Electronics Talk reports that “SiGe Semiconductor has expanded its series of Bluetooth integrated circuits with a miniature power amplifier optimised for portable consumer electronics” and a lot of other techie stuff that I didn’t understand 
Bottom line though, it means that Bluetooth can now work in a range of about 100 meters, rather than 10. This suddenly makes Bluetooth a very powerful tool, that can be used as much more than to back up PDA’s and run mobile phone headsets.
[Note to Bluetooth headset manufacturers - why do you make your products so uncomfortable to wear? Hint: Things you wear are meant to be comfortable and preferably stylish. Given the choice, I'd choose comfort in preference to something that pulls out my hair and numbs my ear after 3 minutes, but looks cool].
There’s been much talk, for instance, of social networking meeting mobile devices using location feeds. In other words, you can find people with similar interests at a conference, or a shared love of Italian food and long walks for dating. If iPods came with Bluetooth, you could even pair up with people with similar musical tastes and swap tracks you don’t have.
Actually, I think there’s also an angle in dating and musical tastes. Or how about promiscuity and dating? Your phone alerts you when someone with similar interests and one night stands are near
The problem is that location feeds aren’t accurate enough for this yet. But Bluetooth could be the answer, especially when it has a range this far.
But one of the problems with Bluetooth is that there’s no revenue model inherent in the protocol. Download a file or ringtone and the operator takes a cut of data revenue. With Bluetooth, it’s free, so it could potentially cannibalise a huge amount of data revenues.
Am I exagerating? I don’t think so actually. If I want to send you a photo and I know I’m going to see you in an hour or so, will I pay or wait until then? I think you’d find that most people would wait. Or use Courier File Swapping.
Of course this also raises the horrid spectre of BlueSpam, pioneered by The Economist already.
Pic shows a monument being unveiled to Harald Bluetooth, who united Denmark and Norway.
There have always been three classes of Bluetooth devices. Class 1 devices have a range of 100 Meters. Most devices on the market today, though, are Class 2 devices with a range of only 10 meters. To my knowledge, there is only one phone — the new Motorola Razor V3– with a Class 1 Bluetooth radio inside it.