Pins Collective

Thu Jul 13 '17 Announcement
over 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 04:03:37 AM

Hi guys!

This has been an amazing day. I've spent some time with our firmware developer trying to find ways to improve the speed when transferring images from the phone to the pin. With a whopping 300% improvement I'm walking on clouds. There's still more to gain in order to get to the theoretical limit of BLE but we're quit close now.

Since last we've also made a new batch of production samples. These are as good as the first production series of pins will be and produced in the real production line. Just in smaller batches.

Here's me presenting the pre-series and where we're at with the app. I wish we had more time to spend on recording and cutting these movies.

But we feel that our time is better spent making the app and other parts of the product amazing before launch. (And now as you see the upload, imagine the speed being 3X as fast) 

We also have footage from when the pre-series was assembled in the factory in China.

Finally, since this pre-series batch was satisfactory we did place an order for 2500 pins about 2 weeks ago. All components are ordered and agreements are in place. This mean we'll start manufacturing in mid/end of September as soon as all components have arrived. More importantly. This mean you guys will get your pins. It's happening now!

Wish you all an amazing summer! We'll surely come with more updates soon.

Mon Jun 5 '17 Announcement
over 7 years ago – Mon, Jun 05, 2017 at 06:40:13 AM

Short update this week as we are waiting for next batch of pins from China - arrives beginning of next week. Core focus for this weeks pre-series has been to refine the sonic welding process and secure that the process is flawless once we start making larger series. We also moved the LCD a millimeter or so to - might seem as a small change but they really count when the product is so small.

We also made some changes to the hardware and added a hardware reset functionality. Some testing is needed but shouldn’t cause any major upsets. As soon as we have had some time to evaluate the latest batch we will come with a new update. But we are close to complete the development phase now. 

Wed May 10 '17 Announcement
over 7 years ago – Wed, May 10, 2017 at 04:48:48 AM

Results from weeks of field tests

Dear all,

We are making progress and seeing promising results - the apps are looking more and more stable and by the end of this week the Android MVP will have all vital functions in place with the iOS app not far behind. The firmware is also getting better and we are at a place where we are optimizing rather than adding features. We will also be contacting those of you who have signed up for early access soon as formats are getting into place and the apps are moving closer to beta.

Pre-series - Conclusion

After a couple of weeks of field testing we have concluded that we need to make a second pre-series in order to ensure that the pins we ship to you guys are great. The pins in the current pre-series are working well but have some minor issues.

The next pre-series will be manufactured at the end of May and arrive in Stockholm the week after.

The pre-serie(s) have several purposes. The primary focus is to identify a golden sample that will work as a standard for the pins produced on a mass production scale. We then make an agreement with the manufacturer on how much other pins can deviate from the golden sample when in mass production. Once we have agreed on that, we will place an order for the pins, which will be followed by the manufacturer ordering the necessary components.

As there are both lead times on components and slot times at the factory to be opened up, we still have a long time before we can manufacture the first batch. Our screen manufacturers have a worst case lead time of  12-16  weeks to deliver the screens, which we must take into account in our timeline. We will do all we can to shorten this lead times of course.

We’d love to be able to say that we trust our partner/manufacturer and we could just go ahead and order the first batch of pins, cut lead times for components and materials, and hope the issues with the pre-series will be solved during the process. However, if the past six months have been a guide, we must be patient with the details since quality cannot be sacrificed for speed.  

Based on all of this, our current plan is to manufacture the first batch of 2500 pins in September and start shipping them as soon as we receive them. . We can only apologize for the delays and hope you will be gracious.

Wed Apr 19 '17 Announcement
over 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 08:58:04 AM

We hope you all, who celebrate, have had a great easter holiday. We have been scruetinizing the pre-series that arrived from China the week before easter. All in all they look great and it is a sweet sensation of being stopped by people in the street asking about it and where they can buy one! The range varying from small kids on the subway to 50 year old male fashionistas - a bit depending on what one is wearing on the pin :D

For you who have signed up for early access we will contact you separately with information about artwork guidelines and format limitations. We have been creating artworks for the pins the last weeks and it is obvious that one needs to think about the canvas and its boundaries - but that is what artistry is all about!

Almost all of the pins we got had some minor dents and scratch marks. Good thing is that they have been caused during the sonic welding phase. This is a tuning process and we prefer this to being a molding issue. During the last week of testing we have identified one bug that we need to investigate further. Some pins stops working during times and only comes back up once the battery has been fully depleted. Might be caused by the firmware bug but origin needs to be investigated.

All basic firmware functionalities, except battery optimizations, are now in place. Last weeks have been spent with bug fixes and updates. App development have also come further as you can see in Kristoffers video on what he has been up to last couple of weeks. The coming weeks will be focused on speeding up processes and transfer speeds. We will also have a meeting about whether to move the project into the mass production phase shortly - after that we will be able to communicate production dates to you all.

Kind regards

PC TEAM

Thu Mar 16 '17 Announcement
over 7 years ago – Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 06:42:43 AM

Hi All,

It’s been a long wait but theres been made great progress the last two weeks. We have gone from a poorly functioning firmware with barely any Bluetooth functionality to having basic functions in place. We are yet to do the battery save functionality and over the air firmware updates. The later is planned to be completed this week and is a prerequisite for manufacturing the pre series. On monday we have a slot time for SMT, the first industrialized assembly of the PCB (circuit boards). As soon as the over the air update functionality is in place we can do the full assembly process in the factory. This will give us a pre series of 50-60 units.

We have filmed the latest prototype which arrived Monday from China. There’s a huge difference in the frame rate update which is quite clear when you see the animation on the old and new prototype next to each other. The new plastic also gives the pin a lot tighter feel even when it is not glued or welded together.

Time frame and shipping will be based on the success of the coming weeks pre series and how they stand the tests. It is the same company who is writing the firmware that are manufacturing the pin in China. Even if things are moving forward at a faster pace there are some trust issues here. As soon as we have a firm shipping date you will be the first to know.

Not possible to embed videos on IndieGoGo for some time now so please use link to our Youtube Channel. 

https://youtu.be/eQ3Nu2QEVKA