I’ve not really used Bluetooth for anything until this year. Never had a reason, never really had a computer that was Bluetooth capable, never really had any Bluetooth gizmos.

Okay, I lied.

My MacBook Air had Bluetooth. Anyway, having Bluetooth gizmos is a new thing for me.

Bluetooth, in case you didn’t know, is a wireless networking standard. Unlike Wi-Fi, the Bluetooth networking is designed to communicate between a central device and various peripherals.

For example, you can use your Bluetooth computer to communicate with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, printer, hair dryer, and other Bluetooth gizmos.

The Bluetooth thing works by pairing the devices. You use the operating system to make the device “discoverable.” Any unpaired Bluetooth gizmo broadcasts its signal. When the signal is found, you’re asked to confirm the connection by typing a number (a PIN, basically) on the host device. After that, the gizmos are paired and communicating.

At least that’s how the manual reads. If there is a manual.

I bought a Bluetooth earpiece this year. It’s one of those Borg-implant like things that lets me wirelessly communicate with my phone(s). It’s stupid, so I don’t use it, but I need it for writing my Android books.

My iMac came with three Bluetooth peripherals: The wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, and the trouchpad thing.

The wireless keyboard was nifty, but it proved too small for me. I’m a keyboard snob, and using the wireless keyboard actually cramped up my left hand pretty bad. (It took three weeks to recover.) So I’ve since bought a wired keyboard that my left hand likes a lot better.

I’ve tried to connect one of the phones to the desktop computer by using Bluetooth. Apparently once you pair them, you can use Bluetooth for file transfer. Alas, I never got that to work, even though the guy from Google insisted that it worked like a charm.

There’s no real need to go with Bluetooth anything on a PC. On your smartphone, yes, if you plan on using the Borg-like earphone implant. All the smartphones I’ve used feature Bluetooth.

If you do decide to use Bluetooth, you’ll need a Bluetooth adapter before you can access any Bluetooth gizmos. An adapter is cheap: Usually under $15. It’s an itty-bitty thing, a dongle that plugs that plug into a USB port. In fact, it’s little bigger than the USB port itself.

Bluetooth gizmos aren’t as cheap as the adapters, but do be careful that you get a true Bluetooth gizmo. A lot of devices you can get for your laptop, for example, are wireless but don’t use Bluetooth wireless. I have a wireless mouse and a wireless numeric keypad that both use their own wireless dongles. Had I been smart enough to get a Bluetooth wireless mouse and keypad, I’d need only the Bluetooth dongle.

Another thing to get: Batteries. Lots of ’em. Bluetooth gizmos run off batteries, and if you don’t have rechargeable batteries, then buy a hoard of AA or AAA or whatever type of batteries the gizmos eat.