We were once encumbered by wires sticking out of every orifice of our electronic devices; keyboards, mice, printers, earphones…. you name it. In recent years we have learned how to interface wirelessly with our computers as they became more powerful, more compact and more versatile (if you would like to learn more about the evolution of our devices see: The Changing Roles of Desktops, Laptops, Tablet Computers and Smartphones also from iPad Repair Hawaii, MobileREMEDIES®). One of the most popular and widespread short-distance wireless protocols is called “Bluetooth”. The professionals at iPad Repair Hawaii thought you might be interested in the origin of this unusual name and some basic information about this very effective technology. Did someone really have blue teeth?


By 1995 several major communication companies including Ericsson Technology in Sweden, Intel and IBM in the US as well as Nokia and Toshiba in Japan were all working on their own proprietary low power short-range radio links for computers and their peripherals based on concepts similar to the cellular networks. At that time they were known as MC’s or “Multi-Communicator Links” at Ericsson, BIZ-RF at Intel (for Business Radio Frequency) and Low Power RF at Nokia.

Sven Mattisson who worked for Ericsson but who had contacts in California after receiving his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology, realized that an industry-wide standard for wireless communication protocols could be beneficial to all by allowing for a rapid universal growth of the technology rather than having each company compete based on its own proprietary devices. He contacted Jim Kardach, an engineer working for Intel who agreed with the concept and in 1996 and 1997 they became devoted to the project, gradually approaching many companies seeking to convince them that it was in their best interests to unify their approach, share their research and develop universal standards for this new technology. They suffered many rejections of their proposals along the way. Large companies have inherent trust issues for good reason.

After one of these rejections on a cold December night in a pub in Toronto, while the project was still in the development phase, Kardach was questioning Mattisson about Viking history. Mattisson was not particularly versed or interested in the subject but recommended a popular Swedish historical novel called “The Long Ships” by Frans G. Bengtsson. Kardach, who was also reading a scholarly historical text by Dr. Gwyn Jones entitled “A History of the Vikings”, noticed the frequent references in both books to Harald “Blaatand” Gormsson (son of Gorm the Old), a Scandinavian king who lived around 910 to 987 AD.

Charitable historians credit him with highly developed foresight as well as diplomatic and organizational skills that helped the Scandinavian culture and civilization flourish. Others suggest that his successes might be better attributed to the force of his armies and their threat of annihilation of dissenters. In any case, one undisputed artifact has survived the centuries and is still standing in Jelling, Denmark. It is the larger of the Jelling Runic Stones and is also known today as the “Birth Certificate of Denmark”.

This large carved stone has been dated to around 965 and has three distinct faces. One has a depiction of Christ with arms outstretched but not apparently on the cross. A second face depicts an animal, perhaps a horse, with a snake or rope coiled around it and the third face has a runic inscription translated as follows:

“Harald the king bade do these sepulchral monuments after Gorm his father and Thyra his mother. The Harald who won the whole of Denmark and all of Norway and made the Danes Christian”

Sounds like pretty convincing evidence for the feats of King Harald but with one caveat. The stone was commissioned by Harald himself, according to the inscription, and we all know about the human penchant for singing our own praises whether they be true or not, and/or about the stone mason’s desire to please and flatter his client for potential secondary gain. Still, since we have no reliable window on history, it does no harm to assume the best and to hail King Herald Blaatand as a champion of the union of opposing factions for the common good!

Excuse me, but aren’t we discussing the wireless interface of our peripherals with our computers and haven’t we just wasted a page on ancient Scandinavian history? Yes and no. The term “blaatand”, King Harald’s descriptive name, translates to “blue tooth” from the ancient Danish language and it is thought that the king may have had distinctive dentition! [There is some dispute about this however since some would say that it could also translate into “dark tooth” or even “dark(-skinned) chieftain” but if his son could be called “Forkbeard” and not be offended, I see no reason why he couldn’t be called “Bluetooth”.] In any case, the King Harald in question is now widely known as King Harald Bluetooth and Kardach who had to come up with a “temporary” project name for their efforts in uniting the “warring” companies into a coherent group felt that “Bluetooth” fit the bill admirably!

