In the making: GPS for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Emprum's UltiMate GPS

2011-12-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we first started our GPS adventure back in February 2008. Back in the early days, the iGPS360 was the only GPS accessory on the market for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The iPad was not on the market yet back then. There was also no App Store in those early days.

Now, in 2011, we all have seen big changes over those past few years. We have had the App Store for a number of years now, Apple has allowed third party accessories through their Made for iPod program and the iPad is already on its second generation.

Development of GPS accessories has also not come to a standstill. There are various official Apple licensed GPS accessories on the market now.

Features, quality and performance varies among them of course. I have done some extensive research and comparisons between most of them and I am happy to hereby endorse Emprum's UltiMate GPS.

The Emprum UltiMate GPS is a fairly new Apple licensed accessory that has been on the market since August 2011. It is based on the same GPS technology as the iGPS360 is based on: a proven MTK GPS engine that has been on the market for a number of years now and that outperforms most of the newer GPS engines.

From my own testing on various newer generation GPS engines and accessories, I have found that they are supposed to have higher sensitivity and faster update rates, but in reality and practice there are a few catches to that. They actually don't perform as well in the real world as the older workhorses. I will dedicate a future post to explaining this in more detail.

Based on testing and comparing various official Apple GPS accessories on the market, I am hereby endorsing Emprum UltiMate GPS. It is the best unit on the market, not only in terms of GPS performance, it also is an accessory that has many added features, e.g. besides being an accessory for your Apple device, it will also work on a laptop or desktop computer over USB, it comes with a custom USB cable that is rated at 2.1 Amp charging capability required for your iPad, and has easy to read indicator lights that can be customized.

Emprum's UltiMate GPS Product Features:

Licensed through Apple's Made for iPod program and does not require a jailbreak.

Only accessory on the market that communicates GPS data to App Store apps at a 5Hz refresh rate! I have looked at other accessories that claim higher update rates, but they only work at 1Hz with App Store Apps. Emprum's UltiMate GPS accessory is the only accessory that I am aware of that truly updates at 5Hz.

Turns your iPod touch, iPhone, iPad or computer into a state-of-the-art GPS receiver. And this is where one added feature lies: the UltiMate GPS also works with your regular computer: desktop or laptop, Mac, Linux or Windows. They all work with the accessory over USB.

Use it in your car, on your bike, on your boat or in your plane. Use it for geocaching, hiking, golfing, cycling, running or any other outdoor activity you can think of. Basically any App Store app that has implemented Apple's CoreLocation framework correctly will work with the UltiMate GPS.

Comes with the free UltiMate GPS App, available on the App Store, giving you full control of your UltiMate GPS accessory. The UltiMate GPS App is a professional designed app that allows you to interact with your UltiMate GPS. It also provides a GPS satellite signal screen to check your satellites in view and their SNR. Very handy.

Works with all location-based iOS apps available on the App Store.

Made for iPod touch (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation), iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone, iPad and iPad 2.

Does not require an external power supply. The UltiMate GPS is powered directly by your Apple device or over USB and this can be handy compared to some of the bluetooth units out there whose battery you will need to keep charged separately.

This feature list is not complete, so I recommend that for a full product description, you visit Emprum's UltiMate GPS Product Page.

If you have had your iGPS360 for a while now and are tired of having to keep jailbreaking your device, we recommend upgrading to Emprum's UltiMate GPS. It is the best unit on the market and follows in the footsteps of the iGPS360.

You can place your order for the UltiMate GPS accessory by visiting Emprum's website. Emprum fills and ships orders worldwide, typically same or next day.

If you have questions or need additional information on the UltiMate GPS, feel free to ask in the comments and I will do my best to answer them for you.

I wish you all the best for the upcoming Holiday Season!

Falun Gong: after 12 Years, the Persecution Continues

2011-07-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday July 20, 2011 marks the 12th anniversary of the persecution against Falun Gong by the Chinese communist party.

Hopefully most of you, and those who have ordered from Orange Gadgets, know that our humanitarian cause in life is raising worldwide awareness about the brutal persecution and human rights violations against Falun Gong by the Chinese communist party, a persecution which started on July 20, 1999.

Another year has passed and as such, this post today is dedicated to the many Falun Gong practitioners who have suffered or been killed at the hands of the Chinese communist party and the many that have disappeared or have been imprisoned innocently as well as their families and relatives who have suffered as a consequence.

On July 20, 1999, China's former president Jiang Zemin (now presumably dead or in a coma) started a brutal persecution campaign against the practice of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) with his policy of extinction: "Ruin their reputation, exhaust their financial resources and destroy them physically."

Twelve years later, the persecution has not ended and innocent people are still being killed.

Falun Gong teaches people to be truthful, kind and tolerant.

Inform yourself. You can find more information at http://www.faluninfo.net

Recent in-depth newspaper articles can be found at http://www.theepochtimes.com

GPSSerial 1.4.1 released: allows for multi-tasking

2010-10-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

A new version of GPSSerial (version 1.4.1) is available now from the Orange Gadgets website here.

Note: GPSSerial (version 1.4.1) that is currently on Cydia is not working correctly, so please follow the link above instead and install the new version manually. Make sure to first remove the old GPSSerial package completely and reboot your device as outlined in the above link.

Version 1.4.1 of GPSSerial has quite a few bug fixes and upgrades to it:

The new version allows multiple CoreLocationManagers to access the external GPS module. GPSSerial will route GPS data to each of them. Certain AppStore apps instance multiple CoreLocationManagers which sometimes caused problems with the older GPSSerial (version 1.3.x). This has been resolved now so a lot more AppStore apps will work correctly with GPSSerial.

The new version allows multiple applications to run simultaneously and GPSSerial will route GPS data to each of them from the external GPS module.

On iOS4, you can have multiple apps running without having to fully close them before switching to the next location aware app.

On firmware 3.x, you can install Backgrounder through Cydia and also run multiple location aware apps at the same time.

Apple's built-in Maps.app functions correctly on both firmware 3.x and iOS4.

If you switch the settings in the GPSSerial user interface from e.g. iGPS360 to iPhone GPS, GPSSerial will switch from the external GPS module (in this case the iGPS360) to your iPhone's built-in GPS or if you don't have a built-in GPS (e.g. if you are on an iPod touch or an iPad WiFi only), it will use WiFi triangulation and forward that to the running application.

The above upgrades and bug fixes have taken up a great many hours and they would not have been possible without the feedback of all of you.

Try out the new version and post your feedback in the comments or visit the xGPS forum here.

Tips for iOS4 and the iGPS360

2010-09-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

A few people have reported having difficulty to get the iGPS360 to work on the newer devices that can run iOS4 with multi-tasking.

Here are a few tips and things that you should keep in mind when running iOS4 that is capable of multi-tasking:

If you have a device that can do multi-tasking, keep in mind then when you hit the home button when you are in an application, that appplication doesn't fully close. It keeps running in the background.
In order to completely close an application, do the following:
1. Hit the home button twice (double-press) and a bar will show up at the bottom of the screeen that shows all your apps that are currently running.
2. Find the application that you wish to fully close, press and hold its icon until a red minus-sign shows up.
3. Tap on the minus sign and the app will be full closed.
Even if you reboot, apps keep running in this way, that is, the applications that are visible in the bottom bar after you hit the home button twice, will stay there, even after a reboot.
Press the home button to exit the multi-tasking bar and return to the home screen.

So how does this relate to the iGPS360?

In order to use the iGPS360 with AppStore apps, a piece of software called GPSSerial needs to be installed and is available through Cydia. The current version of GPSSerial (version 1.3.4) was designed for firmware 2.x/3.x and is as such not capable yet of the multi-tasking environment of iOS4. GPSSerial does work however on iOS4 in the normal non-multi-tasking way as it did on firmware 2.x/3.x.

Here are some tips when your are using the iGPS360 on a multi-tasking iOS4 device:

Before using the iGPS360 module, make sure that no apps are running in the background that could potentially access the iGPS360. By that I mean, apps that use the CoreLocation framework and ask for a GPS position. If an app that is using the iGPS360 would already be running, a second app that you want to start up will not be able to connect to the iGPS360 at the same time (at least not in version 1.3.4 of GPSSerial). GPSSerial will report that the serial port is already being used and that it can't open it.
In order to smoothly use different apps with the iGPS360 module, make sure to always fully close an app through the double-home button procedure mentioned above, before starting up a new app that wants to use the iGPS360.
If you wish to start from a completely clean slate, close all apps that are running in the background through the double-home procedure and directly after that reboot your device. Then after the reboot, you can be sure that no application is using the serial port.

The above "shortcomings" with respect to the multi-tasking environment of iOS4 will be addressed in the next scheduled update of GPSSerial which should be coming out very soon (that is within a week or maybe two weeks).

If you have trouble getting your iGPS360 module to work on iOS4, please post a comment or ask for help in the comments.

And stay tuned for the next major overhaul of GPSSerial!

JailbreakMe.com and the iGPS360

2010-08-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

With the new jailbreak from comex, all devices that are running firmware up to and including iOS 4.0.1 can now be jailbroken.

For more details, visit www.jailbreakme.com with your desktop webbrowser first and when you are ready to jailbreak your device, open up Safari on your device , then visit the www.jailbreakme.com site and follow instructions. Your device will be jailbroken in a few minutes!

As such, all devices will now work with the Orange Gadgets iGPS360 module and this includes the latest third generation iPod touch models (MC models) as well as the iPad running firmware 3.2.1 (both WiFi and WiFi+3G) and the iPhone 4, running iOS 4.x.

And make sure not to forget to back up your SHSH blobs so you will always be able to revert back to an older firmware if you accidentally upgrade. If you wish to know how to do this, visit the Firmware Umbrella.

Enjoy!

Falun Gong: Enduring 11 Years of Persecution

2010-07-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 20, 2010 marks the eleventh anniversary of the persecution against Falun Gong by the Chinese communist party.

Hopefully most of you, and those who have ordered from Orange Gadgets, know that my humanitarian cause in life is raising worldwide awareness about the brutal persecution and human rights violations against Falun Gong by the Chinese communist party, a persecution which started on July 20, 1999.

Another year has passed and as such, this post today is dedicated to the many Falun Gong practitioners who have suffered or been killed at the hands of the Chinese communist party and the many that have disappeared or have been imprisoned innocently as well as their families and relatives who have suffered as a consequence.

On July 20, 1999, China's former president Jiang Zemin started a brutal persecution campaign against the practice of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) with his policy of extinction: "Ruin their reputation, exhaust their financial resources and destroy them physically."

Eleven years later, the persecution has not ended and innocent people are still being killed.

Falun Gong teaches people to be truthful, kind and tolerant.

Inform yourself. You can find more information at http://www.faluninfo.net

Recent in-depth newspaper articles can be found at http://www.theepochtimes.com

iGPS360 module running on iOS4.0

2010-06-25T13:02:00.001-07:00

Today a brief post to confirm that the iGPS360 module also works on iOS4.0.

Credit for this post goes to Yannick, a user of the iGPS360 module located in Holland. Yannick was so courteous to sent us an email confirming that the iGPS360 module works on iOS4.0.

This is what he is using:

His device is an iPod Touch 2G (non-MC model)

Jailbroken with redsn0w 0.9.5b5

Running GPSSerial v1.3.4

His navigation app is TomTom v1.4

Feel free to post your own results with iOS4.0 in the comments.

iGPS360 module running on Wi-Fi only iPad

2010-05-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

It was a long wait, but the Spirit jailbreak finally came out.

I have used Spirit to jailbreak my newly acquired Wi-Fi only iPad. Amazingly it took only 10-20 seconds or so. Really the fastest jailbreak I have ever seen.

I did a few things that everyone should consider when jailbreaking their iDevice:

For all new Apple devices it is crucial you save your SHSH blobs so that you can always revert back to an older firmware version in case Apple stops signing that older firmware version and will only allow you to restore/upgrade to the latest firmware version with iTunes.

Get the ECID for your iDevice. You can find instructions for how to do this here. I used USBView (see the instructions in the link) to find the iPad ECID. Write it down and save it in a text file on your computer.

Get the Firmware Umbrella and save your SHSH blobs to your local computer. You will need the ECID for this. I used Firmware Umbrella version 2.2.2. Instructions can be found in the link above.

Make sure you back up your iDevice before doing the jailbreak. Just open iTunes and right click on your iDevice and hit Backup.

If you wish to stay jailbroken for future firmware release, never just upgrade your firmware through iTunes without checking with the jailbreak Dev Teams whether the new firmware can still be jailbroken or not. Also, never arbitrarily upgrade iTunes; stay on the iTunes version that you currently have until the Dev Teams say it is OK to upgrade. I am currently using iTunes 9.1.0.79, but it seems 9.1.1 is working fine too.

That's it with respect to the jailbreak and then now the real news:

The iGPS360 module works flawlessly with the (Wi-Fi only) iPad.

As you can see from the picture above, I have installed all the major navigation apps on the iPad (they run in 2x screen mode) as well as xGPS and GPSSerial and things work as expected!

The Orange Gadgets store will be updated shortly so that you can select the iPad as well as ordering option when you add the iGPS360 to your shopping cart :-)

Due to the high charging voltage/current requirements of the iPad (yes, this thing eats current, hence Apple's new 2.1A/5.25V/10.5W iPad wall charger), the iGPS360 module requires a special USB cable when used with the iPad. These new USB cables are already in stock and will be available through the Orange Gadgets website as well.

Now let's wait for a nice dash-board mount for the iPad ;-)

GPSSerial version 1.3.3 update

2010-02-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

A new post today with an update on the new GPSSerial v1.3.3. The last beta version of GPSSerial v1.3.2 fixed a lot of problems but there were still a few things left to be debugged.

In particular, the following specific fixes were made:

The TomTom application would show a grey screen once in a while when not moving. This bug is now fixed and TomTom should work flawlessly. Most major AppStore navigation applications now work with the iGPS360 module. Customers have confirmed operation with Navigon, TomTom, Sygic, Magellan, NDrive and iGo and many more.

GPSSerial is now also compatible with the built-in Google Maps application, just start it up and wait until you have a satellite lock and the Google Maps application will point to your current position. This can be useful for people who are connected to the internet while on the road (assuming you have an iPhone) and who don't want to spend any money on a paid navigation application from the AppStore.

The new version can be found in the regular place right here and until it becomes available on Cydia (not sure when) it will need to be installed manually as explained in the link above.

Feel free to leave any feedback on the new version either in the comments for this post or visit the GPSSerial forum with feedback or if you require help.

Enjoy!

Limited number of iGPS360 modules left

2009-12-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

With the upcoming Holiday Season, the year 2009 is coming to an end.

Orange Gadgets will be closed between Christmas and New Year's Day and the last day for shipping packages this year will be on Wednesday December 23, 2009.

I will be taking a break from December 24, 2009 through January 1, 2009. During that period, you will still be able to place an order online, but packages won't be shipped till the new year. Although I will be around, email will most likely not be answered during that period either, unless I have time to spare ;-)

If you are still looking for a present for friends or family, the iGPS360 makes a great gift. Of the second production run that is coming to an end now, there are less than 75 units left as of today. If you are planning on getting a unit before the end of the year, you will have to be quick...

