21st Century 3D Printed Version of the Pet Rock | 3D Printer Menu Home Investing Kickstarter Apps 3D Printer Directory Free 3D Models 3D Modeling Software Desktop 3D Printers Commercial 3D Printers 3D Printing Services 3D Printer Materials 3D Scanners What is 3D Printing? Store 21st Century 3D Printed Version of the Pet Rock August 24, 2014 Business addiction , smartphone Remember the wild success of the Pet Rock? Ok, maybe, that was before your time. But back in the hip days of the 1970’s an advertising executive named Gary Dahl in Los Gatos, CA, came up with the idea to sell Pet Rocks and a craze was born. The Pet Rock, was just that, a rock, that didn’t do ANY of the things a pet did. Which made it, of course, a great pet! Millions were sold and the rest is history. The Original Pet Rock with its Carrying Case Fast forward to the 21st century and the brainchild of two wild and crazy “Double Dutch” designers, Ben Langeveld and Ingmar Larsen. Working with Hyper Island and Silver + Partners NY creatives Mariana Oliveira, Alanna Watson and Van Gould, the 3D Printed noPhone was born to help us poor smartphone addicts. According to the sparse noPhone website, the user can “fulfill all smartphone-holding needs without preventing the user to engage in real life interactions.” It appears there is a “compulsory need in humans to continuously engage in physical contact with a piece of plastic” evidenced by the fact that the average smartphone user checks their device 150 times per day. Ben & Ingmar The noPhone website is hilarious. Special features are listed that include being Battery free, requiring no upgrades, and best of all for those who sleep with their phones, it is shatterproof. You can also take it in the shower as it is completely waterproof! Go to the website for the Testimonials alone that include how it helped one addict stop drunk-texting their ex-lover. It doesn’t look like it’s on the market yet but we hear they are looking into manufacturing. One idea would be to make the files available on Cubify or Thingiverse for DIY 3D Printing addicts to fabricate their own noPhone. So while anyone could theoretically 3D Print a noPhone, these guys have the exact dimensions nailed. Again according to the website, “The noPhone simulates the exact weight and dimensions of your most beloved gadget in order to alleviate any feelings of inadequacy generated by the absence of a real smartphone.” Whether or not the noPhone can actually help smartphone addicts remains to be seen, but I do hope the noPhone will follow in the footsteps of the Pet Rock and become a worldwide craze! About Sarah Boisvert Sarah Boisvert has worked in digital fabrication since 1986. She co-founded the commercial division of Potomac Photonics, Inc. , a Digital Fabrication service provider in Baltimore, MD for which she consults. She is also the founder of FabLabHub , a non-profit working on digital fabrication in makerspaces that are part of the Fab Lab Network started in the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms. View all posts by Sarah Boisvert → Most Popular Recent Posts Formlabs Gathering of 3DPrinting Thought Leaders At MIT Media Lab Explores The Digital Factory DigiFabCon Explores how tools like 3DPrinting are changing the world! Laser Institute’s LAM Workshop Explores State of the Art in Additive Manufacturing 3D Print Life Support Looking for Techs The 3D-Printed ‘Super Bike’ Could Be a Bigger Deal Than You Think Adidas Made an Ocean-Plastic Shoe You Can Actually Buy WATCH: This 3D Printed Jet Engine Is Hypnotizing Resources Personal 3D Printers Commercial 3D Printers 3D Printing Services 3D Modeling Software Free 3D Models 3D Scanners Contact Contact Us Send us a tip 3D Printing Experts: Talk to 100,000 Readers a Month! If you know your way around 3D printers or 3D modeling, whether you are a user, engineer, salesperson, vendor or blogger, we'd love to have you write an article for us. We are getting about 3,000 readers a day and growing quickly. Interested? Click here.. Categories 3D Modeling 3D Scanning Architecture Consumer Goods Crime Electronics Fashion Future Health & Medical Hobby Industrial Military Research Software Toys © 3D Printer. Privacy Policy