text: what is bluetooth?   etymology the name bluetooth is derived from the cognomen of a 10th century king of denmark, harald bluetooth. according to the inventors of the bluetooth technology, harald engaged in diplomacy which led warring parties to negotiate with each other, making bluetooth a fitting name for their technology, which allows different devices to talk to each other.  bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (pans), also known as ieee 802.15.1. a wireless personal area network (wpan) technology from the bluetooth special interest group (www.bluetooth.com) founded in 1998 by ericsson, ibm, intel, nokia and toshiba. bluetooth is an open standard for short-range transmission of digital voice and data that supports point-to-point and multipoint applications.  bluetooth is a radio standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range (power class dependent: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters) based around low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. bluetooth provides up to 720 kbps data transfer within a range of 10 meters and up to 100 meters with a power boost. unlike irda, which requires that devices be aimed at each other (line of sight), bluetooth uses omnidirectional radio waves that can transmit through walls and other non-metal barriers. bluetooth transmits in the unlicensed 2.4ghz band and uses a frequency hopping spread spectrum technique that changes its signal 1600 times per second. if there is interference from other devices, the transmission does not stop, but its speed is downgraded.