I would like to thank the community and all Orange Gadgets customers for all their support during the past year+ since the establishment of Orange Gadgets. Thank you for all your business, support and feedback.

It has been a great and fulfilling experience for myself and I am looking forward to what the New Year will bring for all of us!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

PmgR

Navigon, TomTom, the iGPS360 and... debugging GPSSerial

2009-11-20T16:43:00.001-08:00

Link for iPhone and iPod Touch users here

This is a post that describes how GPSSerial was debugged to fix the heading bug that appeared in Navigon and TomTom.

As you can imagine, it is very time-consuming to get on the road and do real-life GPS testing every time the code for GPSSerial is updated. As such I decided to record the output of the iGPS360 module to a file while driving my car on a route that was known to have heading problems in Navigon.

What you see in the above video is an in-door setup where the iPod Touch is connected through an interface board to my desktop computer. The desktop computer in turn plays back the on-the-road recorded GPS trace through the interface board. This setup is a huge time-saver when it comes to testing bug-fixes in the GPSSerial source code.

In the course of the debugging process, I also updated the iPhone Toolchain on the desktop PC (running cygwin) to firmware version 3.1.x as I first thought that the bug was related to the Toolchain version. This was quite an experience in itself: not without problem; although the instructions at Saurik's page are very good, they are not complete, and neither up-to-date (yet) for the 3.1.x firmware.

After having spent a lot of time on testing and debugging the code, all the work has finally paid off: the latest GPSSerial version is finally working correctly with Navigon. The incorrect-heading bug is now fixed and the red GPS bar does no longer appear when you are not moving.

You can download and install the latest GPSSerial version by following the instructions on the Orange Gadgets site here.

The new version should hopefully be available through Cydia soon as well.

Try it out and feel free to leave your feedback in the comments.

Enjoy! PmgR

Officially confirmed: iGPS360 works with firmware 3.1.2

2009-11-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

This is a brief post to update everyone on the iGPS360 module and firmware 3.1.2.

As had already been reported by quite a few users, the iGPS360 works fine with the new 3.1.2 Apple firmware (thank you everyone, for bringing this confirming news early for everyone).

I have finally had some time myself to play around with an an iPhone 3G running firmware 3.1.2 (jailbroken by blackra1n and unlocked by blacksn0w) and I can confirm that the iGPS360 module works fine on the new firmware.

Maybe someone can also confirm that the module works on an iPod Touch 3G (I don't have one of those).

The FAQ and product description on the Orange Gadgets website has now also been updated with this information.

If you feel anything else needs to be updated or added to the website, please let me know.

iGPS360 Tip and Trick

2009-10-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

If your iPhone or iPod Touch is no longer new and fresh out of the box, you might have noticed that the fit for accessories that you plug into dock connector becomes a bit loose over time (this is also the case for the iGPS360 module).

Today's post is a tip and trick to tighten up your iGPS360 module (and whatever other accessories or 30-pin USB cables you have). This seems to work very well.

Get a razor blade edge/corner or any other pointed thin and sharp blade edge, like one of those small utility knives or a Stanley blade.

On the dock connector on the module (or any other accessory), you can see a metal cover (see the photo above). The cover has eight slits in it (four on the top and four on bottom; not counting the two outer ones on the bottom). These eight slits create four metal tabs in the metal.

Over time when you plug the iGPS360 module (or any other accessory accessory) a lot in and out of your iPhone or iPod Touch, these tabs get pushed in and the female dock connector on your iPhone/iPod Touch also becomes a bit looser. As such the press fit of the module into the iPhone/iPod becomes looser.

In order to tighten the connection up again, stick the knife edge/point carefully a little bit under each of those four tabs and lift them up a tiny bit, see the above photo. Don't do it to much otherwise it is going to be really hard to get the module/acessory back into your iPhone/iPod. And just as a general warning, be careful no to break those tabs.

This trick will make the connection (very) tight again. Just make sure not to over-do it or break those tabs. You only need to move them back up a tiny bit. Don't make it too tight either. If it seems too tight, very carefully slide the accessory back into your iPhone/iPod very slowly, wiggling it slowly left and right until it is fully seated.

I have performed this trick on one of my older iGPS360 modules and my oldest 2G iPhone (which was a bit loose) and I have a nice and tight fit again now.

If this works for you, post your results :-)

GPS navigation for your iPhone/iPod Touch: Sygic and the iGPS360

2009-08-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

Link for iPhone and iPod Touch users here

Link for iPhone and iPod Touch users here

This is the first in a series of upcoming videos that will demonstrate some of the GPS navigation applications that are available on Apple's AppStore.

The first software that is put to the test is the Sygic navigation software. Sygic supports different countries and regions. Click here to see their AppStore listings.

Countries supported are: North America (includes the US, Mexico and Canada), United States (only), Europe, Australia & New Zealand, Russia, South-East Asia, Brazil, and United Kingdom & Ireland.

The equipment used in the video is a first generation 16GB iPhone with an iGPS360 module from Orange Gadgets using GPSSerial 1.1 and running Sygic NAM version 7.71.2 Build 5961 D Map version 7.80.

I purchased their North America version last week for $79.99. Currently they have a sale going on at the AppStore and the North America version is $69.99. If you are in the U.S., you can purchase the United States (only) version at the sale price of $49.99 (assuming you won't be traveling to Canada or Mexico).

Here is the review:

Start-up time: about 14 seconds.
User Interface: Sygic's user interface is mainly made up of icons. After you have used it for a bit, things are fairly easy to find, with the exception of how to change/edit the list of favorites(I had to do a Google search for that to find out how to do it; turns out you need to use the "Manage POI" icon). An awkward thing about the user interface is that it does not respond to the typical iPhone/iPod Touch swipe gestures, that is, instead of swiping the screen, you have to press on an arrow. Take your time to read the guides included in the application and find all of the "hidden" features. As the user interface consists of icons, you can't really tell how deep a certain menu option goes; a typical iPhone table view would have been better for the UI to make things more concise and easier and quicker to find.
Routing/re-routing: Sygic automatically re-routes when you go off-route. Recalculation of your route is pretty quick, usually a 3-5 seconds or so. As I was using GPSSerial 1.1 for the video, the video doesn't show this when I decided to take the 405 Freeway instead of the 5 Freeway. But with the upcoming update of GPSSerial (yes, Mathieu from Xwaves has done it again!) you will get a working auto-re-routing feature and also the heading and speed issue has been fixed :-)
Route planning: Sygic's route planning menu is quite sophisticated: you can view route instructions (text) or show the route as turn-by-turn images as well as get a route demo. In addition you can enter an itinerary, which means you can add multiple via points into your route before getting to the end destination. Quite neat.
Settings: Sygic has quite an extended list of settings that you can change to your likings: from regional/language/voice settings, 2D/2D North up/3D View, daytime/night colors, auto-zoom to screen indicator settings (like speed, time, distance) and quite a few more.
List of favorites: you can maintain your own list of favorite destinations and this list is fully manageable/editable through the "Manage POI" icon.

Hope the review is useful for you and stay tuned for the next video which will cover Navigon North America...

Some more AppStore apps for the iGPS360

2009-07-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today a post with a variety of things: an update on three AppStore applications that quite a few people have asked about.

The first application is the marine navigation software from Navionics. Navionics currently has a free application on the AppStore called Navionics Viewer.

I can confirm that this application works with the iGPS360 module and GPSSerial 1.1 installed on an iPhone 2G (first generation) running 3.0 firmware as well as on an iPod Touch 1G (first generation) running 2.2.1 firmware.

Navionics currently has various maps for a good price on the AppStore:
- Navionics Viewer (free)
- Navionics Marine: US East ($6.99)
- Navionics Marine: US West ($6.99)
- Navionics Marine: US Central ($6.99)
- Navionics Lakes: US South ($4.99)
Hopefully this will make a lot of the nautical GPS users very happy!
Then the second application that has been confirmed to work with the iGPS360 module and GPSSerial 1.1 installed is Geocaching.

Credit goes to Katie who has an iPod Touch 2G (second generation) and she says:

"I saw one your website that you didn't know if your GPS unit worked with geocaching. I tried it out yesterday and it does work! The only reason I got the GPS was for geocaching so I was very happy to see that it works great! I just wanted to let you know so you can advertise that it does work! The app is called Geocaching. It's the official Geocaching app that sells for $9.99. I had to download GPSSerial for it to work, but once I did that it works great! I am so happy with the GPS unit!"

Groundspeak Inc.'s Geocaching app can be downloaded from iTunes here.

Have fun Geocachers!
Then lastly, let's talk a bit about Navigon. The results seem to be mixed among people. Some people can get it to work with the iGPS360 module and GPSSerial 1.1, while others can't. Even from the reviews on the AppStore, it seems that this is the same for people with a 3G iPhone with built-in GPS: some get it to work, others can't.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get Navigon North America to work on my iPhone 2G (first generation) running 3.0 firmware with the iGPS360 and GPSSerial 1.1 installed. I get this picture...

Feel free to leave your own findings as feedback in the comments. Make sure you mention what edition of Navigon (Europe or North America) you are using, as well as the version and what country you are in.

There could be a few possible reasons:
1. It could be a serious bug on Navigon's part, not polling the CoreLocation framework correctly.
2. Or it could be a GPSSerial bug (the software is still in beta)
3. A bug in Apple's 3.0 firmware.
Hopefully Mathieu from Xwaves will be able to take a look at it soon and make the final verdict. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a bug on Navigon's part. But either way, maybe Mathieu can make a workaround for it in the next version of GPSSerial!

Falun Gong: A decade of courage

2009-07-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

Monday July 20, 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the persecution against Falun Gong by the Chinese communist party.

Hopefully most of you, and those who have ordered from Orange Gadgets, know that my humanitarian cause in life is raising worldwide awareness about the brutal persecution and human rights violations against Falun Gong by the Chinese communist party, a persecution which started on July 20, 1999.

Another year has passed and as such, this post today is dedicated to the many Falun Gong practitioners who have suffered or been killed at the hands of the Chinese communist party and the many that have disappeared or have been imprisoned innocently as well as their families and relatives who have suffered as a consequence.

On July 20, 1999, China's former president Jiang Zemin started a brutal persecution campaign against the practice of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) with his policy of extinction: "Ruin their reputation, exhaust their financial resources and destroy them physically."

A decade later, the persecution has not ended and innocent people are still being killed.

Falun Gong teaches people to be truthful, kind and tolerant.

If you wish to help, please donate a few minutes of your time by visiting the website MillionMinutesOfMeditation.

More information on this tragedy can be found at http://www.faluninfo.net

Recent in-depth newspaper articles can be found at http://www.theepochtimes.com

Confirmed: iGPS360 works with firmware 3.0

2009-06-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is a brief post to update everyone on the iGPS360 module and 3.0 firmware.

As had already been posted on the previous post by quite a few users, the iGPS360 works with the new 3.0 Apple firmware (thank you community, for bringing this confirming news early for everyone).

I have finally had some time myself to upgrade a 2G iPhone to the 3.0 firmware and I can confirm that the iGPS360 module works fine on the new firmware.

The FAQ and product description on the Orange Gadgets website has now also been updated with this information. An updated section about shipping has also been added to the FAQ.

If you feel anything else needs to be updated or added to the website, please let me know.

I would also like to be able to confirm if any of the AppStore navigation apps works with the iGPS360 module; in particular people have been inquiring regarding G-Map, iDA, Navigon and Navionics.

If you have purchased any of these apps, consider getting in touch with me by email at pmgriphone@gmail.com so that we can officially confirm whether an application works or not.

The iGPS360 and AppStore applications

2009-06-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Long awaited, there now is a first beta version available of GPSSerial which enables the iGPS360 module to work with AppStore apps.

All credit for this works goes to Mathieu from xWaves.

Mathieu has worked tirelessly over the last few weeks and finally managed to get AppStore applications to work with an external GPS module (and this includes the iGPS360 module from Orange Gadgets).

I also shouldn't forget to mention Rodrigo from Portugal, who got the whole MobileSubstrate project started back in January. Neither Rodrigo nor I had sufficient objective-C experience to take it a step further and make it happen, but that is where Mathieu stepped in and brought the project to completion with a first beta version release of GPSSerial today.

For more details and installation instructions on the new GPSSerial software, please check out the GPSSerial post on Mathieu's blog.

In order to get the GPSSerial icon on your SpringBoard, remove the SpringBoard cached installation plist com.apple.mobile.installation.plist in /var/mobile/Library/Caches and respin the SpringBoard with the command killall SpringBoard.

If you have the iGPS360 module, make sure to select that in the GPSSerial software.

If the solution works for you, consider showing your support to Mathieu and possibly donate a few dollars to him for all his hard work. You can click here to get to his xGPS blog and then on his blog click on the donate button in the top right.

As with all beta releases, the current release is most likely not bug-free. You can report problems that you encounter in on new section of the xGPS forum. Needless to say, it is a work in progress. If you need help, consult the community on the forum.

I have installed the software on my 2.2.1 iPod (first generation) and 2.2 iPhone (first generation) and can confirm it works for the following free apps that I tried (make sure you have a satellite lock when you try it out):

xGPS (with the iPhone 3G GPS as the selected GPS to use)
Google Earth
Trailguru
GPS Tracker
GPS Ally
GPS Log
Zillow

I don't have US maps for iDA, so I can't tell you if it works with iDA, nor have I tried any of the GeoCaching apps. Maybe some other people (in Europe) can give feedback...

Enjoy!

Don't be tempted...

2009-06-07T22:56:00.000-07:00

That time has come again..... if Apple's 3.0 firmware upgrade will come out on Monday, June 8 (or any time there-after), I would like to issue a warning....

To make it clear to everyone, if you intend (to keep) on using the GPS module on your iPhone or iPod Touch, make sure NOT TO UPGRADE your iPhone and iPod Touch firmware yet, until we can confirm that the module works on the new firmware.

The same goes for iTunes. Leave it alone till it is confirmed that it is safe to upgrade. The iPhone Dev Team has already posted a warning on their site last week regarding iTunes 8.2, see here

In order to communicate with the GPS module, a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch is required. Upgrading to Apple's official 3.0 firmware will put your iPhone/iPod Touch (temporarily) back into Apple's jail until the iPhone Dev Team has released the new tools to jailbreak the 3.0 firmware.

So if you would like to keep your options open, play it safe. Leave your current firmware and iTunes alone for now and wait till the light turns green.

New modules are in stock

2009-05-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

As of this week, we have new batch of iGPS360 modules from the second production run in stock.

For everyone who had a pending order, your module was shipped on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 :-)

Also, if you are interested in selling the iGPS360 module in and around your own country or continent, send an email to distributors@orangegadgets.com

Second production run has started

2009-04-23T22:19:00.001-07:00

Amazingly, we are right on schedule for the second production run of hte iGPS360 module :-)

The remaining parts for the second run arrived this week:

The new batch of GPS engines arrived on Tuesday and just to make sure everything is OK with them, I built another GPS module by hand with a freshly arrived GPS engine. My startup experience has taught me that it is always a good habit to check what your suppliers provide you with as everyone can make mistakes. The hand-built module worked flawlessly.

New PCB boards for manufacturing were delivered on Wednesday.

