Bluetooth devices hop 1,600 times per second over 79 different channels. Technology trials At the start of June, Ericsson unveiled the first mobile phones to use Bluetooth technology. Plug-in cards for PCs are expected to follow later this year. As well as doing away with lots of cables the technology could do away with the need for more than one phone. Instead of having a mobile on the move, a landline at home and a modem for your computer a Bluetooth enabled phone could do all three jobs.
More exotic uses are on the cards.
In Sweden, a trial is under way that turns a mobile phone into a train ticket. The trial lets those booking a ticket via the internet store the details on their mobile phone. When they take their seat in the train carriage a Bluetooth server interrogates the phone to find out if the commuter has the right ticket and is in the right seat. The technology is named after King Harald Bluetooth who, unlike most other Vikings, preferred talking to fighting. His diplomatic reign unified the nations of Denmark and Norway, which he then ruled from 940-981.