# Inventions the world needs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591 "2016-08-22T00:32:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/41 "2016-08-23T19:57:33Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > How about a tracker for my checked bag? Maybe then, when the airline can’t find it, I can help them out! Exists! [https://www.thetileapp.com/luggage-tracker](https://www.thetileapp.com/luggage-tracker) And on the outlet issue, that was the best benefit of all when building our new house. I got to put outlets where I wanted them and in the numbers I wanted. Apparently outlets in closets are prohibited in our city due to fires caused by idiots so that was the one downside - I’d love to have a charging center in my closet to get my phone off the nightstand. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/42 "2016-08-23T22:02:38Z")
General superintelligent machines. In theory it’d be like asking a genie for infinite wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/43 "2016-08-23T22:04:50Z")
> [@KellyCriterion](#): > > TVs should have a “TV remote locator” button on them that, when pressed, makes the TV remote control beep. > **[Where's the remote? 5 best tracking devices to find lost items](https://www.today.com/money/lost-found-5-best-tracking-devices-find-misplaced-items-1D79862951)** > > If you’re someone who is routinely misplacing or losing things like the TV remote, your keys, wallet, or smartphone, I’ve got good news: there’s technology that can help!Tile trackerTile is a small, square white device that connects to your... ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/44 "2016-08-23T22:05:59Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > As someone who was forever spilling some part of my lunch on my blouse at work, I would like someone to invent an Insta-blouse. It would come in a tiny packet, and when exposed to air would grow into a regular blouse that I could swap out for my stained one. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-A-dVa734i4/hqdefault.jpg "Cosmo Kramer invention #2") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A-dVa734i4) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/45 "2016-08-24T01:44:22Z")
Invisible cloaks Microwaveable chicken wings that don’t suck Hover boards Warp drive Babel fish (though we’re getting close with this one) Cold fusion ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/46 "2016-08-24T14:43:25Z")
> [@Sario](#): > > If you use an Android smart phone, you can do that. You can log in to your google account and make your phone ring, even if it’s on silent. You can also use its GPS to see where it is. Even when it is turned off? Why anyone ever turns their phone off, I don’t know, but apparently many people do. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/47 "2016-08-25T13:10:10Z")
My elderly mom: “Yes, dear, I had my cellular phone with me. Turned on? Heavens no, not in my purse! I can turn it on if I know someone’s going to call…” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/48 "2016-08-25T22:56:04Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > On a more practical note, I want them to make a critter that > is basically a stomach and a tooth. You feed it, and it makes ivory. We raise them on large plantations, and ivory becomes so plentiful and so cheap that elephant-poaching becomes unprofitable. Maybe we could do something similar with rhinoceros horn and shark fin. Won’t you think of the poor exploited tooth-stomach critters :eek:? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/49 "2016-08-26T07:49:44Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > This one is so overdue. > Also a universal remote that I can go online with to program or connect to the TV / Cable box so I don’t have to dig the manual out to re-enter the correct code from the list every time I change the batteries. I had a PocketPC that could do that, the universal remote thing, it was awesome. You could either get the codes and layout for different remotes online, or build your own by pointing the original remote at the PocketPC, pressing the button you wanted to capture the signal and then assign it to a button on the UI. To this day I’m still baffled that Smartphones don’t having that functionality. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/50 "2016-08-26T10:59:41Z")
Glasses that float and hover 12" off your shoulder. Never lose them again. Smart phone glass that expands and contracts to meet your needs. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/51 "2016-08-26T13:32:10Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Even when it is turned off? > > Why anyone ever turns their phone off, I don’t know, but apparently many people do. Cos if anybody calls me between 11pm and 7am, they deserve being taken out back, beaten within an inch of their lives and skinned slowly. And I’ve had people call at those times, including an asshole boss and a newbie agent who hadn’t heard of time zones. > [@AskNott](#): > > Every tall person has wished for telescoping implants in their femurs for sitting without pain in too-short legroom. You know, the ones in theaters, sports stadiums, buses, subway cars, airplanes, and some cars. I suppose a screw-drive piston would be better for internal placement than hydraulics. Us shorties wouldn’t mind them when we need to change a lightbulb either. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/52 "2016-08-26T13:39:20Z")
Re. power strips and similar inventions, [powercube](https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=powercube) models are color coded: the colored part is a different color depending on which combination of regular plugs, USBs and cable length you’re getting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591.md?page=2)