Their efforts paid off and after 3 years of negotiations a Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed in 1998 as a non-profit, non-stock corporation based in Kirkland, Washington, USA. The project name “Bluetooth” was to have been replaced by an official name to be determined by the marketing group. Numerous names such as “Flirt” (“close but not touching”) were considered but the rather uncreative finalists were RadioWire from Intel and PAN (Personal Area Networking) from IBM. Both had significant trademarking issues however which Bluetooth did not and the founders ultimately adopted it as the official technology and company name. It was only fitting then that their logo also refer to the ancient king so it is composed of the superimposed ancient Danish runes for H and B – Harald Bluetooth.

Bluetooth SIG’s five founding members, Ericsson, Intel, IBM, Nokia and Toshiba were later joined by additional “Promoter” members including 3COM, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Microsoft, Lenovo and more recently Apple. Today, there are “Associate” members and “Adopter” members that number in the thousands. In addition to Kirkland, they have local offices in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, and Malmö, Sweden.

The role of the Bluetooth SIG was (and is) to establish and maintain a standardized protocol of information exchange using ultra-high frequency radio waves (UHF) in the ISM Band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical - between 2.4 and 2.485 GHz). This means that devices from any manufacturer using the protocol can function flawlessly with those of any other manufacturer all over the entire Earth. In 2013, 15 years after its formation, there were about 9 billion Bluetooth devices in operation worldwide (about 1.3 per person alive on the planet) and by 2020, it is projected that there will be 50 billion making it one of the most ubiquitous technologies ever conceived!

It continues to evolve but basically it is a short-range transfer that works by sending data “paquets” transmitted on 1 of 79 “channels” with a bandwidth of 1MHz each in odd and even “slots”, changing frequencies at 800 “hops”/second (FHSS – “Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum”). Depending on the class of the driver and the Bluetooth version, data transfer speeds can range from 1 to 50Mbps at a distance of 2 to 800 feet (average is less than 24Mbps and 10M or 33Ft). Between 2 and 8 Bluetooth devices must “pair” with one device becoming “master” and the others “slaves”. Their roles can change if needed. They form a “piconet” with an automatically changing composition as devices enter and leave radio-proximity. The concept is similar to that of the cellular phone network (see From Telephone to Smartphone: A long way in a short time! Part 4, also from MobileREMEDIES®).

The spread of Bluetooth combined with the ever-expanding cellular phone network has led to the development of a new concept that is here to stay. It is called the “Internet of Things” (IOT). It refers to the interaction of physical devices (which can include living organisms) that allows them to be sensed or controlled/modified remotely by using the existing computer and cellular networks. In other words, networks within networks within networks.....multiplied by whatever complexity is required to accomplish a desired goal. This has generated a number of “Smart” applications using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to keep track of all of the individual components. We already have “Smart” wearables that follow our activities and “Smart” homes to keep us safe and comfortable. The “Smart” concept has only just begun and its driving force is named after an ancient Scandinavian King nicknamed Bluetooth!

At MobileREMEDIES®, with locations on Maui and Oahu and mail-in service from anywhere in the world, you get a free diagnostic evaluation and an estimate of the repair costs and time required. You also always get a 1-year warranty on parts and service. If they can’t fix your device, you pay nothing for the attempt! In addition to laptops and desktop computers, they also repair cell phones, iPads and all other tablet PC’s as well as iPods and game systems (Xbox, PlayStations, Wii, etc.). They build custom computers for gamers and other high demand users, recover lost data, provide web services for individuals and small businesses, buy broken devices for cash or in-store credit and sell refurbished devices with a 1-year warranty, similar to a manufacturer’s warranty on a new device. You can find them at Laptop Repair Hawaii, iPhone repair Hawaii, iPad repair Hawaii, iPod repair Hawaii, Data Recovery Hawaii, Custom Computers Hawaii and Xbox repair Hawaii. You may also go to www.mobileremedies.com or call 1-800-867-5048.