As the world continues its search for alternate forms of power, some researchers have begun looking at ways to harness the energy created by humans. For example, a gym in Hong Kong uses electricity generated by stationary bikers to power its lighting fixtures, while a Dutch dance club uses the vibrations of moving bodies to provide electricity.

While these advances are pretty amazing, they aren't all that useful for those of us who don't live in Hong Kong or Rotterdam. In fact, most people who wish to harness human power are stuck in the stone age, using the power of their feet to walk or ride a bike from place to place.

Admittedly, Triumph International, Japan has developed a brassiere that can use sunlight to power an iPod, but it must be exposed to sunlight in order to be effective. Moreover, as it resembles a cross between lingerie and a flesh-eating fungus, the solar-powered bra will probably not be in stores any time soon.

On the bright side, Slate's Adrienne So has explored the possibility of developing garments that could transform the pendulous motion of breasts into power. According to So, researchers have found that a D-cup breast ensconced in a low-support bra can travel up to 35 inches during exercise. When combined with nanowire-based fabrics, she argues that this movement could provide considerable amounts of electricity.

While bra power is still a few years in the future, it's interesting to imagine a future in which cell phones, iPods, and computers are plugged into various support garments. With power-generating bras on the way, could electrical jockstraps be far behind?

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. While he's long been aware of the power of breasts, he was surprised to learn that it can be harnessed!

If you've done any online shopping for electronics or computers recently you've most certainly come across a refurb section with items at deeply discounted prices. Matthew Dillon at GottaBeMobile.com, rounded up a great collection of the different ways you can save money buying refurbished, and also compiled several great sources for finding refurbished electronics.

Types of refurbished products:

• Refurbished - The unit was determined to be defective and given a complete overhaul to fix the problem.
• Scratch-and-Dent - These products will have slight variations on the exterior appearance, but they should function fine.
• Open Box - You'll find these in the corner of a brick and mortar store often missing remotes and manuals. These are usually returns or floor models, the latter taking heaps of abuse at the hands of customers.

The most recognizable source for refurbished goods is the Apple Store, which offers amazing deals on refurbished laptops, iPods and iPhones. I've gotten many great deals on open box items at Best Buy, where returned TVs usually net at least a 15% discount. And during inventory clearance season, savvy shoppers can get an additional 40% off. One of my friends had similar success purchasing a scratch and dent TV from ABC warehouse, negotiating an extra two years of warranty for free, on top of the lowered purchase price.

Still not sure? Keep in mind that refurbished products have usually been looked at and tested more closely than the original units that ship. Just make sure that the return and warranty policy policies are favorable before you purchase. GottaBeMobile has many more tips on getting the best deal on refurbished products.

Do you buy refurbished? Have you had good luck?

This is one of the better Daily Deals I've ever written about. For a limited time -- probably a very limited time -- eForcity is offering a car charger for the Apple iPod/iPhone -- for 25 cents with free shipping, if you use the code APPCC25C.

The retail price is $29.99 and the charger will probably sell out very fast. If you want one, order it immediately.

The Daily Deal for Sunday, June 29, 2008

If you're in the market for a Mac computer, Apple is throwing a real sweet deal your way. When you purchase a Mac computer and an 8GB iPod nano or touch at the same time, you will get a full rebate of up to $299 from Apple for the iPod. This offer is good from now until September 15, or while supplies last.

This special deal is only valid for qualified "Apple Education Individuals", which basically means that you must be a student or faculty member involved in higher education. A quick look at the PDF file terms and conditions, reveals exactly who may take advantage of this special offer. The idea behind Apple's offer is a focus on education. It's a play on that old, "get 'em while they're young" marketing strategy.

In any case, a kickback of as much as $299 for purchasing that Macbook laptop and the iPod that you so desperately wanted to buy anyway, is a pretty sweet deal. Just be sure to read the full terms and conditions of this offer so you get your best advantage from it. Then, go to The Apple Store online, any Apple Retail Store, or any Apple Authorized Campus Store. The fine folks there will certainly help you to properly close the deal.

