Neatolicious Fun Facts: Bluetooth

1. Bluetooth technology was invented by Sven Matisson and Jaap Haartsen at the Swedish telecom company Ericsson in 1994. The idea was to replace the widely varying cables and wireless technology that connected various components, like cell phones, computers, and remote controls. Before Bluetooth, disparate devices each had their own method of communicating, and even worse, each brand had their own proprietary ideas of how to do this. Bluetooth is a system of protocols developed to standardize these methods, adopted by many tech companies.

2. Bluetooth technology standards are overseen by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a private nonprofit trade organization. The group, originally five telecommunication companies, formed around the chosen technology in order to standardize wireless communication in their various electronic components. The organization presented Bluetooth to the public in 1998. A company who wishes to manufacture anything with Bluetooth technology or use the technology in their business must become a member. The companies composing the Board of Directors are Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and Toshiba. There are around 13,000 members today.

3. The advantages of Bluetooth technology over other systems is that it is wireless, uses very little power, and can be incorporated into a wide variety of devices. The signals are sent via very low power radio waves. The low frequency and weak power mean that devices can only communicate at a distance of about ten feet, but this is a good thing, as it means your usage won't interfere with your neighbor's usage (unlike WiFi). Up to eight devices can talk to each other at once, and they can communicate automatically without a user prompt.

4. The name Bluetooth came from king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, who united Danish and some Swedish and Norwegian tribes into a single kingdom in the tenth century. The idea is that Bluetooth technology set a single standard of protocols for wireless transmission as Harald set his standard for Scandinavia. Well, sort of. Bluetooth was a code name for the project, and everyone involved knew it so well that it stuck when it went public.

5. Why was Harald called Bluetooth? The word is the English version of Blåtand, a name given to Harald, which is a combination of the old Danish words meaning "dark-skinned" and "great man". Harald left his mark on Denmark by being the first Scandinavian monarch to convert to Christianity. He raised a monument called the Jelling Stones in the town of Jelling to memorialize his parents and declare Denmark as Christian. Harald, however, did not have a blue tooth, as far as anyone knows.

The stone shown is the one erected in the year 965, however, the rune superimposed on it is the victim of special effects.