Bluetooth is a long-delayed, but promising, cable-elimination technology. It’s designed to let gadgets communicate within about 30 feet, using radio signals.
You can get Bluetooth—either built in or as a slide-in cartridge—for computers, printers, Palm and PocketPC organizers, Sony camcorders, and so on. Microsoft’s wireless keyboard and mouse both rely on Bluetooth. Even some cellphones have built-in Bluetooth transmitters. And more and more laptop models come with Bluetooth.
In theory, at least, the Bluetooth Devices appears on your PC only if it has a Bluetooth transmitter. (You’ll find other Bluetooth programs scattered here and there in the Start menu, too, as you’ll read shortly.)
Tip
So what’s the difference between Bluetooth and WiFi (also known as 802.11)?
True, both features use radio waves to connect equipment wirelessly. But Bluetooth is a cable-elimination technology, used mostly for connecting dissimilar gadgets that are close to each other (laptop to cellphone, palmtop to cellphone, and so on).
WiFi is primarily a networking technology, with much greater range (and much greater power consumption), used to connect palmtops and laptops to each other and to the Internet.
You can use Bluetooth for all kinds of things. Among the most popular:
Send files between gadgets. Bluetooth lets you shoot files between computers no matter what the operating systems involved—Mac, Windows, Palm, Pocket PC, whatever—without wires or configuration. Figure 8-5 shows you the ropes.
This is a huge convenience when you want to send ringtones to your cellphone from your PC, for example, or to download photos from a cellphone camera.
Figure 8-5. If your PC has Bluetooth, start by choosing Start→All Programs→Accessories→Communications→ Bluetooth File Transfer Wizard. Top: When you click OK on the welcome screen, you get this screen, listing all the Bluetooth equipment you’ve “paired” as shown in Figure 8-6. If the computer or gadget you want isn’t listed, click Search or Search Again. (The other device must have Bluetooth, must be turned on, and must be “discoverable.” You’ll find the Discoverable checkbox in the device’s preferences.) In this example, you’re sending a photo from your laptop to a Macintosh laptop. Middle: The recipient sees a message like this and clicks Accept. Bottom: On your machine, you see the file flying through the air. A message of congratulations appears when the transfer is complete. (If someone sends you a file this way, you’ll find it in your My Documents→Bluetooth Exchange Folder.) Now, Bluetooth isn’t especially fast—in fact, it’s pretty slow. (You’ll get file-transfer speeds of 30 to 50 K per second, depending on the distance and the hardware involved.) But when you consider the time you’d have taken for wiring and configuration using any other connection method, you may find that Bluetooth wins.
Inter-gadget communication. Because Bluetooth is inexpensive and uses very little power, it’s particularly popular in handheld devices, like connecting a cellphone to a Bluetooth headset (the first Bluetooth combo that really caught on). No more clumsy wires, which is a godsend when you’re driving and trying to avoid hitting pedestrians.
Figure 8-6. The life cycle of a Bluetooth connection. (The dialog boxes shown here are the standard Microsoft offerings, but your Bluetooth adapter may come with its own, different-looking software.) Top: You open the Bluetooth Devices control panel. It lists all of the other Bluetooth gadgets your PC has met so far (in this case, an Apple laptop). But you want to pair your PC with a new palmtop, so you click Add. Third: Windows asks you to make up (or offers to make up) a one-time passkey. You’ll have to enter the same one when the dialog box (shown at right) pops up on the Palm. (This is to prevent strangers from hooking into your Bluetooth gear without your knowledge—someone using a laptop to make calls using the cellphone in your pocket, for example.) You have 60 seconds to comply. Bottom: If the pairing is successful, the Palm now appears in the Bluetooth Devices list. At this point, you’d change your palmtop’s synchronization settings to make them use the Bluetooth COM ports when syncing. (The same steps outlined here would apply to a PocketPC, by the way.)
More examples: You can reduce clutter by buying a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (from Microsoft, Logitech, and others), or sync your Palm or PocketPC without wires or cradles.
Wireless Internet. If you have a Bluetooth cellphone, you can make Internet calls from your laptop or palmtop, without even taking the phone out of your pocket. (You may have to sign up for a $pecial $ervice plan from your cell carrier.)
Wireless GPS. Place your Bluetooth GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) receiver on the dashboard of your car, and then use your palmtop or laptop for navigation.
In any case, here’s a quick overview of this panel’s two most important tabs:
Devices. Here’s where you introduce other Bluetooth equipment to your PC. Click Add to fire up the Bluetooth Setup Wizard, which scouts the local airwaves for Bluetooth gear in your vicinity and lets you add them to your PC’s list. Figure 8-6 illustrates the process.
When security is an issue—like when you plan to use your Bluetooth cellphone as a wireless Internet antenna for your laptop, and you’d just as soon not have other people in the airport waiting lounge surfing the Web via your cellphone—you can opt to pair your laptop with your phone (the passkey process illustrated in (Figure 8-6). Once that’s done, you’re free to use the phone’s Internet connection without any further muss, fuss, or passwords.
Options. Here’s where you make your PC discoverable (that is, “visible” to other Bluetooth gadgets). Once you’ve paired your Bluetooth gadgets, like your laptop with your cellphone, it’s a good idea to turn this option off, so strangers can’t tap into your Bluetooth gear.
You also get a “Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area” checkbox, so that you’ll be able to check your Bluetooth settings faster the next time it’s necessary.
Setting up your PC to talk to a particular Bluetooth gadget can be effortless (as with a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse, which comes with an easy-to-use installer) or it can take a Saturday of cruising Web pages for tips and tricks (as when you’re trying to make your laptop communicate with a particular cellphone model, and you have to sleuth around until you find the proper modem settings). But it’s all in the name of eliminating the world’s cables, and that’s a very good thing.