Questão 81

    Christoph Oswald has no problem approaching women. As he makes his way through the crowd at his favorite Frankfurt club, his cell phone scans a 10-meter radius for “his type”: tall, slim, sporty, $\in$ her 30s−and, most important, looking for him, a handsome 36-year-old software consultant who loves ski holidays. Before he reaches the bar, his phone starts vibrating and an attractive blonde appears on its screen. “Hi, I’m Susan,” she says. “Come find me!” Christoph picks her out of the crowd, and soon they’re laughing over a drink.

    Both Christoph and Susan have phones equipped with Symbian Dater, a program that promises to turn the cell phone into a matchmaker. By downloading Symbian, they installed a 20-character encrypted code that includes details of who they are and what they’re looking for $\in a$ mate. Whenever they go out, their matchmaking phones sniff out other Symbian Daters over the unlicensed, and therefore free, Bluetooth radio frequency. If profiles match up, the phones beep wildly and send out short video messages.

(NEWSWEEK, JUNE 7 / JUNE 14, 2004)

The passage tells us that at his favorite Frankfurt club, Christoph Oswald