This story is a rescue mission that will inspire tech heads and innovators for generations to come.
Tyler Efird, an engineer, was working on a 3D-print in his San Francisco apartment around 4am and decided to clear his work space up by blowing dust out of his window. Out the dust went, along with his Airpod — the damsel in distress for this tale.
Efird’s worst fears were confirmed when he got Find My iPhone to start pinging the Airpod and realised it had landed in a fenced-off space between Efird’s apartment building and a neighboring one. The area is primarily home to spiders and litter tossed down by second-floor neighbors too lazy to walk their rubbish down.
After the fall, Efird rushed down to retrieve the Airpod but found no success and that he was running out time before he had to leave for an early flight. During his two-week trip, he accepted that he would have to pay to replace the device. That was before learning he would have to pay a £69 fee and wait six weeks before he saw another Airpod.
So, the rescue mission was born. Efird had a few goals for the mission: do no damage to fence, spend less than Apple’s replacement fee and touch no spiders.
With a zinc-plated steel bolt, magnetic wire, ethernet cord and DC bench power supply, Efird constructed a makeshift fishing pole. The materials cost him about $5 (about £4) in total.
Dropping the magnet down the shaft, he picked up a few metal brackets, nails and even a child’s bicycle. But most importantly, he snagged the Airpod — and it was even ready to use with a 64% charge.
The rescue, documented on Snapchat and uploaded to Vimeo by Efird, ends with a victorious “LOL it worked” caption — a rallying cry for all tech-intrigued Millennials.
It’s been two months since the rescue, and there no signs that the fall or Efird’s electromagnetic retrieval did any damage, according to a blog poston his website. It’s a happy ending after all — except for the spiders, who lost out on a near bit of tech.
