Skip to main content

3D-printed basket earrings will catch your falling wireless AirPods

airpod basket earrings img 8305 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Two thoughts went through our minds when Apple first showed off its wireless AirPods at September’s iPhone 7 event. The first was, “Wow, those look pretty darned awesome.” The second was, “How long until we lose them?”

It seems the folks at micro 3D-printer company M3D had exactly the same one-two hit of thoughts, because they went out and quickly came up with a workaround. What they have created is a pair of mini-basket earrings, which promise to catch the futuristic earbuds if and when they fall out of your ears.

Recommended Videos

“We were in our office, joking about what would happen if someone got one of these hooked into their large hoop earrings,” Rob Marietta, head of customer support for M3D, told Digital Trends. “After a while someone said, ‘Well, maybe we should aim for that.’ Based on that comment, we started working on this, with the idea that it could be the perfect stocking stuffer for someone to give an iPhone fan this Christmas.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Related: After its Micro 3D printer fizzled, M3D promises fireworks from the $500 Pro

airpod_earring_in_ear
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Called the Twisty Earbud Catchers, the earrings are not exactly designed to be a super-serious application for 3D printing. However, it is further proof positive about some of the original and ingenious solutions that exist when you give people easy-to-use additive manufacturing tools they can use from the comfort of their own homes.

Don’t worry if you are not up to the challenge of designing something like this yourself, either — as the files needed to print your own version of M3D’s AirPod catching earrings can be downloaded via Thingiverse.

“It’s about rapid reaction,” Marietta continued. “As we’ve gotten better at communication as a species, and can cross ideas across vast distances incredibly quickly, it’s important that we keep up with the production side of things. 3D printing allows for instant realization of ideas. OK, so it’s not quite Star Trekreplicator levels of instant just yet, but it does mean that we can turn around a concept in the same day and make it available to a large number of people. As soon as there’s a need for something, we can fulfill that need. Even if that need is just for AirPod-catching earrings.”

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Next-gen AirPods could let others override your ANC
A woman wearing AirPods 3rd Generation while exercising.

Ever since Apple debuted its now-iconic AirPods true wireless earbuds, it has been expanding what these handy devices can do. The list now includes hands-free access to Siri, enhanced hearing with Conversation Boost, head-tracking spatial audio, and the super-popular combo of active noise cancellation (ANC) and transparency mode. But if a recently published patent application is any indication, Apple could soon let a trusted person remotely disable ANC mode, just by uttering a pre-determined word or phrase.

The patent application, entitled "Interrupt for noise cancelling audio devices" was first spotted by AppleInsider, and it details -- at great length -- how AirPods owners could allow their attention to be grabbed by another person, by automatically shutting off ANC mode when that person says a specific passphrase.

Read more
Apple AirPods get better call quality with newest Windows 11 update
AirPods from Podswap.

The best part about having Apple products is the way they work with each other seamlessly. However, when it comes to Apple devices working with other manufacturers' devices, the story is completely different. For some people, it might be a pain to use AirPods with a Windows machine, but things are getting easier with the latest Windows 11 build, which brings better-quality audio calls on your Apple true wireless earbuds.

Insider Build 22526 for Windows 11 brings wideband speech compatibility to Apple's AirPods lineup, which includes all the models, namely AirPods, AirPods (3rd gen),  AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. The update will improve audio quality in voice calls.

Read more
AMD’s 3D-stacked Ryzen 7 5800X3D is ‘world’s fastest gaming processor’
AMD CEO presenting new CPU.

The first processor to use a 3D V-Cache technology was announced at the big AMD CES 2022 keynote. The tech was first announced at Computex 2021, and fans have been eagerly awaiting a processor that will put it to use.

That processor is the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which seems like a strange place to start a new range of processors. AMD has its Ryzen 9 chips, after all. That's because the new Ryzen 7 can outclass AMD's Ryzen 9 5900X while gaming, despite using the same architecture.

Read more