TOP TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Three unknown Pentax Optio cameras appeared on the internet yesterday, and then quickly disappeared. But not before the intrepid Photo Rumors managed to grab some pictures from the Google cache of the pages. Behold, the Pentax L-10 and H-90.

As always with Photo Rumors, there is nary a detail to be had, let alone an actual link to the now-defunct pages from which these pictures came.

U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a video about poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.

After being crushed by a pile of rubble, Woolley used his digital SLR to illuminate his surroundings and snap photos of the wreckage in search of a safe place to dwell. He took refuge in an elevator shaft, where he followed instructions from an iPhone first-aid app to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound, according to an MSNBC story.

ANAHEIM, California — All you trustafarians have a cool new tech gadget to show off at your next drum circle.

The original Korg Wavedrum was released in 1994, but Korg has updated the old favorite for the 21st century. The company is showing off its new version of the device at the NAMM Show industry exhibition here. It’s available now for about $600.

The synthetic drum pad is about the size of a fat frisbee.

Imagine you are an iconic camera company, and in your glory days your film was an essential for both fashion photographers and fashionable party-goers. You were so popular that your product’s name became synonymous with instant pictures.

Then the world turned digital, and you found yourself as washed up as the rock stars you once documented. You struggled to make yourself relevant, and failed, patronizing your loyal fans by offering them crappy product after crappy product.

LAS VEGAS — Along with the tiny, powerful Alienware M11X, Dell has also updated the Mini 10 netbook, proving the company’s CES PR spin that it is obsessed with cramming hot tech into tiny boxes.

The new Mini 10 comes with the usual netbook accouterments: an Atom N450 processor, a gig of RAM, up to 250GB of HD space and a small ten-inch screen. What is new, though, is the souped-up high-def hardware.

Being a Dell, the hardware is almost infinitely customizable at point-of-sale, so we’ll talk about the hypothetical best configuration, which is the one Dell wants you to buy. The tiny screen can playback 720p movies (1366×768 pixels) and the machine has an HD processor chip in there to handle it.

LAS VEGAS — How does $200 sound for an unlocked phone? Now make it a Dick Tracy-style watch phone and it’s an accessory you just might put on your wish list.

The W “phonewatch” from Kempler & Strauss combines a touchscreen interface with basic phone functionality so you can use the device while biking or hiking.

The GSM phone can work with both AT&T and T-Mobile but it doesn’t have 3G capability or Wi-Fi.

Others may look back on the years 2000 to 2009 and remember elections, wars, global warming and Michael Jackson, but for gearheads like us, this was the decade that mobile tech grew up.

During the first decade of the 21st century, we saw a whole slew of new mobile technologies capture the public imagination: the smartphone, the MP3 player, the USB stick, touchscreens, Wi-Fi, 3G wireless, pocket camcorders, digital SLRs and more.

Thanks to these inventions, people got increasingly plugged into an always-on, totally portable, always-connected existence. Where we stand now, notebooks outsell desktop PCs, people spend more on mobile phones than on landlines, and portable game consoles outnumber the ones plugged into your TV cabinet.

The products on this list exemplify that trend. While not every gadget here is portable (and many of them are gaming consoles — sorry, we can’t help it if the most exciting hardware innovations are poured into the videogame industry), the arc of the decade clearly reflects an increasingly mobile world.

The Christmas news used to be about the iTunes Music Store, and it went like this: Lots of kids got iPods as Christmas gifts, and then they went crazy downloading music.

Now, it’s not just music. According to mobile analytics company Flurry, iTunes Store downloads for the iPod Touch leapt almost 1000% on December 25th. That indicates that a lot of kids found iPod Touches under the tree this year.

Apple might have been the first to put a mouse and a commercially available computer together in one seamless package, but in its 25-year life, the Mac mouse hasn’t really improved. In fact, with its RSI-inducing, carpal-tunnel-worrying new Magic Mouse, it could be said that the current iteration is the worst yet.

Above you see the two ends of the timespan: the original M0100 mouse from 1984 and, climbing up on top like a drunken husband, this year’s Magic Mouse.

By Nook or by crook, you will get that book! That is, almost, what Barnes & Noble is saying to those worried about not receiving their Nook e-readers in time for Christmas.

Desperate to get the Nook in time to make some fast Christmas cash, B&N decided an early launch with not enough units would be a good idea.