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Wheels of Zeus

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Wheels of Zeus
TypeGPS locator tag
Release dateAnnounced but never released
DiscontinuedMarch 2006 (2006-03)
Operating systemn/a
CPUn/a
Memoryn/a

Wheels of Zeus (or WoZ) was a company founded in 2002 by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][excessive citations] WoZ made wireless hardware for keeping track of the physical location of enabled objects.

In 2004, Motorola announced that it has licensed Wheel of Zeus' WOZ Platform "to develop new networked consumer-electronics devices".[8]

The licensable technology consisted of three components:[9][10][11]

  1. Smart Tag A tag containing GPS that could be attached to various objects, such as a briefcase or pet. "Acceptable areas" could be preprogrammed, such that the tag would signal the Tag Detector when it was moved outside them. The tag communicated over a wireless network named "wOzNet" and used GPS techniques to transmit the tag's position over extreme distances with very little power.
  2. Tag Detector This was a handheld device that could monitor a collection of Smart Tags, and provide a distance and direction to help locate them when they were lost. It also communicated with the wOz Service when a Smart Tag was lost.
  3. WoZ Service An internet-based service that could provide the locations of the various Smart Tags, as well as send an email or SMS notification when a Smart Tag moved outside of its "acceptable area".

In March 2006, Wheels of Zeus shut down operations.[12] Some assets and patents were acquired by ZonTrak.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Ziff Davis, Inc. (26 March 2002). PC Mag. Ziff Davis, Inc. pp. 26–. ISSN 0888-8507.
  2. ^ IDG Network World Inc (28 January 2002). Network World. IDG Network World Inc. pp. 5–. ISSN 0887-7661.
  3. ^ Stephen Graham (15 April 2008). Cities, War, and Terrorism: Towards an Urban Geopolitics. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 256–. ISBN 978-0-470-75302-6.
  4. ^ Evan I. Schwartz (2004). Juice: The Creative Fuel that Drives Today's World-class Inventors. Harvard Business School Press. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-1-59139-288-0.
  5. ^ Robert A. Baron; Scott Andrew Shane (January 2007). Entrepreneurship: A Process Perspective: A Process Perspective. Cengage Learning. pp. 202–. ISBN 978-0-324-36558-0.
  6. ^ Harry Henderson (1 January 2009). A to Z of Computer Scientists. Infobase Publishing. pp. 278–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0918-3.
  7. ^ Jack W. Plunkett (1 June 2006). Plunkett's Wireless, Wi-Fi, RFID and Cellular Industry Almanac 2007 (E-Book): Wireless, Wi-Fi, RFID and Cellular Industry Market Research, Statistics, Trends and Leading Companies. Plunkett Research, Ltd. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-1-59392-416-4.
  8. ^ Hines, Matt. "Motorola licenses Wheels of Zeus for electronics". CNET. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  9. ^ Katherine J. Strandburg; Daniela Stan Raicu (2006). Privacy and Technologies of Identity: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation. Springer. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-0-387-26050-1.
  10. ^ Michael Sorkin (12 February 2013). All Over the Map: Writing on Buildings and Cities. Verso Books. pp. 118–. ISBN 978-1-84467-220-2.
  11. ^ IDG Network World Inc (28 July 2003). Network World. IDG Network World Inc. pp. 18–. ISSN 0887-7661.
  12. ^ Michael Kanellos (March 16, 2006). "Wozniak shuts down Wheels of Zeus: Not everything turns out to be Apple". CNet News. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  13. ^ Hammond, John (2020-06-16). "Alex Fielding: A journey of innovation, unique problem solving, working with the giants of tech…". Medium. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
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