Oct 20

T-Mobile posts Sidekick contact recovery instructions

Posted in: download, Microsoft, t-mobile, Today's Chili

That Microsoft / T-Mobile tag team has been doing a pretty decent job of cleaning up the disaster area left by the Sidekick data loss, and now the first item on the recovery menu is ready for collection. Sidekick users can hit up the My T-Mobile webpage to download their contacts and then restore them either to their Sidekick or whatever device they’ve replaced it with. Extensive how-to instructions are available at the read link, which also furnishes us with the reassurance that “Microsoft/Danger continues its efforts to recover pictures, calendar entries and to-do lists, which may be available in the future.”

[Thanks, Abe G.]

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T-Mobile posts Sidekick contact recovery instructions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 19

Microsoft to restore remaining Sidekick contacts this week, other stuff ‘shortly thereafter’

Posted in: Microsoft, t-mobile, Today's Chili

Sidekick users tend to be an active, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants bunch, so it’s gotta hurt like the dickens when they don’t have access to their schedules and little black books — but hey, at least it’s still recoverable, right? Microsoft has just posted a quick update to keep everyone abreast on the progress of its Sidekick data recovery, and it sounds like they’ll be able to have remaining missing contacts back in action this week with the rest of the data — to-dos, notes, photos, and the like — following on “shortly thereafter.” Anyone who didn’t lose information in the debacle should be unaffected by the recovery process, but for those who did, these backup tapes couldn’t possibly load into Danger’s feisty data center fast enough.

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Microsoft to restore remaining Sidekick contacts this week, other stuff ‘shortly thereafter’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 15

Microsoft recovers ‘most, if not all’ Sidekick customer data

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Microsoft, t-mobile, Today's Chili

Steve Ballmer must have busted out his secret stash of magic dust, as Microsoft has just come out with the announcement that it has recovered “most, if not all, customer data” that was lost during the recent Sidekick debacle. Following the wildly embarassing fiasco attributed to a “system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up,” T-Mobile and Redmond have “rebuilt the system component by component” and now promise to restore data to affected users in the most expedient fashion possible. Guess that means you won’t be getting $100 from T-Mobile for losing your Tetris high scores after all.

[Thanks, Abe G.]

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Microsoft recovers ‘most, if not all’ Sidekick customer data originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 14

International Kindle won’t let you use terrible web browser overseas

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e reader, e-book reader, E-bookReader, kindle, Today's Chili, web browser, WebBrowser

Amazon got the world’s attention when it announced a $279 International version of its heralded Kindle, but if you thought you’d be able to roam globally and really put it to AT&T, think again. Wired has noticed that the fine print explains that accessing blogs and the experimental web browser won’t be allowed overseas, though even Americans are cautioned against using the Kindle’s browser unless smoke signals and morse code have already failed you. In related news, all International Kindles will ship with US power plugs from a US warehouse, so folks in Europe will need to factor in import fees as well as some sort of power adapter. Ah well, at least you guys get universal healthcare.

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International Kindle won’t let you use terrible web browser overseas originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 13

Apple on Snow Leopard Bug: Help Is on the Way!

Posted in: Apple, mac os x, security, storage, Today's Chili

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In response to widespread media coverage Monday, Apple has acknowledged a bug in its latest operating system, Snow Leopard, that involved some users losing a large amount of their data when logging into guest accounts.

“We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix,” an Apple representative said in a statement.

As far back as September, a number of Snow Leopard users documented the problem on several forum threads. They said the bug involves the home directory — the Mac’s primary user folder — being replaced with an empty folder after users log in with a Guest account. That resulted in loss of documents, downloads, pictures, music and other types of files, the affected users claimed.

“My home folder had been replaced with a ’straight out of the box’ home folder,” wrote user “dubaidan” in a Sept. 3 forum post. “Standard desktop, standard dock, nothing in my documents folder, standard library. My entire home folder is gone.”

Lost data can easily be restored with a backup of a hard drive. But if Snow Leopard users did not back up data prior to experiencing the bug, it would be difficult, and sometimes not possible, to recover lost files.

Though fewer than 100 Snow Leopard users have reported experiencing data loss, information security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski said this bug is considered a serious “screwup” in IT. He theorized the problem could be that the Mac OS confused the home folder for a guest account and accidentally flushed out the data.

Whatever the case may be, Zdziarski called this bug an “embarrassment” for Apple.

“Apple seems to be downplaying [the bug] to an asinine degree,” Zdziarski said. “It’s actually pretty serious to the end-user, and Apple is likely working hard to get their legal department ready to respond to massive lawsuits.”

Apple has yet to publish a fix, but for the time being, Zdziarski recommended for Snow Leopard users to back up their data regularly.

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Photo: Tambako the Jaguar/Flickr


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Oct 10

T-Mobile Sidekick Out(r)age: Your Data’s Probably Gone Forever

Posted in: t-mobile, Today's Chili, top

T-Mobile Sidekick users have been holding out hope that their data might be recovered after T-Mo issued an optimistic message of hope. But the carrier just updated users and admitted the truth: Your shit’s gone. Sorry, guys.

