wil the next Airport be Bluetooth???

[mischief]

Apple was again ahead of the game when releasing Airport, but the real question seems to be: will it go anywhere? Steve Jobs is an infamous schemer and other versions of the 809.11b standard have shown up with MUCH greater ranges. There are some SICK features to Airport .
Very cool but it's all for naught if it doesn't do blue. For those who aren't total troglodite, dyed-in-the-wool mac geeks like some of the rest of us:Bluetooth is a wireless standard that allows for data exchange not only between systems but also devices, peripherals, WAN's etc. Very cool stuff.

 

[ThlayliTheFierce]

I'd be willing to wager that it will. It fits in with their whole Digital Hub thing. But you know Jobs, it'll probably be better than just regular Bluetooth. Airport seems due for an upgrade, no?

 

[mischief]

Bingo

I figured the two standards have enough in common that it wouldn't be hard. Plus there's a rumor of inter-box parallel processing that adds a bit to the potential cool factor. Add the router-like features of Airport to Bluetooth and you may get intelligent packet parsing around bottlenecks for more even bandwidth distribution and resulting user-end speed increase even if the rated bandwidth of a single unit would be less than now. Neat stuff.

 

[elliotay]

so if the upgrade to bluetooth happens, does that mean I'd have to go out and spend $300 to upgrade to a new airport hub? Or is this an aiport card upgrade?

 

[mischief]

who knows

It's all int the implementation: both standards have their own frequency sets so a new card would be needed to use Bluetooth peripherals. A new base station should only be necessary if you want greater range for both sets or "hardpoint" access.

 

[carlsson]

Well, afaik Bluetooth range is way much shorter than the Airport.
Thus; Bluetooth is for shortrange peripherals, while Airport is for longrange computer to base/computer management. That makes two standards that will live side by side.

I can be mistaken though.

/andreas

 

[mischief]

no, that's it.

Exactly. Airport/Blutooth crossover would have to be adding a second set of electronics to Airport. It would be incredibly cool but not a straight mix.

 

[MrMacMan]

Compatibality

And yet flexabiality.

 

[Kela]

Blootooth ist schlecht.

Blue tooth is bad. The technology is nothing great. The new technique being developed is radio frequencies between gadgets.

 

[mischief]

not bad, subtle.

Airport is robust at higher power and range levels, for inter-machine communication but bluetooth may allow you to carry a set of basic peripherals instead of the whole machine. If the Idea is to build in as many drivers as possible with X then when blutooth gets more common, I could use the same Monitor, Keyboard, etc. with any Machine that's up to date. plus it frees you to pick a position, rather than being bound by your desk.

 

[MrMacMan]

The Super-ultra-secrewt project is coming. It is wiresless everything: Keyboard, mouse, internet and they would all have airport cards for Alot less then they sell now.

 

[mnkeybsness]

interesting............verrrrrrryyyyyy interesting


i like what you have to say mrmacman and would like to hear more of your ideas and theories. where can i purchase a copy of your book.

sorry i'm being stupid, but i'm serious i like the sound of the wireless stuff

 

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
interesting............verrrrrrryyyyyy interesting


i like what you have to say mrmacman and would like to hear more of your ideas and theories. where can i purchase a copy of your book.

sorry i'm being stupid, but i'm serious i like the sound of the wireless stuff

The problem with a book is that by the time I publish it, it will have areadly happened or the rumors would have been dismissed as fake. And hey it could happen.

 

[mnkeybsness]

except i was joking around, i do like you theories though

 

[menoinjun]

a wireless keyboard/mouse would be a great thing for the new form factor iMacs. It is definitely along Apple's line of bringing the new and cool to personal computing. A cheap iMac with wireless mouse/keyboard would sell like hotcakes. Can they do it though? Infrared sucks, you need line of sight. Airport seems like the best way to do it, but can they take the existing technology and adapt with this idea? Would they need mini Airport cards (in essence) installed in the mouse and keyboard? Would it end up being too expensive?

-Pete

 

[macboy]

All the talk about bluetooth so I bumped this up...

 

[BurntCalc]

Doesn't Bluetooth interfere with Airport? it seems unlikely that Apple will adopt it when having a single bluetooth machine renders all your existing airport networks useless. Unless they fixed with with Airport 2....

wasn't there a rumor a few months back about wireless firewire?

 

[GeeYouEye]

^^Not Quite

Actually, (and this is why Apple will never use Bluetooth) it interferes with ANY and ALL wireless signals in an area larger than its actual range.

 

[Ensign Paris]

Blue Tooth

I don't think we will see Blue Tooth in Airport.

I never liked Blue Tooth

Guy

 

[j763]

Apple is still not a member of the Bluetooth consortium, which leads me to believe that Steve will not introduce Bluetooth in Airport until (or if) it becomes commonly used. At this point in time, it really wouldn't be worth it - Airport is arguably more advanced and has some *real* computing uses wheras Bluetooth still hasn't sorted itself out properly... It's a matter of waiting, I think...

Oh, and as usual, if bluetooth does become commonly used, steve's alternative will be better.