Do you know what curb-mining is? Maybe you've indulged in a little curb-mining of your own. If you have rescued furniture or other objects from the street and given them a second life in your home, you have been curb-mining. And if you are in New York City, your curb-mining may have got a little impetus, courtesy Blu Dot.

Blu Dot's little experiment consisted of dropping off 25 Real Good Chairs around the city. Some of these chairs are GPS enabled and you can follow their progress at Blu Dot's site. You can also follow updates on Twitter.

But it doesn't end here. Blu Dot will follow up with the new owners, who get a chance to discuss their chair related stories in a new documentary to be released in December to celebrate the first anniversary of Blu Dot's SoHo showroom.

It is no secret that technology is now an important part of how we live and function. American Home Furnishings Alliance or AHFA's October 2009 national telephone survey shows that within the next year, one-third of those surveyed expect to purchase a piece of furniture to enhance the function or style of a new piece of home technology.

The most avid technology shoppers belong to the 18-34 year age group, followed by 35-44 year olds who have children living at home. These two consumer age groups are the ones that are most looking to buy furnishings that complement or support their technology.

While office furniture and entertainment centers have been complementing technology for a while, manufacturers have begun making allowances for that in bedroom furniture as well, such as Hooker's Envision series. Another collection offered earlier this year is Copeland's Catalina Collection.

You remember the crazy La-Z-Boy DWI Chair story we were following? Turns out it wasn't La-Z-Boy after all, and the La-Z-Boy people objected.

Trouble is, every recliner or lounger gets called a La-Z-Boy chair, and this one was no exception. When the La-Z-Boy people objected to Police Chief Walter Wobig, he agreed to take their name out of the listing and promised full disclosure to the bidders that this was not a La-Z-Boy chair.

The auction was supposed proceed, but without La-Z-Boy's name in it. According to Wired, Wobig had no problem with the request and immediately went on eBay to make the changes.

But then eBay wasn't satisfied and the new listing was pulled Monday night. When Wobig tried to get in touch with the decision makers at eBay he had no luck. So now a completely new listing has gone up again as DWI Chair, Motorized Chair, Racing Chair, but for that very reason, the bidding had to start anew and now stands at $6800 as opposed to the almost $45,000 earlier. The auction now ends November 5, 2009.

Recently a reader asked if she should reupholster her old sofa. She did not specify whether it was a particularly valuable antique or a family heirloom, so I was not able to give her a "yes" or "no" answer.

As a general rule, I wouldn't advise anyone to go the reupholstery route. It is almost as expensive as getting a new sofa. Sometimes it costs even more. In my book only antiques and furniture with great sentimental value qualify for it.

Slipcovers can do the job nicely if you are just tired of looking at the same fabric after years. They can also help if you want to re-do your color scheme. But even doing something as simple as changing out your throw pillows can take the attention away from the offending sofa.

Read More:

• Should I Reupholster an Old Sofa
• Slipcovers as a Budget Solution for Tired Furniture
• How to Choose Sofa or Chair Slipcovers