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February 10, 2012 1:27 pm  #1


How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

At the beginning when he texts everyone in the room saying "Wrong!". Pretty amazing....

Anybody know how something like that can be done?


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February 10, 2012 4:57 pm  #2


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

Unfortunately not But it would have been totally awesome if someone knew how to do it  Just think about the possibilities!! 


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"I'm not a psychopath, I'm a highly functioning sociopath. Do your research."
-- Sherlock (to Anderson)
 

February 10, 2012 9:23 pm  #3


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

I think he must have channelled Abby or McGee from NCIS to help do that one!
A lot of things like that will never be explained I daresay, makes for perfectly good 'forum discussion' fodder and 'Moftiss' is smart with this show. They make sure there are plenty of 'discussion points' to keep interest at a peak because they understand the modern way of communications etc.


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Also, please note that sentences can also end in full stops. The exclamation mark can be overused.
Sherlock Holmes 28 March 13:08

Mycroft’s popularity doesn’t surprise me at all. He is, after all, incredibly beautiful, clever and well-dressed. And beautiful. Did I mention that?
--Mark Gatiss

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
Robert McCloskey
 

February 21, 2012 5:34 pm  #4


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

Ok, here comes my take on it.
Technically it would be fairly easy, but with a big caveat.
This requires hacking into the phone system.

Given that he knows where Lestrades phone is (at the press conference as he knew Lestrade would be there), a simple triangulation by the mast connection would give all locations of the phones that are connected to those masts. From that he can simply surmise that the attendees will be within a certain proximity of Lestrades phone, specially if they are all clustered (to avoid phones on another room and such) and send a text to all those phones.

We know however that Sherlock is at least adapt with some computer skills (he breaks Watsons password). It is quite a step to go to being able to hack the phone network though, so its a big nut to swallow, but I believe that would be the best way to be able to send to all the phones in one room.

Another way would require to know who was present, which he of course could get from the newspapers if he had contacts there, but he would have to know all the papers attending. Even if this would be the easiest technically (no technical knowledge required), it would be harder to get all of the numbers of all the phones in that room.


I hope you understand that the knowledge I bring
Puts me in a position of a god or a king
//Clawfinger
 

February 22, 2012 2:17 am  #5


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

Oh it wouldn't be hard for Sherlock, he's a hero after all!
lol.

I'd actually imagine he would seek out someone who could do it for him, as he did with the graffiti artist. In this day & age there are probably techs & geeks among the homeless network. Lost their high flying careers, etc etc.

In general I have noticed that people forget that he will ask others for help when he needs it. He's good at outsourcing.

Another thought is that he probably 'borrowed' a list of the numbers from Mycroft. He'd have connections to all teh press people's names & numbers.


____________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, please note that sentences can also end in full stops. The exclamation mark can be overused.
Sherlock Holmes 28 March 13:08

Mycroft’s popularity doesn’t surprise me at all. He is, after all, incredibly beautiful, clever and well-dressed. And beautiful. Did I mention that?
--Mark Gatiss

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
Robert McCloskey
 

May 30, 2012 8:55 am  #6


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

I would rather think he just texted to a "Source" he has on telephone company to send a mass message thru the network. Fit to those in that room only. Press attendees are pretty much always the same group for Lestrade let's say.


by,
Nütek
 

May 30, 2012 9:02 am  #7


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

Thanks Nutek, see I wouldn't have the foggiest idea about those things. I still remember dialling numbers, even remember turning a crank & speaking to an operator.


____________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, please note that sentences can also end in full stops. The exclamation mark can be overused.
Sherlock Holmes 28 March 13:08

Mycroft’s popularity doesn’t surprise me at all. He is, after all, incredibly beautiful, clever and well-dressed. And beautiful. Did I mention that?
--Mark Gatiss

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
Robert McCloskey
 

August 8, 2012 6:22 am  #8


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

"I pickpocket him when he's annoying." 

Get the contacts straight off Lestrade's phone, in some instance previous to A Study in Pink.

 

August 8, 2012 1:16 pm  #9


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

SoundOfBaskerville wrote:

"I pickpocket him when he's annoying." 

Get the contacts straight off Lestrade's phone, in some instance previous to A Study in Pink.

Yes, that's entirely possible. It's not really a trick at all...he just has everyone's number and sends out a mass text message. He probably has some device or thing that can disguise his number and make it come up as "unknown" or "withheld".


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     Thread Starter
 

August 8, 2012 6:58 pm  #10


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

I don't know how press confernces work, but would Lestrade have all of those journalists' numbers?

