Apple appears to be making less of a profit from each new iPad than it did when it launched the previous model a year ago, according to a research firm's analysis.

IHS iSuppli took apart a new iPad on Friday, the day the device went on sale in the U.S. and nine other countries, and found that the components are more expensive than those of the iPad 2.

When Benjamin Gleitzman moved from New York to the San Francisco Bay area, he used a talking turn-by-turn driving app to guide him across the country. In the middle of Wyoming, the voice told him to turn left where there was no road.

Rather than complain to the maker of the app, called Waze, he logged in and made a note for anyone else who happened to drive that way that the road wasn't there. It was a small gesture of consideration to his fellow travelers.

A group of prominent Chinese writers have demanded compensation from technology giant Apple Inc. for allegedly selling unlicensed versions of their books in its online store.

The case is a departure from the usual pattern of U.S artists or companies going after Chinese copycats.

Latin America is the world's fastest-growing market for Internet access, and could double within a decade, the group that oversees Internet-related tasks said Friday.

"I think this is the decade of our region in many ways," said Rodrigo de la Parra, regional vice president for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Google confirmed Friday that it has hired Digg co-founder Kevin Rose and other members of the team at his latest project, a Milk incubator for startups making "apps" for mobile gadgets.

The 35-year-old serial entrepreneur considered a Silicon Valley star will evidently be putting his skills to work on the Google+ social network launched in a challenge to Facebook.

They've come a long way since the man who would be Mario set off to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong and Pac-Man gobbled up as many dots as he could before the ghosts caught up with him.

But really, are video games art?

Apple's new iPad tablet computer drew a muted response from fans in Europe after smaller crowds than previous launches turned out in Asia for a device that is short on new technology.

Fans queuing in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt and London praised the improved display, and did not seem concerned that its much-vaunted 4G LTE connection would be largely unavailable outside North America.

French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi said Friday that it will buy the US company Pluromed and push for widespread adoption of its FDA- and EU-approved cardiovascular surgery aid LeGoo.

Financial details of the deal were not released.

Google says it is retooling its search machine to go beyond recognizing words in queries and begin understanding what it is people are asking for.

The California-based Internet titan is intent on adding "semantic" capabilities to automatically comprehend meanings of phrases and questions to better fetch the online information being sought.

Online financial transactions titan PayPal has started to allow merchants across the world to take payments using smartphones in a direct challenge to startup Square.

The PayPal Here system uses a triangle-shaped "dongle" card reader that plugs into mobile devices to let people make purchases.