
Ask HN: What API to the physical world do you wish existed? - lemma
Inspired by the recent post on the startup that turns your emails into physical letters, I was wondering what other opportunities exist like this. What service do you wish you could initiate online (through an API or otherwise) that would have a real-world outcome?
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mike-cardwell
I'd like to be able to pay other people to phone up companies on my behalf to
do things like closing accounts or changing my address on accounts. Ie, so I
could go to a website and fill in a quick form with the following info:

Phone water company X on phone number N Close my account Information you might
need: My name is Y, my account number is Z, my address is A and my password is
B

I hate having to speak to people whos job it is to try and stop me achieving
my goal, ie cancelling accounts. And having to wait on hold, and having to
phone back when the call queue is shorter. etc

I guess you could create a dedicated API wrapped around Mechanical Turk, and
then stick a website in front of it.

~~~
wuster
I'd like a trustworthy and central repository for my current billing/mailing
address that all the big companies simply "subscribe to". When I move, the
update should be pushed to every bank/magazine/delivery company.

~~~
shrike
How about just never changing your address? I use Virtual Post Mail but there
a a bunch of companies offering virtual mailing addresses. I couldn't be
happier.

------
medwezys
It's not very realistic, but my body health status API would be awesome: see
what vitamins or minerals does it lack, body temperature, level of
cholesterol, blood pressure, levels of hormones. That would allow to create
insanely useful and impactful applications!

~~~
8plot
Yes, this! For years I have been complaining about how silly it is that I know
far more about the day to day condition of my vehicle than I do about my own
body.

~~~
jonnytran
Yes, the fact that I have to physically go to a doctor is absurd. I want real-
time feedback of how bad (or good) the meal is that I'm eating right now, as
I'm eating it. I want to get warnings and reminders of the vitamins and
minerals that I'm low on. Even hydration. Everyone says that if you're
thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Getting in the habit of staying hydrated
is hard work. Little help here?

I suspect that most of this stuff will have to wait for nanobots. Any way we
can do this sooner?

~~~
8plot
I don't think we need to wait for nanobots, the technology is already here now
to accomplish real-time monitoring. Here is one example for blood glucose
monitoring implant:
[http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-07/wireless-
im...](http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-07/wireless-implantable-
glucose-sensor-could-revolutionize-diabetes-treatment)

~~~
jonnytran
Implant is 1.5 inches wide and half an inch thick? No thanks. I'll wait for
the nanobots.

------
senthilnayagam
Get realtime satellite pictures of any geo coordinates as shown in Hollywood
movies, govt/military probably has access to it, but if it was available then
people can see how humans are treating earth and its ecosystem, this can lead
to sustainable development and can help a lot in natural disasters

~~~
drpancake
We're not too far off: <http://urthecast.com>

------
jamii
Shopping. Plenty of places in the UK have online shopping with home delivery
but the interface is terrible. If they published an API someone could do a
proper job of it. I would pay a fair bit of money for a weekly box of food
with a list of recipes for each day so I don't have to make decisions. Even
better if I can thumbs up/down each meal and the system learns what kind of
food I like.

~~~
tomfitzhenry
I am a web developer at Ocado. I have forwarded this on to my boss. Realise,
of course, that this isn't simply a matter of releasing an API.

I do like the idea of a system that learns recipes that you [probably] like,
and sends you their ingredients and a recipe every few days.

------
ShabbyDoo
Not sure that this really counts as an API, but I'd like a converter between
things in my life which require polling and a push sort-of interface. Here's
an example: I ordered some things from eBay, and I'd like to confirm that they
arrived in one piece. After clicking "buy it now", I have to somehow remember
to confirm within a couple of weeks that the items arrived. I used to add a
calendar task N days out with a note like, "ensure delivery of XYZ". However,
I've fallen off the wagon on this of late. The fundamental problem is that
there is no ebay-originating tickler event which lets me know that it's time
to validate delivery. As an analogy, I think I'd like a way to add cron jobs
for my life. Imagine your phone asking you, "Hey, did your package arrive?" If
you affirm delivery, nothing more happens. If you say no, a task gets added to
your todo list to figure out what went wrong (wife mis-placed package, etc.).
You can also say "bug me later."

I'm not sure that I've done a good job articulating what I want, in part
because I only have a vague notion of what would help me out. I do know that
keeping all sorts of "polling lists" in my head (or even in a calendar/todo
list) is very stressful. I'd love to offload the work of remembering this
stuff to a trusted assistant.

What other things in life are missing async callbacks?

\- Cancelling X service before it auto-renews next month/year/whatever \-
Generally, any task with the word "confirm" in it \- Audit-related tasks such
as making sure my client writes me a check for the amount I invoiced.

