Consumers can check email or surf the Internet on any one of the various PDA's or laptops with Bluetooth on the market today, while using their Bluetooth-enabled phone (left conveniently in pocket, bag, or purse) as the modem.
Has this ever happened to you: You're dashing through the airport, a laptop weighing down your shoulder, trail of luggage in-tow. Catching this flight will be a miracle. Finally making it to the gate, you see, "Flight Has Been Delayed," in big red blinking letters.
This is the perfect time to sit down, catch your breath and check your email. Instead of looking around the airport for a Wi-Fi hot spot area to connect your laptop wirelessly to the Internet and download your email, you take out your PDA and your cell phone and that's it (no cables required). Guess what -- with Bluetooth, you are your own hot spot.
Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, Bluetooth helps you lighten your load. Leave that heavy notebook at home and trim down to your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and PDA.
Bluetooth is a wireless radio technology embedded in products you use every day -- cell phones, headsets, PDAs, laptops, digital cameras, printers, and even your car. The technology allows all of those products to "talk" to each other without wires, eliminating the need to "cradle" or connect wires between your devices to sync information.
In this scenario, Bluetooth technology allows the cell phone to serve as a wireless modem for your PDA. You can connect your PDA to your cell phone wirelessly with Bluetooth, then use the phone to dial into the Internet.
It's much more convenient than the alternative -- looking for that elusive hot spot when you're out on the road. And of course, this same phone can be used as a modem for your laptop too, should it be equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology. Essentially, you've just become your own hot spot.
To pull this off, of course, you must have Bluetooth-enabled devices. Right now, AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile have phones with Bluetooth available for customers, and by the end of the summer, the rest of the major carriers in the US -- Nextel, Sprint and Verizon -- are expected to follow suit.
Manufacturers of personal digital assistants have also been releasing some exciting new Bluetooth products, including Palm's Tungsten T handheld and Hewlett-Packard's new iPAQ series.
So enjoy your trip, and leave the extra weight at home, because you can use Bluetooth anywhere ... even lying on the beach, where the only hot spot you'll encounter is the sun.