What is Bluetooth?

That's what your dentures get after eating blueberry pie, but you may hear about mobile phones and other devices having "Bluetooth Technology". Basically, it's a short-range wireless technology that simplifies communication between internet devices like mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and computers. Bluetooth's has a range of about 30 feet and allows you to do away with messy cables.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a cabal of over 3000 manufacturers, oversees the standards and security of the technology. It gets its unusual name in honor of Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the mid-tenth century for no other reason than to recognize the contribution of Baltic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) to the communications industry.

If you look around you'll find a ton of devices that use Bluetooth. Everything from wireless printers, wireless keyboards, even home appliances (I still don't know why my computer and washing machine need to communicate).

Bluetooth enabled mobile phones have recently been under attack by hackers who gain access to information being stored on the phone. This is often called bluesnarfing or bluebugging. In order to carry out a bluejacking, the sending and receiving devices must be within 10 meters of one another. If you use enabled devices, the Official Bluetooth website has a page explaining how to protect yourself—it's worth reading...
http://www.bluetooth.com/protect.asp

I hope this demystifies this new technology so when you are out shopping for a mobile phone, PDA, laptop, or other device you'll be aware of what Bluetooth can do.