There has been an ongoing battle between the music industry and the creators and distributors of technology that makes digital music a reality for millions of customers. The music industry's complaint has long been that they're not getting enough revenue this way (even though it's a fact that Apple sends 70% of its revenue from digital downloads to the music industry), and that the musicians likely suffer the most when music is distributed digitally.

Illegal downloads are certainly a problem, and I'm not sure where I stand on the issue of sharing digital music with friends and associates. But that issue aside, there remains an issue that is just as serious: How to generate revenue for the music industry? Of course the industry wants to maximize its revenue from music downloads. Technology companies want to make it easy and attractive for customers to get and use music downloads.

This week Paul McGuiness, the manager of U2, spoke at Music Matters in Hong Kong. One of his most basic complaints is that ISPs have been using music to draw in consumers and get revenue from subscribers, but that musicians aren't getting their fair share from this economic model. How can they help? He says they should filter content that goes over their high-speed connections so that the paying customers of ISPs aren't cheating musicians by sharing music. I just don't see this as a viable solution to getting more money in the hands of musicians.

One treasure trove for money-hungry politicians who haven't found a tax they didn't like, is digital downloads. There has been a constant argument over internet sales for years, as consumers have found many of their online sales haven't had sales tax applied. Governments wouldn't want to waste such a lovely opportunity, would they?

Instead of managing budgets and cutting the outrageous levels of spending, politicians seem to always be looking for a new tax to levy. So taxing digital downloads seem to be the next frontier. After all, the states should be getting a cut of every penny we spend anywhere, right?

Tennessee has apparently already been taxing digital downloads, and no one even noticed. State laws currently say that only "tangible goods" had sales tax applied, and politicians wanted to change the law so that digital downloads fall under the definition of "tangible" (and are therefore required to be taxed).

But a consumer has informed the world that digital downloads have already been subject to sales tax in Tennessee since the beginning of 2008. Sure enough, consumers took a look at their iTunes purchases, and found that Tennessee sales tax had been added to their bills. This is a slippery slope. Governments expand their ability to tax each year, leaving consumers in the position of turning over more and more of their hard-earned money to politicians. When will it stop?

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

I have purchased an iPod, numerous shoes, another mp3 player, new shorts and countless other electronics and apparel all in the guise of getting in shape. None of these purchases had a significant effect on my willingness to work out or get in shape. No matter how much I imagined myself working out with a new iPod in hand or how much more comfortable these new fast looking shoes would be for running I was never motivated enough to stick with it.

Despite the past, it is still really easy for me to try and justify an extra expenditure by convincing myself that --this time -- it will help me stay committed to losing weight. If you have fallen into this trap, next time, stick it out for 2-4 weeks before pulling the trigger. Once you get going consider making the object you lusted for a reward for your hard work, that way at least you can feel like you earned it. That's better than feeling guilty because you only use your iPod at your desk and your gym shorts for nap time.

The music industry has seen many changes since digital downloads started becoming popular. Consumers are definitely in the driver's seat when it comes to music, demanding more and more that digital music be accessible and competitively priced.

With those demands, iTunes has become America's biggest retailer of music, as of the end of February. It has surpassed Wal-Mart, and following Wal-Mart are Best Buy, Amazon.com, and Target. The future of music seems clear: Digital is the way to go, and record companies should not even try to resist!

iTunes is rocking and rolling with over 50 million customers, and its dominance is clear. Amazon.com is working on cutting into their market share, but only time will tell. So what's your preference in music? Are you still stuck on CDs? Or have you gone all digital? And if you're digital.. are you an iPod fanatic, or would you rather use a format that is more compatible with other products?

I've come to love digital downloads with abandon. I've always been the kind of person who likes two songs from one album, and often couldn't justify buying a whole album just for those favorites. The minute I was able to purchase individual songs, I was hooked on iTunes. And certainly the music industry has never been a big fan of that option: They'd rather I spend five times as much on buying the whole album from them. Yet I think that if they consider all the people like me who would skip buying the album all together if that was the only option, they will quickly see that they are selling more... now I'll buy the two songs I want instead of skipping the album all together.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Compact discs are quickly becoming a thing of the past, as all the activity on iTunes has made it the second largest music retailer in the world. iTunes has passed up Best Buy in sales figures, and that's for all forms of music -- digital and CDs. iTunes sits behind only Wal-Mart in music sales.

