Fruit is not my forte. Do you want your avocados firm or soft? What about peaches? And do you keep them in a brown paper bag to ripen? Bah! Too much work, I say. Luckily, science is coming to my rescue once more (thanks again for sunscreen, guys!). RediRipe stickers are like the little labels you find on fruit already that let the miserable high school kid working at the register know what numbers to punch in, but with a twist. They change color depending on the ripeness of the fruit, keying you in to which pear is the best without needing to grope every one in the pile. The stickers work by detecting ethylene gas, which is given off by fruits and veggies as they ripen. They're still working the kinks out, such as getting them to let you know when the fruit has gone from ripe to over-ripe to brown soggy mess, but we hope they'll start popping up in supermarkets in the next couple of years. — Adam Frucci

USA Today, via Gearlog