Mobile

Deaf users sound off on Sidekick outage

When the T-Mobile Sidekick started having data problems two weeks ago, it was a big pain for nearly all of the company's roughly 800,000 subscribers. But it became particularly rough for the many deaf people who have been among the Sidekick's most loyal fan base.

"It was severely limiting and made me very dependent on others," Carla McCraw, a Web designer from San Antonio, Texas, said in an e-mail interview. "This loss of independence was very stressful on me."

McCraw said she relies on her Sidekick to manage everyday tasks, from keeping up … Read more

With outage, Sidekick service loses its footing

A prolonged outage for users of T-Mobile's Sidekick device gets even worse as Microsoft's Danger unit says that their lost Sidekick data may be gone forever.

Deaf users sound off on Sidekick outage Recent problems with the smartphone, long popular in the deaf community, leave many users frustrated and sizing up alternatives. (Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried) October 15, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Microsoft: We've recovered most Sidekick data In a letter to customers, the software maker said that it thinks only a minority of customers will end up losing any data. (Posted in … Read more

Lawsuits filed over Sidekick outages

It was only a matter of time, but the T-Mobile Sidekick issue has now spilled over to the courthouse.

A number of lawsuits have been filed, including two filed in federal court in Northern California on Wednesday that allege both negligence and false claims on the part of Microsoft and T-Mobile.

The suits come amid a massive outage of the service that powers the Sidekick, which has hampered data service since early this month and left many users without access to their calendars, address books, and other information. At one point, Microsoft and T-Mobile indicated that any data not yet … Read more

Finland makes 1Mb broadband access a legal right

Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications has made 1-megabit broadband Web access a legal right, YLE, the country's national broadcasting company, reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, every person in Finland (a little over 5 million people, according to a 2009 estimate) will have the right of access to a 1Mb broadband connection starting in July. And they may ultimately gain the right to a 100Mb broadband connection.

Just more than a year ago, Finland said it would make a 100Mb broadband connection a legal right by the end of 2015. Wednesday's announcement is considered an … Read more

New Wi-Fi spec challenges Bluetooth

A new Wi-Fi specification will let wireless devices discover and connect to one another without a router.

The spec, called Wi-Fi Direct, was announced Wednesday by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that promotes the technology. By making it much easier for devices to connect directly to each other using Wi-Fi, the new spec could pose a challenge to wireless technologies such Bluetooth.

The way Wi-Fi Direct works is that it allows Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as phones, cameras, printers, computers, keyboards, and headphones to connect to other Wi-Fi devices individually or to multiple devices at once. The spec will support … Read more

Gartner eyeing electronics recovery next year

The electronics industry is still hurting, but better times could be here before you know it.

Research firm Gartner says it has spotted a recovery already percolating for the sectors including PCs and mobile phones, with a sustained recovery pattern likely to take shape in 2010. What's holding back the optimism for a faster rebound this year, according to Gartner, is continuing uncertainty about the economy as a whole and, more specifically, about the effectiveness of government stimulus plans, especially when the stimulus runs out.

Gartner's forecast on the electronics industry was compiled for a report called "… Read more

Nokia's Netbook gamble

NEW YORK--Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, is getting into the computer business with its new Booklet 3G, setting the stage for a new era of competition in the mobile device market.

At a press event here Tuesday, Nokia took the wraps off the anticipated Booklet 3G, a Windows 7 Netbook that will run exclusively on AT&T's 3G wireless network. At a subsidized price tag of $299, Nokia has managed to hit the sweet spot in the Netbook market with a high-end device at a bargain price point.

Not only will the new Netbook … Read more

Cisco to buy mobile specialist Starent for $2.9 billion

Cisco Systems plans to buy Starent Networks for about $2.9 billion as it sharpens its focus on mobile networks.

Under a deal announced Tuesday, Cisco will pay $35 per share in cash and assume outstanding equity awards for Tewksbury, Mass.-based Starent. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2010.

Starent's products are designed to help service providers scale their mobile infrastructure and to manage access from 2.5G, 3G, and 4G radio networks to their packet core network. Its technology is deployed in CDMA2000 (1X, EV-DO), UMTS/HSPA, and WiMax networks.

Smartphones such … Read more

Unanswered questions loom large in Sidekick fiasco

So, just what the heck happened?

That's one of many questions that Sidekick owners and the broader tech community are asking after one of the largest data failures in recent memory.

Two days after warning customers that their contacts, calendar, and other information may be gone, Microsoft and T-Mobile spent most of Monday in silent mode as they continued to work to try to recover the data from thousands of Sidekick owners.

Microsoft has said that the hardware failure that caused the problem took out both the primary and backup copies of the database that contained Sidekick users' information. But the question remains, why wasn't there a true independent backup of the data?

T-Mobile has said that it is exploring what to do to try to compensate customers who have lost their data, but as of 4:30 p.m. PDT on Monday had not offered a promised update on where things stood.

For those who don't have their data, there was little to do but vent on various forums and hope that the data recovery efforts bear fruit. (There may be some hope on that front, as some users did report some data re-appearing on their devices on Monday).

Still, those who do have some or all of their information on their device, might want to back that up pronto. Enthusiast site Hiptop3.com and T-Mobile itself have offered up a few ways to back up contact information, in particular.

And, because it bears repeating, T-Mobile is warning those who do have information on their device not to reset their Sidekick, take out the battery, or let the device fully run out of power. … Read more