What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the word “Bluetooth?” Most people would say cell phones. I have to admit it’s the first thing that pops into mine as well. However, being a computer guy, the next thing that springs to mind is syncing my PDA to my laptop using Bluetooth® so that I don’t have to carry around that USB cable.

Cell phones have certainly made Bluetooth wireless technology mainstream, but did you know that there’s so much more that you can do with it? You can also find Bluetooth in digital cameras, car stereos, even gaming remotes. In a series of posts, I want to take a look at exactly what Bluetooth is and ways you can integrate it into your lifestyle.

First, let’s talk about Bluetooth technology itself and some of its limitations. Bluetooth uses a very low power radio frequency transmission, and communicates at an approximate frequency of 2.45 gigahertz. Don’t worry! Bluetooth won’t interfere with your 2.4 gigahertz telephone. The power output of Bluetooth signals is about 1 milliwatt — interference with other devices are virtually nonexistent. The downside to this lower power is how it affects the range. Most Bluetooth devices only have a range of about 32 feet.

One cool feature that makes Bluetooth so popular is automatic connectivity. However, automatic isn’t always a good thing. The security of Bluetooth devices has received an increasing amount of attention over the past few years. This is an important issue, as any of your personal data that’s stored on a Bluetooth device could be accessed by someone else through one of those automatic connections. For that reason, it’s a good idea to configure your Bluetooth devices as “trusted devices,” and consider turning off the auto-discovery feature. This will greatly improve the security of your devices, ensuring that — for example — you’re the only one making calls on your cell phone.

It seems that new devices and uses for Bluetooth technology are coming out every day. My family just bought my dad a Bluetooth-enabled Pioneer DEH-P7000BT CD receiver for Father’s Day. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share more about that experience and look at a few other Bluetooth-enabled devices.