile stores can transfer data from that card to a new T-Mobile device if the customer brings in the memory card and Sidekick.

I can’t help but be a little sad. We all knew this day was coming, but now we know when. Enjoy the last few months, and here’s hoping the Sidekick 4G can live up to the expectations that the previous Sidekicks set.

TechFlash is reporting that Microsoft and T-Mobile are planning to announce a transition away from the Danger servers any day now.

It’s no secret that T-Mobile is looking to relaunch the Sidekick device on the Android platform, but what this relaunch means to current Sidekick users has as of yet been unknown. The Danger servers, now owned by Microsoft, cost resources and money to run. Whether or not T-Mobile and Microsoft are making enough money on Sidekick users to warrant continuing to run these servers is unknown. Regardless, once these servers are shutdown, it means the end of our good friend, Danger.

No official word yet, but when we hear it we’ll let you know.

source image via Mithun RS

*brushing off the dust to bring you a new post*
Just got an email from someone in the developer program. They logged in recently and saw the above message.

On September 21, 2010 we will stop accepting new game and application submissions.

We would like to thank all of the developers that have created content for Danger-powered devices along with the supportive members of the developer community. The Danger platform and end-user experience are better because of your amazing contributions over the years.

If you have any further questions please contact your Danger representative.

Sounds like the Danger Developer Zone is shutting down soon, and assumedly the Download Catalog won’t be getting many new additions after September 21st. It’s incredibly sad to to see the first OVer-The-Air App Store fade away.

There are a number of tweets on Twitter over the past few months that specify the client as “Danger” and have a mysterious hashtag of #tmdp or #tmd. The posts started showing up with the #tmd tag but later change to the #tmdp tag.

Many of the tweets have “from Danger” listed as the client, which Twitter links to Microsoft. Usually tweets sent from the Sidekick say “from Sidekick” so this seems to indicate that this could be a new Twitter client from Danger. Whether this Twitter client means a new device, new operating system, the continuation of Project Pink, etc is anyone’s guess at this point.

Here’s some of the interesting tweets:

@JohnMatherly: Thanks to Roz for a #tmdp breakfast in Palo Alto
11:56 AM Dec 7th, 2009 from Danger

@JohnMatherly: We’re counting on ProdUS to be #tmdp
4:52 PM Jan 19th from Danger

@darylw: #tmdp Welcome new team members….we are excited to have you join us.
1:38 PM Dec 16th, 2009 from Danger.

@darylw: #tmdp wish i saw more posts from team members on twitter.com that says posted “n hours ago from Danger”
11:55 PM Nov 18th, 2009 from web

@pbernard: i think twitterfall is working #tmdp
4:22 PM Nov 4th, 2009 from DestroyTwitter

@pbernard: digging xbox twitter #tmd
8:44 PM Sep 24th, 2009 from Xbox LIVE

@pbernard: and we have PINK DONUTS for strat review #tmd
7:41 AM Sep 15th, 2009 from DestroyTwitter

@pbernard: #tmd ta-da.
1:42 PM Aug 27th, 2009 from DestroyTwitter

@terminal4: wow. it’s like stuff is kinda workin #tmdp
10:04 PM Dec 9th, 2009 from Danger.

@JRayZor: This is harder to use than binary mode ftp #tmd
12:08 AM Sep 4th, 2009 from web

@cpicoto: 2311 CD INT – Palo Alto, CA
11:46 AM Nov 11th, 2009 from Danger

@danblack: the #tmdp can fix itself sometimes.
11:37 AM Nov 20th, 2009 from Danger

@danblack: The #tmd is tasty today
3:44 PM Oct 15th, 2009 from Danger

@XuNami: Fun bug bash today. I’m so glad it came together 🙂 #tmdp
7:45 PM Jan 8th from Danger.

Chris Pirich is one of those tweeting with the #tmdp hashtag and a “from Danger” client. Chris is the head of engineering for Pink.

Other Microsoft people in on the Twitter fun include:

• Pete Bernard: “involved in a number of initiatives regarding mobile and embedded devices.”
• Daryl Welsh: Director of Test – Premium Mobile Experiences at Microsoft
• Andrew Clinick: Group Program Manager at Microsoft
• Carlos Picoto: Director of Program Management at Microsoft
• Dan Black: is/was the Lead Developer Relation Manager for Xbox
• Namrata Bachwani: Release Manager at Microsoft
• Chris Sorensen: Senior Manager, Community and Social Media at Microsoft

– It seems like a lot of XBox people are now part of the mobile experience team. This may be the one thing that bodes well for Pink.
– #TMD is happening at Microsoft Studio G in Redmond.
– There are a lot of references to 4 digit numbers in #tmdp tweets. Could these be build numbers for an OS or firmware?
– @DarylW made a #tmd list

What do you guys think? What could TMDP stand for? Have you found any interesting tweets with this hash tag?

