# Why haven't They invented \_\_\_\_\_\_\_? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123 "2005-07-25T22:25:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/21 "2005-07-26T00:17:21Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > I’m picturing a product in Sharper Image: a vast army of nanobots with tiny little mirrors that scurry all over your body reflecting the UV away and allowing a small amount to hit the skin in an even pattern–want less exposure? Deploy more bots! And at the end of the day you push a buton on the control module and they all scurry back into their container where they are attended by nano-repair-bots to make sure they’re all running fine. Unlimited usage for a set. Make it so that the bots can be directed to aim all the reflected light from all of their mirrors at the spot chosen by the wearer and I’ll buy them. Imagine being able to ignite things just by pointing at them and saying a keyword - I’m a firestarter, twisted firestarter. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/22 "2005-07-26T00:19:25Z")
My crock pot has a switch that goes from Off to Warm to Low to High, but no power light, so when my wife puts stuff in and turns it on, she has no clue that it’s not cooking because she always unplugs it. And why does she unplug it? Because my _rice cooker,_ although it has a power light, has no on/off switch, so if it’s plugged in, it’s on, so just to make sure she always unplugs everything when she’s done with it. Why can’t my crock pot have a power light? Why can’t my rice cooker have a power switch? ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/23 "2005-07-26T00:22:08Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > My wife’s clock does this. It’s an Emerson Research CKS3029. She got it at [Target.](http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=2-1/qid=1122333728/ref=sr_2_1/601-0772384-4451322?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B0002DG130) > > It will also set its own time as soon as you plug it in. So I could set alarm at 6:30 Mon-Fri and 9:00 Sat and Sun and be woken by radio each time with that alarm? (The advert on the Target sight doesn’t make it clear that I could). Please say it is so, and I’ll buy one. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/24 "2005-07-26T00:25:49Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > So I could set alarm at 6:30 Mon-Fri and 9:00 Sat and Sun and be woken by radio each time with that alarm? (The advert on the Target sight doesn’t make it clear that I could). Please say it is so, and I’ll buy one. Yes. You can set two different alarms. Each one can be set for Mon-Fri, Mon-Sun, or Sat-Sun and you can be awakened by the buzzer or radio (which is pretty decent for an alarm clock). ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/25 "2005-07-26T00:26:38Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#): > > Would NO-TOUCH work for you? > [http://www.coppertone.com/product.aspx?prodid=33](http://www.coppertone.com/product.aspx?prodid=33) Meh. Not really impressed with the spray-on sunscreens myself. It’s really easy to skip a spot and I don’t enjoy inhaling it either. I wish they could magically invent a sunscreen in soap or body wash format. I have no idea how it would penetrate into the skin before it was rinsed off, but it’d be so convenient. Every spot would be covered and assuming you bathe every day, you’d never forget the sunscreen. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/26 "2005-07-26T00:27:17Z")
A label for prescription drugs that (using the same tech as those talking greeting cards) will read off the info and dosage when pressed hard with a thumbnail. I’ve got too many elderly relatives who CAN’T READ THE STINKING LABEL BECAUSE THE FONT IS TOO SMALL What’s so hard about this? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/27 "2005-07-26T00:30:26Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A label for prescription drugs that (using the same tech as those talking greeting cards) will read off the info and dosage when pressed hard with a thumbnail. I’ve got too many elderly relatives who CAN’T READ THE STINKING LABEL BECAUSE THE FONT IS TOO SMALL > > What’s so hard about this? [This doesn’t talk](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634269/), but it appears to be easier to read. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/28 "2005-07-26T00:38:54Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > [This doesn’t talk](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634269/), but it appears to be easier to read. Very smart idea. Thanks (I didn’t know this existed). Probably a better solution (lo-tech is always better if it does the job as well). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/29 "2005-07-26T00:40:10Z")
I use my cell phone maybe once a week. It does everything, voice commands, pictures, the works. The cell phone is great for folks that may have a hard time finding each other. Or are in an infamilar town. Imagine at a business lunch or out with friends from out of town. “Call us we’ll be back in the office at such and such time”, or whatever. Or, meet us at … where ever. Instead of having to take the number down and put it in the phone. Hold the two phones together, and have it download the info. In-frared should do it. Then, on the voice command menu, just ask for “Last contact”. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/30 "2005-07-26T00:56:53Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Speaking of remotes, I’ve been looking for one that enables you to have an on-screen channel guide that will tell you what’s on all the channels, even if you don’t have digital cable (or cable at all, really). I assume it would have to hook up to your TV, which would in turn be retrieving the information from a satellite. > > Anything like that out there? RCA used to have this included in their TVs. We used it for years when we used regular antenna reception, and it was very useful. When that TV died, we actually chose another RCA (and paid more for it) to get this feature, but it wasn’t included with the new model. For years, I dreamed of figuring out how to turn a staple gun into a regular desktop paper stapler. Then Staples invented it. I think that turn indicators in cars should beep or something after they’ve been on for longer than a reasonable amount of time. I realize that there are times when it is legitimate to have the turn indicator on for long periods of time (waiting through five cycles in the left-turn lane, for example), but it might cut down on how many people drive hours on the expressway without noticing that their left-turn light is on. (Gee, Mary, no one wants to pass me…) I want a remote control lock on my house, just like my car. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/31 "2005-07-26T01:02:39Z")
