Sidekick Synching on T-Mobile Petition

Grok Headline matches for Sidekick Synching on T-Mobile Petition

T-Mobile Sidekick II Reviewed

T-Mobile Sidekick II Reviewed 08/04/2004 09:57 AM

So, uhm, I guess the wait for the T-Mobile Sidekick II is about over since PC Magazine just put up a review. Way to start the hype machine, Danger! Maybe they decided not to really talk it up because it looks sort of, you know, bland. I mean, come on, VGA camera? Is the Sidekick destined to remain the sort-of-cool cellphone with the crappy camera? How about user-developed applications? When do we get those?

I guess I'll reserve final judgement until I can play around with the new unit, but for now it looks like a modest upgrade to a unit sorely in need of some juice in the first place. Also, I'm still a little bit bitter Danger got so fussy a few months back when we leaked the images of the Sidekick II. We only leaked because we cared! (Thanks, RVK!)

Read - T-Mobile Sidekick II [PCMag]

Related
T-Mobile Sidekick 2/Danger Hiptop 2 Revealed [Gizmodo]

Update: More links! (Thanks, Dustin!)
Read - Sidekick II Review [CNet]
Read - T-Mobile Kicks It with the Sidekick II [MobileMag]

Has T-Mobile dropped the Sidekick?

Has T-Mobile dropped the Sidekick? 03/14/2003 12:20 AM

Has T-Mobile dropped the Sidekick, Danger's mobile communicator? Amazon, other retail sites, and T-Mobile's own site list the Sidekick as out of stock due to high demand, but we just received a tip that there have been so many quality problems with the Sidekick that T-Mobile has decided to drop it entirely. Anybody know what's really going on here?

T-Mobile Sidekick II On Sale Now

T-Mobile Sidekick II On Sale Now 09/21/2004 10:39 AM

Hey, Sidekick II fans that didn't hook up with the upgrade offer: it's out. T-Mobile is officially offering the Sidekick II on their website for all the plebes. My problems with T-Mobile's customer service aside, the Sidekick II is a fantastic phone, and if you're already a happy Sidekick user, you should definitely take the plunge on the upgrade.

Oh, and from what I've heard (but not from T-Mo), if you don't want to order online, the retail stores should have it in stock tomorrow.

Read - Catalog Page [TMobile via MobileTracker]

Related
Sidekick Archives [Gizmodo]

T-Mobile begins selling Sidekick II

T-Mobile begins selling Sidekick II 09/22/2004 06:29 PM
CNET News.com Sep 22 2004 10:30PM GMT

Briefly: T-Mobile sells Sidekick II

Briefly: T-Mobile sells Sidekick II 09/22/2004 06:29 PM
CNET News.com Sep 22 2004 10:38PM GMT

T-Mobile Sidekick II Review: Best Phone
I'll Never Buy

T-Mobile Sidekick II Review: Best Phone
I'll Never Buy 08/19/2004 03:13 PM

So I'm heartbroken. I've just spent a week using the T-Mobile Sidekick II, and I think it's probably one of the best mobile devices I've ever used. And I can say, with total conviction, that I will never, ever purchase one and neither should you. In fact, after the experiences I've had today with T-Mobile, I'm not sure I can ever recommend one of their products again.

You may have noticed I'm a little slow on posting today. The reason is, besides being really, really high, is that I've spent about two hours on the phone with various customer service reps trying to resolve an issue that's been plaguing my primary account for the last three months. I've stayed away from mentioning it on Gizmodo, because I didn't want to turn my personal experiences into an overall anti-T-Mobile bias, but after my experiences today, with the yelling, the lies, and the misdirections, I am finally leaving them for good, and I have received such consistent horrible, deceitful service that I've come to realize it's indicative of a larger overall problem with the company - and that's worth telling you about.

But first, let me explain why the Sidekick II is so awesome.

