Archive for the 'Sidekick Slide' Category

Goodnight Hiptop: A Wake for Danger

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

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.

Sidekick Service to Shut Down on May 31st

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

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.

Sidekick Catalog Remains Down / Where To Get Ringtones & Themes

Monday, November 9th, 2009
Fetching Catalog contents

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.

Sidekick OTAs Rolling Out

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Danger OTAs

Microsoft/Danger has started rolling out an OTA (Over-The-Air) update to all Sidekick users. This update will not make any changes to your device that you’ll be able to see. It’s intended to fix some behind the scenes stuff so that “all Catalog application data will now be more securely backed up in the Microsoft / Danger systems.” This is NOT the Sidekick LX 2009 OTA I posted about earlier, which I assume is on indefinite hold until everything gets sorted out. It’s assumed that this OTA is rolling out to all Sidekick devices. Let us know in the comments if you received the OTA, which device you’ve got, and when you got the update.

T-Mobile posted an update over on their forums and we’ve archived a copy over on skfail.com since the forum updates aren’t permanent.

Last Chance for Telstra Customers to Grab a Sidekick

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
slide-on-telstra

Been eyeing that Slide? Well, if you’re in Australia and on Telstra, you better hurry. You have a week left before they stop selling the Sidekick Hiptop Slide. September 30th will be the last day that new customers can sign up for Hiptop service or buy a Hiptop Slide.

Thanks Shannon

Twitter and Facebook available for Older Sidekicks

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

sklx2009_orchid_closed_facebook

Don’t have a Sidekick LX 2009 yet and you’re stuck with an older device? Well if you’re a Twitter or Facebook addict, you’re in luck! T-Mobile has released the Twitter and Facebooks apps in the Download Catalog for the Sidekick 2008, the original LX, and the Sidekick Slide. The Facebook app is totally free, but the Twitter app will set you back $1.99 every month. Both of these apps will remain free for the Sidekick LX 2009 users though.

Are you on Twitter? Follow us! @hiptop3

Microsoft Lays Off Danger Employees

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

We’re hearing lots of rumors left and right about some lay-offs of Danger employees by Microsoft (who purchased Danger).  There is a lot of hearsay and speculation about what this means.  While Microsoft did announce a general across-the-board series of layoffs, we can’t help but wonder how much harder the Danger group was hit for a variety of possible reasons.  There’s been rumors of Danger employees being moved to the secretive “Pink” project that Microsoft is working on.  (Supposedly the Pink project is very similar to Danger’s back-end service)  The Sidekick LX 2009 is days from launch and so a lot of employees that were needed for that might have been let go.  Or they could have just pulled names out of a hat, who knows.  Lay-offs are never an easy thing.

It doesn’t look like it was the entire Danger team, but definitely sounds like more than one or two. We’ve gathered up some posts to Twitter about the lay-offs. The below are either a) from a Danger employee, b) from a previous Danger employee, or c) directed at a Danger employee.

@ceejbot: Oh look, muscled goons walking around the building: layoffs today.

@ceejbot: My officemates all just got laid off. It doesn’t make any sense.

@ian: WTF? Microsoft is laying off awesome people from Danger.

@Perigosa: @jag Ugh. I am so sorry (for everyone else too).

@dangermikeb: Rough day at the office

@ahpook: Condolences to dangersoft peeps affected by layoffs, directly or otherwise.

@dangermikeb: The end of a crappy day at work.

that sucks about the danger layoffs. msft really had no clue what they wanted out of that, i guess. 🙁

@akrasia: Suffocating sadness with a load of cookies.

@tuony: Condolences to Danger peeps who were laid off today. It’s never fun, however you may be considered the lucky ones after all is said and done

To add to this information, there was also an interesting comment conversation posted on an Engadget review of the new Sidekick LX 2009.  No idea who “Aenar” is or where he is getting his information from, but he provokes some interesting conversation:

Aenar @ May 6th 2009 12:45PM

Enjoy the last sidekick. MSFT just fired the remaining SK staff with armed guards and only made this thing to avoid a lawsuit with TMobile.
Roz Ho congratukated the staff and then fired the employees for making it. MSFT just wanted the IP for WinMo anyway.
Now you get a seriously debilitated “PINK”device from MSFT as your next “upgrade.” From what I have heard, it’s a joke. No PIM apps and no 3rd party development system. A typical MSFT consumer product. Copy,rush to market and FAIL.
No street cred-get the iPhone

aenar @ May 6th 2009 4:47PM

30-40 people were let go. The UI team, media teams, hardware and some associated PMs with the Sidekick. Shocking since Microsoft is mostly Political Project Managers with chips on their shoulders.
The remainder of the SK team that the PINK team needs to write in CE(not java or NetBSD) was moved to PINK or WINMO months ago. So the people who shut the lights off on the Sidekick were thanked in an email by the Roz “Dragon Woman” Ho and fired promptly. Then, to keep employees from going apeshitzz, they had the stormtroopers from Securitas(with arms this time) walk the halls and maintain control. Sort of like the Stazi.
So,
a) No more sidekicks. The people that made them are fired or working on the mirage of PINK,
b) Microsoft tried to weasel out of Danger’s contract with TMobile but were threatened with lawsuit
c) To make schedule, MSFT had to ship the Sidekick as designed at that point which was NetBSD and Java. VP of PMX was said to have cried at that announcement.

That’s it. No more Sidekicks.
Naming sources? Do you work for the Dragon Lady-why would I call out these sources. So I can get more people fired? The information is 90% public domain from public feeds anyway.

We don’t want to cause anyone to panic, so we’re not going to make any rash assumptions about the future of the Sidekick.  Just wanted to toss the information that’s flying around up for you guys.  Feel free to speculate in the comments and if you have any hard and fast info, please email admin@hiptop3.com.

Sidekick LX 2009 vs the old Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Sidekick LX 2009 vs Sidekick LX

Wonder how the new Sidekick LX 2009 stacks up to the old Sidekick LX or Sidekick Slide you’ve been carrying around? Here are some shots from exiva:

Photobucket App is Free!

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Photobucket App is Free!

If you’ve been hesitant to download the Photobucket application because of the price or the recurring fee (or both), the option to try the app out for free has come! If you download the application by 4/30, you have a 30 day free trial period to test it out. This means you can use the full version of the application, risk free for 30 days and then decide if you like it or not. This is a great option and may be what changes people’s opinions about the product. Remember that the application is free only for 30 days from the time that you have downloaded it. After the 30 day free trial period is over, you will be charged a monthly subscription fee of $1.99, which will be billed to you each month until the item is discarded. Check out the information in the Download Catalog for more in-depth information. Download and try it out from the Catalog now!

Photobucket App for Sidekick Available

Friday, March 20th, 2009
photobucket_mobile

Do you use Photobucket to share photos? You’ll be happy to hear that there is now a Photobucket application for the Sidekick that will let you send photos directly to the service and manage your account from your device. Rumors about the Sidekick Blade said that this app would be available, and here it is for existing devices (Slide, LX, and 2008).

The application will set you back $1.99 to purchase, and then a recurring fee of $1.99 each month thereafter. So it looks like this is geared more towards hevy users of Photobucket. To get it, just check out the Download Catalog. Here are some screenshots of the app:

More info on Photobucket’s blog post. Screenshots are via PoweredByDanger’s post.
Thanks to everyone that sent this one in