My new mobile number

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Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 12:11pm.

Hi people. I have acquired a local mobile number.

~~~~~~ Edit (4:33 PM IST on 28th Feb 2006) ~~~~~~

Just subtract 69454496 from my old number and voila! you have my new number. Idea patented by JhQuest.

In case you are wondering why I am doing this you should read the comments to this post. You actually need not read the rest of the post. I am not editing it out just because whenever I am confident of having found the 'right' solution and need to have my confidence shaken I will come and read this post. Sniff.

I asked you to stop reading, didn't I?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ignore the hyphens. I had to put them due to the way browsers render extra spaces in XHTML.

Old mobile number: [ 9--8--a----b----c--d---e--f--g--h ]

New mobile number: [ 9--8--b--(0.5g)-7-(2c)-7--d--g--7 ]

where (2c) is 2 times c and 0.5g is half of g.

Please update my mobile number in your phonebook. Also drop me an SMS so I can be sure you have got it. I was thinking of SMSing all the people in my phonebook but in Delhi SMS rates of all providers and plans is quite high. In fact mobile rates in general are higher compared to Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai :-(

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28 comments

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What the ... !

Submitted by Shantanu (not verified) on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 2:58pm.

Ok, You have a really techno brain dude! How did you even come up with that? And WHY? I guess I can understand your security/privacy issue... but geeze!

did not want to broadcast my number

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 3:15pm.

Initially I had thought of SMSing all the people in my phonebook my new number. But each SMS will cost me 2 bucks, that means it will cost me around Rs 500 to tell everybody. So that plan was a no go.

I can post my new number to my blog but I did not want the number to be known by every Tom Dick and Harry who happens to stumble across this blog.

Solution: A simple way of publishing my new number in such a way that only people who have the old number can decipher it. People who have my old number can be 'trusted'.

Only flaw, and a glaring one at that, is that very few people actually read my blog :-) But there is nothing much I can do about that.

Even if you do publish your

Submitted by JhQ (not verified) on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:05pm.

Even if you do publish your number on your blog, and even if someone did get your number, whats the worst they could do, send you spam?

Actual reason for not posting the number

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:11pm.

Well... I am very modest by nature and did not want to admit it but the real reason I am not posting my number is because then the hundreds of female fans I have will want to talk to me for hours on end leaving me no time to do all the top secret classified security stuff I am involved with. There. Happy?

:-)

Dude, You've got

Submitted by JhQ (not verified) on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 3:13pm.

Dude, You've got issues.........

can you cook up something better?

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 3:19pm.

No baba. This is not a way of showing how geeky I am or something of that sort. In any case there is nothing very geeky about it.

Can you cook up a better way to convey my new number to only those who have my old number? Say you are in my position. What would you do?

a stronger encoding?

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 3:26pm.

By the way I am sure that this is not the strongest way to encode the new number. Intuitively I feel that, at the very least, there is something minimally stronger.

For e.g. the 0.5g betrays that g is an even number. And the 2c reveals that c<=4. In case of c it can be forgiven because it is not used anywhere else. However g is used once elsewhere. So this clue has an impact there also.

Simple puzzle: Is there a better way to encode the number? Basically encoding in such a manner that clues (like the ones described above) are minimized.

Yes there is, simply tell

Submitted by JhQ (not verified) on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:07pm.

Yes there is, simply tell them to add or subtract a certain number from your old phone number, very simple but very secure.

Brilliant

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:19pm.

Brilliant. One moment I was glowing in the smug confidence of having done the right thing... now I am just feeling stupid. Maybe I will unpublish this post to save myself the shame and the indignity :-(

Or maybe I will just edit the post and ask people to do this.

HAHAHA ...

Submitted by Shantanu (not verified) on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:25pm.

Holy smokes Varun! :) ... Dude, I'm telling you, you are thinking more than you are supposed to. It's a simple number. And you just said that most of the people that you want to give the number to don't even read your blog - so what's this all about! :) you crack me up man!

Timepass re...

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:33pm.

Just timepass re... One should not take one's life or blog too seriously.

And don't you get that urge to blog about anything and everything? Believe me... if I were a little less lazy and had a little more time this blog would be scattered with useless and probably boring tidbits about my life :-)

more confusion

Submitted by varun on Tue, 28/02/2006 - 4:45pm.

