I Have Amazing Powers of Foresight

Always being a bit of a geek (a bit?!) I remember having a conversation, a few years ago, about viruses in software eventually becoming like biological viruses in a few ways.

One of which was my prediction that, in a "cyberpunk" style future, you'd actually worry about going into certain bars, or neighborhoods, or whatever - for fear of "catching" a computer virus over the air, much like a biological one.

At the time the only wireless transmission data method was infrared, which had severe limitations, but I was pretty sure more stuff would come along that would make it easier.

And now, with the advent of Bluetooth (which has been out there for a few years but only really came into popularity about a year or two ago) it seems my prediction has come true. :)

Now, being in the wireless business, I have been hearing about this for awhile but this is the first I've seen mention of it in any "mainstream" news outlet.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/041222/225224_1.html

Most interesting paragraph to me is:

During the autumn, Cabir.B started spreading in the wild. It has been detected in several countries since, including China, India, Turkey, Philippines and Finland. It continues spreading today, travelling from one country to another as people with infected phones travel.

Love it. I actually wrote a short story years ago about that very thing. It wasn't mobile phones, it was "cyberdecks" but otherwise, it was pretty much that exact idea.

Anyway, if you have a phone with bluetooth, but don't use it (like, if you are asking yourself, "Do I? What's bluetooth?" then I'm talking to you...) you want to go into your menus and make sure bluetooth is turned off. It just wastes your battery if it's turned on and you don't use it, anyway.