Remember when 3D TVs came on the scene and revolutionized the way we viewed content from the comfort of our couches? No? Ok, what about when 3D printers started a manufacturing revolution in the homes of each and every American? Also no?

I think we can all agree that 3D anything hasn’t exactly found its way into the ‘daily use’ category for the average nerd (unless you love your Nintendo 3DS like I do), even though I’m sure most of us also assume that in another decade Princess Leia-style holograms # will be the norm and 3D printers will be saving us trips to the local hardware store.

In the meantime though, 3D printing is at least good enough to inject some high-tech Christmas cheer into your holiday season. That’s because there’s Scandy, a New Orleans-based startup that can capture your memories and then seamlessly 3D print them as a sphere which can be illuminated and used a Christmas ornament or pleasant secular memory bauble.

Just check out this gorgeous Random Nerds sphere in all of its rotating glory…



Why print photos of my family when I can print branded Random Nerds stuff?

When I saw Scandy on Kickstarter, I immediately knew that I wanted to back it. It looked weird and awesome and throwing money at weird and awesome things is the whole point of Kickstarter, especially when you can rationalize it as Christmas shopping. It also should be noted that Scandy is the only Kickstarter campaign in recent memory aside from the Pebble Time that I decided to back while totally sober (I’m apparently a producer of the kickster Sci-Fi movie, Theoxenia # , which may never see the light of the day but does allow me to tell people that I am in fact a movie producer).

But just watch this video and you’ll see why I got hooked on these things: