[NTLK] Perhaps of interest: Wheels of Zeus announces GPS, 802.11-enabled PDA

From: Sean Luke (sean_at_cs.gmu.edu)
Date: Mon Mar 31 2003 - 22:25:52 PST


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHEELS OF ZEUS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF POLARIS PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT

Los Gatos, CA. Tuesday, April 1, 2003. Technical visionary Steve
Wozniak, Wheels of Zeus (wOz), and Danger Inc., announce a new line of
personal digital assistants, code-named "Polaris", which combine a
miniature hard drive, 802.11g wireless networking, a Global Positioning
System (GPS) transceiver, and a full-featured computer with a
revolutionary new graphical interface design.

"We think this product is going to totally change the way people think
about what computers can do and where they're going," said Wozniak at the
unveiling ceremony for the device line this morning. "Who's to say what's
next? You're not going to believe this until you see it for yourself.
I'm really excited."

The Polaris ONE is scheduled to contain a 250MHz StrongARM processor, 10
gigabyte fujitsu ultra-slim hard drive, pen- and speech-oriented
interface, 802.11g wireless networking, and GPS into a 1/2 lb device
approximately the size of a paperback book. The device is designed to be
scriptable using a dynamic programming language accessible from the
interface, with a large number of pre-defined "script widgets", many
created by Steve Wozniak himself.

Wozniak demonstrated the use of the device, by asking the device, in
speech, what the nearby available hotels were for the city he was
currently located in. "Get me hotels for this town", he said. The device
identified the town, downloaded available hotels, and sorted them by
predefined preferences. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer Inc. and
longtime friend of Wozniak, commented "This has got to be the single
greatest thing that Woz has ever done. I am blown over. This is
unbelievable."

Polaris ONE is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2003.

Wheels of Zeus is a joint venture of Steve Wozniak, Draper Frisher
Jurvetson LLC, Palo Alto Investors, and Mobius Venture Capital. For more
information, see www.woz.com

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