I picked up a new batch of housings today. Due to the relatively large screening-out that I had to do last time, the housing manufacturer layer packed the housings with foam this time. I just finished inspection of the bottom part of the housing and things are looking good so far.

The first batch of assembled PCB boards is expected to be ready for testing by the end of next week. The first fully assembled and completely tested modules are expected to be ready for shipping around May 15th.

As you might also have noticed, I have cleaned up the poll from the left hand side of the blog as I am preparing for a new poll regarding the next potential product that I have in mind. I'll keep you guessing in the meantime what that might be... Feel free to post your wishes!

Looking for distributors

2009-04-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

All the preparations for the second production run are in full swing. Purchase orders have been placed and the new production run is scheduled to start in the week of April 20.

There are currently only 85 iGPS360 modules left for sale and if you wish to get yours without having to wait for the new run, you have to be quick. Once these 85 modules have sold, there could be some time that no modules are available till the modules from the second production run come in (most likely in the week of May 11).

In order to take of some of the work of my shoulders that comes with all of the order processing, I am looking for distributors all around the world who would like to resell the iGPS360 in their respective countries/areas.

There will be some requirements if you wish to become a distributor, but overall it should be a pretty straight forward job.

Most importantly, your relationship as a distributor with Orange Gadgets will need to be based upon mutual trust and truthfulness. I still believe in the honor system where people will actually do what they say they will do :-). I put a high value on ethics and morality in general and especially when I conduct business and I expect the same from a distributor.

In addition, customer service is very important and if your customers contact you for questions regarding their orders, you should respond to them promptly. The distributor-customer relationship should likewise be based on trust and honesty. This is how you make, keep, and bring in new customers for your business.

If you are interested in becoming a distributor, send a brief email to distributors@orangegadgets.com with some background information about yourself, any previous experience in distributing (not required), experience in setting up an online shopping cart (or any other way you wish to sell the module) and of course your full contact information.

The minimum order quantity for a distributor will be 10 modules and you should at least have an iGPS360 module yourself so you know its features and how it works.

Please only inquire if you are seriously interested in becoming a distributor. Processing, handling and shipping orders in a timely manner will require effort and dedication from your side.

Exactly 200 GPS modules left!

2009-03-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since the last post. Things have been very busy for a number of reasons.

As the title of this post already announces, at the time of writing this post, there are only 200 GPS modules left for sale.

I expect these remaining modules to be sold out within the next 5 weeks, so if you are considering buying a GPS module, you have to be quick!

Back when the first production run was initiated in September last year, I wanted to make 1000 modules available to you all. As a matter of fact, at that time, it was unclear what the yield of the module in production would be and as such I decided at that time to make 1100 modules instead of 1000. As nothing yields perfectly (100%) in production, I decided to put a safety margin of about 10% to cover for any yield loss.

Interestingly enough, the yield has been a lot better than that! To give you some statistics about the 1100 modules that have been produced so far:

Assembled PCB boards
- One board had a short in a copper trace. This short was removed.
- One board had a defective blue LED. The LED was replaced.
- One board had an open contact on the USB connector. The connector was resoldered.
- Three boards had a non-communicating GPS engine, rendering the boards in-operable (real yield loss).
Injection molded housings and lenses
Considering the issues that had come up during the housing development, I had 1200 housings with lenses made instead of 1100.
- Housing top: about 90 pieces were screened out because of imperfections.
- Housing bottom: about 55 pieces were screened out because imperfections.
- Lenses: about 65 pieces were screened out because of imperfections.
GPS performance (open and clear sky)
- All tested modules passed (1097 pieces)!

So when it comes to the PCB, the yield has been extremely good (>99%). Only the housing has a relatively large yield loss (5%-10% overall) and I have already talked with the housing supplier to get this improved for the next run. The housings will no longer be bulk-packed and shipped by a courier (which I think has been the main factor of the imperfections). Instead each housing top and bottom will be layer packed with foam for the next run and I will go and pick up the housings myself to avoid possible damage during shipment.

Looking back over the last six months, sales have been a slower than expected, especially January was a slow month. Sales have picked back up in February, and especially March has been very busy.

As the remaining units are expected to be sold in about 5 weeks from now, I have had to put myself into high gear the last two weeks getting everything ready for the next production run. Typically, it will take another 4-6 weeks before we can expect new modules ready to ship from this second production run.

Since this is a second production run, hopefully things will go a lot smoother than was the case for the first run and hopefully no unexpected problem will show up.

In any case, I want to thank everyone for their support over the last year (yes, it's been already more than a year; the first post on this blog dates back to February 2008).

It's amazing to see that when one person in a certain country orders a module, shortly afterward a couple of more orders from the same area in that country come in! So keep on spreading the word about the module!

MobileSubstrate update

2009-02-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

Some good news and some less good news today (it seems they always come together :-0).

I have been playing around intensively trying to hook into the CoreLocation framework by using the MobileSubstrate platform. Rodrigo, a customer from Portugal, dropped me an email two weeks ago with some very useful source code and a link for a MobileSubstrate tutorial on using MobileSubstrate to trick the Springboard.

Rodrigo pretty much figured out how to feed the CoreLocation framework coordinates and accuracy data. I decided to dig in a little more and managed to also feed the CoreLocation framework fake (generated by a random number generator) altitude, speed and heading data. It was a little bit tricky to get the speed and heading in as it required upgrading the Toolchain to 2.2 (I was at 2.0.1, but am currently at 2.2). It looks like Saurik has updated his instructions for building the 2.x Toolchain and it seems to be pretty straightforward now assuming you follow instructions as outlined (I have done it a few times now and have gotten the hang of it :-)

So what have we been able to do? I installed a bunch of free AppStore apps on my iPhone 2G that are GPS related: Google Earth, GPSLite, Beacon, Speedometer, GPS Tracker, GPS Ally, GPS-R and Trailguru.

Here are the most interesting ones:

GPS Tracker: this app has a nice readout on its screen of the location data (see top left screenshot above) and was therefore most helpful in trying to figure out the hooks. I signed up for a device key on the InstaMapper website so that my location data could be uploaded to their site. Due to the override of the location accuracy, the GPS tracker shows "tracking" on its screen (it doesn't matter what you set the slider at), but it only seems to send the location data to their servers once (right after I start the application). The data on the iPhone screen is however updated continuously.
Google Earth: this app also displays the fake latitude and longitude data after pressing the little bulls eye in the lower left corner. Also here, the data is only updated once (when you press the bulls eye). Make sure to turn the latitude/longitude display on under the settings in Google Earth. The altitude shown is actually not related to the CoreLocation altitude as it is the altitude for the zoomlevel of the satellite image that is active.
GPS Ally: this app shows the current location data on its screen as well (see top right screenshot above), but here also, the data is only updated once (after starting the app). You can re-update it manually by hitting the "Update On/Off" button in the lower left corner twice.
Trailguru: this app also shows the latitude, longitude and altitude/elevation (see the bottom center screenshot above), but doesn't seem to use the speed data (probably because it was written for firmware < 2.2). Here again, the actual app doesn't seem to use the changing CoreLocation data even though the values are changing on its screen. An interesting thing is however that if you press on the "Map" icon at the bottom, the center of the map does move around according the the fake data the CoreLocation framework is fed.

So now for the less good news...

I am currently stuck as I haven't figured out how to tell an app that new CoreLocation data is available so that e.g. the GPS tracker app will continuously use the new data and send a new point to its servers. The same for Google Earth, GPS Ally and Trailguru.

What I think is that we need to do something with the CoreLocationManager framework and/or the CoreLocationManagerDelegate framework and their delegates. We would need to somehow tell the CoreLocationManager object of the app that the CoreLocation object (which I am succesfully feeding fake location data) has a new data set so that it will actually use that new data.

So I am counting on some help from you in getting this figured out as I have pretty much run out of ideas.

You can do some reading around in Apple's documentation and on the forums to see if we can find what needs to be done.

I have also uploaded the source code for the CoreLocation hook here. If you wish to try it out, make sure to have Toolchain 2.2 installed (if you have Toolchain < 2.2 installed, just comment out the speed hooks and any other ones that the compiler complains about in the source code). Also make sure to install MobileSubstrate through Cydia on your device and also put the libsubstrate.dylib file into your filesystem library directory on your desktop so the compiler can find it. Make sure to "ldid -S" the ExampleHook.dylib file after it is put in /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries on the phone. You can take a look at the Makefile as most of the process is automated in it.

If it turns out to be possible and we do find the solution, it will be great news as it means that we can use our iGPS360 module with the majority of the AppStore apps!

GPS voice navigation for the iPod and iPhone

2009-02-07T00:33:00.000-08:00

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here

I have been playing around with software related things the last couple of days.

I decided to upgrade the iPod Touch 1G to firmware 2.2.1 (the video above was taken at firmware 2.2) and I also upgraded the iPhone 2G to 2.2.1.

Unfortunately, I had some problems with both the iPhone and iPod getting stuck at the Apple logo screen after having re-installed/synced AppStore apps on them with iTunes.

So that's why I ended up upgrading the iPod to 2.2.1 (after it got stuck at 2.2) and downgrading the iPhone again from 2.2.1 to 2.2 (after it got stuck at 2.2.1). I think the Apple firmware has a fundamental flaw in the way it boots, trying to rebuild the SpringBoard application list which takes a long time and eventually times out, freezing the iPod/iPhone at the Apple logo screen. I searched online to see if there were any fixes, but none of them worked, so I ended up restoring both the iPod and iPhone.

It looks like things are working again now as I haven't gotten stuck at the Apple logo (I have removed most of the AppStore apps that I had downloaded though and did a reboot after every single package I installed with Cydia).

I also installed the latest beta version of Xwaves' xGPS software to see what had changed in the period I was gone.

There have been quite a lot of bug fixes and additions to xGPS. You can track the development roadmap here. The major new additions for version 1.2 are:

A first beta version of voice navigation in English is now implemented and the speech engine does a pretty good job of pronouncing the directions (see the first video above). It will need some future tweaks to correctly pronounce abbreviations (like Rd, Blvd, Pkwy, N, E, S W, slashes, etc), but other than that it does a very good job. It would also be nice if the user could set the distance(s) at which voice directions are given; they are currently set at about 400m and 20m before the next turn.

GPS coordinates are now accessible under the GPS settings menu. It would be nice if they could also be displayed in the bottom menu bar of the map view, similarly to the Google Earth application.

A Night Mode view is now available under the User Interface settings menu. Night Mode can either be manually enabled or automatically through a timer from 8pm through 7am. The timer is currently fixed, but will be fully customizable in a future release.

You can also have your iPhone/iPod play music at the same time when using the xGPS application. The voice directions will be played through the music (see the second video above). It would be nice to have the music fade in/out when there is a voice direction.

According to the roadmap, the next official release is scheduled for February 20, 2009. I am sure you are all looking forward to it.

GPS module working with iPod Touch 2G

2009-02-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

With this post I am planning on regularly making posts on the blog again :-)

After a rough start of the year, today it is time for some great news!

Just last Saturday, January 31st, I got an email from Matt, an Australian customer who ordered the iGPS360 module a little before Christmas.

Matt has an iPod Touch 2G and ordered the iGPS360 module in anticipation of a jailbreak for the iPod Touch 2G, which was not available at the time he ordered.

Matt send me the above picture, showing the xGPS software running on his iPod Touch 2G. You can see the iGPS360 module in the upper right corner.

Matt used Redsn0w from the iPhone Dev Team to jailbreak his iPod Touch 2G. It is certainly not as easy a jailbreak as for the old iPod Touch and iPhone, but it certainly works as Matt's photo shows. For more information on how to jailbreak your iPod Touch 2G, please visit www.redsn0w.com.

The jailbreak is a tethered jailbreak, which means that you will need the assistance of a computer if you want/need to reboot your iPod Touch 2G for some reason.

Matt had upgraded the firmware on his iPod Touch 2G to firmware 2.2.1 before using the jailbreak. This thus also confirms that the iGPS360 module works on the new 2.2.1 firmware.

Matt has also posted his success of the jailbreak on iPodTouchFans, so if you are interested in seeing how many people are jailbreaking their iPod Touch 2G with Redsn0w and their success rate, take a look at that forum.

Matt, thanks for your feedback and great photo contribution!

Voor Mam / To Mom

2009-01-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

Lieve Mam

Bedankt voor de waarden en normen die je me leerde.
Bedankt voor de steun en toeverlaat die je was.
Bedankt voor alles wat je ons gaf.
Bedankt voor de moeder die je was.

Bedankt Mam

Dear Mom

Thanks for the values and morals you taught me.
Thanks for the support and fallback you were.
Thanks for everything you gave us.
Thanks for being the mother you were.

Thanks Mom

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T18:07:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish all my blog-readers, customers, friends and family a very Happy Holiday Season and all the best for the upcoming New Year.

I took the above picture in Bloomingdale's Courtyard at the Fashion Island shopping mall in Newport Beach, California. The tree is a massive 115-foot-tall white fir Christmas tree. It weighs approximately 30,00 pounds. The tree is decorated with over 23,000 lights, bows and ornaments. After the Holidays, the tree will be recycled as it is every year.

The 500th module shipped today!

2008-12-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since the last post, so it's time for an update.

I have mainly been busy handling orders and shipping packages out as well as answering customer's emails. As mentioned before, in Holland we say "De klant is koning" or "The customer is king" :-)

I am happy to announce that today we shipped the 500th module!

Of course I hope that word about the module will keep on spreading now that there are 500 of them floating around all over the world.

It seems Italy and Israel are very popular countries for the module and I even shipped one to Lithuania and Luxembourg. Also, I had one customer from mainland China, despite the fact this blog is blocked in China because of the human rights content in the right column.

Also, with the upcoming Holiday Season, I will be taking a break from shipping orders. All orders placed on or before December 22nd will still be shipped out before Christmas. The online store will stay open during the Christmas break but I won't be shipping till the first week of the New Year. I will still be checking my email but my response might not be as fast as usual. If you really need an immediate response, you can put "EXTREMELY URGENT" in the subject line :-)

So if you are still thinking about what to buy that friend for Christmas, if he has an iPhone or an iPod Touch, the iGPS360 module would make a great gift!

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has sent me their positive feedback regarding the module, customer service or who just dropped me an encouragement. Thanks. If you have the time, consider writing a few lines in the review section of the online store (submitted reviews can be read here). I am sure it will be useful for new customers.

Happy Holidays!

The backlog has cleared!

2008-11-22T00:12:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce that we have cleared the backlog for paid orders. What you see in the photo are the shipping records of the first four weeks of shipping. We have shipped 352 orders now (close to 400 modules).

Today, I have taken a day off from shipping packages... a nice break. Not really a day off though, as I had to meet with the PCB board manufacturer to streamline the future production process a little better so as to free up some of my time. All remaining PCB boards of the first production run have been assembled and are ready to be tested and put into their housings.

For all of the units that have been shipped so far, I have personally put the PCB board inside of the module's housing. For the remaining units, I am transferring this task to the PCB manufacturer who is going to do this so-called full "box-build". They will first be assembling a test-run of 20 modules and if approved after inspection, they will have the green light to do the full "box-build" for all remaining GPS modules of the first production run. In that way I will have some more time available to do other things.

