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organizers
Table Setter
 Slick and slim, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a pocket-sized PC, perfect for sifting through Web pages or documents, checking e-mail, listening to Internet radio, or reading the newspaper online. It’s meant to be the device you leave in the kitchen or on the coffee table, always ready to deliver useful information. With a 4.3-inch, 5,000-color screen and 800x480 resolution, the 770 blows away most PDAs when it comes to the display. And it’s a looker in its brushed-metal cover and velour pouch. The device recognizes handwriting (through its digital stylus), and it browses the Web for at least three hours on one charge. Both Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-compatible, the 770 easily synchs up with your main computer, or finds the wireless server at your local café. And if all that isn’t enough, the tiny device is also an MP3 and video file player. ($359.99; nokia.com) — Bryant Urstadt
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Small Office
 At 4.3 x 2.3 inches and just over 5 ounces, the T-Mobile MDA (mobile digital assistant) is about as small an office as you’d ever want. Both Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled, the MDA offers full-speed Web browsing and access to T-Mobile hot spots. As with everything these days, a camera and an MP3 player are built in. The top slides open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard about the size of a deck of cards, perfect for last-minute e-mails, text editing, and working on the go. ($399; tmobile.com) — B.U.
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Open the Windows
 Dell’s Axim X51v is first across the finish line in the race to run Windows Mobile 5.0 on a pocket PC. Windows 5.0 offers full flash memory compatibility, which means all information is stored even if your battery power runs out. In general, Windows 5.0 enables the handheld Axim to operate more like a standard computer. The device has a decent-sized VGA display, just right for displaying the usual array of handy software, calendar, contacts, and e-mail functions. Accessories include an array of cases, two keyboards, and even a GPS system. ($499; dell.com) — B.U.
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What’s the Difference Between Bluetooth and Infrared?
Infrared and Bluetooth are technologies that enable devices to communicate without cables, explains Keith Nowak, spokesman for Nokia in the United States. Infrared relies on invisible light waves to transmit, while Bluetooth uses short-range radio frequencies.
“Infrared has been around longer, so it’s more common,” says Nowak. “It’s in television remote controls and just about every laptop made in the last few years. It’s a good way to communicate, but it requires a line of sight. Bluetooth, on the other hand, works anywhere within its range, even in your pocket.”
Bluetooth was developed in 1998 in Denmark, through the efforts of an international consortium led by Jaap Haartsen (see Continental, August 2004), who was an engineer at Ericsson, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Haartsen was looking for a way to connect a wireless phone to a PC without cables.
As a newer technology than infrared, requiring a slightly more complicated chip set, Bluetooth hasn’t gone mainstream yet, but it’s getting there. “We’re already seeing Bluetooth in midrange phones,” says Nowak. “Last year it was exclusively top-of-the-line.”
Part of the reason Bluetooth is becoming so popular is that it’s a lot more flexible than infrared technology. When Bluetooth-enabled products get within 30 feet of one another, they sort out a mini-network called a piconet, wherein up to seven devices — including mobile phones, MP3 players, or laptops — can communicate with one another. Try that with the stack of remotes on your coffee table.
And where in the name of Thor did the technology’s creators get a name like Bluetooth? “He was a Danish king in the 10th century, King Harold Blue-tooth,” explains Nowak. In fact, the Bluetooth logo consists of the Nordic symbols for his initials, H and B. — B.U.
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Photographs by: Brian Urkevic (Nokia and T-Mobile)
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