New tooth: Bluetooth evolves

FOR the past seven years, Bluetooth has had the bridesmaid's role in wireless technology. The concept of Bluetooth, allowing a range of devices to exchange information with each other in a secure environment over short distances, is neither especially new nor particularly radical.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group was founded in 1998, and has enjoyed the support of some big industry players such as Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba, all of which were charter sponsors.
Despite that support, and continual revision of the basic standard to ensure it connects a range of devices, even gadget fiends have tended to ignore Bluetooth until comparatively recently, casting its charms aside in favour of dalliance with its rivals.
One problem may be the relatively incomprehensible name (that of a 10th-century Danish king, and initially intended purely as a pre-release code-name), which lacks the snappiness and attractiveness of WiFi, for example.
Many users haven't examined Bluetooth because they've been happy with other wireless connectivity options. For connecting basic devices such as mice and keyboards, infrared is popular choice, while WiFi and wireless mobile networks dominate more data-centric applications. To some extent, those perceptions are a function of speed and range.

Using 2.4GHz radio technology, the current Bluetooth specification offers a maximum data rate of 1Mbps (although in practice this is generally somewhat lower), and an operating range of up to 10m.
That is more than enough to connect a keyboard to a PC, or for remotely directing a PowerPoint presentation, but it looks unimpressive next to other wireless standards such as WiFi.

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