Bluetooth SIG looks at Bluetooth-WiFi to hasten transfers

Posted Feb 10th 2008 4:35PM by Darren Murph

If you'll recall, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group already had plans laid out to speed up Bluetooth by teaming it up with UWB, but needless to say, that didn't exactly take the world by storm. Thankfully, it seems the crew is trying something else in an effort to speed up BT transfers, and judging by the ubiquity of WiFi, we reckon this endeavor has a much better chance at gaining traction. According to Michael Foley, director of the Bluetooth SIG, these so-called Bluetooth-WiFi (just a temporary name, folks) devices will "use the regular low-power Bluetooth radios to recognize each other and establish connections, and if they need to transfer a large file, they will be able to turn on their WiFi radios, then turn them off to save power after finishing the transfer." For whatever reason, Foley also noted that it wouldn't be letting the dream go with regard to Bluetooth-UWB -- we're sure consumers will adore the confusion.

CSR shows off eGPS, says it's superior to A-GPS

Posted Feb 10th 2008 5:58PM by Darren Murph

There's not too many deets on this just yet, but apparently, UK's CSR is getting set to showcase a technology known as eGPS (enhanced Global Positioning System, if you couldn't guess) at Mobile World Congress 2008. According to the firm, it delivers a "universal positioning capability that will not only work reliably indoors and in zero GPS signal conditions, but greatly speed time to fix in poor GPS reception areas where most handsets are used." More specifically, it can "exploit data available from the cellular network to speed GPS fixes and provide complementary, fast, and reliable location sensing when GPS signals are weak or unavailable." Best of all, the firm is hoping to add eGPS capabilities to handsets for under $1 per unit, and it's also using the stage in Barcelona to trumpet a single-chip GPS receiver with embedded Bluetooth and FM radio. Unfortunately, mum's the word on when this stuff will actually find its way into mobiles.