Filed under: Security, News, Web services
T-Mobile loses users' data - shakes our trust in the cloud
If you're a T-Mobile Sidekick user, today is probably not a good day for you. T-Mobile has posted on their forum that they (well, actually they're blaming Microsoft and Danger) have "almost certainly" lost their users' data:
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.
What are the implications of this for people who are relying more and more on cloud computing? On one hand, putting your data in the cloud allows you to hand off responsibility for security and backups to an entity that is probably in a better position to deal with it than you are. On the other hand, what if they fail?
The best solution is a solid combination of both. For every important piece of data that you leave on an online service, you should have an easy way to synchronize it to your local machine. If you don't, you're playing with fire.
[via Engadget]
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Demo said 11:52PM on 10-10-2009
Were there really no backups at all?
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Mathew Ballard said 12:11AM on 10-11-2009
And this is the main reason why I refuse to trust even a quarter of my data to the cloud.
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Tim said 12:18AM on 10-11-2009
I use the cloud for backing up small files that wont have much of an effect on me if i lose it, like research papers i wrote 3 semesters ago. no exceptions. 99.9% of my backed up files are on an external hard drive that sits in its original packaging (bubblewrap included). i pull it once in a while to update it
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Todd said 8:33AM on 10-11-2009
"shakes our trust in the cloud"
CORRECTION: shakes your trust in Windows Server 2003
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tophotti said 11:23AM on 10-11-2009
the same thing happened to me in 2008 with the 2008 model sidekick, that was very frustrating, i lost alot of numbers and pics, i will never get a sidekick after dat, maybe t-mobile service again but definitely not a sidekick
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Christian Walters said 6:33PM on 10-12-2009
Indeed, this is why I will NEVER trust a cloud with my data...even some of it.
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