Ask HN: What API to the physical world do you wish existed?

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

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!

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

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.

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."<p>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.<p>What other things in life are missing async callbacks?<p>- 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.<p>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!"

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.

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).

undo<p>If you are truly God, please implement ASAP

An Errand and Task API. Child shuttle/delivery API. Hardware store parts-in-stock API.<p>And, because I'm in Seattle....a Weather API (with CRUD capabilities.)

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

I want search functionality at the grocery store.

"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.<p>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.

GeoLocation for Keys. (literal keys)

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

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

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

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.

I'd like to be able to ask a question to the planet (Or at least anybody who's ready to answer it <i>right now</i>). So I ask:<p>"What's 2.2kg in lbs" (0.10cent)<p>Someone on their computer just google it, type the answer and receive 0.10cent.<p>So basically, it's IRC + Stackoverflow but in real-time and you pay to get the answer <i>now</i> 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.<p>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.<p>Looking for the name of a street? Lost? Searching for ketshup in the grocery? Just ask and put your price.

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

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

google search on books - on the back cover.<p>I'd like a digital wall paper on my walls so that I could change how my walls look every day.

not really an API, but related: touchless/cardless ATM:<p>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.<p>No germs exchanged, no risk of skimming, more security (password vs. 4-digit pin code), no need to carry the ATM card around.

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. :)

My brain.

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

I would like:<p>1. An API to connect to non-profits and donate to them.<p>2. An API to retrieve college textbook information..like what are all the courses for the fall semester and their required textbooks.

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

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

Chicks, man...

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

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

It would be nice to call someone's car.

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