Bluetooth “made wires and cable obsolete,” said John Paczkowski in All Things Digital, and a new standard from the Wi-Fi Alliance may do the same to Bluetooth. Wi-Fi Direct, like Bluetooth, connects computers, phones, and myriad other electronic items directly, without a wireless router. But Wi-Fi Direct will be 30 times faster than Bluetooth, have a longer range, and—best of all—“be available as a software upgrade for existing Wi-Fi devices.”
“The Wi-Fi Alliance and everyone else—including myself—are pretty excited about this,” said Jesus Diaz in Gizmodo. The Alliance includes industry giants like Intel, Microsoft, and Apple, and if you couple that with the fact it will work with any Wi-Fi gadget, “expect the technology to become ubiquitous pretty fast.” Come mid-2010, “farewell, Bluetooth.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why ghost guns are so easy to make — and so dangerousThe Explainer Untraceable, DIY firearms are a growing public health and safety hazard
-
The Week contest: Swift stimulusPuzzles and Quizzes
-
'It's hard to resist a sweet deal on a good car'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
