Radios and television broadcast too many people over many miles. Bluetooth technology just sends information to your personal space. This personal space is called PAN, Personal Area Network. This goes up to a distance of 33 feet.

If you read in a product’s description the word Bluetooth, this means the product has a piece of hardware or a small computer chip that contains the Bluetooth radio. It also contains software that lets the user, the person who has the product, connect that product to other products that are using Bluetooth technology.  This connection is wireless.

The technology used by Bluetooth relates back to discoveries pioneered in the 1940’s by the military. The engineers at a Swedish company called Ericsson invented the Bluetooth technology in 1994. A group of companies, in 1998, worked together to connect their products using Bluetooth technology.

Seeing that the Bluetooth technology worked, the companies formed the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). This organization is devoted to maintaining this technology. Bluetooth technology is not owned by a single company but the members of the Bluetooth SIG all work together to develop the technology.

When SIG came into existence, Bluetooth was the code word for SIG. They designed Bluetooth technology to allow collaboration between different industries. An example of this collaboration is automotive markets and mobile phones.

Bluetooth technology was originally meant to be a replacement for the cables and wires between things like a mouse and a computer keyboard. Although it works great in those types of devices, Bluetooth Technology can do so much more. It can connect televisions, music players, and home care devices.

As the Bluetooth technology matures, people can create connections that were not possible with cables and wires. You can now connect your mobile phone to your car stereo, or print a picture from your camera phone.

Bluetooth technology will let you monitor your pulse, speed, and steps as you work out jogging, walking, or running. More than 13,000 companies are developing innovative products using Bluetooth technology. These innovative products range from wacky to wondrous and promise to make our lives more fun and easier.

If you are one of those people who like to talk on their cell phone and drive, Bluetooth technology is working to make it safer to do so. They are developing wireless headsets and hands free car systems using Bluetooth Technology. These hands free car systems are being developed to use speech recognition, and “speech trigger,” which is the ability to turn on a hands free device with a voice command.