Wireless Home Networking - Index of

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Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals
Integrating Bluetooth into
Your Wireless Network
Products that are the first to take advantage of Bluetooth technology include
the following:
� Mobile phones
� Cordless phones
� PDAs
� Bluetooth adapters for PCs
� Bluetooth hands-free car kits
� Videocameras
� Videogaming consoles and controllers (the Nintendo Wii, for example)
� Digital still cameras
� Data projectors
� Scanners
� Printers
You can get a great idea of all the various ways that Bluetooth can be used in
your network by going to the official Bluetooth products Web site at www.
bluetooth.com/products/, which lists over 2,700 products. We also go into
great detail in Chapter 15 about some of the more common ways you use
Bluetooth.
One of the more interesting and most widely used applications of Bluetooth
technology is for cell phones. Bring your Bluetooth-enabled phone home,
dock it in a power station near your PC, and it instantly logs on to your wireless
home network via a Bluetooth connection to a nearby PC or Bluetooth
access point. Phones that function as PDAs can update their address books
and sync data from the PC. All your events, to-do lists, grocery lists, and
birthday reminders can be kept current just by bringing your Bluetoothenabled
product in range. You can even get Bluetooth headsets for your
Bluetooth phones — getting rid of that wireless headset hassle.
Bluetooth technology is advancing into the arena of autos, too. In response to
interest by the automotive industry, the Bluetooth SIG formed the Car Profile
Working Group in December 1999. This working group has defined how Bluetooth
wireless technology will enable hands-free use of mobile phones in
automobiles. Car manufacturers have begun to embrace Bluetooth in a big
way over the past few years. Acura was perhaps the first car maker to offer
Bluetooth (at least in the U.S. market) with the Acura TL. Using the Bluetooth