 

August 8, 2012 7:14 pm  #11


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

Beat journalists (in this case reporters whose focus is criminal reports) maintain regular contacts within police departments--a regular source with official authority, thus credibility as a citation. This may not account for as many reporters as were present, though additionally Lestrade might have some extra numbers saved if he wants to ignore specific reporters and know when they're trying to contact him.  And who's to say Sherlock didn't pickpocket other police and get their reporter contacts, and just compile everyone's over time to maximize the theatrics.

Or perhaps enough journalists' numbers are listed on their websites/listed on the paper's websites (possibly within individual Bios, which he could've collected manually or whipped up a program to do it for him).

Or a little of everything.

 

August 8, 2012 7:16 pm  #12


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

Or whitepages.com.

The internet can actually do a lot of the legwork for you.

 

August 9, 2012 12:09 am  #13


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

We sometimes work with newspapers. Most reporters carry their newspaper mobiles for work, and once you worked with them, you have got their number. Sometimes the phone is passed on but it usually stays in the division. In other words, a mobile number in the Sports section will most likely stay in the Sports section etc. These numbers are not listed in White Pages though, that's mostly just the editor's land line or Classifieds etc.

And, of course, Sherlock would have worked with most of the newspapers or at least observed Lestrade and Co working with them in the past.. it would probably be likely to assume that he would have also texted 1 or 2 phones/people, who actually didn't make it to the press room. etc etc

 

August 9, 2012 4:45 am  #14


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

the analysis here by everyone is very sound, I'll grant you that.  But,  how did Sherlock text wrong to donovan's and lestrade's phone  too? 

There's a thing that colleges do,  when  there's danger.  There's also what we in USA call the reverse 911 calls.  They somehow know everyone's phone numbers, because those ppl gave it to the authorities  when they enrolled at the college, or when they bought a home.   When there's danger,  someone automatically makes a call to an emergency number, and that gives access to everyone else's number, who's in that area.   I know this same thing happened at one of our colleges.  But,  as to HOW  it's done,  no one knows.  I  don't know, that's for sure.  But,  it IS possible.


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SHERLOCK!!!!!!
 

August 9, 2012 11:08 am  #15


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

lol, it's really no big secret. Every phone sends out its unique ID code every time it is used, and government officials like police and ambulance services trace these codes and thus the associated phone number actively.
Thanks to cell phone transmitting towers we can also pinpoint your location rather accurately - that is, if you d not already have a smart phone that transmits its GPS location anyway. So that's why baddie soften use phones for a short period and then discard them, so even if you trace them it is no use.

 

August 11, 2012 3:41 am  #16


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

How does Sherlock know what's being said in the conference on a real-time basis so that his "Wrong!" comes at precisely at the right time? If it's a broadcast conference, isn't there a slight delay? Would he have some sort of remote tap in the room -- on a microphone or something?

 

December 28, 2012 9:29 pm  #17


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

More intreresting is that the normal text is delivered within a minute, but next to never instantanously. It normally takes 10-30 secs for a text to arrive.


SPOILER



They use that delay to great effect twice in A scandal in Belgravia where Irene texts to Sherlock, has a quick conversation with John, and then hear Sherlock phone beeping (moaning). Its also used at the end where she texts him, preperes to be beheaded, and then 10 secs after you hear Sherlock s phone.


I hope you understand that the knowledge I bring
Puts me in a position of a god or a king
//Clawfinger
 

December 28, 2012 11:49 pm  #18


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

veecee wrote:

How does Sherlock know what's being said in the conference on a real-time basis so that his "Wrong!" comes at precisely at the right time? If it's a broadcast conference, isn't there a slight delay? Would he have some sort of remote tap in the room -- on a microphone or something?

He was also there?!

 

December 28, 2012 11:56 pm  #19


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

veecee wrote:

How does Sherlock know what's being said in the conference on a real-time basis so that his "Wrong!" comes at precisely at the right time? If it's a broadcast conference, isn't there a slight delay? Would he have some sort of remote tap in the room -- on a microphone or something?

Could be a broadcast or could be he has a bug in the room. Send the text a bit predictively, and timing could get close. I mean, he is certain they'll be wrong, whatever they say!  It's not going to be absolutely perfect, though - that's movie (TV) magic. 

 

January 1, 2013 12:02 pm  #20


Re: How did Sherlock do mobile phone trick?

I always assumed he was nearby and sent the text via Bluetooth or something like that.I read an article some time ago about how people always have their bluetooth on specially in public places.The phones we saw were quite modern (bluetooth enabled), so he could be nearby and sent the text to anyone in the room.This explains the speed of arriving the text.

 

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