Vergecast Bluetooth Holiday Spec-tacular

Vergecast Bluetooth Holiday Spec-tacular

Happy Holidays! Here's our gift to you: over an hour of audio material dedicated to Bluetooth.

If you're lucky this holiday season, you might be gifted with a new phone, tablet or gadget that comes equipped with the short-range wireless standard we've been working with for decades. Although it has improved a lot since its introduction in 1998, it still has a lot of room for growth. Will Bluetooth Be Better Next Year? That's the inspiration for today's Vergecast.

Naturally, we start the show with a game. The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Kranz and Chris Welch sit down for a roundup of Bluetooth Jeopardy! - Hosted by Senior Editor Sean Hollister. We'll refresh your mind on the basics of Bluetooth and maybe even teach you some interesting facts. How well do you know technology? We've even set up an online game board so you can play along with the show.

Later in the episode, the crew comes back together to discuss the state of Bluetooth, the future of the standard, and some of the threats it may face in the years to come. Bluetooth seems to have maxed out its bandwidth these days, with companies adding their own codecs to support better quality audio. How much can it be improved?

For the final segment, Dr. Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) from 2004 to 2012, joins Nilay, Alex, and Chris to discuss the past, present, and future of Bluetooth. Dr. Foley shares details of his role in the development of Bluetooth and details the challenges companies faced in adopting the standard before it became ubiquitous in every gadget.

We had a lot of fun making this episode, so we hope you enjoy it. Many thanks to everyone who listened to the show this year. we really appreciate it. May your vacation be enjoyable, safe and Bluetooth-enabled. We'll see you in 2023!

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