> [@Kiminy](#): > > I want a remote control lock on my house, just like my car. [Like this](http://www.homeproductsnmore.com/doorshardwarenet/remotelock_BrightBrassDeadbolt_KF-01P.htm)? Very short range, though. ---
**Author:** ![mza662](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mza662](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mza662)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/32 "2005-07-26T01:04:52Z")
I also would like remote locking on my house, but you can get that with electric locks, proximity card reders, etc. I want an alarm clock that can be playing the radio all night and still set off an alarm! I dont wake up with music as I find I need it to sleep, thus I need an extra alarm clock for the alarm since the radio doesn’t let me play an alarm 😛 I want a small fridge, say enough to hold a 6pack of beer, that takes 5 minutes to cool it to drinking temperature from room temperature. That’d be sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/33 "2005-07-26T01:15:50Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > An alarm clock with like twenty different alarms. I got one for Christmas: it’s called the [Sonic Boom](http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?sku=SA650), and it has separate tone and volume controls that you can change as soon as you get used to whatever combo you set it to (it can go from barely audible to extremely loud and annoying) – _and_ there’s a vibrating disc that you can put under your pillow or mattress. Best. Alarm clock. Ever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/34 "2005-07-26T01:23:35Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Instead of having to take the number down and put it in the phone. Hold the two phones together, and have it download the info. In-frared should do it. Many phones already do this - they send a ‘vCard’ that’s a sort of cross-platform contact info packet and can be received by another phone, or an infra-red enabled computer. > [@](#): > > Then, on the voice command menu, just ask for “Last contact”. OK, I’ve not seen that specific function though. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/35 "2005-07-26T01:47:29Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > I wish they could magically invent a sunscreen in soap or body wash format. I have no idea how it would penetrate into the skin before it was rinsed off, but it’d be so convenient. Every spot would be covered and assuming you bathe every day, you’d never forget the sunscreen. Living in Hawaii, I’ve always dreamed of easier ways to put on sunscreen. The shower lotion is not a bad idea. I always imagined the sunscreen coming throught the shower. Like those bottle attachments for the hose, which you use for weeding or car washing. Get your sunscreen in the beach shower. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/36 "2005-07-26T01:49:07Z")
Back in the 1970s, GM had light operation indicators on their high-end vehicles. I remember working on Cadillacs and Corvettes-they both used fiber optic lines to feed the display-in the Vettes they were on the center console, and Caddys put some of them on a dash pod, and left the front lighting readout on little chrome doobies at the leading end of the front fenders. If you had a symmetrical display of colored dots, everything was fine. Temp sensitive shower valves and faucets have been around for a while, too. Grohe is one of the older manufacturers. Their stuff is great, but not for the faint of wallet. Repair parts have made some of my customers get sideways when they hear the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/37 "2005-07-26T02:21:49Z")
The infrared data transfer is available on some Nokia models that I know of for sure, and my Palm does it also. You can actually transfer data from the Nokia to the Palm. Get a new phone/PDA? Press a few buttons and the address book is transfered. No muss, no fuss. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/38 "2005-07-26T04:24:56Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Instead of having to take the number down and put it in the phone. Hold the two phones together, and have it download the info. In-frared should do it. The Treo can do this, like any Palm computer. But I don’t know many people who have a Treo, so it doesn’t do a lot of good. The shortcut I normally use is to simply call each other, to capture the phone number in caller ID, then I just have to enter the name to store it. This is particularly useful if the other person has a new cellphone number that they haven’t memorized yet. Here’s another one: I would like to see boombox-type radios with the same buttons that a car stereo radio has, so that you can change to a different station by pushing a button. Of the half-dozen or more CD/Radio boxes we have around here, all but one uses an analog tuner, making it really difficult to change stations. The one does have digital tuning, but if you can’t find the remote, it’s even harder to change stations. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/39 "2005-07-26T04:36:47Z")
> [@cruel butterfly](#): > > …which is a bummer if you like to set your clock a few minutes ahead to trick yourself into believing that you’re running late… What I’ve always wanted was an alarm clock with “Auto-Adjusting Trick-U-Time”[sup]TM[/sup]. Basically, you set the time properly…then, in the middle of the night, it’ll put itself somewhere between zero and twenty minutes fast. That way, ya never really know… ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123/40 "2005-07-26T04:47:26Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > An alarm clock with like twenty different alarms. WON’T SOMEBODY INVENT ONE? I have one. I call it my computer. Sometimes I call it uglybox. There should be a plugin for Winamp that’ll play whatever’s currently queued at a time that you set. I’m sure there is one, because there’s one for XMMS. Finding and using it is an exercise for the reader. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-they-invented-_______/314123.md?page=3)