Testing and quality control of all "box-build" modules will still be performed by myself for the remainder of the first productions run. These tasks will eventually also be transferred to the manufacturer for subsequent production runs. So tell your iPhone/iPod friends that you know a good Christmas gift :-)

Talking about the Holiday Season, the end of coming week will be Thanksgiving here in the US (aka Turkey Day) and I have decided to take two days of rest on Thursday and Friday (so if I don't immediately respond to your emails or questions, you know why :-)

And lastly, I am still trying to get in touch with a few customers who have not responded to my emails. If your order or customer number is below, please contact us as soon as possible at orders@orangegadgets.com to resolve issues with the shipping address and to avoid further delay:

Order id: 413, Customer id: 305
Order id: 865, Customer id: 609

For all technical support for the module, please email support@orangegadgets.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

2008-11-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

I have finally had some time to write up the answers to a few frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get up and running as quickly as possible with your new iGPS360 module.

The FAQ is posted on the main Orange Gadgets website and you can access the FAQ by clicking on "FAQ" in the top menu bar or by clicking here.

Another question that has come up repeatedly is the security certificate warning that appears in certain cases up when you try to access the Orange Gadgets Online Store. Regarding the certificate error, you can "add an exception" or click "accept" or something similar with respect to the certificate security notice. The certificate is from Globat.com who is our web-provider so it is perfectly fine to add the exception (your security is not compromised). Besides that, payment for your order is processed on PayPal's website (not Orange Gadgets) so ordering is very safe. We are currently in the process of getting our own certificate such that the warning will disappear in the near future.

Regarding filling paid orders, here is the latest update.

We have currently shipped 277 orders (over 300 modules). We have completely processed and shipped all orders placed up through 10/30/2008 with the exception of the orders listed at the end of this post and 5 orders placed on 10/30/2008 that still need to be shipped.

Upcoming week will be our fourth week of shipping and we expect to have fully cleared the backlog by the end of this week. Thanks for being patience and sticking with us through these busy past weeks.

I also wanted to make Italian customers aware of the fact that the Italian post office seems to be randomly charging customers additional fees. Some Italian customers have reported a 15 dollar fee, two customers reported a 20 Euro fee and one customer a 22 Euro fee.

The category the GPS module is classified under is HS tariff number 852691 which is duty free (at least here in the US), but since it is a international tariff number code I would expect it to be duty free in every country that uses HS tariff codes.

I suggest that Italian customers inform themselves of the customs regulations for Italy and in particular with respect to the above HS tariff number and border fees. You should be able to find this information online or by calling your local customs office. The fees the Italian post office is charging are excessive. In case the additional fees are legal, note that according to the Terms of Service of Orange Gadgets website, the customer is responsible for paying any import duties and taxes on his order.

Lastly, we are trying to get in touch with a few customers who have not responded to our emails. If your order or customer number is below, please contact us as soon as possible at orders@orangegadgets.com to resolve issues with the shipping address/method and to avoid further delay:

Order id: 413, Customer id: 305
Order id: 626, Customer id: 438

For all technical support for the the module, please email support@orangegadgets.com

Diligently making progress...

2008-11-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

This is the latest update on clearing the backlog for placed and paid orders. We are happy to announce that we are swiftly catching up on the backlog.

As of today, we have shipped 195 orders (over 200 modules have been shipped).

We have completely processed all orders that were placed on:

Orders for 10/16/2008: all orders shipped.
Orders for 10/17/2008: all orders shipped.
Orders for 10/18/2008: all orders shipped.

If you have placed an order on any of the above dates and not received a shipping notice by email (check your spam-box as well), please contact us as soon as possible (please include your Order id and Customer id).

The following orders are in the process of being handled next and we expect them to be shipped by the end of this week (so please keep an eye on your mailbox in case we have questions on your order):

Orders for 10/19/2008: 15 orders still to be filled.
Orders for 10/20/2008: 17 orders still to be filled.
Orders for 10/21/2008: 7 orders still to be filled.
Orders for 10/22/2008: 9 orders still to be filled.
Orders for 10/23/2008: 9 orders still to be filled.
Orders for 10/24/2008: 5 orders still to be filled.
Orders for 10/25/2008: 5 orders still to be filled.

We expect to have filled ALL paid orders up till 11/09/2008 by the end of next week.

If you placed an order, please make sure to also check your spam-box/bulk mailbox as sometimes our emails (sent from orders@orangegadgets.com) end up there for no good reason. It is best if you can white-list any emails you get from the above address.

We are also still trying to get in touch with a few customers who have not responded to our emails. If your order or customer number is below, please contact us as soon as possible at orders@orangegadgets.com to resolve issues with the shipping address/method and to avoid further delay:

Order id: 395, Customer id: 294

For all technical support for the the module, please email support@orangegadgets.com

First 120 modules have shipped

2008-11-05T01:30:00.000-08:00

This is a brief update to let you know we are working hard on clearing the backlog on all placed orders.

As of Tuesday November 5, 2008, we have shipped ~120 modules (a total of 114 orders) out of the 320 modules that have been paid for.

Based on the number of modules shipped since last week, we can say that on average we are able to handle/ship about 20 modules per day. As such it will take another 2-3 weeks till we catch up on all orders that have been placed till now. For more specific details, please read on:

All people that had signed up on the pre-order list before the online store opened (it opened on October 16, 2008) and who have paid for their order before our first ship date (which was October 27, 2008) have had their order processed and shipped.

We have completely processed all orders that were placed on October 16, 2008.

Orders for 10/16/2008: 12 orders placed, 12 orders shipped.

The following orders are our next priority:

Orders for 10/17/2008: 50 orders placed, 31 orders shipped, 19 orders still to be filled.

Orders for 10/18/2008: 67 orders placed, 20 orders shipped, 2 orders canceled, 45 orders still to be filled.

Orders for 10/19/2008: 51 orders placed, 21 orders shipped, 1 order canceled, 29 orders still to be filled.

Orders for 10/20/2008: 31 orders placed, 12 orders shipped, 1 order canceled, 18 orders still to be filled.

Orders for 10/21/2008: 19 orders placed, 12 orders shipped, 7 orders still to be filled.

To fill all orders that were placed on the above dates, will take a little over a week.

If you placed an order on October 16, 2008 and have not received a notice that your order has shipped, please email us at orders@orangegadgets.com.

For all other orders, please remain patient. Once we finish the next couple of dates, we will make another entry on the blog to keep you updated.

Also, if you have run out of patience and would like a refund, please contact us directly at orders@orangegadgets.com. It is quickest to resolve this directly with us as we can refund your money the same day instead of going through PayPal.

We are also trying to get in touch with a few customers who have not responded to our emails (make sure to white-list the orangegadgets.com domain). If your order or customer number is below, please contact us as soon as possible at orders@orangegadgets.com to resolve some issues with shipping:

Order id: 395, Customer id: 294
Order id: 245, Customer id: 191

For all technical support for the the module, please email support@orangegadgets.com

We are shipping!

2008-10-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

We have officially started shipping the iGPS360 module on Monday, October 27, 2008!

It has been a long weekend with little sleep. Today is the second day of shipping and I just returned from the post office. It is time for a little work-break so I decided to write an update for the blog.

Over the weekend, we have been full-time busy with organizing orders and arranging them in the proper sequence, finding the quickest way to process orders, making labels, printing invoices, printing customs forms, packing, sealing, printing postage, etc. It looks like we are getting the hang of it now :-) although the first packages took a rather long time to prepare.

I certainly have to thank my wife for doing most of the database stuff, cross-referencing orders with the pre-order list and generating order processing list over the weekend.

Some other things have come up along the way as well.

According to the post office, Italy and Canada are high risk countries for lost/stolen packages and as such we strongly advise you to use Express Mail International (EMI) insured shipping, which has tracking and insurance (we note that Orange Gadgets is not responsible if your package gets lost or is stolen after we hand it to the post office, see the Terms of Service on the website under Shipping Liability Limitations). If you have already placed your order without insurance, don't worry; before we ship any module to an address in Italy or Canada, we will contact you with the option to upgrade your shipping to EMI. Also, for new orders, shipping rates to Canada and Italy have been updated in the online store.

I hereby sincerely thank all of you customers who have placed an order for the module and for being and remaining patient while we are handling orders. There are currently about 250 orders that we need to catch up on. We have handled up to database entry number 106 now. I hope to have a better estimate at how fast we can handle/process/ship orders by the weekend.

Also, a new version of xGPS that officially supports the iGPS360
module at a baudrate of 115200 (5Hz refresh rate) is expected to be
released within the next week or two. For the latest software updates, please visit Xwaves blog. In their latest post, they have released a nice desktop map download tool to go with the xGPS software.

Shipping update

2008-10-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Things have been extremely busy since last Thursday. I have been swamped with orders, email inquiries, housing supplier and getting modules prepared for testing and shipping.

In advance, I would like to thank everyone for their continued patience. Please remain patient in the week(s) to come. I am working as hard as I can, and that is pretty much non-stop, except for eating and sleeping and the other necessary living habits :-)

I have not been able to meet the 10/22/2008 shipment date.

Here is why: I have been in touch every single day to get updates from the housing supplier. Unfortunately, nothing goes perfect the first time, and so with the housing. The quality of the housings and lenses were not up to par and things had to be redone. They actually had to do 5 sample runs for the black housing and three sample runs for the lenses. Hence the delay. Unfortunate, but this is out of my control. I hope you understand.

So now for the good news: I have talked with the housing manufacturer today and they told me all parts have been finished and quality checked and will be shipped today for Friday delivery. At last!

What you see in the above photo are the first 32 modules inside of their final housings (these are housing from the 5th sample set which were approved). These modules are waiting for their lenses. Every module is individually serialized and the little removable sticker you see on the top of the module is its serial number.

Considering tomorrow's news delivery date for the housings, I have set new shipping date for Monday 10/27/2008. At least the 32 modules above will ship on Monday and whatever else I get finished over the weekend.

Now, a repeat of some things, as I get emails about this every day:

Orders will be handled according to your database entry number (assuming your order is PAID for). This is to be fair to everyone who signed up and to make sure that the people who signed up first, will get their units first. If you have pre-ordered but not paid, we will skip over your entry. Your database entry will only become active after you have paid for your module.

The current expected ship date for the first iGPS360 modules is 10/27/2008 (there has been additional delay with the housing as explained above).

Keep in mind that not all 1000 modules of the first production run will be ready by that date as they come out of production bit by bit. We expect having all 1000 modules back and shipped before the end of November. So we value your patience after you have placed your order.

We will send you a confirmation email once your order is packed and ready to ship.

Some important notes that you should follow with respect to the online store. If you don't follow the instructions (like providing your database entry number and returning to the store after you paid with PayPal), it means much more work for me to fix up your order and order status and your order could get delayed:

Make sure to enter your database entry number during checkout of your order. If you omit to do so, your shipment maybe delayed. There is a comment box for this.

The online store has detailed product descriptions, so please take the time to read them as they might answer questions that you have. For remaining questions, please email support@orangegadgets.com.

Performance of the website will depend on the amount of traffic, so if things are a little slow while accessing the online store, please be patient for pages to complete loading.

Please report any website related problems you encounter to support@orangegadgets.com.

For questions with respect to the details of your placed order, please email orders@orangegadgets.com.

Please verify your order details online by logging into your account and viewing your order history.
If you see anything that is incorrect, immediately send an email to orders@orangegadgets.com and provide your full order details, like name, shipping and billing address, order id and customer id.

Online store is up and running!

2008-10-16T12:51:00.001-07:00

After some more delay, the online store is finally up and running.

You can now place your order for the iGPS360 module (and some other goodies) by clicking here or by accesing the Orange Gadgets website and clicking on ORDER in the top menu bar.

When you place your order, make sure to mention your database entry number in the comments box for your order during the checkout procedure.

If you have lost your database entry number, no worries, I will be sending out notifications to all of the emails in the database later today/tomorrow with your database entry number in it.

If you don't have a database entry number, you can get one by signing up here

Orders are going to be handled according your database entry number (assuming your order is paid for). This is to be fair to everyone and to make sure that the people who signed up first, will get their units first.

The current expected ship date for the module is 10/22/2008 (which is still subject to change depending on the arrivals of the housings). Keep in mind that not all 1000 modules will be ready by that date as they come out of production bit by bit. So please be patient after you place your order. We will send you a confirmation email once your order is packed and ready to ship.

With respect to the new online store a few notes:

Please report any website related problems you encounter to support@orangegadgets.com.

For questions with respect to the details of your placed order, please email orders@orangegadgets.com.

Performance of the website will depend on the amount of traffic, so if things are a little slow while accessing the online store, please be patient for pages to complete loading.

The online store has detailed product descriptions, so please take the time to read them as they might answer questions that you have. For remaining questions, please email support@orangegadgets.com.

As the online store has kept me pretty much busy non-stop for the last couple of days, I still have quite a few emails from people to answer. So if you haven't heard back from me, thanks for understanding and being patient. I hope to get back to my email as soon as I get done with the database notification emails.

As you can imagine, today is a big milestone for myself and Orange Gadgets and I would like to thank everyone for their continued support of the blog and the product.

Thanks, PmgR

Software partnership

2008-10-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Orange Gadgets and xWaves have formed a partnership for distributing and developing software and hardware for a GPS solution for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Orange Gadgets will focus on hardware development and volume production of the iGPS360 module and will develop software utilities specific to the GPS functionality of the iGPS360 module. This software will be bundled with Xwaves' xGPS navigation software.

Xwaves will focus on development of the xGPS navigation software and implement full support for the iGPS360 module. Xwaves will also become a European distributor for the iGPS360 module.

With our combined efforts we hope to bring you the best GPS application and utilities for your iPhone and iPod Touch.

Note that Orange Gadgets will be handling the first production run orders for all people that have signed up on the pre-order list. The online store will go live later today so keep an eye on your mailbox and the blog.

Based on feedback from the housing supplier, the expected ship date as of now for the first modules will be 10/22/2008. Depending on what your database entry number is, your unit could ship at a later date.

Brief update (midnight 10/15/08): I am still working on properly securing the online store so it will be a little longer. I will post a new post once everything is ready to go. Thank you for your patience.

Still counting...

2008-10-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

We are still counting down...

Another week of hard work has passed and of course as usual there is the good news and the less good news. Let's get the less good news over first.

Last week I received a third sample set of the housing, expecting that this would be the last sample set before running the real production housings. Unfortunately, the housing was still not exactly as expected and more touch-up work needed to be done. The manufacturer promised to get new samples to me by past Thursday, but this did not happen. He told me on Friday noon that the mold was ready for sampling again, so I hope to get the fourth sample set on Monday. I will be on the phone with him first thing Monday morning for a status report. This will impact the ETA of October 15.

Now for the good news. On all other fronts things have been progressing very well!

I have received the first production sample boards back and all are fully functional! Production of the remaining boards is currently in full flow.

Regarding the online shopping cart, integration with the PayPal website took much more time than expected, but this morning I finally made a breakthrough and from the testing I have done so far, it looks like the shopping cart is now properly being transferred to PayPal.

Everyone who signed up on the pre-order list should be receiving an email later this week with an order-link to the online store. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time to do it!

