Bluetooth bonanza

A sampling of technologies highlighted at the Bluetooth Developers Conference.

Here’s a sampling of technologies highlighted at the Bluetooth Developers Conference:

• Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) and Intersil said they’ll create a mini-PCI card that will run Bluetooth and the IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN protocol. (Mobilian announced a similar chip last month.)

• Motorola showed the recently announced MC72000 Bluetooth chipset, designed to reject interference from other Bluetooth radios and from IEEE 802.11x wireless LANs, both of which use the 2.4-GHz band.

• Itronix unveiled GoBook II, a notebook computer that’s been designed to meet U.S. military specifications for rugged use. It includes built-in support for Bluetooth, 802.11b, and wide-area General Packet Radio Service and 1xRTT wireless. Its suggested list price is $4,495.

• A new Bluetooth chip from CSR designed for Qualcomm-based Code Division Multiple Access telephones (other chips have been for GSM phones, used widely in Europe). CSR also said German car maker Audi AG will incorporate its GSM/Bluetooth platform in a wireless telematics unit scheduled to be offered starting next month in Europe and Asia.

• TDK Systems released software that moves photos and other images among Bluetooth-equipped devices.

• Pico Communications unveiled PicoBlue II, a Bluetooth access point that also can accept an 802.11b access card or bridge.