Wireless Home Networking - Index of

290
Part IV: Using a Wireless Network
� Buy a printer with built-in Bluetooth. This item is relatively rare as we
write, and it looks as though Wi-Fi enabled printers will replace these
completely over time. An example comes from HP (www.hp.com), with
its DeskJet 450wbt printer ($349 list price). In addition to connecting to
laptops, PDAs, and other mobile devices using Bluetooth, this Mac- and
Windows-compatible printer can connect to your PC with a standard
USB cable. So, you can connect just about any PC or portable device
directly to this printer, with wires or wirelessly.
� Buy a Bluetooth adapter for your existing printer. Many printer manufacturers
are focusing on building printers with built-in Wi-Fi, but that
doesn’t have to stop you. Belkin, for example, offers a Bluetooth printer
adapter, the F8T031 (about $75), that plugs into the USB port and
works with most inkjet printers.
Audio systems
An area where Bluetooth is starting to make some inroads is in the realm of
audio systems. This really should come as no surprise, considering that cell
phone audio (for example, hands-free and headset systems) is where the vast
majority of Bluetooth action occurs.
What we’re talking about here is Bluetooth devices that carry higher-quality
audio signals — hi-fi (as opposed to Wi-Fi), as it were. Well, this is an exciting
new area for the Bluetooth world because Bluetooth is designed for audio
and supports relatively high-quality digital audio transmissions.
You may find Bluetooth audio devices in two distinct places:
� Headphones: Many of us now carry iPods or other portable digital audio
players (MP3 players, as they’re commonly known) wherever we go.
You can identify us by our ubiquitous (at least among the 80 percent or
so of MP3 player owners who use iPods) white headphone cords snaking
up out of our pockets and into our ears. Well it’s time to cut that cord
too. With systems like the Jabra Wireless Headphones ($13, www.Jabra.
com), you can be up to 30 feet from your iPod while grooving to the
latest single from White Stripes. The Jabra BT620s system even includes
integrated controls so that you can not only listen but also adjust the
volume, pause, or skip to the beginning of Blue Orchid. It even works as
a headset for your music-capable smartphone and will stop the music so
you can answer a call without missing a beat — so to speak.
� Speaker systems: If you have a stereo or multichannel audio system in
your house, you know the Achilles’ heel of all such systems: those ugly
speaker wires running from the back of your receiver or amplifier to
the speakers. For home theater systems, this problem is particularly
acute because you have speakers in the back of the room (we wrote
Home Theater For Dummies and even we have trouble dealing with
that speaker wire run). Well, Bluetooth can come to the rescue. Many