Wheels of Zeus

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GPS Tracking Device
Type GPS Locator Tag
Released Announced, but never released
Discontinued n/a
Processor n/a
Memory n/a
Operating system n/a

Wheels of Zeus (or WoZ) was a company founded in 2001 by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. WoZ made wireless hardware for keeping track of the physical location of enabled objects. The licensable technology consisted of three components:

  1. Smart Tag A tag containing GPS that could be attached to various objects, such as a brief case 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 was named "wOzNet" and leveraged 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. The Ravix Group, a consulting firm that provides financial and human resources advice, helped WoZ wind down its affairs. Key assets and patents have been acquired by ZonTrak.

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