Recent mergers, such as of United and Continental in 2010, and British Airways and Iberia in 2011, have led airlines to reduce service in North America and Europe, combining formerly overlapping routes to cut costs (and hike fares in the newfound absence of competition), resulting in fuller planes and fewer alternatives should something go wrong.

BBC: Pocket-sized guides to flyer��s rights

Service has been restored in North American, Europe, Australia and Latin America, much to the delight of PS3 owners in those countries.

FORBES: Sony Brings PSN Online At Last

Research in Motion opened down 0.8% after a service outage for Blackberry users in Europe and North America frustrated many users.

FORBES: JP Morgan Income Sags, Markets Open In Red

Japan's JAL intends to roll out Internet service to passengers flying from Japan to Europe and North America this summer.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

After making big plays in North America and Western Europe, former P2P piracy powerhouse and current legitimate download service Napster has finally set up shop in Asia, bringing its war with iTunes to the world's second-largest music market: Japan.

ENGADGET: Napster Japan goes live

Microsoft has launched an Internet-based automatic patent monitoring service, which tracks changes to a variety of Patent Registers in Europe and North America to help with its cause.

FORBES: Microsoft Launches Patent Monitoring Service