This cloud-connected fidget spinner takes uselessness to a whole new level

Fidget spinners — yeah, they're still a thing. So why not capitalize on the phase if you can?

Ben Parnas, an electrical engineer at Formlabs, and his buddy Greg Daneault, an associate software engineer at Carbon Black, did just that. The two created a fidget spinner that may be even more useless than the real thing for the Boston Stupid Hackathon. The tagline of the event (also known as Stupid Shit No One Needs And Terrible Ideas Hackathon) was "Come make something we'll all regret."

The two buddies wanted to take an object that is a useless part of everyone's lives and make it even easier to use. The connected a fidget spinner to a robot that spins it automatically. That robot is connected to the cloud, so you can activate it via smartphone. Not by tapping or swiping, mind you, but by actually spinning your phone. Read more...