Updated T-Mobile Sidekick plans

Updated T-Mobile Sidekick plans 12/05/2002 09:51 PM
T-Mobile is now offering a $59.99 plan with 500 Anytime minutes and unlimited weekend and weeknight minutes....

T-Mobile Sidekick 2/Danger Hiptop 2
Revealed

T-Mobile Sidekick 2/Danger Hiptop 2
Revealed 06/22/2004 01:49 PM

Speaking of FCC leaks, looks like the Sidekick II -- note the T-Mobile 'Sidekick' branding, and not 'Hiptop' -- is approved for FCC use, which means among other things pictures and user manuals have been revealed. It looks similar to the unit we posted a few months ago, but it looks like the camera on the back might include a flash, to which we say with no shame at all, "Oh, snap!" (Okay, maybe a little shame). Go ahead and dig around on the FCC site and see what you can find and we'll do the same. Let's just hope and pray that camera is 1-megapixel plus.
Read [FCC via Hiptop]< br /> Look - Sidekick 2 Front [Gizmodo]
Look - Sidekick 2 Open [Gizmodo]
Look - Sidekick 2 Back [Gizmodo]

T-Mobile Sidekick Upgrade Offer Still
On: Just Keep Calling

T-Mobile Sidekick Upgrade Offer Still
On: Just Keep Calling 09/15/2004 07:46 AM

So the T-Mobile Sidekick II upgrade offer (if you're a current SK user, you can upgrade for $200 instead of $300 if you trade in your old model) is not cancelled, despite any hooha about it otherwise. Instead it sounds like whatever call center is on the other end of the Magical Secret Phone Number has been getting slammed for two days straight. So if you can't get through, hey, just call lots more!

Also, you Sidekick users are creepy. Even a real internet friend of mine edited out the secret 800 number before forwarding me the email, as if T-Mobile was going to come to his house and slap his Sidekick out of his mouth if he leaked the number. That being said, I'm not going to post it, either. If you are a Sidekick user now, you should have gotten the email already.

The email itself is after the jump if you want to see it.

Related
Sidekick Archives [Gizmodo]

The challenges of synching

The challenges of synching 01/04/2004 08:26 PM
I predicted the other day that synching would appear in lots of newsreaders in 2004. (Some have it already, yes, but they don’t have it as I’ve defined it below.)

A good question would be: why isn’t synching already a feature of every newsreader already? It can’t be that hard, right—just read and write from a file somewhere that two copies of your newsreader can access.

I mean, what’s the hold-up? You just need something like a .newsrc. No big deal, it’s an old problem that’s been solved many times before.

Okay, so the rest of this post will be about the challenges in implementing synching.

What is synching?

First we need to define what synching is. It’s really a collection of features and requirements.

1. It’s merging, not cloning, of subscription lists.

2. It also synchs read/unread states of individual items.

3. Your newsreader uploads and downloads your synch data so you don’t have to do it manually with a browser or FTP client or whatever.

4. Your newsreader knows (or at least guesses) when it needs to download and upload synch data.

5. It works between different newsreader software on different operating systems.

I’ll take these one at a time.

Merging

Cloning is easy, merging is hard—but synching has to be merging.

For instance, imagine you have a newsreader at home and one at work. You subscribe to the same feeds—except that at work you also subscribe to some at-work-only feeds that you can’t get at home.

So when you get into work in the morning, you want to synch your data from last night at home. If it’s just cloning your subscription list, then the additional at-work-only feeds would get deleted, since you aren’t subscribed to them at home. Since we’re merging, not cloning, your at-work-only feeds do not get deleted.

But this leads to an interesting problem: what happens if you unsubscribe from a feed at home? The synching mechanism won’t delete it from your work subscription list, because for all it knows that feed could be a work-only feed.

And there’s another entire set of problems that come up because for most newsreaders the subscription list is an outline rather than a flat list. Merging hierarchies is far more difficult than merging flat lists.

Synching read/unread states of news items

This is possibly the toughest of the challenges.

In an ideal world, you can identify every item in an RSS feed with a unique id of some sort. So the synch data would be able to pair a unique ID with its read/unread status.

