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HP Introduces A Bluetooth Printer

Posted by timothy on from the priming-the-pump dept.

man_ls writes: "I found this on C|Net, it's an HP Printer that also supports Bluetooth. You can read about it here. Not that the Bluetooth will do anything except interfere with 802.11 wireless networks, but it's an interesting feature to have." Actually, Bluetooth shouldn't interfere with 802.11 except in confusing product marketing, right? Nice to see that at least one printer will actually hit the market with a short-range radio interface instead of wire (inconvenient) or IR (poor interoperability).

5 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. This is Great! by epsalon · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now I can walk all over my room with my printer and print! Also, I can synchronize my cellular phone with the printer, whew great!

    Wait a sec... What good will that do?

    Another useless application of bluetooth...

    --

    Make even shorter URLs - 8LN.org

    1. Re:This is Great! by Lars+T. · · Score: 2, Funny
      Are you guys totaly out of touch with reality? There are even less people with a wireless network than with ethernet.

      Anyway, I have my printer hooked up to my 'puter via direct satellite link, so there.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  2. Re:why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    this is just a marketing gimmick, beleive me, any color printer can print a blue tooth

  3. Re:why by Lars+T. · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hell, what's wrong with pen and paper? ;-)

    --

    Lars T.

    To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  4. Re:this is why by stripes · · Score: 5, Funny
    No, because ethernet ports are generally built into the mainboard, so would require a costly replacement of the hardware and firmware to be able to support Bluetooth, 802.11 or whatever.

    I think the point is if you have a postscript printer on your IP network, and you hook up an 802.11 access point t your IP network, then your printer magically becomes an 802.11 printer as well (unless you fire wall off the 802.11 part, which is frequently a good idea, but not as frequently done).

    The upside? One 802.11 access point gets all your printers. The downside? The longer range of 802.11 lets people outside your office waste your paper. Plus IP stacks on many printers are insanely fragile, so someone could break the printer pretty simply.