Wozniak Unveils WozNet

dki writes "Steve Wozniak's WozNet is covered in an article at the New York Times today. His company Wheels of Zeus, mentioned previously on Slashdot last year, plans to create wireless networks that use GPS to track clusters of electronic tags within a 1- or 2-mile radius of a base station. The tags "will be able to generate alerts, notifying the owner by phone or e-mail message when a child arrives at school, a dog leaves the yard or a car leaves the parking lot.""

Re:yay, tracking!

[keesh]

Those kids know how to use tinfoil, right?

I-

[Mu*puppy]

I love Big Woz!

"Remember, Big Woz is watching... and wants you to buy a Segway."

Re:double standards at slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

If you bothered to read *any* of the posts above yours, you would see that *you* are the first to mention any type of praise for such a system (all the others are critical of this idea).

You have assumed, and assumed falsely.

Slashdotter Internal Conflict

[mcc]

1) this is really, really evil and scary. i'm terrified by the idea of parents implanting these in their kids feet or something when they're tiny and knowing everything they do from that point forward. i'm even more terrified by the idea of corporations requiring the same of their employees, since that's something that could concievably, in an imperfect world, happen to me. i'm scared of vigilantes and criminals and government agencies secretly doing this to people they are targetting, leading to scenes like the one in the elevator in Enemy of the State.

2) But Steve Wozniak did this! Steve Wozniak is really cool and non-evil!

**head explodes**

Think of the possibilities...

[Dutchmaan]

You can know when your respective spouse leaves the house (for the paranoid) ...or you can know when your respective spouse approaches the house (for the paranoid)

that's one out of three...

[pb]

Now all we need is a 6MW laser and a large, spinning mirror, and we can vaporize a human target from space!

Re:double standards at slashdot

[Tumbleweed]

> Hate to break it to you, but Slashdot is not one homogenous entity.

Yes we are!

Oh, wait, I can't disagree with you if we're one homogenous entity.

Now I'm confused. Yes, _now_ I'm one with Slashdot! w00t! :)

where did I leave my base station?

[Cappy Red]

Keys are a fairly common thing to lose... but I lose everything else too. If I got one of these it would just mean that I'd have to have a tag for the base station.

Maybe I should just forgo material possessions so I can get all my stuff back. It would be easier... and cheaper.

*bork*

The first kid . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

The first kid to wrap a piece of foil around his new 'watch' will bankrupt this company.

Re:yay, tracking!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Principal,

Please stop taking attendance, it violates my right to something according to geeks at slashdot. I think it's anonymity, or privacy, or well something from that constitution thing. I know neither of those are in there, but its something.

Anyways, like, my parents have no right to know where I am during the day. And by taking attendance, you are just being Big Brother and spying on us and its Orwellian. At least thats what they say on slashdot.

Re:double standards at slashdot

[flynt]

What Woz has done is created a paradigm whereby individuals can harness the power of this technology to enable their lives

I'm suggesting you not attend any meetings where MBA's are present for at least 1 month starting immediately. It is your only hope at this point! Please call me if you need any support through your ordeal.

Many uses

[Mu*puppy]

Spot has left the yard.
Activate shock collar? Yes/No
You have chosen Yes. Spot has returned to the yard.

Your son Scott has driven the car to a remote location with Susie L. (Ref. # 1098345723) and has entered the back seat with her, probably to screw her brains out.
Administer punishment? Yes/"HELL yes!"

how the hell am I supposed to feel about this?

[jjeffries]

I mean, tracking is pure evil, but the Woz can do no wrong!

Immovable object, meet irresistable force.

my brain hurts! HELP!!! CALL -151!

Re:Not a bad thing

[precogpunk]

I can see it now: kids will give their ID tags to friends to take to school while they play hooky, dogs will have to gnaw them off before jumping the fence and instead of looking out the window to see if your car is in the driveway you'll look at your computer screen.

Re:where did I leave my keys?

[swillden]

my ETrex Vista GPS unit will track things down to 3 ft or so.

I wish I'd had one of these things for tracking my eTrex Vista GPS unit, which I lost last week.

Sweet.

[NeoPotato]

I'm gonna tag all my socks before I dry them. Now I can finally find out where they go when the dryer eats them!

