I've had this idea for at least 10 years or so, but I wouldn't know where to start to create one, but I'd be first in line to buy one. Of course, originally, the thought involved using a VCR. But with TiVO and DVR's and the rest of the digital upgrading in home entertainment, I've had to alter the idea. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before this is developed:
A television recording device that is programmable by telephone, from anywhere at anytime. Let's say you're at work and everyone else in the family is out (or like me, you're single), so no one is home. Important news breaks - good like Osama gets captured or, God forbid, bad like...well, I'd rather not even try to imagine something bad. Or, perhaps you went on vacation and simply forgot to set the timer to record ER. You could pick up the phone, call home, enter a code that connects you to your recording device (which would have a phone line connected to it, the same way that some DVR's do now for bill paying and PPV ordering), and then, using the keys on the phone and listening to the prompts from the machine, you can program it to record a certain channel at a certain time, or start recording right away if it's breaking news. And, since it's a DVR or TiVo, you can rewind the "live" broadcast back a few minutes to before the news broke, if you want to get the whole thing as it happened.
If someone takes the idea and makes it -- cool, because like I said, it would be a helpful item and I'd like to have one, but I don't know how to go about doing it myself. Besides, I have the idea protected now anyway.
Talk about COLD BUNS 
