Microsoft has dropped the price of its Surface tablet as much as 30%, as the company fights to stay alive in a competitive sector. The 32GB edition of the Surface went from $499 to $349, and the 64GB edition went from $599 to $449.

Microsoft introduced the tablet last summer and it hit shelves in October. According to IDC, the company only sold 900,000 units in the first quarter of 2013. Reports suggest that sluggish sales have led to the price reduction.

“We’ve been seeing great success with pricing and cover promotions over the past several months on Surface RT in the U.S. and other markets,” a Microsoft spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. “People who buy Surface love Surface, and we’re excited about all those additional people out sharing their excitement for Surface with other people.”

Do you often lose your keys only to find out that they have just fallen in between the couch cushions? Check out Hone, a Bluetooth device and iOS app that can help you find your lost keys.

Attach the Hone device on your keychain. (It only weighs half an ounce, so it’s not too bulky). Then if you lose your keys, use the Hone app to help track them down. Use the app to trigger the search. Essentially, the Hone device has uses Bluetooth to find your missing keys if they are within a 150 foot radius of you and your iPhone or iPad.  The device will beep and light up once its detected.

The device takes CR2032, a standard watch battery, which lasts for about six months. The system costs $59.99.

As younger generations get accustomed to using tablets and iPhones, handwriting may get lost in the gestures.  Enter the Lernstift, a Linux powered pen that gives a subtle vibration when you make an error.  The pen’s orthography and calligraphy modes are perfect for children learning to write and you won’t even need an app or computer to power the artificial intelligence behind the tiny computer.

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Scanning high resolution images has gotten easier to do on smaller devices. And now PlanOn has released a new scanner shaped like a pen that can do the job of a flat bed scanner.

It’s called the ScanStik SK600V and boasts that it is the “world’s smallest full page color scanner.” The $250 scanner will scan a whole page at once, rather than line by line, which some pen scanners do. It can scan 24-bit color, black & white images up to 600dpi. Images can be saved as JPG or TIFF files. The pen is wired with Bluetooth and even includes VoiceNotes so you can send scans with voice recordings to your phone, tablet or computer through Bluetooth or a USB cable.

The device also features a MicroSD memory slot so that you can scan thousands of images and save them to your memory card.

Firefox is getting into the smartphone business and it’s bringing the power of its all-purpose browser. The non-profit’s new venture involves two small entry level smartphones, Alcatel One Touch Fire and the ZTE Open,  with 3.5″ screens for a low price of $90 USD, on sale in Spain starting today. Each phone comes with 30 Euros of prepaid data, but users with a 2 year contract can get a monthly rate of only $3. Read more

Have you ever wanted to make your iPhone videos 3D? Seattle-based designers Ethan Lowry and Joe Heitzeberg are trying to help you do this with their new product called Poppy.

The device attaches to your iPhone and helps you capture, view and share 3D video clips. The device works by lenses that combine two video streams into one 3D video. The designers are currently looking for funding for the work on Kickstarter. Here is more about the project:

When you look in the viewfinder, Poppy’s lenses combine the two video streams into a single, crisp, 3D video. It’s beautiful, and really hard to describe or show in two dimensions. It doesn’t need batteries and there are no electronics. It’s just optics and your iPhone’s camera and screen, so we can keep the price low without sacrificing quality. Read more

You may soon be able to use your Kindle and iPad during takeoff. Last year, The Federal Aviation Administration created a government-industry group to study the use of personal electronic devices and determine  when these devices can be used safely during flight.

The group was expected to release findings from the research in July, but the organization has asked for a 2 month extension.

CNBC has the latest statement from the FAA:

‘The FAA recognizes consumers are intensely interested in the use of personal electronics aboard aircraft, [and] that is why we tasked a government-industry group to examine the safety issues and the feasibility of changing the current restrictions,’ the agency said in a statement. ‘At the group’s request, the FAA has granted a two-month extension to complete the additional work necessary for the safety assessment. We will wait for the group to finish its work before we determine next steps.’

New York City is gearing up for any hurricanes that might come its way this year. The mayor’s office has begun installing free solar charging stations for smartphones around the city in a move to help make it easier for victims of a storm to charge up devices.

Reuters has more: “The Street Charge stations are New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s latest answer to flaws in infrastructure and operations exposed by the historic storm that ripped into the East Coast in October 2012 and left about 900,000 New York City dwellers and millions of others in the region without power.”

The city has installed 25 of these solar power stations paid for by AT&T. The stations will provide electricity to charge up phones and tablets even when the city’s power is out.

Eesha Khare of Saratoga, CA was tired of waiting for her phone batteries continually dying so she invented a solution. That solution was a fast charging device capable of getting a full charge in as little as 20 seconds. The invention won Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award – a total of $50,000.

What’s even more remarkable about the nano-scale battery is its ability to last for 10,000 recharge cycles unlike traditional rechargeables that lasts for about 1,000 cycles. Khare mentions that the battery is also flexible – it can be rolled up like fabric. Intel’s website also mention that the invention has potential application in car batteries as well. Congratulations Eesha!

Do you use a stylus for your iPad?

In the video embedded above, you can see how a stylus can help you in different aspects of your reading and writing life. I recently tested a review copy of TruGlide Pro Precision Stylus and found the super-small point worked best for scribbling on the iPad.

Last year, Evernote acquired Penultimate, the note-taking and handwriting app for the iPad–pointing towards a future where more people scribble notes on tablets. To help iPad writers adapt, we’ve rounded up stylus recommendations from different review publications…

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