It’s been more than two weeks without data for Sidekick users, and T-Mobile finally bit the bullet and announced that it probably isn’t coming back. The quote:

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low.

This is pretty crappy of T-Mobile and Danger, and while it’s probably unfair to make this connection, doesn’t give us any new confidence in Project Pink, developed by the remnants of Danger after Microsoft acquired it. (After all, Microsoft bought Danger specifically because of their software services. And now, it just goes kablooey?) Renowned Sidekick user and a-hole Perez Hilton, while normally hysteric about just about everything, has the right tone here:

To add insult to injury, the ONLY thing T-Mobile is offering their customers, whom they obviously don’t value or respect, is one month of free data service.

That’s shit!

One month of free data service (which is not the same thing as one month of free phone use) for SEVEN DAYS of heartache and no access to contacts????

That’s fucked!!!!

Really, that’s kind of putting it lightly. [T-Mobile via Boy Genius Report]

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Oct 01

Time Telescope greatly improves optical data transmission, won’t undo your past mistakes

Posted in: networking, science, Today's Chili

Researchers at Cornell have developed a “time telescope” from silicon waveguides that work like the two lenses of a telescope (or microscope) to compress and decompress data. Using the method, they were able to shift a 24-bit light pulse from 2.5 nanoseconds to 92 picoseconds in length without losing any information — delivering the it to its destination 27 times faster than traditional fiber optics. Of course, the current 24-bit limit is too small for real world use, but it is a start — and since this uses industry-supported fabrication technology, there’s a chance that we may actually get our hands on one of these things in the not-too-distant future. Insert your own Marty McFly joke here.

[Via Slashdot]

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Time Telescope greatly improves optical data transmission, won’t undo your past mistakes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 09

AT&T slinging HSPA 7.2 to six cities this year, adding backhaul capacity too

Posted in: att, hspa, mobile broadband, mobile internet, MobileBroadband, MobileInternet, network, Today's Chili, wwan

If there’s one thing AT&T’s network could use, it’s more network. Particularly in major cities (we’re looking at you and your dastardly street parking situation, San Francisco), AT&T’s 3G network is perpetually overwhelmed, oftentimes forcing users to switch to EDGE just to tweet about how awful the coverage is. Thankfully, the operator is making good on its earlier promise to roll out HSPA 7.2Mbps to select cities, with Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami now destined to get lit this year. Potentially more interesting, however, is the deployment of “additional backhaul capacity to cell sites,” which will also support LTE when the time comes. All told, around 2,000 new cell sites should be added before the year’s end, and at least a half dozen 7.2Mbps-capable smartphones should be in AT&T’s portfolio by the same deadline. Feel free to express your joy in comments below — that is, if you can get comments to load on your existing 3G connection.

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AT&T slinging HSPA 7.2 to six cities this year, adding backhaul capacity too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 07

Nokia’s RD-3 modem boldly boasts LTE, and no, you can’t have one

Posted in: 4G, lte, nokia, Today's Chili

Nokia makes out its just-announced RD-3 data modem to be the dream of every road warrior: global GSM / EDGE, global HSPA, global LTE — a twenty-plus year heritage of technologies in the GSM family tree compressed into a single device, powerful enough to get you service from a dusty GPRS cell site in some of the world’s harshest landscapes or Verizon’s LTE trials in Boston and Seattle just the same. The only problem is that you can’t have it. The RD-3 is instead being reserved for carriers and infrastructure firms building out LTE networks around the globe as they march toward commercial availability in 2010, at which point Nokia (and others) will presumably have newer, better modems available for us lay folk to enjoy. In the meanwhile, though, it’s alright: go ahead and drool.

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Nokia’s RD-3 modem boldly boasts LTE, and no, you can’t have one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 04

ATT Addresses Network Challenges, iPhone’s MMS Delay in Video

Posted in: att, iPhone, Today's Chili, videos

As a follow-up to Thursday’s announcement that multimedia messaging is finally arriving for iPhones on Sept. 25, AT&T has posted a video outlining the growth of smartphone traffic to explain why it’s taken this long to deliver MMS.

The video stars Seth Bloom, AT&T’s spokesman, who explains some of the technical intricacies involved in expanding the network to support services, including MMS, for iPhone. Here at Wired.com we’ve corresponded with Bloom often for comment regarding AT&T and the iPhone, and we like working with the guy. We like the video, too, because it does a decent job offering technical explanation to help justify the delay.

But the comments in the YouTube forum suggest that customers don’t appreciate this video as much as we do. Perhaps it would’ve been a better move in June, when Apple originally announced AT&T iPhone customers would have to wait until “late summer” for MMS. An earlier explanation (as opposed to a vague statement) probably would’ve evaded a lawsuit filed by an iPhone customer upset about the delay in MMS.

This could serve as a PR lesson for AT&T, whose notoriety has increased exponentially ever since the iPhone 3G exploded into the mainstream: When there’s damage, seek to rectify it as fast as you can.

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