Digital Boomerang Singapore 

This postage-size device slips into your expansion slot.

Bluetooth, the much heralded technology, is finally a reality for Palm m500 series owners. Yesterday, Palm unveiled the Palm Bluetooth Card at the Bluetooth Congress 2001 in Monte Carlo.

Just a little bigger than a postage stamp, the Card enables quick, easy and secure local communication between Palm handhelds and other Bluetooth-enabled devices within a 10-meter radius.

The card, jointly developed between Palm and Toshiba, a leader in the development of Secure Digital Input/Output add-ons, is expected to be available before the end of the year at an estimated street price of US$150.

One of the initial uses of the Palm Bluetooth Card will be to wirelessly connect handhelds with mobile phones. You can use your Palm to dial up to the Internet or your corporate network through your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone without having to put the two devices next to each other. Your phone can always be in your pocket or handbag while you connect to the internet.

Similarly, you can send your documents to any Bluetooth-enabled printer within 10 meters. Unlike the hay days of infrared, you don’t have to walk to the printer to point your Palm device at it. But you can’t escape the walk entirely because you still have to collect your print out.

“This is only the beginning,” said John Cook, senior director of product marketing for Palm, Inc. “Much the way modems changed personal computers from isolated computing machines into pervasive communications tools, we believe Bluetooth will open a new era in interoperability among devicesand collaboration among people.”

- First published on IT AsiaOne

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