New iPad – World’s First Tablet to Support Bluetooth 4.0

Apple is slowly extending support for Bluetooth 4.0 throughout its entire family of products.

The company's first Bluetooth 4.0 products were the MacBook Air and Mac Mini, which were introduced in July last year. The iPhone 4S, introduced in October last year, was the first smartphone to support the new wireless standard, and with the new iPad, Apple brings the same, low power, high speed Bluetooth standard to its tablet.

Just in case you're not aware, Bluetooth 4.0 is the latest specification of the wireless standard, which, in addition to supporting higher theoretical speeds, also greatly reduces power consumption.

With an ecosystem of tightly integrated products, Apple is in a position to actually create a great experience by tying all of its devices together using Bluetooth 4.0. Apple did something very similar with AirPlay, except that AirPlay wasn't a standard created by a third party, but by Apple itself.

There have, in fact, been rumors about Apple planning to add Bluetooth 4.0 support to AirPlay, in addition to the support over Wi-Fi. That would work wonders for battery life of iOS devices and MacBooks.

Not just Apple devices, but even third party accessories, especially health related gadgets and sensors, would benefit greatly from the improved Bluetooth 4.0 specification. For example, a Bluetooth 4.0 compatible heart rate monitor can run for more than a year without a battery change. These sensors can, in turn, be coupled with apps to create a rich experience for the end user.

Bluetooth 4.0 hasn't caught a lot of momentum till now, which is presumably why it didn't earn a mention at Apple's media event, but when the standard starts picking up, almost all Apple devices would already be ready to take advantage of it.

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Hidden Radio And Bluetooth Speaker

Nothing helps you get through your day like music. It can turn your entire mood around from crabby and sour to bright and cheerful in a matter of seconds. Listening to music on your phone is great and all, but sometimes you really want to kick it up a notch, without having to shake the foundation from a super expensive stereo system. This is where the Hidden Radio And Bluetooth Speaker comes in.

This compact device is capable of 80dB of flawless sound, which is about as loud as your car. It has 30 or more hours of battery life, so you can keep the neighbors up, or take it with you on a trip. It obviously has the AM/FM radio function, but most anyone who buys it will be using its Bluetooth capabilities. If you don’t own any devices that have Bluetooth though, you can use the 3.5mm audio input plug to pipe out your tunes. They are $119 a pop, but the most interesting thing to me is how easy they are to use. Flip on a switch, and twist the cap. Done deal. If you end up getting more than one unit, you can seamlessly switch between speakers with the touch of a button if you’re on a Bluetooth device.

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