BlueTooth Bytes

- IBM Japan and Toshiba have joined together with Japanese components manufacturer Taiyo Yuden to form a Bluetooth wireless venture for the Japanese market. The project will begin operations in April 2001.

- 3Com and Extended Systems announced an agreement in August 2000 to jointly develop Bluetooth solutions for the Microsoft Windows platforms.

- Philips Components plans to form a Bluetooth hub through partnerships with Cambridge Silicon Radio, Intersil, Silicon Wave, and Widcomm to speed Bluetooth wireless products time-to-market.

- Hewlett-Packard has stepped up to lead the development of printing profiles for Bluetooth. HP's DeskJet, LaserJet, and PhotoSmart printer divisions will support the Bluetooth profile initiative.

- Registry Magic is creating customizable applications targeted at a range of market sectors that will be provided over partner Red-M's Bluetooth networking technology. Registry Magic's Bluetooth Consumer Payment Network uses biometric access security to transform Bluetooth-enabled cell phones into secure payment and identity authentication devices.