Glimmer of hope for Sidekick; and Colorado launches ‘snow virgin' contest

(NECN: Ted McEnroe) – October will be a month to forget for users of T-Mobile’s Sidekick phone. Thousands of Sidekick users, whose data was stored on servers run by Microsoft, have been living without their email, calendar and phone book data since October 2nd. There are a couple of developments this morning in the case – TMobile has stopped selling the Sidekick for now, it is offering Sidekick users whose data has been lost a $100 customer appreciation card on top of the $50 credit toward data service they are already promised, and now, Microsoft and T-Mobile say they are more optimistic that the data itself might be recoverable. That news from the Sidekick forum. The phones, which were made by the Microsoft subsidiary Danger, store user data in networks of servers known as “clouds”. In theory, clouds are safe and secure – but like anything else digital, you’re only as secure as your backup system, which in this case, appears to have failed. But if you don’t own a Sidekick, you’re not out of the clouds. Got GMail? Your mail is in a cloud of servers run by Google. Got Apple’s MobileMe? That’s a cloud, too. And that may be where Sidekick’s users’ losses are your gains. The well-publicized failure might force big server companies to be more transparent about how YOUR data is backed up on THEIR servers. So this isn’t over yet. Here’s a contest New Englanders can’t win. The state of Colorado’s tourism office is offering “snow virgins” a chance to spend three months in the state to experience skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, dogsledding, and one would assume shovelling, firsthand. We’ve seen these contests before – but the winner of this one could provide some really good stuff – you’ve seen people experiencing snow for the first time – they’re fun to watch. Anyway – the state wants people to enter from all over the world – they’ll bring 10 Finalists in to try out for the grand prize – and the 3 winners will spend three months enjoying the snow and no doubt isiting the hot tub after bruising days learning how to ski, snowboard and so on. Entrants have to shoot a video of less than 60 seconds – and once it’s posted – the top 5 vote-getters come to Colorado, as do 5 other creative folks chosen by contest organizers. From there, they’ll pick the three winners. But there is an issue here. I went to look at the FAQ, and found this line they may want to rethink. Q: What kind of clothing should I pack? A: Since it will be winter in Colorado, you should pack/prepare accordingly. Think: jackets, fleece pullovers, sweaters, jeans, sweatpants, sneakers, boots, etc. Umm, let’s say I have never seen snow. Why exactly would I own fleece pullovers, jackets, and BOOTS? C’mon Colorado – there’s an outfitter for these folks somewhere. This never would have happened if it was a Maine contest – right L.L. Bean?