This week I have also been working on automated testing of the modules (every module is quality controlled before it is shipped). I have been working on hardware related to the testing as well as software. The photo above shows a test-board for simultaneous testing of 8 modules (if module through-put is not fast enough the test capacity of the board can be expanded). Besides electrical testing and visual inspection already done at the board fabrication and assembly house, complete functionality of the GPS module will be tested as well. This includes USB and dock connector interconnect functionality, back-up battery check, visual LED inspection, GPS check (TTFF and SNR) and A-GPS functionality.

In the meantime, let's keep our fingers crossed for the next sample set of the housing!

Countdown

2008-10-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a while and you probably have been wondering what is going on. Well, here is the latest update:

PCB panels/boards
Last week I received the first PCB panel with 100 boards on it (see photo above). As some small changes were made compared to the previous revision, I wanted to make sure that the panels are fully functional before committing them to production. I separated two boards from the 100pcs panel and built a module with one of the GPS engines that I still had available. Everything turned out to be working great.

GPS engines
The GPS engines also arrived last week and in order to make sure everything is OK with them as well, I assembled the second PCB board (from above) with the new production GPS engine. And guess what, everything is working as it is supposed to work.

Antennas
The antennas shipped a bit earlier as expected and arrived just today. I will do an inspection of them and then they will be delivered to production.

Housing
Last Friday, I also got the second set of samples of the housing. The logos are nicely touched up now and have a smoother finish than the rest of the housing, so they look really nice. Some other small things were not taken care of properly however and the mold will need another round of touch-ups. I am currently waiting for this new set of samples (expected tomorrow) before I can give the final approval to run production quantities.

Online store/shopping cart
I have almost completed the online shopping cart, but still have some issues with properly integrating PayPal into the checkout procedure. I hope to fix those in the upcoming few days. Once that is done, the shopping cart will go online. For all of you who are curious, I will keep you guessing at what other items will be in the store besides the GPS module...

Shipping and handling
I have also been getting ready to prepare for shipping of the modules to you. It's amazing how much overhead is involved in all this, from searching for envelops, labels, postage equipment, printing supplies to actually ordering all of them, both for domestic US shipping and international shipping. I hope I have got everything covered now.

The first fully assembled production parts are expected to become available next week. After that, each module will be fully tested before it is shipped out. The estimated date for shipping of the first modules will be around October 15.

As soon as modules come out of production and are tested, they will be shipped subsequently. Note that testing and shipping is going to take up most of my time starting next week, thus please understand that there can be some lag between the time you place your order and the time the module is actually shipped (as tested modules become available bit by bit from production). Once your order ships, you will receive a confirmation email.

Paid orders will be handled in sequence of how they are stored in the database. As of today, there will be enough units available in this first production run for everyone who has currently signed up on the pre-order list.

Housing mold and first production parts

2008-09-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I went to inspect the first production parts of the housing. I got a chance to take a few pictures of the production mold (see photo above). It's quite interesting to see how injection molded parts are made. The top and bottom of the picture show the housing bottom and top imprints on one side of the mold and the center circle is the feeding tube for the ABS plastic.

The manufacturer made about 25 sample parts for me to inspect and it looks like the housings came out very well. A few minor touch-ups on the mold itself are needed to perfect things a bit, but overall the parts already look very good (see picture below; you can click on it to zoom in a bit; due to the lighting condition of the photo, the zoom-in looks a little grainy). The eventual parts will be a matt over-all finish with a shiny imprint of the logos, just like the back of your iPhone.

I took five iGPS360 module boards with me to make sure all of them would fit the housings. Guess what.... all of them fit in perfectly so luckily no changes are required for PCB placement. I guess the time on housing design was well spent!

What else has been going on?

I have been working on getting the online shopping cart ready so you will be able to place your order pretty soon. You will be able to make payment through PayPal either with a PayPal account, or if you don't have a PayPal account, the PayPal site will give you the option to directly pay with your credit/debit card.

Regarding the iGPS360 module itself, the GPS engines are shipping next week and the tuned antennas the week thereafter. The PCB boards are expected back September 23 after which I will do verification testing before committing them to the reflow process which is scheduled for September 25. The assembled boards are expected back on October 8 so no change in ETA :)

Production schedule update

2008-09-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while and things have been busy streamlining the production effort. It was quite an experience to see how much continuous interaction is required with suppliers and vendors to keep things going at a steady pace and to get them to meet deadlines.

Here is an update on the status of various items:

Housing:
The mold making is in full progress. The first production samples are due in the week of September 15 (next week).

USB cable
The first 100pcs are expected on September 10 (tomorrow) and the remaining ones by October 10.

Bi-color LED
Estimated time of arrival for the LED is September 15 (next week).

GPS engine
The GPS engine will be delivered early in the week of September 22.

Antenna
The antenna tuning process has been completed and we are now waiting for a committed ship date for the production units. A test report is expected back within the next few days.

PCB boards
Yesterday, a purchase order was placed for the production PCB boards and board assembly. The PCB panels are due back by September 23.

PCB board assembly
The start of assembly of the PCB boards is scheduled for September 25.

Estimated arrival of the first GPS modules
We are expecting the first assembled GPS modules back on October 8.

In the meantime, I wanted to see how much interest there is for one or more additional USB cables from your site. Every module will ship with one micro USB cable included, but for myself I have found it handy to have a few cables around: one for the car, one that is attached to the computer and one that is plugged into the Apple AC charger. These USB cables are 6ft long and thus a lot more convenient than the short Apple sync cables which are barely 4ft.

As the lead-time on these cables is fairly long (9-11 weeks), I would like to see how many people are interested in one or more additional USB cables and possibly get things started off early. Each additional cable will cost $4.50. If there is a lot of interest, I can get the price down to $4.00.

Note: we are talking about a micro-USB cable here (not a regular mini-USB). One side of the cable is a standard USB-A plug for the charger/computer, the other side a micro USB-B plug for the module.

I have placed another poll in the left column where you can voice your opinion. Also feel free to post additional comments.

Another puzzle...

2008-08-30T22:51:00.001-07:00

Things have been a little slow this week. The GPS modules are still at the antenna house for antenna tuning and the expected date of arrival of the test results is scheduled for September 8th. As it looks now, things are going to be delayed a bit because of this :(

On the upside of this, I have had some time to relax a bit (definitely needed) and play around some more with the 2.0 Toolchain. I managed to compile a GUI app for the iPhone with the 2.0 Toolchain. I can tell you, it is quite a time-sink not having a Mac OS X platform with the proper tools to write iPhone apps. I am seriously considering getting an Intel Mac to do all the software development. Anyone out there have a spare one sitting around... :-o

Anyway, as we will pretty much be waiting this week for the test results, I decided to give you another puzzle to kill some time.... what could it be that is in the photo?

Confirmed: serial port working on firmware 2.0.1

2008-08-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here

Last week I sent four GPS modules to the GPS vendor to do some final testing and antenna tuning. So while waiting till we hear back from them, I have had some free time to spend on software.

The first thing I have done is made myself familiar with the WinPwn 2.0.0.4 tool out there and it seems to work pretty well. I have used it to:

Upgrade a 1.1.3 iPhone to 1.1.4
Upgrade a 1.0.2 iPhone to 2.0.1
Pwn a 1.1.4 iPod Touch, staying at 1.1.4

It's a little tricky as the process of things you need to do to upgrade to 1.1.4 and to 2.0.1 is different. Also, for upgrading to 1.1.4, you don't need to put your iPhone/iPod into DFU mode when restoring your custom firmware. It actually has to be regular restore mode; you will end up with an error if you try to use DFU mode. For upgrading to 2.0.1, DFU mode has to be used however when restoring the custom firmware. For upgrading to 2.0/2.0.1, I have found the manual here quite useful.

I have also used the command line version of QuickWpn and this seems to work as well (it is for jailbbreaking only). This tool is good to use on an iPod Touch as it is very fast and doesn't require a custom firmware (you can't unlock your iPhone with it though, only jailbreak).

So after I installed 2.0.1, it was time to install the 2.0 Toolchain on my desktop running cygwin. Saurik has put out a very good manual for doing this. But be aware, it is not a simple procedure. You have to understand what you are doing and even then it might take you a couple of tries to get everything right. For the required iPhone/iPod filesystem, it is best to get this from the iPhone/iPod itself (make a tar-ball as this keeps the symbolic links). All the Mac OS X 10.5 SDK stuff comes from the MacOSX10.5.pkg file in the iPhone OS 2.0 SDK dmg here, and you will need a bunch of other Apple sources that come from the Mac OS X 10.5.3 Darwin sources here. You can also do some more reading on The iPhone Wiki for Toolchain 2.0.

I will probably write up the procedure up on a Wiki sometime later as I took notes of everything I did. It took me three days to complete the process and I have learned quite a lot from it.

Another option is to install the 2.0 Toolchain directly on your iPhone. This can be done from the 2.0 Toolchain BigBoss entry on Cydia (this also installs the 'make' utility). Also make sure to read the instructions there. These same instructions apply to the desktop Toolchain as well, except you will have to adapt the path names to your local environment.

Also, once your application is on the iPhone/iPod Touch, it needs to be code-signed, otherwise it won't run. Don't try to first run your compiled application before code-signing it. If you do, code-signing won't work either. You can find more information on code-signing here.

I thus ported my GPS command line utility that I used on 1.1.x before to 2.0.1 and tried it out on the 2.0.1 firmware. The video shows the result: there are no issues with accessing the NMEA data that the GPS module sends to the iPhone.

So this confirms that the GPS module will work on the new 2.0/2.0.1 firmware.

Just beware that there is no 2.0/2.0.1 version of the previously discussed GPS software packages (xGPS, RoadMap) currently available, but hopefully these will be available soon.

A little side-tracking: iControlPad

2008-08-20T23:46:00.001-07:00

The developers over at www.icontrolpad.com have started production of the iControlPad module for the iPhone. This module will bring real game controls to your iPhone (see the rendered photo above).

Note that the current version only works on the iPhone and not the iPod Touch. This is because the physical structure of the module was designed for the iPhone. Maybe they will come out with a version for the iPod Touch at a later date.

I have ordered a couple of modules to do some testing and game playing with the modules.

I would like to find out how much interest there is for the iControlPad module from you. If there is enough interest, Orange Gadgets will become a U.S. distributor for the iControlPad, possibly with discounted pricing (MSRP is $34.99). If you are in the U.S., you will also be able to save on shipping as the modules would normally ship from the U.K. manufacturer.

So leave your feedback here on the blog or, if you already know that you want an iControlPad, sign up for a module on the Orange Gadgets website. The website has been slightly updated and another database has been added to track interest in this product.

Please sign up before the start of next week if you would like to be sure to get a unit from their first production run.

Put to the test!

2008-08-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

A brief update for today:

The four CNC machined housings arrived this week and all of them make a nice fit as you can see in the photo (I masked off the LED opening with some tape to simulate the lens effect as those lenses were to small to be CNC'ed). I have been in touch with the housing manufacturer this week as well to iron out the last details of the drawings. They will start cutting steel upcoming week! Once that is done, I will visit them to take a look at the molds before we get our first parts.

I built three additional GPS modules this week as well and the new upload tool for A-GPS data from the manufacturer seems to work a lot better now. After having uploaded the latest A-GPS data to each of the modules, I have performed open/clear sky testing with the modules and am very happy with the results! Typical time-to-first-fix (TTFF) with A-GPS enabled is ~10sec average on a cold start. Average signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) is ~42dB (note that both the TTFF and SNR numbers are open/clear sky numbers and can vary in practice depending on surroundings and GPS satellite strength). Performance is thus very good for such a small unit! After the antenna tuning process, we might gain a little more on the SNR, but we will wait for those results first before concluding anything.

I also had to place a special purchase order (PO) for the high brightness/low current bi-color LEDs this week as they only had 200 in stock (delivery is scheduled for September 15, 2008). As I thought the green/orange color combination was a little too ordinary, I have chosen a blue/red LED which looks really cool. The blue LED will be on as power-on indicator and the red LED will flash when searching for satellites (it will be off after a GPS lock is found). So while searching for satellites, the combined blue/red LED will flash purple. Power consumption of the LED will be a little less than 1mA when the module is tracking. The rest of the module consumes ~36mA while tracking for a total of 37mA for tracking.

Power consumption, size and performance have all been traded off against each other, but it looks like the final results are pretty good in my humble opinion!

The estimated-time-of-arrival (ETA) for the modules is still set for the end of September. Let's hope there will be no further delays; thanks everyone for hanging in there!

What's (been) happening?

2008-08-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

It has been a little while and as you can imagine things have been busy and very hectic. Here is an update on the various items:

Last Monday, the last revision of the PCB came back. Although I placed it as a rush order, it was late; it was supposed to have arrived the Thursday before. In the meantime I have built a new GPS module with it and tested its performance, which is up to spec now. This new module is shown in the photo (inside of the new housing prototype).

The biggest milestone that got done this week is the new two-piece housing design. This has pretty much kept me busy full-time since last week:

New 3D CAD files (no logos) were completed and a new FDM prototype was made to verify that everything fits inside of it. I painted the prototype black, put the latest board inside and hooked the USB cable up. The result can be seen in the photo.
The next thing in line was sending out the new 3D housing designs to get real prototype housings CNC machined out of solid ABS plastic (no FDM). These are needed to do proper antenna tuning of the board and the housing for optimum GPS performance. These housings are expected back upcoming week.
Next I had to finalize the drawings for production and place the logos on them. This did not go without hick-ups and quite some time was waisted trying to get the 3D software to accept the graphics files. But eventually I managed to get everything imported.
I am currently detailing the lens a little more to make sure that the LED light comes out properly and has a wide viewing angle. The final CAD files are due first thing Monday morning.
A purchase order (PO) was placed for the injection mold making and a delivery of 1000 housings. The housings are to be completed by September 9, 2008.

I also received new GPS modules with updated firmware for this new PCB design. I had problems uploading A-GPS data to them. I thought it was a firmware issue, but after talking to the GPS vendor it turns out that the A-GPS upload tool that they provided had some problems, so they provided me with an updated version which performs better but still seems a little buggy. After we get a final OK from the vendor on the module configuration and firmware, we can place a PO as well (I hope this can happen this week).

Regarding contract manufacturers, I have converged on a candidate for PCB manufacturing and assembly with competitive pricing. I might have to make a few minor adjustments to the bill of materials, but after that we can get the ball running.

It looks like the Orange Gadgets website has been running pretty smoothly. As of now, 177 people have signed up so far for a total of 208 modules. Feel free to do some additional advertising among your family and friends as well as online.

Bingo!

2008-08-01T21:25:00.001-07:00

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here

To top the week off with some more exciting news, what you see above is a live demo of the xGPS software that xWaves is working on. Note that all credit for this awesome application goes to them!

This software does not require a live internet connection!

Here is how to get this running:

I configured one of my modules at a baudrate of 19200. That is the baudrate the xGPS program currently runs at. Hopefully they will add in an option to custom set the baudrate the program uses for the serial port in the next version. So you will need to have a GPS module with the correct baudrate settings, otherwise it won't work. Plug your GPS module into the dock.

Go to the Installer.app on your iPhone or iPod touch and add in http://irepo.xwaves.net under the sources. Refresh the sources and then go to the Install menu and scroll down to Xwaves and install xGPS (the version I am running is 1.0p1). Quit Installer.

