With Bluetooth viruses causing all kinds of havoc, and forcing millions to close the open ports on their phones, it seems strange to be writing about a "Bluetooth Network" connection.

But that's Wideray.

Here's the deal. Wideray customers put kiosks in the stores, and when someone comes over with a Bluetooth device they can feed whatever they want -- games, demos, product details. (It also works with Infrared or WiFi.)

I have used the system at trade shows, and its effectiveness is limited by the client device. If the device has limited power and storage, the effect of the download is minimal.

But, with even Nokia Symbian phones attaining the power and storage of older PDAs, this is changing. Wideray now supports Microsoft and Symbian, as well as Palm devices.

They claim patent protection, but I have to ask myself, on what? The "service point," obviously. But if you made a better one, or simply made the download part of the environment, the patent becomes worthless.

The key, it seems, is signing up more phones, more retailers, and more content. They can still wait for the market to catch them. It will.