Good use/Bad Use

[Metroid72]

Good Use: Never wait for a bus in the cold again. Bad Use: Comfirm when your husband is having extra cold ones with the boys Good Use: Ultimate car anti-theft device. Bad Use: No more Hooters escapades when going to MacWorld/TechEd/LinuxWorld Good Use: The new cell-phone add-on enhances 911 emergency service - especially for ill senior citicens. Bad Use: Why is the congressman's dot flashing in the coordinates of the Bunny Ranch? Good Use: Let your wife and daughter roam in the mall while you check the big boy's toys. Bad Use: Hmmm... My husband said he was working late, but why is he at the Motel 8? And Finally! Kobe, take your hands off her, your wife's dot is getting closer.

I told you so!

[Thud457]

See???!!! This is what I've been warning you about, WOZ has finally revealed himself to be THE BEAST DESCRIBED IN REVELATIONS!!!

"Cats and dogs living together in sin! It's in the Bible people, look it up!!!"

Re:tracking everything

[switcha]

Want to have some privacy for a while? Leave it at home.

Oh sure, then everyone will think I just sit around the house all day... Oh, wait...

Re:Easy to defeat.

[ralico]

I'm not sure what to do about the ones they're putting in car tires now, though.
Get a really BIG microwave?

Implications

[Gnaythan1]

with location being part of the packet information sent through wireless networks... wouldn't p2p applications be able to connect wirelessly to each other without needing to go through any sort of ISP? They'd just have to consult a (relatively) small database to send information to other wireless devices that are "closer" to the designated target.

If all the information (except location) is encrypted, and all devices assisting in switching packets don't log where they actually send the info (for more than a few minutes)... this would paradoxically do wonders for privacy. It'd be hell to troubleshoot lost packets though.

Example: A packet is sent from wireless device "foo" to wireless device "bar", many miles away. It sends a short range (perhaps a mile) signal to every wireless in range... Packet A shows in its header info the location it's trying to reach. The wireless devices that are closer to "foo" send a signal back saying they are relaying, and transfer it another mile closer to "bar"... this goes on till "bar" sends a signal back saying "I got it" reversing tracks... after the devices connect, some algorythm takes place that chooses which connections were most useful, and the next Foo-Bar targets devices that helped out the most in the last relay, to speed things up a bit.

Re:where did I leave my keys?

[yuvtob]

if you need to know in which '2-mile raidus' your keys are, you should invest in medication.

Woz is the beast!

[Stonent1]

I'll prove it!
W = 23
O = 15
Z = 26
Total = 64
The original Apples used 6502 processors.
Number of years past since his last professional beard trim : 5
We remove the 5 from 6502 and that leaves us with 602.

602 + 64 = 666 !

Re:tracking everything

[ShieldW0lf]

So how much is the surgery?

Can you put it in a kid, or do you need to wait for them to stop growing first?

ALERT!! ALERT!! Your daughter is back at that lowlife-she-calls-a-boyfriends house again!!

Computer, locate shotgun...

Re:Is this so bad?

[sabernar]

Damn, I have mod points, but none of the options says "-1 Bad Parent"

Re:Not a bad thing

[Jeremi]

So, I was a little distressed that Woz, the archetype of the computer good guy, invented a way to track things- shadows of the 'digital angel' system, et cetera.

I was distressed that Woz, the archetypical computer good guy, drives a Hummer, the archetypical symbol of everything that is wrong with American consumerism. (I can't wait for the "Hummer SR-71 edition", which will deliberately leak fuel onto the pavement while driving at low speeds, to facilitate faster acceleration)

Re:tracking everything

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm... so it's okay for Woz to track our every movement, but no one else??

Actually, now that I think about it, I totally agree! If we must have an all-seeing dictator, Woz would be just about the best you could imagine.

Re:Many uses

[Suidae]

Actually the problem was that Suzie L.'s ID had a picture, and the kid would have been better off with Spot.

Re:double standards at slashdot

[Fear the Clam]

But geeks who actually go to the library can have a sweet little side business holding tracker buttons for the popular kids.

Re:double standards at slashdot

[Lord Ender]

Yeah, we have no choice about RFID tags! Next thing you know, those privacy-destroying stores will be printing BARCODES on EVERYTHING! And the government will be assigning each citizen a distinct number so they can use their DATABASES on us!