But not all versions of RSS have the concept of a unique ID. And, even in the versions that do have unique IDs, they’re not mandatory, and lots of feeds don’t use them. (And sometimes feeds have a terrible bug: they have unique IDs that aren’t actually unique.)

So, in the absence of a unique ID, how do you identify an item in a way that will work every single time? Answer: you can’t. There is no solution that will work every single time. (And this is why sometimes you notice in your newsreader items that are unread that you know you’ve read. They’ve been edited.)

Even if you include an entire item, all its text and links and various elements, it’s possible that the item was edited between leaving home and arriving at work.

So instead the synching has to do the best it can. Any format will probably use links and titles and whatever else so newsreaders can do a best guess. (I suspect that most developers hate situations like this, by the way, and it may be the single biggest reason why synching isn’t yet universal among newsreaders.)

Uploading and downloading

You’ll want to tell your newsreader where to save your synch data so you can get it at home and at work.

You might say, why not use .Mac? Because not everyone has an account. Because your newsreader at work might be on Windows. (And there are some other technical reasons which I’ll skip.)

Why not use FTP? Or HTTP-upload? Or...?

The answer is probably that a couple different methods may need to be made available. (FTP and HTTP-upload seem like obvious candidates, but I’m just guessing.)

But here’s the deal: I doubt that every newsreader already includes code for uploading files by the various methods people will want to use. Sure, there are libraries available, but newsreader developers will still have to write code and do a bunch of testing. Even a seemingly small thing like this still takes time and effort.

Knowing when to upload and download

This may be the easiest part.

When you launch your newsreader, it can ask if you want it to synch. It would then download your synch data from wherever and do the synch.

Similarly, when you quit, it could ask if you want to upload your synch data.

There may be more sophisticated algorithms that would make sense too, but the above is I think a good minimum.

Different newsreaders, different operating systems

This means getting a bunch of developers to agree on a format for synch data. That’s probably the easy part—the hard part will be testing to make sure X can synch with Y and Y can synch with Z and Z can synch with X.

That, by the way, is where you come in.

International Lip Synching

International Lip Synching 01/07/2004 06:03 PM
I finally got around to seeing Finding Nemo this weekend. It's pretty good, not great, but I suppose I'd appreciate...

PPC FAQ: Synching Remotely

PPC FAQ: Synching Remotely 05/26/2004 09:14 PM

Two synching format RFCs

Two synching format RFCs 01/07/2004 04:33 PM
Dare Obasanjo posted an RFC for a synching format: Synchronization of Information Aggregators using Markup (SIAM).

The idea is to synchronize subscription lists and read/unread states of items.

Another format was proposed by James Huston: Syndication Interchange File Format (SIFF).

Yes, more acronyms!

But the idea is to come up with a standard format that can be supported by lots of different newsreaders.

PPC FAQ: AvantGo Synching Problems

PPC FAQ: AvantGo Synching Problems 06/16/2004 10:36 PM

PPC FAQ: Synching Lotus Notes

PPC FAQ: Synching Lotus Notes 07/05/2004 10:45 PM

Palm No Longer Offering Mac Synching?

Palm No Longer Offering Mac Synching? 02/17/2004 10:32 AM

Sidekick 1.1.1

Sidekick 1.1.1 10/28/2003 11:07 PM
Sidekick is a Mac OS X menu bar item for AppleWorks 6. Now you can quickly access many of AppleWorks features from a single point without cluttering your Dock or searching through the Finder for frequently used documents. Without opening AppleWorks, you can create new documents and open recent items. You can also search web sites from within AppleWorks or quickly start companion programs.

Where is the Sidekick?

Where is the Sidekick? 03/11/2003 01:22 AM
By now everyone has heard that a Color HipTop is being demo'd, right? Rumour has been that it will arrive...

