Ever wonder why they named the short-range wireless communication protocol ‘Bluetooth’? I have, but I never thought to look it up. Then I hear on an episode of Cash Cab that it was named for a king of Norway or something. How does that make any sense? The bluetooth.com site sorts it out:

‘Bluetooth’ was the code name for the SIG when it was first formed and the name stuck. The name “Bluetooth” is actually very old! It is from the 10th century Danish King Harald Blåtand — or Harold Bluetooth in English. King Blåtand was instrumental in uniting warring factions in parts of what is now Norway, Sweden and Denmark — just as Bluetooth technology is designed to allow collaboration between different business sectors such as the computing, mobile phones and automotive industries.

The story doesn’t end there. According to the Wikipedia entry on Bluetooth, the logo is a combination of Harald’s initials in Younger Futhark runes. The particular runes are Hagall and Bjarkan, respectively, as you see to the left.

Neat!

Logo and runes courtesy of Wikipedia.