Bluetooth is a short-range (30 feet) wireless-networking protocol designed for personal area networks. This means you would use Bluetooth to create a temporary network to allow your mobile devices to share information.

Bluetooth is often called a USB replacement because its short range allows it to serve the same function as the hodgepodge of connectors—including USB cables—that you’d use to connect your various devices.

You can also use a Bluetooth cell phone to surf the Web on your laptop. You could add a Bluetooth adapter to your laptop, like the one from D-Link or Belkin for around $50. The phone would act as a wireless modem, dialing up your GPRS (short burst 2.5 GHz mobile phone network) account for data to help you stay connected on the road.

You can even print with t0 your Bluetooth enabled laptop with a Bluetooth module attached to your printer. You can output documents without a wire in sight (with the exception of the printer’s power cord). You could buy a Bluetooth module like the Anycom Bluetooth Printer Module to communicate to your old printer. Because this module is designed to plug directly into the parallel port on a printer, it won’t work with the newer printers that offer only USB connections.

A Bluetooth connection is limited to a maximum data transfer rate of just 723.2 Kbps, while 802.11b offers much faster data throughout of about 5 Mbps. Bluetooth might be too slow to use to transfer files between laptops if the files are really large, while it is fine for sending files to a printer or sending small files back and forth between two laptops.

In general, Bluetooth networks are every bit as reliable, although not nearly as fast, as a Wi-Fi network. But speed is not the point. Headsets, GPS modules, cell phones, laptops, and portable printers are best suited for Bluetooth because of how quickly they connect to one another to send small amounts of data.

Everything you wanted to know about Bluetooth can be found at the official Bluetooth website.

If you want to use your laptop and a webcam to talk to relatives or friends across the country it is best to have the same camera on both sides of the connection to be able use all the features of the cameras.

You can talk by using cell phones or telephones or can use instant messaging or even send e-mails back and forth. Using the webcam will allow you to see each other to add another dimension to the phone call.

You will need the following:

– A computer.
– An Internet connection (the faster the better).
– A connection from the laptop to the webcam (most common is the USB, others include Serial, Parallel, etc).
– Two cameras.
– Software (from the webcam vendor or from others, like Microsoft).

If you already own the webcam then check the systems requirements to determine what you need in the way of a laptop, should you not already own one. If you need to figure out the webcam to purchase then check out the reviews at ZDNet. Logitech (a market leader) has a low priced webcam the QuickCam® Communicate™ for $49.95 (on their website). It requires Win 98 or later OS, P3-700 MHz with 64MB RAM if you use their VideoCall software for broadband. It costs less than $6 per month if you sign up for their one year plan.

Free software you can use for video chatting with friends are: Microsoft's NetMeeting. It includes video in both directions, chat, and audio. The systems requirements of NetMeeting are minimal as it will work with a Pentium 90 and Win 95 or later and a 56K modem. EyeballChat is a another option. It lets you chat live, share messages, music and photos and communicate securely. It's systems requirements are a Pentium II 400 MHz with at least 64 MB RAM. Another option is an web based conferencing tool for $9 per month like MegaMeeting Personal.

A website you can check out to better understand this technology is:

Webcam.com

A new battery in Dell laptops (12-04) as stated on Dells website will hold a charge for 4 hours. On older laptops of 3-4 years ago they will typically last 2-3 hours. Most new laptop batteries have a one year warranty, although some of the lower end laptops are now coming with 90 day warranties.

Since, more features keep being added to laptops they keep needing more power to run for the same amount of time. So, newer laptop lithium-ion batteries don't hold a charge more than the 3-4 hours they used to 3 to 4 years ago. Battery development is not keep pace with laptop enhancement.

If you need a really long lasting battery you will not find internal batteries that last more than 2-4 hours. So, you would have to consider an external battery or buy multiple batteries. Some laptop allow you to remove the CD or FD or have extra bays that will hold a battery.

I am not recommending any of these companies, as I don't have direct experience with them, so you need to call them and talked to their sales people and make your own determination. Any feedback that you can provide for others that view this blog entry are appreciated.

The manuacturers of external batteries that last five to eight or more hours are:

Electrovaya PowerPad battery products are rather expensively priced from $249 to $449 (special deal $424). Amazingly they only include a six month warranty! "The most expensive PowerPad 160 claims … - Upto 4 to 6 times more power - Highest energy-density rechargable battery in the commercial market". I found that a brand new Dell Lithium battery in new Dell laptops lasts 4 hours. They do not state anywhere I could find the actual time it will hold a charge, but I personally would be surprised if they last 16 to 24 hours? http://www.electrovaya.com/

The PowerPlant battery costs $99 and they don't state the warranty, nor how long the battery will hold a charge (5-10 hours), other than while flying coast to coast. http://www.pwrplant.com/notebook.html

Valence makes a five hour battery for $149 and has a one year warranty.
http://www.valence.com/ncharge2.asp

Check out the Google Answers post about universal laptop batteries:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=186834

Within a couple years you can expect much longer lasting batteries with new laptops. Intel is working Zinc Matrix Power (ZMP) to develop rechargeable batteries based on Zinc Oxide, in the hopes of pushing the envelope on battery technology currently dominated by Lithium-Ion. They indicated that it would double the time a battery will hold a charge from 4 to 8 hours and are expecting this technology to be viable in 2006. http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/5016.html. Intel's Anand Chandrasekher, Intel's general manager of the Mobile Platforms Group has indicated that lithium polymer and zinc matrix are battery chemistries that might improve battery capacity. Fuel cell batteries will eventually be found in laptop computers. Toshiba claims they will eventually have a methanol fuel cell battery in a laptop.

Six months ago I did an extensive seach on the web to see who provided the best deals on laptop batteries. I recently updated the search and checked back to see the various vendors (100+) current prices. I only looked at one model IBM laptop (600 Series) to get an idea of what the prices might be.

The best deals seem to be from www.intelligentbatteries.com. Their price adavantage might be partially because of the difference between the US dollar and the Canadian dollar and partially because they designer, manufacturer and distributor of battery packs. The IBM 600 lithium battery here is priced at $62.00.

Other companies that seem to have decent prices are: www.priorityelectronics.com, www.meritline.com www.abatterypack.com, www.voltdepot.com and www.unisitebatteries.com.

Anyone that happens to do business with any of the above companies or find other companies with decent service and competitive battery prices should add a comment.