Start up the xGPS software and hit Maps. You'll end up somewhere in France. Zoom out with the small magnifier glass and move the map to your local area, then zoom back in again with the large magnifier glass.

Now drag with two fingers a red box for the map area that you want to download and hit the Download button. This will take a while depending on how large the map is. Make sure auto-lock on your iPhone/iPod touch is set to never and that you have enough battery left. I suggest downloading a small map area the first time (< 20mb). Cancel to go back to the main screen. The map is located in /private/var/root/Library/xGPS_map.db.

Then hit Enable GPS and voila, your GPS should be working! A pin will drop on your current location.

Take your phone, get into your car and have fun!

As this is still a very early version of the software, it is a little bit buggy when it comes to zooming in and out (double tap with one finger is zoom-in, double tap with two fingers is zoom-out). Also, the voice navigation is not working yet, although I did get it to display the purple-line directions on the map occasionally and the program spoke the first navigation direction out loud.

It looks like things are coming along very well in having a complete GPS navigation solution available.

So make sure up to sign up for one of the iGPS360 modules. The first production run will start very soon and will be a quantity of 1000 units. Make sure you are among the first 1000 to sign up!

Sign me up!

2008-07-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

Allright! It has taken quite some time (I mentioned that some things were running in the background), but this new website is finally up and running!

I am hereby introducing you to:

www.orangegadgets.com

and

The logo in my earlier post is indeed an Orange. Why (an) Orange? Good question... why (an) Apple? Consider it a re-FRESH-ment, something different and FRESH from all the things out there. It also represents the color orange, a color which has left a trace of the history in my own life: it is the color of the dutch Royal House, most dutch sporters play in orange, the Orange is orange, and Orange Gadgets is located in Orange County...

With respect to the logo for the GPS module, I'll let the module speak for itself: "i (I) GPS 360 degrees or all-(a)round". The 360 degrees signifies that the gadgets we will bring to market can find application all-around.

So much for the logos. I hope you like them!

Regarding the website, I have incorporated a sign-up form on the site where you can sign up for the GPS module. Please only sign up if you are serious about buying one or more GPS modules. All data is logged into a database and will be used to determine future production quantities and to contact you once the modules are available for sale.

Since I have only done limited testing on the site so far with only a few different browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer and iPhone Safari), please provide me with feedback on any broken links or other things that might not be functional.

Enjoy!

Puzzle

2008-07-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

Time to tease a little... What could this be?

Micro USB cable samples have arrived!

2008-07-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

I have received three samples of the USB-A to micro USB-B cable. The cables are 6ft long which should be plenty to hook up to your module from wherever you want. I have already tested all three cables with my modules and they are performing fine, including syncing of the iPhone from iTunes.

I will give you a brief progress update so you know where we are at:

Housing: A housing manufacturer has been found. I have visited him twice and toured the facility and liked what I saw. They have also been very helpful in getting the housing prototypes done. I will be updating the housing design next and after that get a revised quote. Mold making will take 3-4 weeks ARO and then the first parts will be delivered one week after mold approval.
PCB board assembly: I have received about half of the quotes that I requested. The remaining ones are expected by the end of this week. Typical lead time for 1000 units is about 4 weeks (this includes PCB fabrication and assembly).

PCB board re-spin:Just today I sent out another PCB prototype board design that will address the somewhat lower performance on the last set of prototypes. This board is expected back mid next week. By the end of next week, I should have build another three prototypes with these new boards and have tested them for performance.

USB cables: USB cable samples have been received and tested. An order will be placed tomorrow. Lead time is 6-8 weeks.

Other: Some other things are running in the background in parallel... I'll keep you guessing at what that may be for now...

In memory of

2008-07-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

the many Falun Gong practitioners who have suffered or been killed at the hands of the Chinese communist party's persecution and the many that have disappeared or have been imprisoned innocently (the above picture was taken during a commemorative candle vigil on July 18 in Washington, D.C. A photo gallery of the event can be found here)

Today, exactly nine years ago, on July 20, 1999, China's former president Jiang Zemin started a brutal persecution campaign against the practice of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) with his policy of extinction: "Ruin their reputation, exhaust their financial resources and destroy them physically."

Today, nine years later, even though the people in power within the communist party have changed, the persecution has not ended and innocent people are still being killed.

Falun Gong teaches truthfulness, compassion and forbearance (in Chinese: zhēn, shàn, rěn). The combination of these words as well as the terms Falun Gong and Falun Dafa are forbidden in China and any website that uses these words is automatically blocked.

As such, I have found out that this blog is also not accessible for people on the mainland of China...

More information on this tragedy of persecution can be found at http://www.faluninfo.net.

The Good and the Bad...

2008-07-16T23:14:00.001-07:00

The photos show two rough prototype housings made on a fused deposition modeling machine (FDM). As the resolution of these machines is about 5-10mils (127-254um), the surface of the housing is not very smooth, but it is good enough to do form fitting of the board and dock connector. Also, the housings look white as the machine uses this color plastic to do the FDM. The ultimate housing will be black.

The next photo show you how the module will look on both the iPhone and iPod touch.

Now for the good news:

All the clearances for board to housing were designed correctly and the boards fit nicely within the housing.

I have also received the A-GPS modules in the meantime and built a new module with it and put it to the test. The way it works is as follows: you first download 7 or 14-day valid data to the module (this can be done through software), then use the module as normal. I have put this module to the test and compared it with a module without A-GPS. For the A-GPS module, the time-to-first-fix (TTFF) in open sky after a cold start was reduced from 43sec to 29sec (average over 5 measurements) with times as short as 16sec.

A large volume of dock connectors for the modules have arrived!

NDAs have been put in place with quite a few PCB contract manufactures and quotes are expected back soon.

Now for the bad news:

It turns out, there is no way to get the plastic lens into the LED opening of the housing and have it sit straight and tight. So it's a good thing to have built these prototypes to do form-fitting before getting a housing injection molded for real. We will have to come up with something to solve the lens problem: the housing will be split in two half so that the lens can be inserted from the inside and the wall can be thickened locally for a straight and tight fit.

Recent testing has revealed that the latest prototypes lack a little in performance compared to the earlier prototypes. A re-spin of the board can remedy this and will bring you the best performance possible (note that one board design is currently still in the pipeline and is expected back later this week for more performance testing). This will delay things a little, but not too much (about a week).

As you can see, this project is keeping me busy full-time, but all aspects of the project are progressing very well in parallel.

Software compatibility with RoadMap

2008-07-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here.

Before we discuss the video, let me first mention that we hit 2000 votes yesterday!

This is again great news and I will update you on the manufacturing progress in a separate post (I have been very busy taking care of all the logistics behind the scenes and acquiring quotes for the manufacturing now that NDAs have been signed).

The video above shows a demonstration of the open source software RoadMap. This open source software was ported to the iPhone by Morten Bek. Of course it is a work in progress and not everything is perfect yet and neither are all features ported, but at least it shows the concept and future potential: 3D real time location mapping (with local maps on your iPhone/iTouch; no need to connect to the internet) and hopefully in the (near) future full voice-assisted navigation support.

I was very impressed by what Morten has accomplished so far!

It seems there are two branches of the RoadMap software. The one that Morten is working on and the one that Ehud Shabtai is working on. The second branch is a little further ahead maybe in terms of features, see this video, but unfortunately the language and Wiki for that branch is in Hebrew and it only comes with the map of Israel. Hopefully the two branches will be able to join efforts and converge into one great iPhone/iTouch application.

For Morten's branch, I downloaded all the maps for California from here and I can now locate myself on my iPhone without the need for the Maps.app or internet connection.

The video shows the main aspects of the RoadMap application:

Arrow icon at left top: this switches between a fixed map view or a rotating map view. In the last case, your driving direction is always pointed upward and the map will rotate along with you.

Satellite icon: its color varies, green for GPS lock and red for no GPS signal. Pressing the icon will move the center of the map to your current GPS location.

Satellite screen: provides a view of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for each satellite, longitude, latitude, elevation, speed, etc. This screen is accessible through the left button on the menu bar in the bottom (hard to see in the video)

2D/3D icon: pressing this icon will switch between a 2D view of the map and a more navigation like 3D view of the map (see end of video)

Zoom in/out icons: pressing these buttons will change the scale of the map accordingly.

There are some more buttons in the bottom bar, but not all of them are working. With one of them, you can email your currently logged GPS route to your friends.

Unfortunately, my video recording ended abruptly as the camera ran out of memory, so the 3D view of the map (which I think is really neat) is not that long. But I hope you get an idea of what it looks like.

Warning.....

2008-07-10T17:11:00.001-07:00

That time has come again..... Apple's 2.0 firmware upgrade will be out shortly, so I would like to issue a warning....

To make it clear to everyone, if you intend on using the GPS module on your iPhone or iTouch, make sure NOT TO UPGRADE your iPhone and iTouch firmware for the time being. The same goes for iTunes. Leave it alone till it is confirmed that it is safe to upgrade.

In order to communicate with the GPS module, a jailbroken iPhone or iTouch is required. Upgrading to Apple's official 2.0 firmware will put your iPhone/iTouch back into a sealed environment again until the iPhone Dev Teams comes up with another jailbreak.

So if you would like to keep your options open, play it safe. Leave your current firmware alone and wait till the unlock development teams give you the green light.

Simplified housing design

2008-07-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

This week has been a very busy week. What you see above is a simplified housing design for which it will be cheaper to make an injection mold than for the first design. This is important as we are talking about relatively small number of volumes for injection molding (a couple of thousand) and the mold-making cost will need to be kept as low as possible so as not to drive up the price of the module. An alternative to traditional injection molding is rapid injection molding. I will need to look at both options to find out which one gives the cheapest price per unit.

For this latest housing design, the USB connector has been moved to the bottom side of the module. I have updated the PCB layout accordingly. The size of the housing is 26mm x 22.2mm x 9mm.

I have started working pretty much full-time on this project since July 1st. I have drafted up a project schedule for getting the module into production. Quite a few things need to be synchronized in terms of time-line. Here is what currently has been accomplished or is still in the works:

NDA's have been put in place with various contract manufacturers (CM) for both the PCB assembly and the housing.
The PCB has been designed and is waiting for feedback from the CM in order to determine manufacturability (1-2 weeks; we will be going into the second week). The PCB design might have to be tweaked after we get feedback from the CM. This process is called design for manufacturability (DFM).
After the DFM is completed, a few final prototypes need to be built and sent to the CM (2 weeks).
A few prototype housings also need to be built/machined and sent to the CM (3-4 weeks).
GPS antennas need to be built (1 week setup + 3 week lead-time).
GPS chip needs to be manufactured (4 weeks).
Bill of materials (BOM) needs to be sourced. Some parts have a lead-time (up to 3 weeks).
Housings need to be produced by injection molding at CM (no time-line available yet from the CM for this).
After all this is completed, usually an engineering pilot build is done for design verification and after that a production pilot build.
Test procedures need to be implemented and test fixtures designed and put in place (4 weeks). This includes both testing of the PCB as well as a final test of the performance of each GPS module.

As you can see, quite a lot of things need to be managed and synchronized. But in order to bring you the best working GPS product out there for your iPhone and iTouch, no corners can be cut.

I will keep you posted as things progress :).

First design of the housing

2008-06-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Top view:

Bottom view:

I have completed a first draft design of the housing. Here are a few comment on the housing:

Take a close look at the Apple design of your dock connector. I have managed to take that connector apart without destroying it. It's a pretty sleek design, consisting only of two parts: a sleeve that goes around the connector and a cap that slides over the connector and inside of the sleeve. I have made the housing for the GPS module in a similar rounded/flat shape as the Apple sleeve. Apple's sleeve is 26.1mm x 9mm x 5.6mm (width x length x thickness). The GPS module housing is 25.4mm x 22.2mm x 8mm. So it is a little thicker as the dock connector and about 2.5 times as long.

You can see the micro USB connector on the left side of the module (top view).This plug can either accept micro USB-A or micro USB-B cables. I have found a trust-worthy supplier for the micro USB-B cable and the cable will be included with the GPS module to make life easy :).

On the top view you see a small green light. This is the LED indicator that displays the status of the GPS module: flashing orange means the module is searching for a satellite lock. Once a lock is found, the indicator will light steady green. My plan is to make this indicator aperture similar to Apple's MagSafe power adapter that is used on the MacBook.

In the meantime, I am playing with some more ideas to make the housing design even simpler...

Board and chipset update

2008-06-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

This is a brief note to give you an update on the board assembly that I started last week.

It turned out that the problem of the GPS chip not sending data was not in the GPS chip itself but caused by my own mistake (:-o). I was trying to get the module together quickly to test the new board, and in the hurry, I didn't solder one of the components onto the board, which left part of the GPS chip disconnected. After a very helpful phone conversation with the chip vendor, we traced the problem down in 5 minutes.

I guess sometimes it is indeed good to take a brief break from everything and let things come to peace; after I soldered the missing component onto the board, everything worked flawlessly :)

And I have another update for you: the next chip-sets that I ordered will be A-GPS enabled!

GPS and A-GPS

2008-06-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

As a few questions were posted earlier regarding A-GPS (assisted GPS). I will try to outline the differences between regular GPS and A-GPS.

A GPS module is dependent on the GPS satellite signals to find a fix. The weaker this signal, the longer it will take to get a fix. If too weak, no fix will be found at all.

When a GPS module is first turned on, it will usually have no satellite position data (ephemeris). This is what is called a cold start of the module (assuming the module does have a valid almanac stored). It is then necessary to place the module in open sky to have it acquire satellite data. This can take anywhere from a minute to several minutes, sometimes even longer, depending on the satellite signal strength, surroundings and the sensitivity of the GPS module. This sensitivity of the GPS module typically ranges from -140dBm to -146dBm for a cold start (the more negative the number, the more sensitive the module is).
Once a GPS lock has been obtained, the GPS module will store this recent satellite data (ephemeris, almanac and time) in its memory and the module is said to be in tracking mode. When in tracking mode, the sensitivity increases as the module now has satellite data available. Typical tracking sensitivities are from -155dBm to -160dBm.
If power is cycled off on the GPS module, then fairly immediately back on, the ephemeris data is still "fresh" (but the time might not be), and a GPS lock will be very quick since the GPS module does not have to collect new ephemeris data. This is called a warm start and the time to fix is typically less than half a minute.
If the GPS module also still has an accurate time, the fix will be even faster (usually on the order of a second) and this is called a hot start.

In general, if ephemeris data is not available or outdated, obtaining a GPS lock can take some time. This is where A-GPS can help.

An A-GPS receiver can help getting ephemeris, almanac and time data from an assistance server. The assisting data can either be downloaded every time the GPS module is turned on (e.g. through the GSM network or WiFi) or in advance (e.g. once every 14 days at home from the internet). In the first case, ephemeris data, almanac and time are downloaded. In the latter case, differential almanac correction data is downloaded.

In order to be able to use A-GPS, we need three things:

A chip that is A-GPS compatible, i.e. the chipset allows for download of assisting data to the GPS module,
An assistance server from where the assisting data can be downloaded. Assistance servers are usually provided by GPS chipset manufacturers and need to be mirrored for client usage. (Apple is probably mirroring Broadcom's servers for use on the 3G iPhone).
A way to upload the A-GPS data to the GPS chipset. This can usually be done through a software download daemon which both acquires the data from the assistance server and sends it to the GPS chip at certain time intervals.

