Billed as "the world's first Bluetooth wireless trackball," The Ball from the Chang Yi Company is designed to work on any Bluetooth-enabled Mac or Win XP system and includes rechargeable 750mAh Nickel Metal Hydride AAA batteries, all for $70.

Our fellow Weblogs Inc. blogger Ted Wallingford is putting out a call for folks who are interested in contributing to our blog on all things VoIP, voipfan.com. If you think you've got what it takes to join this great organization, click here for more details.

It seems that cellphone designers may have to design in up to 10 radios for the latest in next-generation handsets. The list includes:

• Wireless LAN

• Ultra Wideband (UWB)

• Bluetooth

• Cellular

• ZigBee

• GPS

• DVH-H (or some other television variant)

• Near-field communications

• FM

• WiMax

As my friend Rich Nass points out, EEs will be suffering from sleepless nights due to the integration issues they're going to have to solve. To paraphrase an old Beatles song:

You say you want convergence
Well you know
We'd all like to see the design plans

One of the big players in Bluetooth, Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR), says it will be combining it's Bluetooth technology with over wireless technologies, most notably UWB, over the next 12 to 18 months. Their goal is to embed the two technologies in a number of products that will hit the market sometime in 2007. In addition, CSR is focusing in on WiFi and thinking about playing a role in the development of a handset capable of making calls on either cellular or local area networks depending on which is available at a certain time.

As I gaze at my calendar, the holiday shopping season is upon us. Of course, I have to take care of my wife and daughter first, but I certainly deserve to buy myself some nice gifts. I think I've worked hard enough to earn them! :))))

Anyway, the two things that are at the top of my list are a new laptop and a Bluetooth headset. So I am now asking you folks out there to help me pick out what I should buy. I have my own thoughts, but before I take the plunge, I would like your input. Here are some things you'll need to know before you comment:

1) For the laptop, the most important thing I want is WiFi and Bluetooth functionality. I'm setting a price point at $2,000, but I will go over (slightly) if I can justify it.
2) For the headset, I'm looking at a price point of $200.

OK folks, there you have it. I would appreciate any thoughts you may have and, who knows, maybe you'll be helping your fellow readers on their own holiday shopping questions!

The ski slopes will be filled with high-tech snowboarders this winter with the introduction of Bluetooth-enabled winter wear. Burton Snowboards and Motorola have come out with a series of Burton Audex Snowboard Jackets with wireless connectivity that will give users hands-free access to their cellphone or other wireless device, such as an MP3 player. According to both companies, users can access their mobile phone through Motorola's Bluetooth wireless link, while a hidden wired iPod connection links the MP3 player and detachable hood stereo speakers.

Skiers will have to keep an eye out for snowboarders who'll be jabbering away on their cellphones while flying down the slopes. This ought to be an interesting winter.

Although the holiday shopping season is just around the corner, gadget-buying is always in season. With that in mind, here are four Bluetooth headsets that may be of interest. (Click on "Read" below to get capsule reviews on each.)

• Plantronics Discovery 640 Bluetooth Headset

• Jabra FreeSpeak BT250

• Tekkeon EzTalker Mini

• Nextlink Bluespoon AX Bluetooth Headset

All the talk has been about hotspots and citywide wireless networks, but it won't be long before the wireless HOME network will be just as ubiquitous as the other two. Of course, compatibility between computers, televisions, DVD players, music systems and so on still have to be worked out, as well as educating consumers on how to put it all together. But the market for home networking products and services continues to grow, so the unplugged home will soon be a reality.

Although a single standard has yet to be defined for UWB, that hasn't stopped its proponents to find ways to bring it closer to market, even if through a partnership with a competing technology. The emerging partnership between UWB and Bluetooth seeks to bring greater speed to wireless personal area networks, and Freescale Semiconductor's recent demo of its direct sequence-UWB  (DS-UWB) operating under Bluetooth software stacks could ignite UWB-enabled products having the ability to communicate with Bluetooth-enabled products in the near future. 

A Symantec architect weighs in with his suggestions for CIOs and IT managers on how to secure their companies' Bluetooth-enabled devices and systems. Among his suggestions are:

• Identify company-issued Bluetooth devices and alert users of known vulnerabilities.

• Check with your device suppliers about emerging Bluetooth vulnerabilities that haven't yet been publicized.

• Inform employees about hacks such as bluesnarfing and bluejacking.
  Use longer PINs when pairing devices.

A new series of QWERT-based handsets from Nokia developed for the corporate user will debut early next year. The Eseries of phones (E60, E61, E70) feature WLAN, Bluetooth, and Infrared connectivity and will be supported by companies including Cisco Systems, Research In Motion, Seven, Good Technology, and Visto Corporation. No pricing details were made available as of yet.

Scientists at the University College London are currently developing a portable scanner linked via Bluetooth to a computer located in an ambulance that will allow emergency responders to assess or treat stroke victims while on the way to a hospital. The scanner uses electrical impedance tomography designed to detect changes or abnormalities in the brain and distinguish between types of stroke.

At an economic and development meeting held in Paris last week, an executive from Philips Semiconductors says the company is going to push the adoption of RFID technology to government regulators and policymakers worldwide. However, there has been concern that the privacy issues surrounding RFID are too hot for governments to touch, but Philips is going to stress the links to "machines, goods, and people" to help companies understand their customers and their wants and desires. In addition, Philips plans to promote RFID in combination with Bluetooth, WiFi, and Near-Field Communications technologies in hopes of developing capable products incorporating them.

I'm not exactly sure what the significance of this announcement means. Philips certainly is a giant in Europe, but how much weight can they throw around outside of their native country (The Netherlands) will be interesting to see.

A demo hosted by Freescale Semiconductor at this week's WiCon Americas event showcased the ability of UWB and Bluetooth to work with each other. Two laptops enabled with a UWB module and Bluetooth dongle were made available for viewers to see what the company claims is a "pure Bluetooth-to-Bluetooth demo" featuring a file transfer between the two devices at a maximum rate of 1Mbits/sec. The UWB radios then utilize use Open Interface's BLUETusk software to leverage the software stack of Bluetooth while operating the Freescale UWB radio which then acheived a rate of 110Mbits/sec.

About 70 percent of the total U.S. adult population (over 152 million) owns some type of portable entertainment device including laptops, music players, and enhanced wireless phones, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Of course, this is a huge pool of potential customers for content developers to market their goods and services to. The CEA estimates that consumers will spend over $8 billion dollars in mobile entertainment content over the next 12 months. However, this pool of people is not downloading digital files directly to their PCs or players in large numbers, but you would think that total will rise in the next 12 months as well, if not sooner.