Issue Seven - Conversations on Technology, Business and Society

WHAT’S NEW
18
Bluetooth computing devices
The Logitech kit comes with a USB dongle and a charger for the mouse. The
keyboard uses 4 AA batteries. Its best to have 4 pairs of rechargable batteries and a
battery charger so that you do not spend a fortune on batteries.
PC TECH | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 | pctechmagazine.com
Bluetooth printers give you the freedom
to position them anywhere with no cable
limitations, and can even be used from
another room.
This Bluetooth dongle is so small that
you will forget it even exists after
plugging it in. It is plug and play,
and is smaller than a 100 UGX coin’s
diameter.
Have you ever felt like you have too many
wires and cables in your life? Lets start with
your office desktop PC: keyboard, mouse,
monitor. printer, scanner, external drive, headphones...
They all have cables crowding your
personal space!
With Bluetooth on your computer and a
few bluetooth devices you can cut down on
the wires and cables.
Bluetooth is an open wireless technology
standard for exchanging data over short
distances, usually up to 10 metres, though
some devices of higher power class may go
up to 100 metres.
For a keyboard and mouse we recommend
Logitech’s Coreless MX Duo mouseand-keyboard
kit. The mouse is the most
exciting part! Wireless, optical, and rechargeable,
the mouse brings all of the benefits
of untethered input, and it reduces battery
juggling, one of the technology’s biggest
drawbacks. You’ll pay a bit more up front, but
you’ll make it back in what you don’t shell
out to Duracell. I have been using mine for 4
months now without having to recharge the
battery!
The mouse also includes thumb-side front
and back Web navigation buttons that feel
totally natural, and the page-scroll-lock and
task-switch buttons framing the scrollwheel
aim to reduce finger stress and help streamline
work flow. The keyboard has media buttons,
complete with a volume wheel and hot
keys for e-mail, IM, and various Web pages-not
to mention an additional scrollwheel and
back button on the left side.
The next cable to cut is the printer cable.
Though it usually plugs into the back of your
system unit and stays there, it can be a nuisance
if you are using a laptop and you have
to plug it in everytime you need to use it.
This HP Photosmart printer makes printing
so easy you may even start printing for fun. It
is one of HP’s line of wireless printers, and is
also a photo smart printer.
This particular one can connect to your
printer by Bluetooth or wireless. Both are
easy to set up and get printing in a matter of
minutes. So you have the printer in a more
out of the way place and still print your documents
at ease. You can also print photos from
your Bluetooth enabled phone or iPad or any
device directly. The printer can also be shared
with other devices and computers in your
office or home.
It also has a large touchsmart screen and a
number of ink-saving techniques.
Many laptops these days ship with internal
bluetooth radios, but if you do not have an
internal device you can get Bluetooth capability
by plugging in a USB Bluetooth dongle.
They come in different shapes and sizes, but
the best are the very small ones, especially
for a laptop.