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Bluetooth: Facts & Fixes |
goldenface
Joined: Dec 17, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Liverpool City Centre
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Some useful information regarding Bluetooth. There is a dropdown box with loads more info on the linked page.
Bluetooth: Facts & Fixes
Since its inception (way back in 1994) by Ericsson, Bluetooth has spread across numerous categories of devices and astronomical number of gadgets.
Here, in India, the first time the general public heard about such technology was when we got phones with integrated Bluetooth chips. Since then there's been no looking back... the usage of Bluetooth has spread across to all spheres of digital communication be it home, office, school, or college.
But, how many of us actually know how the technology works? Not many. And even fewer know about the security issues surrounding this avatar of short range communication.
While we all hear reports of networks and PCs being hacked all the time, a similar phenomenon has been bugging mobile phone users as well. Bluetooth-hacking (read Hacking of Bluetooth enabled devices) has grown exponentially in the last couple of years.
Remember the Paris Hilton fiasco, wherein her phone was hacked and all her data including contacts, messages, pics, etc, was stolen? If somebody could hack into her phone, I'd say hacking a random person's phone is a walk-in-the-park.
There's lot more to talk about on this issue but before that, just to get everyone on the same page, let's understand the technology better.
Basically Blue
As they say, 'Necessity is the mother of invention'; so is the case with Bluetooth.
Before Bluetooth was conceived, people had to rely on the leisurely pace of IrDA (Infrared Data Association) devices for short range wireless file transfers that had some serious shortcomings in terms of speed and connectivity.
The size of the files was increasing much faster than the refinements in IR and a new technology was the need of the hour. This is when Bluetooth stepped in, giving users the much needed boost in terms of speed, visibility (for devices), and connectivity at the same time also giving more bandwidth.
Bluetooth is a method for communication specification that uses short-range radiolinks to replace cables between computers and their connected units. Ericsson Mobile Communication started the project that was named Bluetooth (1994.) in honor of Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the mid-tenth century.
The global acceptance of Bluetooth is largely due to the formation of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth SIG has a huge member-base that includes companies from the telecommunications, computing, automotive, music, apparel, industrial automation, and network industries.
Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Toshiba, and 3COM are some of the leading members of this group who have been there since its inception. All the members of the SIG have a common goal of making products that qualify Bluetooth standard and enable interoperability of Bluetooth-enabled devices from different manufacturers.
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T18s>>>T300>>>T610>>K700>>S700>>J5>>W900i
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2006-09-16 10:31 ] | |
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Aware
Joined: Jun 24, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Oxon, UK
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Very nice article! had dealings with a cabir/caribe/skulls virus variant last year on a 7610, then 6630(puts you off S60, you know).........6630 never quite recovered........ | |
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Posted: 2006-09-16 09:13
