BlackBerry customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are experiencing problems, the smartphone's maker said in a brief statement Monday.

Research in Motion Ltd. gave few details about the issues, but telephone companies whose customers use the company's smartphones said that Internet access and BlackBerry's popular messenger service appeared to be affected.

Apple says first-day pre-orders of the iPhone 4S topped 1 million, breaking the record set by last year's model.

Apple Inc. and various phone companies started taking orders for the phone last Friday. It hits stores this Friday.

Giving a high-five. Rubbing his girlfriend's hand. Such ordinary acts — but a milestone for a paralyzed man.

True, a robotic arm parked next to his wheelchair did the touching, painstakingly, palm to palm. But Tim Hemmes made that arm move just by thinking about it.

Authors once just had to deal with a publisher but are now being forced to embrace the digital age and negotiate the rights to their works for TV, films and ebooks.

Organizers of the Frankfurt Book Fair, which opens on Wednesday, said the challenges thrown up by the upheaval in the book world would be a central theme at the world's biggest gathering of industry movers and shakers.

The launch of a hot new Google smartphone was delayed on Friday as the world mourned the loss of legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and sales began of the latest iPhone.

Unconfirmed word also spread that a private funeral was taking place for Jobs, who died Wednesday at the age of 56 after battling cancer. Apple has indicated that no public memorial is planned.

A Facebook user has filed a federal lawsuit against the social networking giant, claiming it violated wiretap laws with a tracking cookie that records web browsing history after logging off of Facebook.

John Graham, a 42-year-old lawyer, is the named plaintiff in the lawsuit filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas. His suit seeks class action status for the 150 million users of Facebook in the United States. Graham referred all comment to his attorneys, who declined to comment on the filing.

Google's new software for using Gmail without an Internet connection comes across as a throwback to an era when we weren't connected all the time and on all sorts of devices, from phones to iPads.

These days, if I need to read or write an email when I'm not at a regular computer, I can usually do so on my phone. Wi-Fi is also plentiful —even on planes and trains— when I need to catch up on messaging using my laptop.

Sprint Nextel Corp. said Friday that it will stop selling phones and other devices compatible with Clearwire Corp.'s network at the end of next year, after it switches on its own higher-speed, fourth-generation data network.

Sprint is Clearwire's largest customer and majority owner, but doesn't control it. Phones labeled "Sprint 4G" use Clearwire's network today.

YouTube on Friday began letting people in Britain rent movies for viewing online at the Google-owned video-sharing website.

"We've got some cracking films to keep everyone entertained through the upcoming winter months and beyond," YouTube business product manager Matteo Vallone said in a blog post announcing the launch in Britain.

The biggest video game fair in Latin America opened its doors Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, with organizers expecting some 60,000 visitors and an ever-increasing number of women gamers.

The "Brazil Game Show," which began as the "Rio Game Show" in 2008 with just 3,000 attendees, has been booming each year since and organizer Marcelo Tavares said women were fast becoming a big part of that success.