I woke up this morning to several reports from people saying they had gotten an OTA for their Sidekick LX 2009. It’s looking like this update is a combination of the bug fix OTA I mentioned awhile back and the new Mobile Backup support. You should hopefully see less crashes in your Sidekick LX 2009 once this update is applied. The OTA may cause your device to hard reset. Don’t freak out though, all your data should be backed up to Danger’s servers, so it’ll come back. And once you have Mobile Backup, your address book will be backed up to T-Mobile’s servers as well! Hooray for backup!

For those hardcore geeks, the new OS version is 5.0/270115. A couple more screenshots:

It took a large scale data disaster, but looks like Microsoft/Danger/T-Mobile will finally be giving Sidekick users a way to backup their data to something other than Danger’s servers. An OTA is rolling out to users that will allow you to backup your Address Book to T-Mobile’s Mobile Backup service. The announcement on the T-Mobile forums makes it look like this might only be for Sidekick LX 2009 users, which is a little worrisome for people with other devices.

Here’s what T-Mobile is saying:

T-Mobile will begin rolling out Mobile Backup for Sidekick LX 2009 customers via an Over The Air (OTA) process. All Sidekick LX 2009 customers should receive the OTA in the next few weeks.

What is Mobile Back up?
Mobile Backup is a free service via My T-Mobile that allows you to avoid manually re-entering contacts into a device in the event you need to replace it or in the event it’s lost or stolen.

How will I know I have it?
T-Mobile will send an Over The Air (OTA) update in phases over the next several weeks. You will receive a message that says “System Update Notice”. Once you receive the message, please accept it. Upon successful receipt of your OTA, you will receive a T-Mail confirming that you have Mobile Backup.
Another way to verify receipt of the OTA is to navigate to your device’s Address Book and select Menu. Under the drop down you will see Mobile Backup.

What if I don’t have it right now?
Don’t worry. T-Mobile is rolling this update to our customers in phases. All LX 09 customers should have it by Dec 10, 2009.

So am I at risk of losing my data again until I have the update?
Microsoft/Danger has taken steps to help ensure all data is readily available. This is an additional enhancement to backup your contact data should you change your device in the future.

For more info on Mobile backup check out https://support.t-mobile.com/doc/tm23951.xml

Life as a Sidekick user is starting to return to normal as T-Mobile/Microsoft/Danger slowly announce each piece of data that is restorable as they make progress. We’ve gotten back Address Books, Calendars, To Do Lists, Notes, and most recently Photos. I know a lot of people are still waiting on Bookmarks and I imagine that will be next in line. However one of the hallmarks of the Sidekick is still missing and we haven’t heard any word on when it will return.

I’m of course talking about the Download Catalog, aka the first App Store. The Catalog has been down for over a month and this sucks both for Sidekick users as well as Sidekick Developers. I’m sure T-Mobile is feeling the hurt too as a large source of their income from Sidekick users comes from selling applications, ringtones and themes.

While there are no other ways to get applications (save having a developer key), it is possible to get ringtones and themes while the catalog is down from unofficial sites. Themes for most Sidekicks can be found at Sidekick Themes and if you have a Sidekick LX 2009 you can get free ringtones at Skringers.com.

UPDATE (2009-11-11): We’re hearing through the grapevine that the Download Catalog may be up by Saturday if things go well! Keep your fingers crossed.

Danger/Microsoft has added one more thing to the list of data you can restore. If you had photos that were saved on the Danger servers you can get them back now on my.t-mobile.com. Here’s how:

Although we cannot directly restore photos to your Sidekick through the sync process, if you wish to receive a copy of your photos by e-mail, please enter and confirm your e-mail address below. Your photos will be sent to you via e-mail, one photo per e-mail. Depending on how many photos you have, this process may take some time. Once all your photos have been sent, we’ll send a confirmation e-mail to your Tmail account.

Please note: Don’t send these to your Tmail address as you could exceed your Sidekick’s e-mail quota.