So A-GPS can make your GPS module find a faster lock, typically increasing the cold start sensitivity to about the level of a hot start.

It needs to be mentioned however that if a satellite signal is simply too weak (e.g. <-160dBm in parking structures or big concrete buildings), you won't see any improvement at all in the performance of your GPS module, even if you have an A-GPS enabled chipset as the GPS receiver won't be able to receive any signal even though you tell it were the satellites are.

Regarding the GPS chipset that I am using, the chipset can be enabled for A-GPS use and assistant data could be downloaded to the module through the serial port if the data can be obtained from an assistance server.

The Return of the Boards (part 3)

2008-06-15T00:19:00.000-07:00

As you can see in the photo, the two boards that were sent out a while back have returned!

Also, before we discuss the boards, we hit 1500 votes this week as well (and that despite all the distracting iPhone 3G buzz) !

Regarding the boards, I started assembling one board last Thursday night but ran into problems testing the board. It took me two nights to debug the problem. The boards seem to be oke; the GPS chip I am using is the same as the one on the prototype II boards and it functions there without problems. I suspect the problem is in the GPS chip itself: although all output voltages seem oke, no data is transmitted. I had a spare unit which I tested off the board and this one has the same problem. I will have to contact the manufacturer to see what the problem is and to get functional replacement units.

Well, I guess things can't always go smoothly. I am sure we will recover quickly from this after I get new functional chips. I'll keep you updated once I find out more from the manufacturer. This shows that you always need to double check your suppliers, especially when you are using their latest technology. It also shows that it is a must that every single unit that gets shipped is quality controlled. In fact, I will guarantee that every GPS module that I will ship, will have been inspected and is 100% functional. Or as we say in dutch "De klant is Koning" (literally translated as "The customer is King" :).

In the meantime I have also been working on housing related things this week: I have pretty much completed the 3D modeling of the most important parts on the board (which will be needed to make sure that the housing doesn't interfere anywhere on the inside with the board/components). Also, I have already outlined the housing itself. Detailing of the inside will be next.

iPhone 3G buzz....

2008-06-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

After having read some of the discussions on the previous post, I think it might be good to speak some sobering words and try to see things in perspective.

The new iPhone is extremely cheap, even cheaper than an 8GB iTouch..... BUT you will have to sign a two year contract with AT&T (see here) for most likely a minimum of $39.99 a month.... or sign and then break the contract and pay the termination fees (probably around $200). So that puts the price tag right back at $399. My guess is that AT&T is subsidizing Apple those $200 for every phone sold.
AT&T is still the exclusive U.S. carrier...
Rumors are going around that you won't be able to buy an iPhone without signing a contract, either in the Apple Store or the AT&T store (see here)
Regarding the iPhone 3G itself, how many of the current iPhone users would actually upgrade to the new model? Most likely those users who are already with AT&T and who are willing to spend the additional $199. I would guess that for most of the hacked phone users (who don't wan't to be with AT&T to start with), dishing out $199 + cancellation fee would be a little over the top.
Steve mentioned that around 6 million of the original iPhones were sold. It was estimated that around 750,000-1 million phones were hacked at the end of Jan. 2008 (see here) and maybe it is even up to 20-25% now. How many of these phone users would want a plug-in GPS module? Even at less than 1%, it would be worth to make the effort.
Note that even today after the announcement, iPhone users have been voting that they still would like a GPS module.
Lastly, don't forget the iTouch users. The iTouch doesn't have GPS (at least for the time being), so who will take care of them?

So to make the story short, I will keep on doing what I have been: working hard to come out with a GPS module for iPhone and iTouch users at an acceptable price and as soon as possible.

PmgR

Compatible? YES!

2008-06-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here.

Just recently, a GPS plug-in for the Maps.app was released by xWaves. The video above shows how my GPS module also works with that software.

The source code for the software was released as well and can be found here and checked out with regular svn. All credit for this software goes to the people at xWaves.

Below is some more information on how the software works:

The software currently talks to the GPS module directly through the serial port. The standard baudrate is 19200 which I had to adjust to match my module. It will be best if the software is updated in the future to automatically check what baudrate the GPS module is running at. Another option is to add in functionality to work with a gps daemon.

The xGPS program is a daemon that runs in the background and is started through a plist file in the Launchdaemons directory. This deamon talks to the Maps.app and the serial port and tells the Maps.app to update its location with the data obtained from the serial port.

The software currently needs to connect to the internet to update the map as it calls the Google website to update its location. It would be nice if someone figures out how to circumvent this and have the Maps.app update its location directly from its database without having to connect to the internet. In that way you could upload your own maps to your iPhone/iTouch and use those while on the road.

Then finally one comment on the video. I stated: "...the GPS module is charged through the USB..." What I actually meant to state is that the iPhone is charged through the USB. If you look closely, you can see the charging sign in the video.

Then lastly, before signing off for tonight, I also wanted to let you know that I am currently working hard on the housing design and getting manufacturing for the boards set up.

Froooozen!

2008-06-01T01:10:00.001-07:00

I had a busy week. I have frozen the board design and sent out two PCB designs on Friday.

Both boards have the same functionality, but one of them is pushed to the smallest limit in terms of size (15.2mm x 23.4mm, see the left side of the photo). It will have to be seen if this board can be manufactured and assembled automatically with components. In case not, I have the second PCB design which is a little bigger (17.7mm x 23.4mm, see the right side of the photo) and which should not have any problems for fully automatic manufacturing and assembly.

I will be spending the next couple of weeks on the mechanical design of the package. This package will be based on the larger board. The two PCBs have been laid out in a smart way such that both will fit in the same larger package.

If it turns out that the smaller board can be assembled automatically (or if hand assembly of one or two components is not a problem), then the mechanical package can be shrunk in size by just changing one single dimension of the package! That's why it took a little while to come up with the current frozen board design.

You can also see that I have redesigned the website slightly and re-arranged some things: posts in the center, polls and the blog archive in the left side bar, and my human rights related links in the right side bar.

Upon request, I have also added a donation button on the left top for anyone who wants to donate. In addition, I have added some Adsense ad-links throughout the page. I have noticed that they are quite on the topic of the blog and they will also bring in a little bit of revenue when people click on them.

I am glad I was able to get this final board design out the door before the end of May :)

I/O connectors

2008-05-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Since quite a few people were concerned about the USB connector, I am writing a short summary of the I/O connectors that I have looked into (see the photo)

30 pin Apple dock connector (left bottom): best solution, but due to its large footprint it gives a rather large board when combined with a patch antenna. The prototype II board combined this connector with a chip antenna while providing a small board size, but the performance of the chip antenna turned out not to be as good as a patch antenna.
10 pin I/O connector (left top): next best thing considering it has 10 pins and allows routing of other signals besides the 4 and 5 pin USB connectors. However, there are no standard cables around that can plug into this connector and they would have to be custom molded.
4 pin mini USB (second column from left): this is the connector I used on the prototype I boards. It has the smallest footprint among the mini USB series connectors.
5 pin mini USB connectors (third column): this connector is the most commonly used on the mobile equipment of the recent past. It comes in different form factors (see photo from top to bottom): midway mount, bottom mount, top mount. It has a larger form factor then the 4 pin USB.
5 pin micro USB-B connectors (most right column):this connector is the new standard for current and future mobile equipment and has quite a lot smaller footprint than the mini USB connectors. It comes in multiple form factors, two of which are shown in the photo: midway mount, top mount.

Regarding the mini USB cables, these are readily available these days from various places: 4 and 5 pin mini USB at Amazon, various USB connectors at Pricewatch, or just Google for mini USB.

The micro USB cables are a little more recent, but you can also get them from Amazon for $2, or from Walmart for $5.

So I don't really think it matters too much from an availability/cost standpoint what connector we choose. I might even make the cable available with the module. More important are other factors like footprint and height on the PCB.

As such, I have set the top-mount micro USB connector as the device of record (DOR) as it has the smallest footprint and lowest profile.

In the meantime, I will keep an eye out for any other low-profile multi-pin connectors that are around.

Feel free to post any more comments you have on the subject.

More votes, more prototypes, more testing....

2008-05-18T16:52:00.001-07:00

We hit 1000 votes today! This confirms that there is definitely enough interest in the module to keep on going full speed ahead :)

This week I have been busy building more prototypes. I had already built three with the old board and I have built another three this week. Prototyping goes a little faster now that I have the SMT rework station.

I have assembled two of the prototype II boards with a chip antenna (see the bottom two modules in the photo) and one of the old prototype I boards with a thinner patch antenna (see the right module in the middle row in the photo).

I have done some more field testing (that is inside, outside and in my car while on the road) and it does seem that the patch antennas work better than the chip antenna. The chip antennas also are very sensitive to board layout. I had to trim some of the copper on the board before I finally got these two chip antenna boards to work.

So I have decided that it is best to go with a patch antenna solution to guarantee performance. As such, there will be no room for a full dock connector but instead there will be a micro-USB connector which has a slimmer footprint than the mini-USB connectors and which is the new standard for mobile devices.

I also have an update regarding the LED indicator light. The prototype II boards have a bi-color blue/red LED. The blue LED is the power-on indicator and the red LED will flash until a GPS lock is found (combined with the blue it gives a pink/purple colored flash).

This week I will be working on the layout of the final board design for the patch antenna prototypes and I hope to have the board design frozen before the end of May.

The tools of the trade

2008-05-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

This post is especially dedicated to those fans who pretty much visit my blog daily!

In order to do a good prototyping job, you need good tools. So this is what this post is all about. For some tools, you can get away with the cheap stuff, for others, you can't cut any corners and just need to spend the money.

The photo shows pretty much all the tools that I am using for the prototyping:

A good quality solder iron that has temperature control and tips that can be changed. Mine is in the top right of the picture and it is a Weller WES51. I got it from my local Frys store for $100. You can get it online from their website as well. You can go the extra mile and find a station with a temperature sensor inside of the tip and tips that don't oxidize, but it's not really a necessity. Just make sure to keep that sponge wet and the tip wiped and clean.
As mentioned earlier, I had to order an SMT rework station to handle the new board and the more advanced parts. It is on the left in the photo and is a Madell Quick857D. It runs about $200 including tax and you can order it directly from the Madell website. Combine this tool with your board, solder paste and your parts, and you have a superfast assembly of your prototypes.
Then you will need the regular soldering supplies: lead-free solder (everything needs to be RoHS compliant these days, and make sure to pick the no-clean type), solder paste (if you have a SMT rework station), solder flux (no-clean), and solder wick. Check the Kester website for info on lead-free soldering supplies.
You can't get by without a digital multi-meter. You can go cheap here. I have a cheap $5 CEN-TECH P30756 which I bought ages ago and it still works. Just make sure to turn it off after use to save the battery. You can get yours at Harbor Freight Tools for a buck less.
While at Harbor Freight, also grab a pack of cheap pliers for $6, a pack of cheap tweezers for $6.50 and a precision knife set for $10. Also pick up a 6inch digital calipers for $20. For calipers you usually want to go the better more expensive brand, but mine was on sale for $16 so I decided to try it and it seems to work very well.

Now, sometimes I ask myself, how come some of this stuff can be so cheap? Apparently most of the tools are made in China nowadays and who knows who produced them: a legitimate company with reasonably well paid employees, or innocently imprisoned slave laborers/kids working 16-20hrs shifts. When it comes to these things, I at least let my consciousness think about those things for a bit to remind myself... I do want to support the people of China, I just don't want to be funding any labor camps (see my human rights related posts on the top right of my blog). How much can an individual contribute... even if it is only a thought, at least you thought about it.

In a lot of cases, even if you go for the more expensive stuff, it still turns out it comes out of China or another Asian country. I guess the only way you can be sure is if it says made in the good old USA.

Well, I hope this is an interesting post for the hobbyists and food for though for everyone else. Take it easy :)

The Return of the Boards (part 2)

2008-05-10T01:03:00.001-07:00

A quick post tonight to let you know that the PCB boards for the second prototype series are back. It looks like the PCB house did a nice job on them and delivered them with a nice gold finish.

Having a real board in hand makes me realize how small this design actually is. Your perception gets a kind of distorted when you design on a computer screen for too long and are zoomed-in all the time.

Everything is very tightly spaced as you can imagine. The 0.5mm pitch dock connector footprint in the photo is a clear example of this. This board will require some special tools for soldering as a regular soldering iron is unsuitable for some of the parts that go on the board. I had already ordered that equipment earlier this week and it has just arrived as well, waiting to be unpacked...

Colorful

2008-05-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

I received some new LEDs this week and I soldered another module together with a new high intensity blue/red bi-color LED. I decided to put about 5mA through each of them, not knowing how bright they would be. After assembly, I measured the currents: 3.8mA through the blue LED and 5.0mA through the red LED for a total of 8.8mA... and still sooo much light. That means I can design for an ever lower current and probably cut about another 4-5mA out of the power budget. :)

The picture shows all three modules I have built so far (I had to turn down the sensitivity in order not to blind the camera with the LEDs):

On the left, module #1:
Green/orange bi-color LED (orange shows, but green and orange LED are on simultaneously, orange overwhelming the green)
On the right, module #2:
Blue LED
In the center, module #3:
Blue/red bi-color LED (purple shows, blue and red simultaneously about the same intensity)

Sadly enough, my multi-meter pin shorted to Vcc when measuring the red LED, so it died :( I have some de-soldering to do tonight and fix it.

I also changed the charge resistor for the on-board battery to a lower value so as to recharge that battery a little faster (without exceeding the maximum charge current of course).

Module #3 is also using a slightly smaller patch antenna (see the center module in the photo) of about 13x13x4mm compared to the 15x15x4mm ones that I used for the other modules. I took the module out to the store while on my way buying a digital calipers for the housing design. The module performed above expectation, which is a good foresight for the next PCB board which will be using a chip antenna. It would be great if I can freeze the next design, as the form factor is very small and it has a full dock connector on it. If it doesn't perform well, I have to go back to a patch antenna and a micro-USB port in order to keep the module as small as possible.

Also this week I have made some more new contacts with local contract manufacturers, both for the PCB and the plastic housing. My main next priority is coming up with a final drawing for the housing design so that I can have prototypes made of it.

Looking for a housing?

2008-04-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

This week has been extremely busy and I definitely need a day of rest and spend some quality time with my family after all those long nights. Quite a lot of things are coming together:

As you can see I have collected quite a few different housing styles over the last couple of weeks. This will be helpful in designing the package. The top photo shows the top and bottom of each of the housing types.
To give you an idea of what the size of the boards is in comparison, take a look at this photo:

The first prototype board is on the left, the new PCB design is on the right (in paper form).
The new PCB design went out today for manufacturing. Looking back at the design process, I ask myself: "Wow, how did I manage to stuff all those parts in such a tiny area, including a full dock connector!" And guess what, I even managed to connect 3.3V power from the iPhone/iTouch and the L/R audio out through. I guess thinking about PCBs during my commute to work paid off. Whether this design will make it, is ultimately dependent on the performance of the chip antenna, so let's hope for the best. In the meantime, I will be working on a patch antenna backup solution in case the performance would be lacking.
The majority of the new PCB parts has also arrived this week.
This new PCB design also has a few "light(n)ing" options since some people have posted in the comments that they were concerned about a bright flashing LED when the module has a GPS lock. They'd rather see this reversed: flashing when searching for a lock and steady on when a lock is found. I will post a poll at some point later to see what configuration is most favorite and what LED colors you prefer. The new design will be able to accommodate for quite a few options.
We also hit 750 votes today! And that only 11 days after we hit 500 votes. I think some people posted this website on their own blogs which is a great thing! So if you have your own blog or want to spread the word, feel free to do some advertising :)

Well, time to catch up on some sleep now... Gd'Night.