Sidekick Ii At A Glance

Sidekick Ii At A Glance 08/30/2004 06:34 AM
SiliconValley.com Aug 30 2004 10:52AM GMT

Sidekick Vs. Treo 600

Sidekick Vs. Treo 600 07/30/2004 09:56 AM

I'm a fan of both the Sidekick and the Treo 600, so when Levi Wallach wrote to tell me about his in-depth comparison article featuring the two keyboarded messenger devices, I immediately did what any sane person would do and read it and then forgot to post about it. Fortunately for you, that was only like last week, and the information is no less pertinent. In fact, with the Sidekick II and the Treo Ace/610 just around the corner, bargain-minded shoppers would do well to pay extra attention to the two devices that are still plenty capable and about to get plenty cheap.

Read - Compaq nx9020/nx9030/nx9040 [BIOS]

Related
Treo Ace: Please Be Legit [Gizmodo]
T-Mobile Sidekick 2/Danger Hiptop 2 Revealed [Gizmodo]

Sidekick blues

Sidekick blues 03/20/2003 10:02 PM
And so I have reached the stage in my Hiptop (Sidekick) relationship when I have been forced to call customer...

Anyone with a Sidekick going to the
Nebs?

Anyone with a Sidekick going to the
Nebs? 04/17/2004 04:47 AM
If anyone is going to be at tonight's Nebula Award ceremony with a Sidekick or other wireless email appliance, can you send me an email after the novellette category winner is announced, letting me know if I won? I'm in Linz, Austria, and I'm guessing the award will be announced somewhere around 8PM, which is 5AM here -- I'm setting an alarm for 5... Link

Sidekick II: More Danger == More
Applications?

Sidekick II: More Danger == More
Applications? 08/05/2004 08:45 AM

A bit of interesting chim cham from one Mr. Brahe, of One Internet Lane: Apparently, while futzing around with the new Sidekick II in San Diego, he happened to pick up on an important difference between the old model and the new: While user-submitted programs for the first Sidekick had to be approved by T-Mobile (something they were seemingly reticent to do, like, ever), Danger, creator of the Sidekick (nee Hiptop) have wrested control of user-submitted applications back, making one critical difference between versions: the new model will likely have more of what people really want: applications.

Of course, one Internet Semistar does not a source make, but if we'll follow up with Danger and see what we can find out.

Related
T-Mobile Sidekick II Reviewed [Gizmodo]

Sidekick II a significant improvement

Sidekick II a significant improvement 08/30/2004 06:34 AM
SiliconValley.com Aug 30 2004 10:51AM GMT

New Hiptop (Sidekick II) Photos

New Hiptop (Sidekick II) Photos 07/21/2004 07:46 PM

Sidekick II Intellisync For More Than
Outlook?

Sidekick II Intellisync For More Than
Outlook? 09/22/2004 01:58 PM

Hey, Sidekick II owners, have you downloaded the Intellisync software yet? Do you use something besides Outlook as your contacts system? Try this and tell me if it works. A reader sent in this tip:

I used to work for Intellisync and I think that if you install the full version of Intellisync on your machine as well, then the extra translators for Notes/Act!/etc will show up in the list of translators to available for use in other Intellisync products. It's worth a try.

It would be nice if that worked, so people that used Notes or had a Palm could use the Intellisync for Sidekick II, too.

Read - Free Intellisync Handheld Edition Trial [Sync]

OTC Sidekick/Floor Display

OTC Sidekick/Floor Display 06/08/2004 02:35 AM
Have you ever wanted to own an official Hasbro "point of sale" floor display stand for your Star Wars figures? Now you can! Plus, it even comes with 24 figures! Click on the thumbnail above for more details.

Danger Releases New Sidekick

Danger Releases New Sidekick 08/09/2004 06:14 AM
Danger last week announced the latest version of its Hiptop handheld device, sold in the United States as the Sidekick from T-Mobile USA.

