Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wozniak's latest project: GPS locator tags for everything

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 18:08:19 -0400

Wozniak's latest project: GPS locator tags for everything

By Jon Fortt
Mercury News

Mon, Jul. 21, 2003   

Steve Wozniak, the guy who brought us the personal computer, has another idea.

His new company has created a wireless network that he says can help you find
almost anything -- lost keys, lost dog, lost child. His Los Gatos company --
Wheels of Zeus (WOZ, get it?) -- has designed tags that you can attach to a child,
a dog or just about anything. A handheld monitor uses global-positioning-system
satellites to show where the tagged items are.

The genius behind the idea, called wOzNet, is in the use of a low-power,
long-range wireless protocol that operates at about 1,200 baud. That's roughly a
fifth the speed of a dial-up modem, but fast enough to send a quick burst of
information about an object's location.

Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer nearly 30 years ago. He said this idea came to
life in a Los Gatos coffeehouse about a year and a half ago as he was sharing
ideas with friend Greg Galanos of Mobius Venture Capital. Galanos started jotting
things down on the back of a napkin. Mobius was the first to invest in the
company, putting up $6 million.

Wozniak said his team was trying to come up with a name that had a free Internet
address, but most of their ideas were ``dorky.'' He already owned WOZ.com, so they
came up with ``Wheels of Zeus.''

The company is still very small. Wozniak said he has 17 people, but Gina Clark,
vice president of business development and marketing, jokes that he's counting
some people three times. Aside from Wozniak and Clark, the executive team includes
Rich Rifredi, chief operating officer, and Frank Canova, vice president of
engineering.

Wozniak, who is known in Silicon Valley simply as ``Woz,'' didn't give many
details; the first products based on the technology probably won't arrive for
another year. But he did say the handheld monitor has a radio that can detect
tagged items within a one- or two-mile radius. The range can be extended through
the Internet, with other people's handheld monitors creating an extended blanket
network.

On top of that, he said the company has figured out a way to get a radio and GPS
together for $25 -- that's before the cost of a battery, screen and all the other
parts it takes to make a mobile device.

Wozniak said security is built into wOzNet, so that other people can't track your
things; though he said other people are free to track his four dogs, if they like.

Contact Jon Fortt at [email-masked] or (408) 278-3489.  

 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/6349353.htm

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