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EDN Europe's Editor Graham Prophet posts a selection of comments and insights prompted by the many items of industry news and rumour that cross the editorial desk or are gathered on his frequent travels to interviews, press conferences and events around Europe - and further afield - and somehow never find their way to the magazine or the web site, recovering some of the information otherwise lost in the noise level...

Friday, October 26, 2007

Bluetooth? you have heard of Bluetooth, haven't you?

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Another observation from my recent trip to California. Believe it or not, it’s only in the last few days that California has got around to making it illegal to drive while talking on a hand-held mobile phone. This is an extremely common sight there – and given the number of vast SUVs being piloted by chattering drivers, a fairly scary one. And don’t even ask about the ones who do Blackberry email messages while on the move. (I’m not making that up.)

More remarkable than that, but related, is that in the heart of high-tech-land, the daily newspaper of Silicon Valley – the San Jose Mercury News – was able to run a full-page story on the front page of its daily “Tech” section explaining what Bluetooth is, and what a Bluetooth headset can do for you.

Like, it can save you from a ticket for a moving traffic violation, you know? Can there really be anyone in Silicon Valley who doesn’t know what Bluetooth is?

A case of NIH, perhaps?

If you have read my columns on the past on this topic, you’ll know what I think on the subject… but even if you have, let me bore you anyway. I have always doubted that the real issue is the distraction of the conversation, or even the holding of the mobile phone. It’s a human-operating-system problem; task prioritisation. Some people will naturally stop talking and turn their attention to driving when something needs their attention on the road ahead. Some will still be chattering as they drive into a brick wall. Maybe we need to recognise that driving today is a multi-threaded activity, and build some task-scheduling training into driver education. But stopping short, please, of running the task labeled “Respond to Blackberry message.”

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