You know what. It just dawned on me that putting together the 2 ways I have posted to arrive at my new number some crazy fellow with time on his/her hands might come along and crack my new number. Shit.

Here's an idea

Submitted by Niyati (not verified) on Wed, 01/03/2006 - 6:20am.

This is way too hilarious.. Do you seriously think anyone will take the time to go through all that just for your number... I think there are better ways of getting your number. Why dont you just email the people you want to have your number??? Maybe that might resolve quite a few issues...:-) just a thought.

more salt on Varun's wounds :)

Submitted by Shantanu (not verified) on Wed, 01/03/2006 - 1:38pm.

hehehe ... email!! What a concept! :)

My mobile number

Submitted by Naresh (not verified) on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 10:36am.

My mobile number is 9890xxxxxx.If ur intrested 2 have friendship ur free 2 make a cal

weirdest spam

Submitted by varun on Thu, 14/09/2006 - 7:47pm.

This has to be the weirdest and most 'personal' spam this blog has seen till date. Needless to say it was me who blacked out part of the mobile number.

Only thing that want's to trouble me is that it is 'Naresh' who wants to have 'friendship' with me. I somehow wish it was a lady :-)

Better wait for number

Submitted by Saurabh (not verified) on Thu, 02/03/2006 - 11:40am.

I can see the complexity involved in getting the new number. My first thought was that Varun was inspired by Da Vinci Code..
Better to wait for Varun to respond with his new number

Lazy fellow!

Submitted by varun on Thu, 02/03/2006 - 2:42pm.

How difficult is it to subtract one number from another? Chal jaldi sey find out my new number and drop me a SMS.

Hey babie..was looking for

Submitted by Aishwarya Rai. (not verified) on Fri, 03/03/2006 - 5:16pm.

Hey babie..was looking for some drupal sites and came here...so where do u work in pune ?

Arrey wah!

Submitted by varun on Fri, 03/03/2006 - 6:06pm.

I didn't know my blog was so popular! I used to work in Pune. Now I am in New Delhi.

one crazy fellow is here .....

Submitted by Anna (not verified) on Sat, 04/03/2006 - 11:39pm.

"You know what. It just dawned on me that putting together the 2 ways I have posted to arrive at my new number some crazy fellow with time on his/her hands might come along and crack my new number. Shit."

hey it doesnt require much time..its rather easy..
just checking..
1. is ur old no's digits' sum 53?
2. is the new no's digits' sum 52?
3. are threr altogether 3 9's, 3 1's, 4 2's,3 7's,
etc........

No. No. No.

Submitted by varun on Mon, 06/03/2006 - 9:21am.

1. No.
2. No.
3. No.

:-) I guess you will have to be a little more crazy than that. Btw have you started blogging again?

that was a disapointment

Submitted by Anna (not verified) on Mon, 06/03/2006 - 10:56pm.

i knew that one or two other combntions are also possible...:-)...

Adding to the confusion

Submitted by varun on Tue, 07/03/2006 - 10:42am.

I never tried solving it but I am sure a number of combinations are possible. Just a gut feeling.

But am I just misleading you to throw you offtrack? Hmmmmm... :-)

Post your blog's URI here when you start blogging again. Enjoy!

SMS Rates

Submitted by Mukund (not verified) on Tue, 21/03/2006 - 12:01pm.

Yeah.
Mobile in pune is dirt cheap. :D

Its almost Free. I got three mobiles and three numbers and all of them are active and they all togather cost me less then 1K.

:D

Lets share

Submitted by JhQ (not verified) on Tue, 21/03/2006 - 1:40pm.

Hey, how about you give one to Varun and another to me and it will still work out below 1k, how about that eh!

dollars or rupees

Submitted by varun on Tue, 21/03/2006 - 2:06pm.

Hey JhQ... I think he meant 1K in Indian Rupees, not Australian dollars.

Yup. Mobile tariffs in Delhi are quite high

Submitted by varun on Tue, 21/03/2006 - 2:01pm.

Delhi has one of the highest mobile rates I have ever come across. SMS rates are especially high and this was a major downer for me since I am am used to sending out lots of SMSes to friends and family.

I am sure my bill this month is going to be around 1.5K, even though my usage is less than what it was in Pune.