How Bluetooth got its name – an interview with Jim Kardach

How Bluetooth got its name – an interview with Jim Kardach(blog.snapeda.com)

54 points by natashabaker 7 years ago | 10 comments

gumby 7 years ago |

There's a lot of really great stuff in this interview about standardization, motivation, success/failure etc.

Also I assumed that "How bluetooth got its name" was a clickbait title and there'd be a two-sentence answer to that someplace in the article. But no, it's actually a fun story!

tokai 7 years ago |

The "viking" on the stone is actually Christ.[0] You could say that Harald Blåtand connected the danish people in Christianity ;)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelling_stones#Runestone_of_Ha...

pge 7 years ago |

Fun fact: A story about Harold Bluetooth is also the likely original source of the apple shooting portion of the Wilhelm Tell story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell

salutonmundo 7 years ago |

That's a great story. Marketing doesn't know everything, I guess!

_red 7 years ago | |

I really like the fact that they acknowledged the problem with a name like "PAN" is that it becomes impossible to search for on internet.

It can sometimes be a problem with names like ".net" or "go", certain use-cases become unsearchable.

bdamm 7 years ago | |

Inspiring really to see the engineering teams prevail despite the marketing and business headwinds. That's what tech is really all about!

truly_loved 7 years ago | |

Im so thankful to wake up this morning.nothin or any person will take take that.stay miserable. One thing's for sure I won't be your company.

massivecali 7 years ago |

Or for anyone who has already seen Kingsmen:

The King of Sweden : Bluetooth technology.

Eggsy : Which, of course, got its name from the legendary Danish king Harald Blatand, whose name translates to 'Bluetooth' in English.

[back in England, Roxy is relaying all the information through Eggsy's glasses]

Roxy : And the Bluetooth logo is his initials in Norse runic symbols.

Eggsy : And, as I'm sure you know, the Bluetooth logo is his initials...

Princess Tilde : Yup.

Eggsy : ...in Norse runic symbols.

chiph 7 years ago |

Tom Scott has a good take on King Bluetooth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdmQp9M9jUo

car 7 years ago |

Maybe a word on where Harald Blåtand got his nickname from. He apparently had a dead incisor tooth, which had turned bluegrey.