Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

To kick off this week charity collectors - no, not the ones shaking collection tins. These guys are packing clipboards and pens and are hoping to sign you up for the long term. So how much of your cash actually goes to the charity concerned and how do you find out? (Link to Jessica Wilson article from Consumer NZ here)

At 12:30pm the Viewmaster. The boxy binocular-style viewer has been giving us a 3D-ish view of the world for 70 years now. It's even been used by the US military to identify enemy ships and planes. But even though they've sold 1.2 billion of the picture reels the manufacturer says it's going to stop making most of them. So is this old school gadget's on its way out?

And before the news at one - bits and bytes from the hi tech world - Peter Griffin drops in with his power bill and reports on how he's got on buying his power on line from Powershop. It's the new on-line energy retailer we covered a few weeks back. Plus Telecom are about to launch their next generation mobile phone network on the 1st of June. It's based on the same technology as Vodafone and phones will have SIM cards. So what does all this mean for the consumer?

After the news at around 1.15pm we're time-banking. It's a way of getting your windows washed, your section cleared, and your PC fixed without spending a penny. You deposit credits helping someone in the community, like walking their dog or helping them move, and then the idea is you can withdraw these hours getting help yourself. I speak to the founder and find out what's going on at New Zealand's first and only time-bank in Lyttelton.

Then at about 1:30pm the Backyard Bee Team's back and things haven't exactly been rosy in the garden with my queen swarming and no chance of honey this summer. Well time to get the hive all set for a cold winter, but hundreds of my bees have started dying...what's going on now?! VIDEO here of varroa and bee lifecycle

See the Bee Gallery for new pics.

And before we go we'll head to the annual Robobusiness conference that's been on in Boston this past week. It's a big trade show all about- you've guessed it!- the business of robots. Peter Nowak reports on the latest offerings in the military to plans to open a robot theme park in South Korea.

TRACKS PLAYED

Track: Baltimore is the new Brooklyn
Artist: JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound
Album: Beat of our own drum
Label: Uptown Sound
Catalogue #:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jcbrookstus
http://www.myspace.com/theuptownsound
Broadcast at: 12:30

Track: All there is to say about love
Artist: Bike for Three
Album: More Heart than Brains
Label: Anticon
Catalogue #: ABR 0093 (released May 26 2009)
http://www.myspace.com/bikeforthree
Broadcast at: 13:30