Section 10.7. Bluetooth Devices

10.7. Bluetooth Devices

Bluetooth is designed to let gadgets communicate within about 30 feet, using radio signals instead of cables. Many PDAs, cellphones, laptops, printers, and even wireless keyboards and mice rely on Bluetooth technology.

In theory, at least, the Bluetooth Devices icon appears on your PC only if it has a Bluetooth transmitter.

Setting up your PC to talk to a particular Bluetooth gadget can be effortless (as with a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse, which comes with an easy-to-use installer) or it can take a Saturday of cruising Web pages for tips and tricks (as when you're trying to make your laptop communicate with a particular cellphone model, and you have to sleuth around until you find the proper modem settings). But it's all in the name of eliminating the world's cables, and that's a very good thing.