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David Johnson

Dave's Favorites: Epson Bluetooth Print Adapter

I've fallen in love all over again, and this time it's not Sandra Bullock or MTV's Downtown Julie Brown--it's Bluetooth. Bluetooth, of course, is a short-range wireless connectivity standard that lets all kinds of devices chat among themselves without the use of wires. We've been promised Bluetooth for years, and it's finally arriving.

I've already accumulated a slew of Bluetooth-capable products. I have a Bluetooth PDA, mobile phone, headset, Sony camcorder, and more. Their claim to fame is convenience: no more messy cables. I can pick a phone number out of my Palm, for instance, and automatically dial the phone that's ten feet away in my jacket pocket. Then I can take the call on my Bluetooth wireless headset. For a gadget head like me, this is way cool. Of course, I'm realistic--most folks roll their eyes at this kind of thing. But if you're half as addicted to gadgets as I am, Bluetooth is for you.

The newest addition to my Bluetooth stable is Epson's $129 Bluetooth Print Adapter, a small gadget that plugs into the parallel port of select Epson ink-jet printers. With the adapter connected to my Epson C80 printer, I can send print jobs from up to 30 feet away. That's a lot longer than any printer cable will stretch, meaning I can put a printer almost anywhere in the room. Even better, I can print from a slew of devices--like notebooks, PCs, and PDAs--without worrying about cables or even where I am standing in the room when I click Print. Bluetooth isn't a "directional" technology like infrared, so I don't need to point the device at the printer or baby-sit the print job.

Eventually, Bluetooth will no doubt be common in many laptop and desktop PCs, but for now my wireless printing options are limited. The Bluetooth Print Adapter works with Palm and Pocket PC PDAs, as well as select notebooks that have Bluetooth (there's a compatibility list at Epson's Web site). Nonetheless, I'm quite jazzed about Bluetooth's potential. If you are fascinated by this next wave of print and connection technology, you can read about it at Epson's Web site

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