There are a couple of "self threading" needles around. The first one has a "V" shaped notch on the eye end, you just pull a tight piece of thread into the "V" and it pops into the "eye." I use these all the time for burying threads when the quilt is done. I can put both the top and bottom thread in even if they're short by putting the needle into the fabric first, then popping the thread in and 'presto.'
I've seen ads for a new design of basically the same thing. Only the thread slides into the eye from the side instead of the end.
Seems like a good thing to me!