In the digital world there are no movies or music or magazines but just 1s & 0s termed as bits. The ability to move these bits is called BANDWIDTH. Broadband is the ability to move lots of bits per second. A computer doesn't necessarily consume bits in a continuous fashion like water. In the future the broadband will be more ASYNCHRONOUS. For example, interleaving people's conversation, packetizing them, so that many people share the same channel without being aware that they are. In the larger sense we can at our convenience receive & send data. Like watching your favorite Bay-Watch TV programme at a time you want to watch and not at 10 pm on Star World.

BEING Wireless

Plugs are in the past and the future consumption of bits will be very conversational & bursty. The batteries will be less power hungry and there will be improved use of radio frequencies (RF). Ultimately all long distance traffic will be fiber optic and all short distance traffic will be RF. Everything electronic will talk to other electronic appliances using RF and computers will come out of the box and our grandchildren will look back at our PC's as quaint artifacts, as common tomorrow as an
ice tray today.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a global de facto standard for wireless connectivity. Based on a
low-cost, short-range radio link, it cuts the cords that used to tie up digital devices. BlueTooth technology was conceived in 1998 when the leaders in mobile telephones, laptop computing & signal processing technologies viz., Ericsson, Nokia, IBM, Toshiba and Intel grouped to form Special Interest Group (SIG).

When two Bluetooth equipped devices come within ten metres range of each other, they can establish a connection together. And because Bluetooth utilizes a radio-based link, it doesn't require a line-of-sight connection in order to communicate. Your laptop could send information to a printer in the next room, or your microwave could send a message to your mobile phone telling you that your meal is ready.

In the future, Bluetooth is likely to be standard in tens of millions of mobile phones, PCs, laptops and a whole range of other electronic devices. As a result, the market is going to demand new innovative applications, value-added services, end-to-end solutions and much more. The possibilities opened up really are limitless, and because the radio frequency used is globally available.

Imagine some of these everyday examples: you enter a train and your fare is automatically paid by your mobile phone. Or you get an automatic text message notifying that your kids are safely back from school. Or while waiting at the airport lounge, you get some interesting duty-free offers directly to your mobile phone. You could play multiplayer games with your friends, or write e-mails on your laptop on the 'plane, then when you land and switch on your handset, the messages can be automatically sent by your phone. Bluetooth will also allow you to surf the Web with your laptop while your phone is in your bag. Together with other industry initiatives, such as WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and Symbian, Bluetooth will have tremendous effects on everyday life in the near future.