Now that Bluetooth headsets are lodged in the ears of executives, limo drivers, and wannabe VIPs of all stripes, conversations are audio free-for-alls. So what if you’re sitting with a colleague, pouring your heart out? She could be on the phone to Jakarta.

And with companies introducing so many new Bluetooth-enabled products — including cars and landline phones, as presented last week by the trade association for Bluetooth technology — it’s going to get worse before it gets better. The number of products is increasing while the standard for politeness is sinking.

It’s hard enough already to talk without being interrupted by something of overblown importance — phone calls, e-mail, text messages, instant messages. Being interrupted is just another element of modern life. That’s because no matter how hard you try or how much technology there is, you can really only have one conversation at a time. The genius of Bluetooth is that it attempts to reduce the amount of time spent starting and stopping — or flipping between — multiple conversations. What matters is the speed of the switch from one subject to the next.

This freedom from friction is supremely evident in a new offering produced by Ford and Microsoft. These two companies — so seemingly different in their corporate cultures — partnered to create Sync, which is described by Ford as “a fully integrated voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system for your mobile phone and digital media player.”

That translates to: A car is not just a mode of conveyance anymore. It’s a phone — and an MP3 player. And you can switch between driving, listening, calling, and reading (text messages), and talking (with the living people in the car), as you please.

During a demonstration of Sync, I sat in a Ford Edge prototype as a Microsoft representative showed off the technology. Sitting in the driver’s seat, she pressed a button on the steering wheel and said aloud: “Play. Artist. Jimi Hendrix.” And the first Hendrix song on her iPod — which was stashed in a consol and linked to the car through a USB connection — came on the speakers. Then she pushed the button and said: “Play. Track. ‘Beautiful Day.'” And the song “Beautiful Day” came on. The system works with any portable mp3 player including the iPod, Zune, and others.

The tricks just kept coming. The system can be set up to recognize your cell phone, which can be placed anywhere within the car. The “Push to talk” button lets you make a hands-free phone call. This was demonstrated by telling the car to “Call Bill Ford.” And there we sat, leaving a voice mail for Bill Ford. The telephone button on the steering wheel allows the driver to answer calls — and the music turns off automatically when the call is received. If the car is shared between two or more people, the system can set up to recognize more than one phone, but the phones must be within the vehicle for the system to function.

Text messages, too, can show up on the car’s communication panel. I sent a message to the Microsoft rep’s phone and as soon as it landed, a sign popped up on the screen. By pressing another button on the steering wheel, the car’s system read aloud part of the message: “LOL.” The system can read aloud common text messages such as “laugh out loud,” “smiling,” and “talk to you later.”

Sync will be available in the Ford Focus, Ford Edge, and Lincoln MRX for model year 2008, and eventually, it will be offered in all Ford vehicles.

Another device, PhoneLabs’ patented Dock-N-Talk, also presented at the Bluetooth trade show last week, raises the bar. This technology lets you dock your cell phone at home, and then — using Bluetooth technology — the device sends your calls to a full-size phone. It may not be for everyone, but it certainly helps those who don’t have landlines and don’t like talking on tiny cell phones. PhoneLabs also has a phone that can send your office landline to a hands-free Bluetooth headset. There’s yet another that sends your mobile phone calls to your desk phone. So instead of juggling a work call on your work phone and a personal call on your mobile, you can simply switch between them on the desk phone.

All of this is reminiscent of a sentiment in the film “Wall Street,” in which Gordon Gekko describes another man as “rich enough not to waste time.” Bluetooth technology is for users who don’t want to waste time with things like dialing numbers, picking up the phone, or shifting attention. They’ve spent money and time in the hopes of moving through everything faster.

Are there any new rules for Bluetooth politesse? According to the executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Mike Foley: “The basic cell phone etiquette carries over.”

In other words, there are no rules. Except one, however, which Mr. Foley says is a hard and fast guideline for Bluetooth users: “When you’re speaking to someone in person, you shouldn’t take a call.”

Well, rules are made to be broken. Bluetooth is influencing modern life in ways that we may not understand for a generation. But at the moment, personal electronics are catering to the hope of being smoothly in touch with everyone in your world.

pcatton@nysun.com