D-Link Systems is set to release the D-Link PersonalAir DBT-120, a new USB Bluetooth adapter that works with both Macs and PCs. Bluetooth is a Wireless Personal Area Networking (WPAN) standard that enables computers and peripheral devices to communicate with one another.
On the surface, the DBT-120 seems to be identical to the DWB-120M, which D-Link released for Mac users earlier this year to enable them to begin talking with other Bluetooth-equipped devices. The adapter supports up to seven slave devices, works using the Bluetooth 1.1 and USB 1.1 standards, and features the same data transfer rates, encryption, frequency and range as the DWB-120M.
Although it can be used for peer-to-peer file sharing between computers, Bluetooth's limited bandwidth compared to Wi-Fi doesn't make it an ideal candidate for replacing the increasingly popular wireless networking technology.
Instead, devices that can make do with slower speeds are emerging as the Bluetooth standard grabs hold in both the PC and Mac markets. PDAs, printers, cell phones, digital cameras and other peripherals are starting to support the technology. During his keynote address at Macworld Expo in New York this past July, Steve Jobs demonstrated iSync exchanging contact and calendar data between a Mac OS X 10.2-equipped Mac and a Bluetooth enabled phone manufactured by Sony Ericsson, the T68i model.
Priced at $114, the DBT-120 will be available in Australia by the end of the month.