Ars Technica is reporting that legal music downloads are up big, but that overall music sales are down. This dip in overall sales is attributed to the opportunity to download single songs, versus having to purchase an entire album to get the song or two that you really want.

And here's a sobering statistic: 48% of teenagers in the United States didn't purchase even one CD in 2007. That tells you definitively that the future of music is in digital downloads. And it makes sense. CDs are an "old" technology, and the ability to download music to a computer and use it on more than one device is a clear advantage.

Unless the brick and mortar stores become a real player in the digital download game, I can't see them hanging on to substantial market share for much longer.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

There sure are a lot of tech and gadget minded people out there. From true geeks to just the tech interested people on the user end, we abound in gadget literate people. The bloggers on our sister blog, DIYLife have done a great deal of touring around the blog-holds of the Internet and I would now like to bring you on a tour involving six tech, do-it -yourself, and gadget blogs which they've introduced to us or have helped us to become more familiar with.

There's something in my blog list for almost everyone, you'll have to look at them all to decide which ones are for you. I present them in no specific order of value. Some of these blogs are from our own Weblogs Network and the truth is that they are all great. I'm also providing links to some outstanding material from and about these blogs for you to review.

Today Amazon announced an agreement with Warner Music Group to distribute music through the Amazon.com digital music store. The key feature to these downloads will be the absence of digital rights management (DRM), meaning that customers who download these songs will not be restricted in their use. They will be able to play them with any music player or computer, unlike Apple Inc's limited format.

Now, more than 2.9 million titles will be available at Amazon, including those by many well-known artists. Warner Music is added to the line-up, which already included Universal Music Group, EMI Music Group, and thousands of independent labels.

Songs on Amazon cost $0.89 to $0.99, with full albums priced at $5.99 to $9.99. These prices are somewhat comparable to Apple's iTunes, whose individual songs sell for $0.99, with album prices varying.

While some consumers and analysts feel that DRM is necessary to protect the financial interests of the artists and record companies, others think that the lack of DRM will actually benefit them more in the long run. By making the music more accessible and transferable, some people think that consumers will be more likely to buy more music. (I agree!)

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

The Daily Deal for December 25, 2007

If you're like my sister, you didn't get a new iPod Nano for Christmas -- your family was broke and, after all, you were one of the first to get the 1st or 2nd generation version! But don't feel bad. It's still gorgeous in its video-less-ness. Looking around at your friends with their brand-new video Nanos, you've got to recall your more seasoned love affair with your own music player. Where is that thing, anyway?

Bring it back out into the open with this Apple-brand iPod armband from Deal Squared. At only $9.99 plus $5.00 shipping, it's still $15 less than the armbands for the new Nano at the Apple store. It'll be almost like having a brand new MP3 player. While you're at it, buy a couple of new songs. There you go. The music still sounds just as good and now you can reclaim your old flame

In the mechanical age (the one preceding today's computer age), buying factory-refurbished goods was a gamble. Sure, they may have replaced all the belts, but who knew what other wear points were about to break?

In the computer age, though, wear is not such a factor, and some bargains can be had by taking a very minimal gamble on factory-repaired goods. One such source for deals is Apple.

At Apple's outlet store, you can pick up a previous generation 2-gig iPod Nano for $79, about half of its original price. A 4-gig version is an even better deal at $99, and a 30-gig iPod sells for $179 vs. the usual $249.

The site also offers MacBooks, although the savings here are much slighter; a 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo selling normally for $1,999 can be had for $1,699.

Each comes with a full one-year warranty. My experience with such devices is that if they work for a week, they'll work until I drop them onto a cement floor, so I wouldn't be afraid to take a flyer on these deals, if the price is right.