How Bluetooth got its name – an interview with Jim Kardach (opens in new tab)

(blog.snapeda.com)

54 pointsnatashabaker7y ago10 comments

10 comments

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!

tokai7y 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...

pge7y 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

salutonmundo7y ago

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

_red7y 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.

bdamm7y ago

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

truly_loved7y 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.

massivecali7y 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.

chiph7y ago

Tom Scott has a good take on King Bluetooth.

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

car7y ago

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

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