We have been pulling those slot machine handles in our spare time for almost two days now, and none of your THG editors have been able to hit the elusive jackpot. But, on the show floor at CES we suddenly hit Blackjack, a Royal Flush, and Craps. CES Day 2 was full of surprises and innovation.

3Com - Bluetooth Is Cool

Our look at 3Com's technology was the first time that we can honestly say that we really liked what we saw from Bluetooth.

Bluetooth, Buletooth, Bluetooth... We continue to think that the Bluetooth PAN technology is still one of the most misunderstood technologies that has ever been announced. During our discussion with 3Com it is evident that we are not alone in our opinion that Bluetooth has gotten a raw deal. Implications about the imminent demise of Bluetooth by some industry analysts comes from a lack of understanding about the technology.

3Com showed us some things that we had not seen before: seamless printing to a Bluetooth-enabled printer from both a Palm and Bluetooth-enabled phone. Using 3Com's Bluetooth Connection Manager it was easy to move a file from PC to PC or from a PC to a printer. Imagine the ability to give visitors access to your printer and allowing them to print to your Bluetooth enabled printer without giving them access to your network. With Bluetooth this is all possible. In the past our biggest knock on Bluetooth technology continued to be a lack of devices. 3Com did agree that Bluetooth-enabled devices have been slow to arrive, but they are coming. In 3Com's booth we not only saw 3Com's Bluetooth USB and PC-Card, but we saw two Bluetooth cell phones and a Bluetooth-enabled printer. We think people need to starting thinking of Bluetooth as personal networking without cables. As more Bluetooth devices arrive, rest assured this standard isn't something that is going away anytime soon.

Here is a close up of 3Com's Bluetooth product line as well as two Bluetooth enabled cell phones. It has been slow to arrive, but we really think that it is a technology whose time has come.