Sidekick II Intellisync Released

Sidekick II Intellisync Released 09/22/2004 08:39 AM

Along with the new hardware with the upgraded camera, radio, and what not, one of the major promises of the Sidekick II is that Danger and T-Mo would finally offer a proper sync program. And as of yesterday, as long as you're using Windows, it's here. I had a chance to play around with a beta version a little when I was testing the SKII, and while I think it's great that they've finally offered a sync program, I hope that they'll continue to support more PIMs than just Outlook (and generic data files, I think, as well). A Thunderbird contacts importer would be great, for instance.

The bum deal for Sidekick II users is that the new Intellisync application is a $10 purchase from Danger (although you can buy it once and install it on as many PCs as you like). And since the Sidekick is a closed platform, no one else can write a sync program that works over the airwaves like Danger's. Welcome to the future of monolithic carrier/manufacturer platforms.

Read - Intellisync FAQ [Sidekick.Dngr]

Sidekick II Easter Egg (Unconfirmed)

Sidekick II Easter Egg (Unconfirmed) 09/23/2004 07:13 AM

Typing " @(^o^)@ " in the Sidekick 2 AIM client creates a monkey smiley.

Adding a "v" or a "_" instead of the "o" makes different monkey gestures.

Marathon offers SideKick add on for G5
rackmount

Marathon offers SideKick add on for G5
rackmount 09/10/2004 10:35 AM
Marathon Computer Inc. has announced the forthcoming release of the SideKick -- an add-on for the company's G5 Vertical Rackmount. The SideKick helps users make use of the vertical space left over when a Power Mac G5 is mounted into an equipment rack.

Hiptop/Sidekick Sequel Unleashed

Hiptop/Sidekick Sequel Unleashed 08/04/2004 10:38 PM

Lindsay Lohan's Sidekick: We All Have
Our Little Slips

Lindsay Lohan's Sidekick: We All Have
Our Little Slips 07/16/2004 11:47 AM

I guessed, but I guessed wrong. Lindsay Lohan's Sidekick was bejewelled -- with Swarovski crystals, no less -- by none other than local mobile couturists NYC Peach. How do I know? It's on the freaking website. Well, and a bunch of you guys told me. My reputation as a hard-hitting technology journalist is besmirched forever.
Read - Home Page [NYCPeach]

Related
Lindsay Lohan's Nipp... Sidekick Found [Gizmodo]

Gundam Haro Cube PC Sidekick

Gundam Haro Cube PC Sidekick 07/30/2004 11:03 PM

If you own a cube PC and like Gundam, you'll probably lose it for this new "case case." Obviously inspired by the show (well, obvious if you've seen it before), the "Haro" can fit entire cube PCs inside. But how could Haro be complete without annoying sidekick-like behavior? By way of remote controller, you can make Haro's limbs move, and he will say up to 12 different phrases such as "What the hell are you doing?" and "Hello?" and "Do you have a girlfriend yet, Stonecold?"

More pictures at Akiba2Go.

Read - Article [Akiba2Go]

Amazon selling the color Sidekick for
-$30

Amazon selling the color Sidekick for
-$30 12/17/2003 10:50 AM
Another one of those deals were you're basically getting paid to buy something, Amazon is offering the color Sidekick mobile communicator for negative thirty dollars...

Use your Sidekick to Admin your
Shoutcast Server

Use your Sidekick to Admin your
Shoutcast Server 08/01/2004 11:52 AM
Tech-Recipes Aug 1 2004 3:12PM GMT

Setting up the Developers Kit for the
Sidekick/Hiptop

Setting up the Developers Kit for the
Sidekick/Hiptop 08/01/2004 11:52 AM
Tech-Recipes Aug 1 2004 3:13PM GMT

"petition"

"petition" 06/14/2004 05:47 PM

Synching Windows 2000 with a Windows NT
Time Server

Synching Windows 2000 with a Windows NT
Time Server 07/04/2004 12:11 PM

Grok Description matches for Sidekick Synching on T-Mobile Petition
GrokA matches for Sidekick Synching on T-Mobile Petition

Sidekick Synching on T-Mobile Petition

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