Editing 2055: Bluetooth

{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990's and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio.  For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone.  For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. This pairing process is not always a smooth process, especially given the somewhat limited methods some of these devices have for user interaction -- for example, headsets typically don't have screens and user interfaces that make it easy to select what computer or other device you want them to connect to, so you're often confronted by blinking lights and/or sounds to make it through the pairing process, with each device having its own method for initiating or accepting a pairing request.

[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then replies that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever.  Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. "Josiah" is an old-timey name and suggests the amusing idea that in the 1700s or 1800s a hardy inventor named Josiah Bluetooth came up with the idea for wireless audio.  (Note that while there is no "Josiah Bluetooth" person, there is a "[https://www.impossible.com/josiah/ Josiah]" Bluetooth ceramic speaker.)

The title text is another misdirection joke because while the first part of the sentence is true (Bluetooth was indeed named after a tenth-century Viking king), it goes on to make the silly claim that King Harald himself developed a wireless charging standard. This is a reference to the {{w|Qi_(standard)|Qi wireless power transfer standard}} that, like Bluetooth, is a well-branded industry standard with a catchy name and wide adoption that also does not work quite as well as promised even 10 years after its first release. (It could also be a reference to Medieval Vikings charging into battle, which is, by most accounts, usually a fairly wireless affair (assuming one discounts chainmail armor).)

:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]