Reader’s Digest has been reporting on life management trends since before most of us were born, so it’s all the more satisfying that the “next big things” roundup in their May issue is not only relevant, but also includes gadgets that we haven’t seen discussed in too many other places. Among them is Intel’s Home Dashboard, a device that communicates with your home appliances and also permits you to control said appliances while away from home via your smart phone or laptop.

It’s worth taking a moment to scan some of the dashboard’s nifty features but there are some particularly cool things worth noting here. For starters, the dash does more than “talk” to your appliances – it manages them. A smart thermostat can adjust the overall heating and cooling in your house (whether you’re there or not) and, according to Intel, adapt “its settings based on the weather conditions, the current energy price and your evolving usage patterns, helping you avoid spikes in cost.” If it actually manages to do that, the other management functions —  including the dash’s ability to anticipate appliance performance problems – are gravy.

The “fun” functions include the aforementioned remote management of the dash, enabling you to toggle on your home security system from the office, say, or toggle off your coffee pot from Aruba. The possible ways to creatively control appliances while away from home are endless.

Reader’s Digest says the dash resembles an oversized iPhone, though a more accurate description might be stately iPad. Interestingly, Intel powers the dash with an Atom processor-based platform, cousin to the better-performing processors found in some netbooks.

A prototype for the dashboard premiered in January 2010, Reader’s Digest notes, and Intel will conduct some pilot programs in selected homes this year.

Image source: Intel

Maybe you didn’t take our advice about not buying an iPad, and you’re running one of its gaming apps right now. Or perhaps you’re nursing a bitter cup of coffee-house coffee as you watch “Fringe” on your laptop. Or maybe you’re just trying to find a song you can still stand on your MP3. No matter what you happen to be doing, we’re almost certain of one thing: at some point today, you probably spent some time trying to untangle your earbuds in an attempt to plug them into the device of your choice.

The solution: Retractable ear buds.

If you’ve ever used a bad tape measure whose tape refuses to retract into its casing gracefully, then you have reason to be skeptical of any retractable gadget. So here’s a strategy: try the Retrak Stereo Earbuds, as sturdy as models that sell for twice that — even models sold by Retrak — and at $9.99, won’t break the bank.

You’ll have about a yard of cord to play with on this thing, as well as clip if you ever use one. And if you manage to  lose these buds, sit on them, or break them, your outlay’s still less than the bitter coffee and sandwich you probably just bought at the coffee shop.

On the bright side: While these things are working, the next time you’re walking down the street, riding the bus, or about to brave the treadmill, think about all the hours of your life you’re getting back by not having to untangle before plugging in.

Image source: ReTrak

The “magical and revolutionary” $499 iPad hits the Apple store today, and with beans has got to side with Fast Company writer Gina Trapani’s caution that you should not run out and buy an iPad just yet.

Trapani’s first point goes to the fact that first-gen Apple products unapologetically come to market in a sometimes half-baked fashion. She points to the early iPhone adopters who felt burned by spending $500-$600 on a product whose price dip was inversely proportional to its performance improvement, to the point where as of this writing, Trapani notes, the iPhone “3G is now on sale for a measly $100, one fifth of the price of the first generation’s cheapest model.”

She goes on to say very eloquently that “next year’s iPad will be faster, cheaper, less buggy, and have better apps and worthy competitors. Let all the deep-pocketed Jobs apostles be your canaries into the iPad coalmine.”

Trapani’s other salient point perhaps goes against the grain of folks who buy gadgets for the sake of having gadgets, but she suggests quite frankly that “you don’t know if you need an iPad yet. If you’ve already got a smartphone and a laptop, the gap in your workflow that the iPad might fill isn’t obvious, and discerning consumers only absorb gadgets that fulfill a need.”

If you all are too young to remember the debut of the first Mac, withbeans.com’s technology correspondent does, because he dropped three grand on the Mac 512K in the early ‘80s, only to watch the Mac Plus come out a few months later. This is what’s classically referred to as “planned obsolescence,” and we’re not afraid to say that Apple is famous for it. So watch out for that little trick, too.

What do you think, dear withbeans readers? Are you inclined to wait to buy your iPad, or in your world is it okay to have a new gadget just because?

Image source: Apple

Bluetooth speakerphones that do double duty as a hands-free car kit and conference speaker are not so common that they’ve become passé but enough have come to market that it’s already a struggle to figure out which of these gadgets is ahead of the pack. Well, if having your Bluetooth go green packs appeal, Scosche Industries unveiled a solar Bluetooth speakerphone at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show that also ended up in a CES travel gadget round-up by Travel & Leisure.

Like most Bluetooth speakers designed with motorists in mind, the solChat, as it’s called, will take a charge from an old-school USB hookup or car adapter, but thereafter can be clipped to the windshield visor or can be suctioned directly to the windshield to soak up the sun’s rays; according to the manufacturer the “integrated solar panel continuously re-charges the lithium ion battery.”

In all other respects the unit functions like most other similar Bluetooth speakers do, so the embedded how-to video, while not absolutely necessary, gives you a good idea of how delightfully small the folks at Scosche managed to make this product.

Image source:  Scosche Industries