It was another boozy night at Cape Town`s Waterfront when it occurred to us to have a go at bluejacking.
My mate and I were watching the city`s 'supermodels` strut their stuff and wondering how a couple of ordinary dudes could get a toehold on that world of beautiful people, when the idea of bluejacking suddenly looked quite appealing.
Bluejacking is becoming a bit of a craze these days as the Bluetooth wireless protocol is found on more and more portable devices. The concept is quite simple: use a portable device - usually a cellphone - to find out who else has their Bluetooth devices activated and then try to identify them.
At the moment, bluejacking looks like nothing more than a fun game, almost childish in its simplicity and effect. Use a cellphone to identify another person, send them a message using the ID box to contain it, or if feeling brave, call out their name and then watch the expression on their faces.
"Women are the best to try this out with, because they always personalise their phones with their names so it makes the introduction a lot easier," my worldly friend assured me.
He then took his trusty Nokia phone and started to scan for other Bluetooth devices.
"Look!" he said. "Some are activated."
Within a radius of around 10m or so around us (which is the range of the Bluetooth receivers), we began to identify names and speculate about which of them were the 'supermodels`.
Within a radius of around 10m or so around us, we began to identify names and speculate about which of them were the 'supermodels`.
Paul Vecchiatto, Journalist, ITWeb
Unfortunately, it was a rather disappointing crop. One phone was called "Nokia 3610is", another was called "Ericsson T610", and a third was called "Motorola phone". And finally a fourth phone was simply called "phone".
"What a lame bunch," I complained. "Calling your cellphone 'phone` is like... calling your dog 'dog`... it lacks imagination."
But not all was lost. Soon some real names began to appear on the screen. And these were the names we wanted to see. "Kathy", then "Jenni" and "Sam" appeared as our trusty Bluetooth search went on.
"Fantastic!" we both exclaimed. At last we were going to meet some real "shmodels".
We decided to use the open outcry method to see how close they may be sitting to us. We would call out a name, see if anyone responded and then send a message via Bluetooth containing something innocent, but personal, such as a comment on what our victim was wearing. And then presto - they have been "bluejacked".
So, "Kathy" was first shouted out, then "Jenni", to no response.
"Oh well," said my friend, and then promptly growled out "Sam" - as if he really meant business.
A mountain of hard and mean flesh sitting at a table near us turned around. A large head, with little or no hair on the top, but with plenty around a mouth looked at us and said: "Vu knows me?"
Before we could answer, the man mountain said: "How do vu knows me? Are`s vu da politse?" A large fist crashed down on our table, scattering coffee cups, crumbs of cake and serviettes.
"Nooo... relax now! We just managed to access your cellphone," my friend said and before any further explanation, the man mountain, who seemed to have multiplied, said: "Vu are buggin` my phone then I vill smesh vu head!"
While Cape Town is becoming a Mecca for the modelling industry, it is also attracting some interesting people who are involved with various East European organisations that specialise in re-arranging others` lives in a very physical way.
Since both of us understood the man mountain`s origins, we decided to make a rather hasty getaway, leaving behind way too much cash to pay for our coffees.
A few minutes later and a few kilometres distant, we slowed down to catch our breath.
"Nothing like having real physical security to safeguard your information!" I quipped in a nonchalant manner.
"I think we just missed being 'blueyejacked," my friend replied.
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