01.jpgThere is just something precocious about 11-year olds and their imagination – at least we know one of them in the good ol’ USA is patriotic enough to observe that while many devices and other stuff are designed here, they are actually manufactured elsewhere. Of course, the economics of the situation might be a bit too heavy for him to understand at the moment, but at the very least, he is able to think out of the box by coming up with something that is made back in the US without losing any bit of functionality.
We’re talking about 11-year-old Dino Zaharakis, who intends to develop a stand that could place/remove a device without disconnecting its cable, hold a device with/without a skin in both portrait and landscape modes, have viewing angles that were optimized for video conferencing and manufactured back home, allthe while being able to play nice with iPad, Kindle, nook, tablets, iPhone and other smartphones.
Dino actually came up with this iPad dock after seeing his dad use an impromptu one while discussing the family’s summer camp plans, where Dino quickly pointed out a bunch of design flaws while suggesting that he could do better. Naturally, his dad decided to challenge him, offering him a new phone if Dino could come up with an iPad dock and a web site. This catalyst caused Dino’s mind to move into high gear, where he manipulated pieces of aluminum stock from McMaster-Carr, using a Home Depot miter saw and a vise. He made several prototypes. There were three favorites in total, dubbed Curly 3 Stooges, Alpha Slick and Big Z.
The final prototype was created after merging the best features and capabilities of each prototype. This led Dino’s dad to bring him to Northampton Community College’s Fab Lab where they created 3D solid models using Solidworks and later created prototypes using a Dimension 3D printer. The dzdock One can be yours for $29.99, where it will come in black, white, silver, red, pink, lime and blue shades. With the promotional code of DZPRNEWS at www.buy.dzdock.com, you can bring this puppy home for $10 less – and this offer is good until Christmas, so what are you waiting for?
