Originally posted by Silver Dragon
Spring, I don't think you quite get Bluetooth. It's not just for mice and keyboards (although that will be cool since we won't have to rely on IR anymore)
Hmmm. You're using IR for a wireless mouse/keyboard? Seems odd. Logitech has had good wireless (non-BlueTooth) keyboard/mouse gear out for quite some time, and it runs great under Windows. I don't use it (not until battery life issues are resolved in other than the top-of-the-line model), but I'd be surprised if it doesn't work on a Mac as well.
but it's for cell phones, PDAs, headsets, any item that would require a not-so-fast connection to your computer.
Quite correct. Bluetooth is cool for these things. But I still see no reason behind this driving desire to have a BlueTooth mouse/keyboard. I mean, Wireless input devices are a bit ... well, not the best things from either a security standpoint (keyboard here more than mouse) or from a overall user experience standpoint (it really sucks when the battery in your mouse dies in the middle of a Quake frag-fest ...

) Granted, you free yourself from a few wires, which is a good thing (I'd love that to happen here), but the costs are a bit too high to be overly excited about wireless input devices in general. And, add to that that BlueTooth offers little over the previous wireless devices (although security is a bit more addressed with BlueTooth, the other wireless protocols might end up being more secure as BlueTooth security will be cracked and these other devices are more obscure ... not something to ride your enterprise on, but security through obscurity is better than nothing at all!)
You could use Bluetooth security devices to gain access to your OS
Bad idea. See above.
, you could use bluetooth keychains as portable drives (kinda like a USB drive but wireless)
... and dead slow ...
you could use it for controlling your home security system,
Again, bad idea.
VERY bad idea! I find it hard enough risking the data on my
computer to Bluetooth; there's no way I'd risk everything in my house and my own personal security on it as well!!!
controlling a printer, controlling a scanner (although those last two may be too much bandwidth for bluetooth, but who knows).
And pointless. How often do you move your printer around? Is the USB cable between it and your PC really an issue? Also note that add one bandwidth-sucking item like this on your BlueTooth airspace and you crowd out the few more reasonable uses for it.
The possiblilites are endless. Use your imagination, this is just the start of a whole new wireless revolution where any device can talk to any other device without cables.
It's cool. Very, very cool.
Cool, but as with all new tech there are a lot more "possibilities" being floated than there are practical, real-world uses. Bluetooth is great as a replacement for cables where all of the below are met:
1) You are or would be constantly plugging/unplugging the devices OR having a cable between the devices is restrictive
2) You don't need much bandwidth (786kbps over all such devices in your PAN)
3) You don't need rock-solid security
4) The devices, when connected, remain in relatively close proximity to one another (~30ft max range on BlueTooth, much less in real world).
Please keep these rules of thumb in mind when dreaming up uses for BlueTooth.