Don't be too hard on the 8-track recordings. They were intended for cars, and the idea was to be eyes-off, just pop them in and away they'd go (again and again).
So were 7" 16 2/3 rpm recordings, but everyone wanted to play them inside as well, so for years automatic record changers had a 16 2/3 speed and nothing to play at it. Though there were a few 12" spoken word discs that played for about 3 hours.
Condoms shouldn't be listed here. They go back centuries: Casanova used sheepgut ones, which are still made. (no good against HIV, though, they have tiny holes a virus can get through).
The invention that came in in my time I'm most grateful for is the high speed dental drill. I'm showing my age when I tell you that when I was a child the school dental nurse drilled our teeth with a drill that she turned with a treadle, like an old sewing machine, with the most amazing arrangement of cords and pulleys to give her manouverability. It went "URRurrURRurrURR..." now that was terrifying.
But a whole huge field of inventions in the last few decades are in materials science.
When someone advised Benjamin in The Graduate (1968) to go into "plastics", that was a joke because plastics were so passé, but plastics have made enormous strides since then.
Think of the huge things that are now made of plastic, such as wheely rubbish bins and car dashboards, thanks to improved strength and durability. Plastic spectacle lenses, strong and clear. All the ways mechanical features like snap fasteners and hinges are now built into the body of the material. Ziplok bags. Have you tried to break a CD? Quite impressive. All sorts of composite materials, like pre-stressed reinforced concrete, fibreglass and carbon-fibre. Two-pot glues. Think of how some plastics are now heat-resistant, sun-resistant, etc. The roof of my house is plastic!