Working wireless

Bluetooth: A bite out of career communications hassles?

October 11, 2000
Web posted at: 4:58 p.m. EDT (2058 GMT)

With Ed Curran, Technogadgets

(CNN) -- Bluetooth.

Sounds like something regular brushing can correct.

But it's actually a hot new technology that'll connect you like never before.

And GN Netcom of Nashua, New Hampshire, has announced the release of one of the first officially qualified Bluetooth devices, the GN 9000 Bluetooth wireless headset, expected to ship at the end of the month.

But first, the name. Harald Bluetooth was a Viking king who ruled more than a thousand years ago. He's credited with uniting Denmark and Norway and this new technology promises to unite many of your electronic devices, all without cables. More than just a cable replacement, Bluetooth provides voice/data access as well as the ability to create a wireless personal network.

Simply put, Bluetooth is a radio technology that operates over a very short distance. A wireless phone with Bluetooth can connect to other Bluetooth products up to about 30 feet away.

So you can wear a Bluetooth headset that's wirelessly connected to your mobile phone.

•  You can then wear the same headset in your office where it's magically linked to the phone on your desk.

WIRELESS ED
	This year's best-dressed Gadget Guy will be wearing no cords. See Technogadgets' Ed Curran demonstrating a Bluetooth headset on CNN. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

•  You can pull out your Bluetooth-enabled Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and have it communicate with your Bluetooth notebook computer or your desktop PC, all without wires.

•  Bluetooth can also provide a high-speed link from your handheld computer to an Internet access point in your office.

Get the idea? Everything works together with no strings attached.

Heady freedom

The headset is a neat idea. Wear it in the car, wear it at your desk, wear it at the restaurant and get forcibly ejected if I'm at the next table.

For those of you who, like me, are a little concerned with something operating at 2.4 gigahertz cooking against your head for long periods of time, calm down. The Bluetooth headset operates with such a tiny amount of power that it doesn't even fall under the reporting requirements mobile phones have to adhere to.

Bluetooth also uses only the power it needs to function in a given scenario. It uses less power if it's transmitting 2 feet rather than 20 feet. So a Bluetooth device consumes less than 3 percent of the power required by a mobile phone.

QUICK VOTE
	How ready are you to try the Bluetooth wireless standard to hook up parts of your career? I'm frantic for it. Give it to me now. Sorry, I have to go answer that phone. I'm ready but not eager. So far I'm handling my "career cords" pretty well. Wireless now means implants next. I don't want to be that job-accessible. View Results

Toshiba announced the release of its Bluetooth PC card in September. And GN Netcom sells a base unit along with its headset. (GN Netcom's headset is to retail solo for $299. With the base station, the combined cost is $499. Toshiba's card is $199.)

We first played around with Bluetooth back in January on CNN. We demonstrated two Handspring Visors with prototype Bluetooth modules plugged into them and showed how they could communicate wirelessly. Since that time we've had our hands on a new Motorola Bluetooth phone, a Bluetooth PC card and that Bluetooth headset that GN Netcom is now taking orders for.

The Bluetooth technology was developed by Ericsson, the mobile phone people, and a consortium was formed that includes Intel, IBM, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, 3Com, Nokia and Toshiba. They've now been joined by 1,300 other companies.

With 100 million wireless phones and millions of other devices getting Bluetooth before 2002, this serious technology with a funny name may well be in your career future.

Ed Curran has covered the world of high-tech for more than a dozen years and is the publisher of Technogadgets® -- www.technogadgets.com In addition to his weekly column here at CNN.com/career, watch for Curran's reports on CNN television.

First official Bluetooth product unveiled
October 6, 2000
Toshiba brings Bluetooth to market
September 26, 2000
Bluetooth developers aim to usher in a wireless era
September 1, 2000
How Bluetooth technology works
September 1, 2000
Companies agree to co-develop Bluetooth technology
August 9, 2000
Analysis: Can Bluetooth live up to the hype?
July 12, 2000

GN Netcom: 9000 Bluetooth Wireless Telephone Headset
GN Netcom: The Truth about Bluetooth Technology
Bluetooth.com

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.