One could implement basic "tickler" functionality at first without any back-
end integrations and then build one-off interfaces for common use cases -- for
example, use the eBay API to observe purchases I've made and add ticklers
based on the auction's stated delivery dates. Maybe this service also grabs
tracking numbers and digs a level deeper for you. "Remember to grab your
package from the front porch -- there's a 90% chance of rain tonight!"

~~~
phzbOx
A simple todo list with a "later" option could do that. I.e. you write

    
    
      "Receive package" (Report in 2 weeks)
    

So, your todolist is empty but you can safely remove that task from your mind
as it will remind you in any due time. (I.e. 2 weeks in this example)

------
saulrh
Object retrieval. Little helicopter UAVs that can buy you a pencil or a
granola bar, or pick up a flash drive or some paperwork from your house, and
fly it out to you.

~~~
gnurag
We'd slowly turn into that lost human civilization from Wall-E.

------
viscanti
I'd like an API for places that have bad customer service. Ideally, there
would be an automated boxing glove set on the customer service
representative's desk, that I could tap into in the case of bad customer
service, and I could bop them in the face. There's been several times when I'd
like to reach through a computer or phone and hit them (Note: I'm not an
especially violent person). Those companies could monazite the process and
make money off their poor customer service (There's been times when I'd
definitely pay for that).

~~~
phzbOx
Or the inverse.. if you've got a good service, you opened up your iphone and
just click "Nice service"; it's indirect publicity. You could go one step
further and click the name of the employee. So, it'll be a kind of "Employee
of the month" in a less cheesy way.. customer decides instead of the boss
choosing someone.

------
dhpye
undo

If you are truly God, please implement ASAP

~~~
rohit89
Ha, wouldn't that be a useful function. Extremely dangerous as well. I could
see people using it and violating causality in ways unimaginable.

~~~
glimcat
More thermodynamics than causality. Most physical processes are reversible.

------
jroseattle
An Errand and Task API. Child shuttle/delivery API. Hardware store parts-in-
stock API.

And, because I'm in Seattle....a Weather API (with CRUD capabilities.)

~~~
chewbranca
Hrmm... sat here thinking about the question, then thought 'a weather API
would be nice, let me see if anyone else already answered that'.. ctrl-f
weather.. oh great, the one guy who mentioned a weather API is also from
Seattle.

~~~
jroseattle
I think this is simply validation of the idea...

------
arohner
Google Maps for retail stores. (Standing in a store): "Is X in stock?" "on
which isle is X located?"

------
dinde
I want search functionality at the grocery store.

------
phzbOx
"Search into what I'm currently looking right now". I'm at the library, I need
to find the number "x8iz8x7c8z" somewhere.. meh, lost of time. I'm at the
grocery store searching for a particular cheese: "Search moz". I'm driving and
I want to find a particular street.. "Search [street-name]" and when it's in
my vision, it'll be shown.

Basically, a small camera on my ear or something that watch in real-time with
AI to recognize text. And then, a small 'bip' + a red light pointing to it.

~~~
lubujackson
In other words, you want to be the Terminator.

Join the club.

------
sathishmanohar
GeoLocation for Keys. (literal keys)

~~~
garethsprice
There's a few devices like this out there, usually with a limited range and
audio-only alerts though: [http://www.amazon.com/EZ-FIND-Item-Design-
Electronic-Locator...](http://www.amazon.com/EZ-FIND-Item-Design-Electronic-
Locator/dp/B004FVFGMW/ref=pd_sim_e6)

Full geolocation would be quite a bit harder, what would be the use case where
you'd need to, say, plot the location of your keys on a map?

~~~
sathishmanohar
Yeah.. Totally Agree.. Geo Location is like absolute file path (absolute co-
ordinates on the map), but, relative path (relative to the user) is more
sufficient here..

------
avianchaosx
Google is pretty much working on this: telling a car to go where I want it to
go.

------
neilk
I'd like each parking meter to have an API. When you park, you tell your phone
what the API endpoint of the meter is, via QR code or whatever. Then you can
continue to monitor it, and pay the meter, remotely. Or if there are
ordinances forbidding parking more than N hours it alerts you.

Probably wouldn't happen as cities are addicted to parking ticket revenue, and
there are unionized meter readers.

~~~
andrewtbham
Parking meters are often designed to Make long term parking inconvenient and
make short term parking available.

------
rohit89
A find() method for physical objects that'll return co-ordinates of where it's
located. Very useful for locating people as well.

~~~
anujkk
I guess it can be done using some combination of RFID/Building Map, GPS/Google
Map and an app(mobile/tablet/web) to manage it all.

We need cheap, mini(or sticker like)RFID/GPS systems, so that we can just
stick it to the items we want to track.

