But that should not diminish how encouraging it is that investors also embraced the chance to seek returns beyond the usual commodity-growth story.

WSJ: Paul Kagame: Rwanda and the New Lions of Africa

These devices seek to move beyond the mouse and physical keyboard, letting people communicate with their gadgets by gesturing, using sign language or, in the case of Skinput, tapping on their hands, fingers and forearms.

CNN: Microsoft's Skinput turns hands, arms into buttons

But with its new search business, Defense Distributed goes beyond provocation to seek profit, too.

FORBES: 3D-Printable Gun Project Announces Plans For A For-Profit Search Engine Startup

In Italy there is nervousness about the course of still-fragile reforms after the technocratic prime minister, Mario Monti, declared that he would not seek to stay in office beyond general elections due next spring.

ECONOMIST: Euro crisis

And it incorporates a need to "to seek renewal" of the deal with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone beyond that date.

BBC: SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | New lease of life for Silverstone

Unique among them, however, as I noted in my introduction, the CFPB does have a funding cap, and if they wanted any more money beyond that they will have to go to Congress to seek that money.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

And beyond tablets, products such as the OUYA, GameStick and NVIDIA's Project Shield seek to create their own optimizations or distributions for Android apps.

ENGADGET: Switched On: Extreme takeover, Home edition

This is because the unique advantages of America's universities go beyond the hybrid vigour of a system in which state and private institutions have all been allowed to seek out their competitive advantage.

ECONOMIST: A cardinal in cyberspace