Back in the day a shopkeeper might hire a barker to loudly tease the goods found inside a store. That changed with technology, with loudspeakers urging you to stop and look in. With today's technology, the practice of capturing a customer's attention is subtler — so much so a person isn't necessarily distracted by the sound or even realize if they are prompted to move inside by it.

It constantly surprises me how a simple rethink of an everyday product could have an effect on the environment. There are newly redesigned clothes hangers on the scene that hold specialized charcoal to air out clothes that may only need a freshen-up rather than a full wash. Even if in small amounts, this saves on water, power and soap.

Polaris is the latest robotic rover getting ready to roll. Before you say "meh," given that Curiosity is tearing around Mars, Polaris will be doing something just as worth: hunting for minerals on the moon. What's more, it will be doing it the harshest conditions possible the moon's north pole.

Putting a person's likeness on a coin is a special honor usually reserved for presidents, statesmen and, in New Zealand, a queen. New Zealanders also hold some other characters pretty dear to their hearts — Tolkien's hobbits, elves and wizards.