April 3, 2012
...Say Goodbye To Your 30 Pins.
That ubiquitous 30 pin dock connector may soon be the thing of the past. The proof is there; without really telling us, Apple has been slowly weening us off the dock connector, in favor of wireless technologies. 
Thanks to iFixit.com for their great images and teardowns.
Let’s of what you currently may use the dock connector for, and then think of the recently added features of iOS 5:
- Video Out -> Replaced by AirPlay Mirroring
- Audio -> Airplay or Bluetooth
- Syncing -> Now over Wifi, or iCloud
- App enabled Accessories (Serial or USB) -> Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy
Let’s look at the fourth one a bit closer. In the past, accessories that connected to your phone through the dock connector, or over bluetooth, required approval by the MFI (Made For iPod) program. This means you had to submit your product roadmap, prototypes, and production parts in order to get approval to sell your product.
However, with Bluetooth Low Energy, Apple no longer requires you to apply for the MFI program (See this Post and this Framework). For those of you who have gone through the MFI program know, it can be a bit involved. One theory is that if the dock connector is removed, the influx of bluetooth products will be so large that the MFI program will not be able to handle the traffic.
This begs the question, if not 30 pins, then what? While wireless induction charging is becoming more popular, I’m not sure I see Apple adopting it for the next phone. Another option is Micro USB, which doesn’t fit with Apple’s proprietary style. More likely is a smaller, proprietary connector.
Lastly, the pure size of the dock connector is undoubtedly becoming an annoyance for Apple’s hardare engineers.
So the big signs are there:
1: Everything you use the dock connector for has a wireless alternative.
2: No Made for iPod program for BT LE means less time to market, and no licensing fee.
3: Large connector takes up very valuable real estate.
Enjoy that big old 30 pin connector while you can. Soon it will join our old pal the Parallel Port in the land of obscurity.
February 10, 2012
...Guerrilla Market Research - Scraping SparkFun
Once upon a time I had an idea for a business in the hobby electronics market. Assuming the market was too small, I tried to do some market research. Not finding any good existing research, I looked to SparkFun. They are the undisputed champ of the hobby electronics market, so it makes sense to use them as a gauge. They do release some business info (a lot more recently) but no specific numbers on individual products, inventory turnover, etc.
However, their product pages display live stock numbers…
What’s that you ask? What if we write a script that pulls these numbers every day, giving a day by day, product by product account of all inventory (and therefore sales)? Well… now that is an idea.
March 6, 2011
...Where do PCBs come from?
Previously I had never picked up circuit boards from the manufacturer directly. It was as if the boards were magically converted from electronic gerber files to nice shiny PCBs, and delivered within a couple days in a fedex box.
A recent project had a short enough deadline that it made sense to drive and get the PCBs a day before fedex could. I drove the 40 minutes to Sierra Circuits in Sunnyvale, and couldn’t help but ask for a tour!
What was my takeaway? Paying $35 for prototype circuit boards is incredibly cheap for what you get.
It exists!
September 1, 2010
...New Office Location
Punch Through is in a new office! We are now part of the ‘Reactor’ at 179 11th St., in lovely San Francisco. There are many co-working spots around the city, and I’ve seen most of them. This is the best I could find. Most offices have room for people working with only a laptop. That’s cool for software guys, but when you need microscopes, soldering irons, oscilloscopes, multiple computers, etc, it doesn’t work so well. This space is comfortably open, with about 6-8 people here on a daily basis.
It has a nice kitchen, conference room, and workshop. There is room for us to grow smoothly without having to commit to a bigger space too early. The other guys here have pretty varied backgrounds- industrial design, web development, video production, freelance writing, and other product development stuff.
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