Hmm...maybe. DId you replace the /bin/init with the hacked one after upgrading to alpha14?
AFAIK, the stock init will still try to make the player use the serial port.

Another thing to check - IIRC, gpsapp defaults to NMEA mode anyway, but I could be wrong. It might be an idea to append NMEA to your exec line anyway. I'll update the above script to reflect that.