Danger

It looks as though the current Sidekick outage is turning into a bigger mess for T-Mobile. The company has just published an apology to Sidekick users who've been without many important services for a few days--and says that because of a server error at Danger (a Microsoft subsidiary), affected users might not get their data back at all.

This is terrible news for some Sidekick users out there and is also one of the largest fails in cloud computing in recent memory. T-Mobile has already offered affected users a free month of service, but that was a few days … Read more

Users of T-Mobile's Sidekick have been suffering through a major outage over the past several days that left many without access to the Web or their address books.

Microsoft, whose Danger subsidiary powers the Sidekick service, said it is "working urgently" to deal with the problems, which interrupted data service for most Sidekick users starting at 1:30 a.m. PDT on Friday. The level of disruption has varied, though most users have been affected, Microsoft said.

"We are working around-the-clock to get all our services back online and will continue to post status updates to … Read more

Apparently, those who live in climates where it regularly freezes in the winter are at risk of death via icicle. It appears that larger icicles can break off of gutters and plunge into people's bodies, killing them coldly on contact.

A company called Gutterglove, which ironically is California-based, has a new add-on called the IceBreaker for its already advanced guttering systems. Using a self-regulated heated cable, the IceBreaker keeps water on the outside of the gutter just above freezing, meaning icicles don't form, fall off, and kill you and your loved ones as you build your snowman.

The … Read more

Last week, producer Danger Mouse (best known as half of Gnarls Barkley) finally released his new album, a collaboration with noise-pop artist Sparklehorse called "The Long Dark Night of the Soul." The catch: because of an ongoing legal battle with record label EMI, the "album" isn't an album at all, but rather a blank CD-R with artwork created by movie producer David Lynch. If you're interested in supporting the cause, you can order the CD-R with a poster ($10) or full book of artwork ($50) here.

But how do you get the music? NPR … Read more

Apparently cash is still king in Spain, according to one listener. And here I thought it was Juan Carlos. We also notice how Craigslist is getting CraigsPissed over the adult services issue. And Dell says Windows 7 may be great and all but it's also going to be expensive. And that's just not so much of a good idea in this economy.

South Carolina eyes ‘criminal investigation’ of Craigslist http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10242507-93.html

Napster relaunches with $5 a … Read more

The adventurous guys at Jetpack International recently made an attempt on a world air-speed record. Pilot Eric Scott hit a maximum speed of 68 mph, verified by a police radar gun.

Jet packs seem like the next obvious stage in the evolution of transportation.

Via OhGizmo

Follow me (sans Jetpack) on Twitter @daveofdoom

It was a wet morning just like any other wet morning in Kettering, Ohio. A woman driving in her Honda mini-van was doing what many other women might have been doing. Ferrying children. Oh, and chatting on her cell phone.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot. She was also breast-feeding.

Chris Cahill, 33, spotted her, called the police and then, as people sometimes do on a wet Kettering morning, decided to follow her. There is, naturally, no irony in the fact that, according to a recording of his call to the police, he continued talking on his cell phone while he … Read more

As Microsoft allegedly searches for open-source NetBSD developers to work on its Sidekick mobile phone, acquired along with maker Danger last year, the furor is kicking up that Microsoft finally is getting deep into open source.

This, however, is the wrong furor. Microsoft's move into an open-source operating system means little, given that Danger was almost certainly headed down the NetBSD path well before the Microsoft acquisition, as Fabrizio Capobianco of Funambol points out. Microsoft is simply fulfilling the strategic trajectory that Danger had already plotted out.

The real buzz should center on the fact that this is going … Read more

As one of my colleagues put it the other day, Microsoft killed the rumors that it's building a Zune phone, but it didn't drive a silver stake through their heart and bury them at a crossroads at midnight. In other words, until Microsoft makes some kind of phone-related announcement, misinformed analysts and news outlets will continue to speculate that there's going to be a Microsoft-built Zune phone, and Microsoft spokespeople will continue going on the record with vehement denials.

This is getting silly. I've been saying since February that the most likely course of action for … Read more