------
rokhayakebe
A bit different. I think every person should have their own API. Something
standardized. This would be all their data and different methods/permissions
to access it. Furthermore you should be able to host/move this data where ever
you like. Any service can have read and/or write access to your API depending
on your preferences.

~~~
petervandijck
You _want_ to live in the Matrix?

------
phzbOx
I'd like to be able to ask a question to the planet (Or at least anybody who's
ready to answer it _right now_ ). So I ask:

"What's 2.2kg in lbs" (0.10cent)

Someone on their computer just google it, type the answer and receive
0.10cent.

So basically, it's IRC + Stackoverflow but in real-time and you pay to get the
answer _now_ without searching. People could wait for the metro or the bus
with their phone and see the questions and could click [answer] if they know
the answer (or know how to get it really fast) or [next] to get another
question.

Ideally, an expert in a field could make real money in situations where he/she
would lose their time. Waiting in a queue to pay? Just answer 1 10$ question.
Waiting at the metro/subway? Answer a couple question.

Looking for the name of a street? Lost? Searching for ketshup in the grocery?
Just ask and put your price.

~~~
goo
Aardvark did this: <http://vark.com/>

~~~
phzbOx
Cool but sad :( <http://blog.vark.com/?p=379>

------
DanielRibeiro
Learning: A matrix-like api would be just great.

------
moe
Money.print(currency, amount) → Banknote or nil

------
declancostello
google search on books - on the back cover.

I'd like a digital wall paper on my walls so that I could change how my walls
look every day.

------
RomP
not really an API, but related: touchless/cardless ATM:

an App on my phone which I can use to find the nearest ATM and make a
withdrawal. It knows my account credentials. I tell it how much cash I need.
The app generates the transaction, encodes it in the QR code. I show the phone
screen to the ATM's camera. The ATM dispenses the cash, takes photo of the
person receiving the money and attaches it to the transactions log/statement.

No germs exchanged, no risk of skimming, more security (password vs. 4-digit
pin code), no need to carry the ATM card around.

~~~
lamby
You're worried about catching germs from an ATM?

------
webgambit
I want an API to tap into time itself. Eventually, I'd want to be able to
travel through it, but in the beta I'd settle for just the ability to pause it
whenever I like. :)

------
xd
My brain.

~~~
ghotli
yeah i'm working on that one. soon enough friend.

------
buddydvd
Prices of auto services local to where you live (e.g. oil change).

------
theitgirl
I would like:

1\. An API to connect to non-profits and donate to them.

2\. An API to retrieve college textbook information..like what are all the
courses for the fall semester and their required textbooks.

------
arohner
What are the (non-spoiled) contents of my refrigerator?

------
Meai
Well I'd like a search function. I'm sure it's possible somehow, you need
cameras everywhere and / or microships in everything.

------
Neuromantic
Chicks, man...

~~~
wuster
you mean... a... Woman Decoder?

~~~
delinka
No need to decode if you can call API methods, receiving proper replies. You
start learning (reverse engineering?) the subject's behavior based on
responses to methods.

OK, I'm thinking as I type. The API must represent a functional system (i.e.
function calls do no have side effects, produce the same output given the same
environment) for RE to work. The first million iterations of such an API would
not 'feel' functional because humans tend away from rationality (insert
gender-prejudiced joke here.)

I suspect that once you get down into the tiniest bits of the human system
(quantum behavior in brains, if indeed that's even necessary for
consciousness), you can get much more functional results. Then, that gets us
into eliminating chaos (replacing it with knowledge) in complex systems.

Consider: knowing how that precise collection of molecules (that tasty roasted
meat, whose chicken was raised on marigold petals but once ate a bug or three)
will affect the digestive, circulatory and nervous systems of a human;
initially when the odor affects the receptors in the nose and ultimately after
digestion has done its job and delivered all the tiny chicken bits to cells in
the human body. And between those times, how anticipation from delayed
gratification ("we'll wait for Grandma to arrive before we eat") affects the
effects of the food on the human. And from here, chaos theory...

I pontificate muchly and pointlessly, but it was fun.

------
pknerd
An API to pick best developer who can write code on my behalf :-)

------
wuster
DVRs. For when I space out in long lectures or meetings =)

~~~
jeffool
Definitely my cable box/DVR. Not only for better search (and ANY starch of
OnDemand material.) It does such a horrible job of "DVR" functionality it's
sad. Constantly clipping shows despite setting it to record minutes
early/late.

Sure, I probably just need to get Google TV or Tivo, but you'd think it
wouldn't be a Herculean task, y'know?

------
kevinburke
It would be nice to call someone's car.

------
derrida
The Human Body. Oh wait. We already have one.

