Bluetooth

Not to be outdone by its Teutonic rival, Audi has followed BMW's lead in announcing that its cars are now fully compatible with the Apple iPhone. Those lucky souls who own both an Audi and an iPhone will now be able to connect the two for Bluetooth hands-free calling, while those even luckier souls with an A5, A6, A8 or Q7 can use Audi's optional AMI music interface to play music via the phone's iPod function.

If you own neither an Audi nor an iPhone, you can still take some solace in the free Audi-inspired ringtones that … Read more

There's certainly no shortage of "smart" helmets on the market, especially where Bluetooth is concerned. But we always feel obligated to write up as much traffic safety equipment as we can, particularly when there are people out there using computers and GPS units while on the road.

The latest example of fortified headgear is the "BlueBike" Votronic, which Engadget describes as a "modular communication system" that can be built into any helmet to listen to MP3s or talk on the phone, either by Bluetooth or wired connection.

The only thing we find slightly … Read more

Would you accept a free ringtone from a billboard? Westin hopes so. They've installed a Bluetooth-enabled billboard in the subway stop below Grand Central Station in New York City. The billboard beams a free ringtone to those passing by.

The interactive ad is part of a $30 million push for their "This is how it should feel" campaign. Instead of pictures of plush beds or in-room workstations, there are steps converted into waterfalls, image shifting ads with a boardroom meeting on one side and sky diving on the other and the entire insides of subway cars transformed … Read more

Bluetooth developer Open Interface announced today that it has a new lossless audio codec that leaves the existing A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) standard in the dust. The codec is called SoundAbout Lossless and promises low-latency, low-complexity, multichannel Bluetooth audio, without compromising audio fidelity. Open Interface's Chief Operating Officer Rick Romatowski ran a demo of the new Bluetooth codec at our CNET offices last week, and we were definitely impressed. Jasmine France and I viewed a few scenes from House of Flying Daggers and were blown away by both the sound quality and the undetectable latency introduced by the … Read more

Musician and inventor Aleksei R. Stevens has created a concept product called the SoundBall. The SoundBall is a soccer ball that is filled with motion sensors that detect when the ball is being rolled, dropped, kicked, or spun. The motion data is then transmitted over Bluetooth to a local computer that bleeps out corresponding electronic noises.

My guess is that he's got some kind of Arduino or Parallax board inside the ball and Cycling '74 Max/MSP music software running on his computer. Whatever he's using, it looks like a fun way to kill some time and annoy … Read more

LORDSBURG, N.M.--Sometimes, as in climbing Mount Everest, you have to do something just because you can.

For more than a week now, I've been carting a box full of high-tech gear with me on Road Trip 2007, my sojourn around the Southwest.

One of the gadgets in that box is the Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 460 wbt, a mobile, Bluetooth-enabled printer designed for the road warrior. I guess I count as one of those.

That's why, in the middle of my drive from Tucson, Ariz., to White Sands National Monument near Las Cruces, N.M., I decided to … Read more

I've come to the conclusion that the iPhone is a very picky Bluetooth dater. It doesn't like its own kind. It doesn't like MacBooks. And it gives mixed signals toward my car. Maybe it's just not into it. I'm not sure; time will tell.

I came to these conclusions playing matchmaker while testing out the iPhone's Bluetooth capabilities with various Bluetooth-enabled devices. First my car, then my friend Max's iPhone and my friend Max's new MacBook.

Date No. 1: My Bimmer

The iPhone hasn't even launched yet and there are already dozens--if not hundreds--of iPhone accessories ready to be purchased. Sure, most of them are universal dock iPod accessories that happen to be iPhone-compatible, but there are also quite a few that were made with the iPhone in mind. From Apple's own Bluetooth headset and iPhone dock to a plethora of cases and headphone adapters, it looks like new iPhone owners will be spoiled for choice when it comes to the right accessory for their brand-new cell phone. Here are just a few that have caught our eyes recently. … Read more

A couple of small--but I think somewhat serious--issues regarding the audio output of the iPhone have been percolating on the Web for the last week or so. The issues involve the iPhone's headphone/headset jack and the phone's ability to output stereo sound via Bluetooth.

Let's start with the headphone jack. In Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret's iPhone review for the Wall Street Journal, they state, "The headphone jack, which supports both stereo music and phone calls, is deeply recessed, so you may need an adapter for existing headphones." Why the port would be … Read more