A couple of things that I think are (probably) possible with today’s technology, should someone invent them.
A way to opt out of the local broadcast network’s affiliate’s broadcast when they pre-empt the network’s programming for their own. Like if I recorded Young Sheldon but when I watch it’s just the KMOV weather guy talking about tornadoes on the opposite end of the KMOV viewing area, hundreds of miles from me. Press a button and bingo! Back to CBS programming.
A way to effectively mix my own sound (for lack of a better choice of words) when watching content, whether via YouTube, TV, streaming, yada yada. Turn down the annoying music so I can actually hear what’s going on, fiddle with the bass register a bit so my ears can pick it up, etc.
I’d like to see development of plant/tree hybrids with good cold resistance that would allow me to grow them in my zone 6b climate, such as a fig hybrid that’s reliably wood-hardy down to -5 or even -10F.
I want the genetic engineers to make a creature that is basically a stomach and a tooth. You feed it, and it makes ivory. Its purpose would be to make ivory so plentiful, and so cheap, that elephant poaching would be unprofitable.
I want them to make a flying creature large enough to carry a human, and shaped so that you can put a saddle on it without interfering with the wings.
YES YES YES. Why some directors think that music b̷e̷h̷i̷n̷d̷ over dialogue improves a scene defeats me. Yes, it can add drama or pathos when appropriate, but elevator music drowning out speech is self-defeating.
I see that you’re from England. If there’s bad weather, does the BBC preempt its own programming to tell you about it? Or is it just expected that you’ll listen to your radio and/or look it up on your own?
I suppose it might if there was an imminent hurricane, but we don’t get them, or at least not yet.
The Environment Agency has a website that will warn people of floods, and there are the usual weather forecasts.
Just today, I read this on the BBC webpage:
A siren-like alert will be sent to mobile phone users across the UK next month to test a new government public warning system.
It allows the government and emergency services to send urgent messages warning the public of life-threatening situations like flooding or wildfires.
The test is expected to take place in the early evening of 23 April.
Phone users will have to acknowledge the alert before they can use other features on their devices.
A message will appear on the home screens of people’s devices during the test, with vibration and a loud warning sound that will ring for about 10 seconds, even if the phone is set to silent.
The system - which became operational on Sunday - is being modelled on similar schemes used in the US, Canada, Japan and The Netherlands.
Messages would only ever come from the government or emergency services and will initially focus on the most serious weather-related events, with the ability to get a message to 90% of mobile users within the relevant area.
There are several Spanish language channels that show movies and TV shows dubbed in Spanish (duh). I’d like to switch the language to English while I’m watching or recording these shows.
When I was in a walking boot and had to use the handrail to go up and down the stairs, I tied a strong line in a big loop, around one of the upright beams of the stairwell. I tied a little loop at one point, and hooked a carabiner to it. I used it to move bags of stuff up and down - mostly laundry. If you chose the setup properly, there’s no reason you couldn’t design it with a little motor on a remote control to raise and lower it without any effort. So, maybe half-way to inventing something useful?
Ah yes, the emergency alert broadcast on cell phones. Those things can wake the dead, let me tell you.
I watched a video of a British tourist tooling around in America and he and his traveling companion both got one on their phones (warning of a hurricane). They didn’t know what the sound was and thought it was coming from the vehicle they were driving.
Telepathic dragons, what’s not to like?