For $C^*$-algebras $\mathcal{A}$ of real rank zero, we describe linear maps $\phi$ on $\mathcal{A}$ that are surjective up to ideals $\mathcal{I}$, and $\pi(A)$ is invertible in $\mathcal{A}/\mathcal{I}$ if and only if $\pi(\phi(A))$ is invertible in $\mathcal{A}/\mathcal{I}$, where $A\in\mathcal{A}$ and $\pi:\mathcal{A}\to\mathcal{A}/\mathcal{I}$ is the quotient map. We also consider similar linear maps preserving zero products on the Calkin algebra.

We strengthen certain results concerning actions of $(\Comp,+)$ on $\Comp^{3}$ and embeddings of $\Comp^{2}$ in $\Comp^{3}$, and show that these results are in fact valid over any field of characteristic zero.

It is shown that given any sequence of automorphisms $(\phi_k)_k$ of the unit ball $\bn$ of $\cn$ such that $\|\phi_k(0)\|$ tends to $1$, there exists an inner function $I$ such that the family of ``non-Euclidean translates" $(I\circ\phi_k)_k$ is locally uniformly dense in the unit ball of $H^\infty(\bn)$.

An $n$-dimensional quantum torus is a twisted group algebra of the group $\Z^n$. It is called rational if all invertible commutators are roots of unity. In the present note we describe a normal form for rational $n$-dimensional quantum tori over any field. Moreover, we show that for $n = 2$ the natural exact sequence describing the automorphism group of the quantum torus splits over any field.