One technology has gradually become more widespread, another is slowly disappearing.
It was around ten years ago that the “Bluetooth Special Interest Group” was formed. They were working on a new open technology called Bluetooth. Now it is familiar to many who have Bluetooth headsets for their cellphones. Bluetooth was made for short distance wireless transmission with low power consumption. This makes it ideal for cellphones, in which battery power needs to be conserved.

Various other applications for Bluetooth have been developed. I have a pair of third generation stereo headphones (Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones) which include a tiny transmitter which can be plugged into any audio output jack. My original intention when buying them was to use them as wireless headphones when playing on games on my Xbox 360 in the family room so I wouldn’t disturb my wife. The headphones are actually made with MP3 players in mind, and I have found them very useful. To listen to music while not worrying about wires is really great.

Bluetooth has been available on most Palm PDAs since around 2002. When it is available on devices which also have Wi-Fi, like the Palm TX, HP iPaq 110 Classic or Nokia N810 Internet tablet, it is intended for use with a Bluetooth enabled phone when Wi-Fi access points are not available. A number of high end Notebook PCs have Bluetooth for the same reason.

Although Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is largely replacing IrDA on laptops, it is still widely used in TV remote controls and PDAs. IrDA refers to an Infrared communications protocol. The “Infrared Data Association” (IrDA) defines physical specifications communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of data over infrared light. IrDA requires line of sight, which is where Bluetooth has the upper hand. Palm PDAs have had infrared since the Palm III in 1998. The easiest way to get information from one PDA to another was to “Beam” it. Some Sony Clie PDAs came with stronger infrared transmitters than their Palm-branded brethren, along with a program to use the Clie as a remote control for a limited selection of TVs and VCRs.

Posted on April 1st, 2008 by mervyn