Let your cell phone pick your friends.........

by desib77 12 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  desib77

  http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/411009|oddlyenough|06-23-2004::12:47|reuters.html

  Wanted: New Friend, Must Have Bluetooth

  Email this story Jun 23, 12:30 pm ET SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Student Gracinia Lim has made new friends thanks to mobile phone software that alerts her to compatible people nearby.

  She is an early customer of a service in Singapore called BEDD that uses Bluetooth wireless communications to scan strangers' phones for their personal profiles.

  The application joins a swelling number of Internet and mobile phone based services that offer to widen people's social networks.

  Users download the BEDD software into a compatible phone, complete a short profile of themselves and include a description of who they want to befriend, or an item they want to buy or sell.

  The software automatically searches for and exchanges profiles with other phones that come within a 20-meter (65 ft) radius. Matched users are given each other's contact details.

  "I've become close with people that I've never known before, built up a close clique of friends whom I chill out with, sleep over at their homes and go for late suppers with," said Lim, 19.

  The software, created by futures trader Stephen Carlton and Swedish engineer Olle Bliding about three years ago, was launched last month in Singapore and will be rolled out in most of Asia by year-end. It costs S$0.98 ($0.571) for 30 days of unlimited use.

  BEDD differs from rival services in that it relies on phone-to-phone transmission, running on the short-range Bluetooth technology.

  Other mobile-based dating services in Asia -- such as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd's MyCupid and Bharti Airtel of India's TrackUrMate -- exchange information through a central database. Carlton said BEDD has over 1,000 users in the city state and hosts get-togethers in coffee bars where people let their phones make their introductions. As the number of customers grows, the chances of meeting a compatible person at random in the street or on a bus will grow.

  "People spend tons of money at dating and matchmaking agencies or on personal ads -- for a small amount of money, this software could help change their lives," Carlton said.
• 

  Sirius Dogma

  hehe. yeah, use bluetooth on your phone, maybe you can be one of the first to get the world first cellphone virus, via bluetooth. fun!

  http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995111

  The World's No.1 Science & Technology News Service First cell phone worm emerges 18:26 15 June 04 NewScientist.com news service The first virus to spread from one cell phone to another has been created, the Russian anti-virus software vendor Kaspersky Labs announced on Tuesday. Cabir has no malicious capabilities and affects only a small slice of "smart" phones that run on both the sophisticated Symbian operating system and have a Bluetooth connection. It has been written by a group called 29a. The virus is an "interesting milestone", says Graham Cluley, a consultant at the anti-virus software vendor Sophos in Oxford, UK, because it is the first virus to spread through a cell phone network. In 2000, the virus Timifonica forced infected PCs to send text messages to phones. "But this is the first virus to spread from phone to phone," says Cluley. Experts say the virus should not alarm the public because it has been circulated by researchers in a controlled laboratory setting only. There are no known cases of it "in the wild". Download files Unlike most computer worms, Cabir does not exploit a vulnerability in the Symbian operating system. "It exploits the way the phone is supposed to work," explains Cluley. Bluetooth transceivers automatically contact each other when they come into range, and the Symbian operating system is designed so that files can be exchanged over the Bluetooth connection. However, Cluley points out that the virus does not spread via the automatic transfer of files - this would require a vulnerability. Instead, before a phone accepts a file, it asks the owner if he wants to download it. "It is only going to be infecting people who say, yes please, hit me on the nose," Cluley told New Scientist. But Kaspersky Labs suggest that people might accept it because the file is disguised as Security software. More dangerous worm The Kaspersky researchers say that Cabir was written by an international group of virus writers called 29a. The group sent the code to anti-virus vendors on Tuesday, who have since verified that it can be spread from phone to phone by conducting lab tests. Although the virus is not live in the wild and has no malicious payload, experts have suggested that other virus writers could use it as a basis for a more dangerous worm. Security experts have been warning for years that a combination of Bluetooth connections and increasingly sophisticated cell phone software would eventually lead to malicious phone viruses capable of bugging calls and deleting the phonebooks, calendars and diaries stored on smart phones. "I am uncomfortable talking about it," says Cluley. "We don't want to give virus writers too many ideas."
• 

  desib77

  I hadn't ever even heard of Bluetooth, let alone that there is a virus for it......geeeesh....

  Very interesting, Sirus....
• 

  Sirius Dogma

  Bluetooth is just a name for a way of connecting things in close proximity to each other. Most PDA's(Palms) have bluetooth and so do lots of laptops. There was a lot of talk about it a few years ago about how it would revolutionize networking, none of it even happened and so far is just a novel way to connect devices, that (1) both support it, (2) are close enough for it to actually work and (3) when speed is not an issue.
• 

  desib77

  oh..........I was sure I had discovered something completely new.....

  oh well.....
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  They had an article about a program like this in England- except in England it was scanning for people who wanted to have sex :)

  Good stuff :)
• 

  Sirius Dogma

  hehe. well, you did find something new. No one was using it to connect random cell phone users together to find friends, that is new.
• 

  desib77

  hehe. well, you did find something new. No one was using it to connect random cell phone users together to find friends, that is new.
• 

  Valis

  eh imagine if you listed some rather odd interests...Satan worship, beastiality, Jehovahs Witnesses, etc...*LOL* imagine to your suprise the little old lady sitting next to you not only is a regular pioneer, but subscribes to Sexy Beast magazine just like you!

  Bluetooth Virus

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  desib77

  They had an article about a program like this in England- except in England it was scanning for people who wanted to have sex :)

  So did they have to change this daily depending on whether they were in the mood or not?