278 Part IV: Using a Wireless Network

while, it seemed that Bluetooth might end up in the historical dustbin of wireless networking — a great idea that never panned out — but as we write, it appears that the technology has caught up with its promise. We expect to see a ton of new Bluetooth devices hitting the market over the next few years.

Bluetooth is still a relatively new technology. Although a lot of Bluetooth products (mainly cell phones and cell phone accessories) are now available, other Bluetooth products (such as keyboards) aren’t widely available in the United States (where we’re based). Bluetooth seems to be taking off first in Europe (and to a slightly lesser degree, in Asia) and moving over to the United States a bit more slowly. This isn’t really surprising because a lot of mobile technologies (particularly cell phone-related technologies) have been developing faster in those places than they have in the U.S. We mention this because some of the Bluetooth categories that we discuss in this chapter are really in the coming-soon category when it comes to U.S. availability. We’re confident that many of these devices will be available in the U.S. by the time that you read this (or soon thereafter), but as we write in early 2003, they’re not quite here yet. A great resource for finding cool Bluetooth gear before it becomes generally available in the U.S. is the BlueUnplugged online store based in England (www.blueunplugged.com).

Discovering Bluetooth Basics

Let’s get the biggest question out of the way first: What the heck is up with that name? Well, it’s got nothing to do with what happens when you chew on your pen a bit too hard during a stressful meeting. Nor do blueberry pie, blueberry toaster pastries, or any other blue food. Actually, Bluetooth (www.

bluetooth.com is the Web site for the industry group) is named after Harald Blåtand (Bluetooth), King of Denmark from 940 to 981, who was responsible for uniting Denmark and Norway. The idea here is that Bluetooth can unite things that were previously un-unitable. (We’re a little rusty on our medieval Scandinavian history, so if we’re wrong about that, blame our high school history teachers — if you’re a Dane or Norwegian, feel free to e-mail us back with the story here!)

The big cell phone (and other telecommunications equipment) manufacturer Ericsson was the first company to promote the technology (back in the 1990s, as we mention earlier), and other cell phone companies joined in with Ericsson to come up with an industry de facto standard for the technology. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) — the folks who created the 802.11 standards that we’ve been talking about throughout Wireless Home Networking For Dummies — have since become involved with the technology under the auspices of a committee named 802.15. The initial IEEE standard for PANs, 802.15.1, was adapted from the Bluetooth specification and is fully compatible with Bluetooth 1.1, which is the third and current version of Bluetooth.

280 Part IV: Using a Wireless Network

Some of the PAN applications that Bluetooth has been designed to perform include the following:

Cable replacement: Peripheral devices that use cables today — keyboards, mice, cell phone headsets, and the like — can now (or will soon, in the very near future) cut that cord and use Bluetooth links instead.

Synchronization: Many people have important information (such as address books, phone number lists, and calendars) on multiple devices (such as a PC, PDA, and cell phone), and keeping this information synchronized (up-to-date and identical on each device) can be a real pain in the butt. Bluetooth (when combined with synchronization software) allows these devices to wirelessly and automatically talk with each other and keep up to date.

Simple file sharing: If you’ve ever been at a meeting with a group of technology geeks (we go to these meetings all the time, but then, we’re geeks ourselves), you might have noticed these folks pulling out their Palm PDAs and doing all sorts of contortions with them. What they’re doing is exchanging files (usually electronic business cards) via the built-in infrared (IR) system found on Palms. This is an awkward system because you need to have the Palms literally inches apart with the IR sensors lined up. Bluetooth, because it uses radio waves, has a much greater range, which doesn’t require that direct IR alignment . . . and is much faster to boot.

Look for even more cool applications in the future. For example, Bluetooth could be used to connect an electronic wallet (located on your PDA or cell phone — the line between these devices is becoming blurred, so perhaps your PDA/cell phone-combo device) to an electronic kiosk. For example, a soda machine could be Bluetooth enabled, and if you wanted a soda, you wouldn’t need to spend ten minutes trying to feed that last, raggedy dollar bill in your wallet into the machine. You’d just press a button on your PDA/cell phone, and it would send a buck from your electronic wallet to the machine and dispense your soda. (Pat will have a root beer, thank you very much.)

Another common future application might be customized information for a particular area. Ever go to one of those huge conferences held in places like Las Vegas? The booth numbers tend to go from 0 to 20,000, and the convention floor is about the size of 50 football fields — in other words, it’s a real pain in the rear to find your way around. With Bluetooth, you can simply walk by an info kiosk and have a floor map and exhibitor display downloaded to your PDA. We’re hoping that this is in place next time that we go to the Consumer Electronics Show; we hate being late for appointments because we’re spending an hour searching for a booth.