The newish BLE (Bluetooth 4/Low Energy/Smart) allows for fast connections between mobile devices while being extremely energy-conscious: devices can be powered by single cell lithium batteries and stay powered a whole lot longer than before.
If you’re interested in interacting with the newer iPhones and Androids, you’ll want to check out this tech and the just-published Bluetooth Low Energy tutorial, which includes explanations, code and a breakout board for the BLE112 that you can experiment with or include in your projects.