Smaller, please...

2008-04-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

I am still working on the new PCB design. The picture shows a preview printed on paper (top right) in comparison to the old boards (left and bottom). The width is about the same and the height is about 5mm shorter and it has a full dock connector instead of a mini-USB plug. I am simultaneously working on the package design as the two will need to be in sync with each other.

Only a short post this time, since I am trying to get things done as quickly as possible. This project requires quite some multi-tasking of different things and I need to be working on all of them in parallel in order not to loose any time (I guess all of you are eagerly waiting for the time when you can place that order):

Designing the PCB board
Package design which needs to fit the PCB, connectors and iPhone/iTouch
Ordering the PCB components (I am getting parts from quite a few places and all need attention)
Getting ready for production (both for the PCB board, the package and assembly) which means interacting with one or more contract manufacturers.

So hang in there with me :) If you'd like to have something more to read in the meantime, you can click on some of the human rights related links on the right.

Halfway there for a first production run!

2008-04-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today, the number of voters who want a GPS module for their iPhone and/or iTouch has hit 500! This is great and since some people even want more than one module, it is more than half way to those 1000 pieces that are required for a first production run.

I am currently working on finishing up another PCB design which will bring you an even smaller form factor of about 27mm (W) x 19.5mm (D) x 8mm ! (H). This will be a universal module for both the iPhone and the iTouch and it will have a similar dock connector as is present in the iPhone/iTouch so that you can use your standard Apple cables/chargers.

Whether this will be the ultimate production design will be dependent on whether satellite tracking performance is acceptable after I build a prototype. This new prototype is using a chip-antenna instead of a patch antenna and I will have to test if the chip-antenna performs as well.

Stay tuned....

Quietly steaming along.....

2008-04-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy last week. I have built the second GPS module. There were a few hick-ups along the way which slowed things down a bit. Quality control on parts is a MUST. I had a few parts that weren't up to spec. It took me three evenings to figure this out and fix the problems. I wish there was more free time in a day.

The second module (the right phone in the photo) uses a slightly different GPS module. This module consumes less power:

Module #1 (on the left):

Consumes about 65mA at 3.3V on startup (that is when searching for satellites)
Consumes about 50mA at 3.3V when tracking (GPS lock)
Green LED is continuously on all the time. A high brightness orange LED in the same package starts flashing when a GPS lock is achieved.

Module #2 (on the right):

Consumes about 55mA at 3.3V on startup (that is when searching for satellites)

Consumes about 35mA at 3.3V when tracking (GPS lock)

Blue LED is on continuously when searching for satellites and changes to flashing when a GPS lock is achieved.

Talking about power consumption, the technical specifications for the iPhone battery can be found at Apple's website.... well so much for technical specs on that link. Actually on that page there are no technical specs for the battery, only that battery life depends on usage.....

Searching around the internet, one can find that the battery in the iPhone has a capacity of 1400mAh and a voltage of 3.7V. So plugging in my GPS module for one hour, will add approximately an additional 35mA of current load to the phone (about 2.5% of the battery capacity). To speak in laymen's terms, not too much to worry about. I have been playing around with module #1 over the last couple of weeks, having it on continuously during my drive from and to work (about an hour each way) and I still get about 2 days of battery life out of the phone. To be honest, I think it is more determined by how much Wi-Fi I use during the day than anything else.

But, since the question has come up quite a few times already, for those who are worried, there is a mini-USB plug on the module which allows you to charge and sync the phone as needed.

And then on a final note, I have also included a lithium rechargeable battery on the PCB board now that will keep the acquired satellite positions saved in the GPS module (see the photo above; click on it for a larger view). In that way, you will get a fast GPS lock (within about 5-10sec) after your first initial lock (which can generally take up to a few minutes depending on where you are). This lithium battery is charged from the phone with a current of about 0.05mA and will last about 8 days without recharging by the phone.

Live working GPS demo on the iPhone!

2008-04-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

I have finally had time to shoot a live video of the working GPS module. Enjoy!

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here.

The software that is used to interact with the module is written by Simba. You can visit his blog here. We have joined forces to speed up the progress of the project.

Here are some of the features of the software:

Compass screen:

Your location: latitude and longitude
Dashboard: heading, speed, distance to target, bearing

Satellite screen:

Locked satellites used in GPS location (green)
Other satellites in view but not used in GPS location (grey)

Maps button:

You can upload your own maps to the Google Maps app in case you are not on a network.
For more information on this, you can visit this thread.

Points button:

This sets your travel destination point. It uses your Maps app bookmarks.
While driving, the distance to this target is displayed on the compass screen.
The yellow arrow on the compass indicates the direction you should take to get to this target.

View on map button:

This will launch the Google Map app and drop a pin "I am here" at your current location.
If you are not on a network, you will need to have uploaded a map of your local area to your phone (see above).

Note that this software is still beta, but Simba will in the meantime be overhauling/updating the code with new features, e.g. a GPS daemon, continuous location updates in the Maps app, choice of distance units in km/miles, etc.

Credits

All credit for the software goes to Simba. The only thing I did was test-drive the software with the GPS module. I found a few minor bugs which he has already fixed.

I did design a new iPhone icon for his software. The icon is a composition from two other icons designed by Studiomx:

Web-48x48.png from the Leomx icon set
iPhone-alt-32x32.png from the Hardwaremx icon set

The icons are licensed under the

Linkware license

.

Please leave your feedback, comments and encouragements!

PmgR

Puzzle(d)?

2008-04-01T23:44:00.001-07:00

What would this be? Post your guess...

The boards are back!

2008-03-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

The boards finally arrived this week. What a long wait....

I have started to assemble things. I have soldered the dock connector and USB connector on the board to test the USB connection. I hooked them up to my computer and strangely enough, things weren't working: no charging sign on my iPhone. Did I make a mistake in my board? I debugged the rest of the night, but was unable to find a mistake in my board. Maybe my pin-outs in the schematic were wrong? Neither. Guess what it turned out to be? I had the USB cable plugged into my monitor and I had switched the monitor off the night before. I forgot about that: the monitor always looses its USB connection to the PC when I do that, even after it is turned back on. So I switched my cable to the USB connector on the front of my computer and yes! Things are working now. The iPhone made its famous dock sound and is charging, the USB dialog box pops up on my screen and I can sync the iPhone through iTunes.

As you can imagine, things are a little hectic and busy now, but stay tuned! More to come soon.....

Concept designs: candy for the eye

2008-03-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a first draft of the package for the current PCB design for the GPS module. I thought giving it an iPhone look would be attractive. The intention was to have it look like a MiniPhone (a Miniature iPhone). The size is about 1in x 1in.

Concept 1

3D View:

Front view:

Side view:

Bottom view:

Now, if we really want to push the limits, I could come up with a different package design, but this would require a new design of the PCB board for a smaller GPS chip and a smaller antenna. The resulting size would be about 46mm x 15mm. Note that I haven't really looked into this re-design in detail, so these numbers are preliminary. Concept 2 shows this alternative design.

Concept 2

3D View:

Front view:

Side view:

Bottom view:

And lastly a few notes:

Extending the package all the way to the edge of the iPhone doesn't look good due to the fact that the corners of the phone have a fairly large radius of curvature.

Due to the curvature of the iPhone itself, the speaker and microphone at the bottom of the phone will not be interfered with by the package, even if the package overlaps those areas. You can try this out yourself: just press a flat object against the areas while playing some music or making a call to your home.

I haven't forgotten about the iTouch. The iTouch has a smaller thickness than the iPhone (8mm instead of 11.6mm) and there is the headphone jack in the bottom. Due to this, it will require a different kind of antenna and a re-design of the PCB board. As such, it might be better to go with a Concept 2 approach for the iTouch. I still need think some more about how to integrate/pass-through the headphone jack...

I encourage everyone to post their comments on the current two package concepts. And also, if you have more friends with an iPhone/iTouch, tell them about the site and have them vote. The more people who want a GPS module, the better, since it will make it worth my effort and time and it will also reduce the cost for everyone.

Packaging, an art in itself

2008-03-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

Wondering what I have been doing last week? First off, I sent out the PCB design for manufacturing. The boards should be back in about two weeks.

Next, it is time to start on package design. So I did some research. Apple's iPhone dimensions can be found here. Not all important sizes are printed in this drawing and it takes a few tricks to figure them out. As I want to design an aesthetic nice looking package, it is important to see the GPS module next to the phone. Thus, I deemed it necessary to transfer the iPhone drawings into a 3D CAD program.

If you are new to 3D CAD and wonder what program to use, the first thing you need to make sure is that the program will output the appropriate files for manufacturing; you wouldn't want to be spending all that time in vain... An easy to learn and relatively cheap program is Alibre. There are quite a few 3D CAD programs out there, but some of them can be pretty expensive and not really affordable for the average person. SolidWorks is pretty well-known, but rather expensive.

I am using Alibre Express, which can be freely downloaded from their website. I have started to recreate the iPhone in Alibre and the photo shows the results so far. I have omitted all of the side-buttons since they are not important for package design. More detailing, like the dock connector, will be done next.

Serial connection working

2008-03-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Since the PCB board is pretty much finished and ready for fabrication, I decided to implement some simple code for the iPhone that shows that we can communicate with a GPS module through the serial interface. The code captures NMEA data from the serial port that is sent by the GPS module. Nothing really special here, just a proof of principle to make sure that I implemented the right connections between the dock connector and the GPS module on my PCB board. And it might be educational for people to watch who have no electronics background :) Of course this is just a simple command line program that was drafted up quickly. Further software development can now be done with the new SDK from Apple :)

Some notes on the video: the PCB board on the left is used only as a break-out board for the GPS module that I bought earlier on to play with. The GPS module is powered by the iPhone. When the iPhone goes to sleep, so does the GPS module, but since it is battery backed-up, once you turn the iPhone back on, you will have a GPS lock again within a few seconds (small correction: the date on the iPhone is March 9, and not March 6 as I incorrectly state in the video)

Again, this setup does not compare to the eventual size of the assembled GPS board for the iPhone, which will be about 1 inch by 1 inch and sit in a nicely looking package.

Small, smaller, smallest

2008-03-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

Well, here is a quick update on how things are progressing. I have been extremely busy designing the PCB board for the GPS module and it is almost done. I won't give the surprise away, but it is really small and has a lot more features on it than I expected to be able to put on such a small area.

In the meantime, I have received some more toys. Another evaluation test board of the GPS module that I will be using as well as the single GPS modules themselves. And on top of that I have ordered different antennas to be tested. The ones displayed in the picture range from 18x18x4mm to 15x15x4mm to 12.8x12.8x4mm. Small, smaller, smallest...

Some toys to play with

2008-02-24T22:41:00.000-08:00

For the last two weeks I have been doing a lot of research on GPS chips and modules and antennas. There are lot of GPS vendors out there and each of them has its own flavor of GPS chips and antennas. So I have looked around and around and around.

I consider a small footprint very important and that is mainly what I have been selecting on since the current GPS technology is already so far advanced that there are not really any bad GPS units out there. Here are some of the main specs for most of them:

12-20 channel position engine (>12 channels should be plenty)
Sensitivity: -155dBm to -160dBm
Typical start-up times

Cold start: ~30sec-1min (that is from turn-on to GPS-lock without initial position data)
Hot start: a few seconds

Most units have WAAS which is nice to have for improved positioning accuracy up to <2.5meters>
Interface: most units support both UART and USB. The iPhone uses 3V level UART (Rx/Tx lines)
Power supply: varies from module to module

Now, in order to keep our package small, we need a small module and we have to make sure that not too many external PCB board components are needed to operate the module. So the iPhone supply voltage of 3.3V pretty much determines what voltage the module should be (typically ~2.7V-3.6V)

Besides the GPS module, we need an antenna, and also here there is plenty to choose from. Most modules have an LNA (low noise amplifier) built in so we should be able to get away with a passive patch antenna only, as long as it is properly matched and not too lossy. Most patch antennas are about 25x25mm in size which in my opinion is just a little too big for the package I have in mind. So I have set my eyes on a smaller one. Experiments will have to prove if it is good enough or not.

In the meantime, I have ordered myself some toys to play with for the time being. I thought it might be a good idea to order a good module with an active antenna and an evaluation board to set a baseline I can measure the actual plug-in against later. See the picture for what I got (sorry for the quality, it was a close-up taken with the iPhone....): the GPS module at 30x30x8.5mm on top of its evaluation board. This module takes about a minute to start up and give a GPS-lock. I further adapted some code for reading out the NMEA data through the UART (COM-port) on my PC. The code should run on the iPhone too and my next goal will be to have the iPhone log some position data while I take it together with the GPS module on a trip.

B.T.W. This is of course not the module that will eventually be used for the plug-in. Its size of 30x30mm is simply too big. I have selected a more compact unit for that...

The project has started....

2008-02-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

The project for bringing you a cheap and affordable, small size, nice-looking GPS plug-in for you iPhone/iTouch has finally kicked off.

First off, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am an electrical engineer who has been working in the telecom/datacom area for many years. While working at a few start-up companies, I have gained experience in bringing a device from development to design to production to market. This experience will be very useful in making an affordable GPS solution for the iPhone/iTouch a reality.

So why this project? First off, there is no GPS on the iPhone/iTouch, but it sure would be nice to have a Navigator app in the car while you are on the road. So I looked around on the internet and the idea for a GPS unit for the iPhone has come up before. There is even one company already in the process of making a plug-in module for about $90 (it is not clear when their product will come to market, most likely after the SDK comes out). Also, their solution is not open-source.... my philosophy is to get the community involved. When the the community indicates that it wants a certain thing and supports it, things can be achieved quickly and for an affordable price, avoiding the excessive price mark-ups that most for-profit companies make. A good example of this community backed concept is the plug-in microphone that was developed to make VoIP calls with the iTouch

What are the goals of the project?

First off, we have to make the hardware. This should be rather straight-forward and I don't forsee many issues with this. The trick is to put everything in a small package at an affordable price.
Second, we need software. In its most simple version, the software would just pop-up with a google map of your coordinates and show you were you are. But really, in the end, we would like to have a voice guided Navigator app that takes a starting and end-address and will just give you directions along the way. This app should be native on the iPhone/iTouch without having the need to be connected to your phone provider or WiFi.

So that's the basic scoop of things.

Make sure to take part in the three polls on the right so we can figure out if you are an iPhone or an iTouch user and how much you would be willing to sacrifice for such a GPS device.

In the making: GPS for the iPhone

2008-02-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

Coming soon....