The SidePulse Pro is a fun project that puts some LEDs in an "SD card format" to go into the side of a MacBook Pro. My MacBook Pro is very old and so it doesn't have an SD card slot, but my Mac Studio does. And since I like to live dangerously (and thought it would look cool), I stuck my newly received SidePulse Pro in the slot.
This is a Bad Idea. The SidePulse Pro is engineered for the MacBook Pro and the slot on the Mac Studio is much deeper. It promptly disappeared inside the slot with no way to remove it.
The SidePulsePro is beautifully engineered to have the same dimensions and curves as Apple hardware. It fits perfectly into the slot with no way to get a grasp on it. My first attempt to remove it involved using needles pressed into the plastic at the ends to try to pull it out. No dice.
I briefly considered opening the Mac Studio but after watching this tear down I decided that would be a lot of work. I tried sucking it out with a vacuum cleaner but that didn't work. I thought about trying to superglue a small piece of metal to it but figured I'd end up supergluing it into my Mac.
And so, as I've done in the past, I resorted to tools.
Specifically, I drilled a small hole directly into the SidePulsePro and threaded a small screw into it. With that the SidePulsePro was trivial to remove.
(In that image you can see where I attempted to remove the SidePulse Pro using a needle pushed into the rounded ends).
Does it still work? I have no idea as I don't have a suitable SD card slot to stick it in!
What's the moral of this story? Read the instructions and compatibility information!