Apr 17, 2024 | posted by Conner Williams

Tech Term of the Month: April 2024

If you've ever connected a pair of wireless earbuds or headphones to your smartphone, laptop, or TV, then you've used Bluetooth technology before. Bluetooth is a short-range wireless connection method used for exchanging data between devices, generally limited to about 10 meters (~33 feet) apart.

Fun fact: the name "Bluetooth" dates back more than 1,000 years to King Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson who was well-known for two things: uniting Denmark and Norway in 958, and for his dead tooth, which was a dark blue and grey color, earning him the nickname Bluetooth.

When Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia began collaborating in 1996 on the short-range connection technology, Jim Kardach from Intel suggested "Bluetooth" as a temporary code name for the project. He was quoted saying "King Harald Bluetooth was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link." When it came time to bring the technology to market and implement it, the name stuck.



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