Geekfighting may never become its own UFC event, but following tech news this week seemed, in places, like a view to a big, well-funded cage match. Things got so rowdy that Kara Swisher could hear them all the way across “The Pond.”

Before heading off on her tour of Euro-BoomTown this week, Kara set off for Carlsbad, Calif. to visit with Warren Buffet and the ladies of Fortune. Après Buffet, readers were treated to an exclusive interview, Kara-style, with Loïc Le Meur, Seesmic founder and namesake of the Web’s cutest logo. Kara wasn’t just visiting Europe for some cute overload, though. She wired back a report on the Oxford Social Media Convention, where she spoke on social media’s effect on business. Kara rounded out her week with rowdiness and the legal tantrums of Skype founders Zennström and Friis.

Closer to home, Digital Daily covered the media battle between Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), which recalls a shoving match between the prom king and the captain of the football team. Apple continued to insist that it was still “studying” the proposed Google Voice app for iPhone, while Google insisted that it had already been rejected. It’s tough being the popular kids.

Between the smartphone scuffles, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein was urging everyone to play nice, even as Palm still may have to fight for survival.

The Silicon Valley malevolence even spread to Gotham early in the week. MediaMemo got the backstory on how the New York Times was hacked into spreading malware to its Web visitors. The explanation: It sold an ad to hackers, who posed as mild-mannered VOIP client Vonage (VG) to make the purchase. Meanwhile in a related–or not–story, Microsoft is seeking and suing some mystery malvertisers who perpetrated a similar scheme with ads sold by the software giant. Whether it is a growing trend or a few overachieving hackers, it was a tough week in ad land.

Amid all the kneecapping and eye-gouging, all things Mossberg was a helpful calm in the storm. Walt liked the new features in iTunes 9 and found it uncluttered, easier to use and more intelligent than its predecessor. Also among the hits were upgraded management and improved content-sharing.

Mossberg’s Mailbox was stuffed full of sage advice about online backup as the kids go of to college, compression and the vinyl vs. digital dilemma, and some on-target advice for the family genealogist making the switch from PC to Mac.

The Mossberg Solution delved deeper into email mastery with some unmissable tips and tricks for Microsoft Outlook users. Katie made an industry standard better, and even gave readers a peek into some coming attractions for Outlook 2010.

Tune in next week. We’ll keep bringing you the blow by blow ’til the final bell.

“Our channel checks suggest sales of the Pre have indeed slowed. Store traffic at Sprint stores has declined since mid-June,” Harris wrote. “The Pre, which initially was not available for online purchase from Sprint’s website, became available last week. We believe a majority of the Pre sales have been made either to existing Palm users or Sprint subscribers. It also appears not to have been as successful as the iPhone in terms of winning subscribers from other carriers.”

Harris notes that even Sprint (S) CEO Dan Hesse seems uncertain of the device’s true impact in the market. Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm: Tech conference in Pasadena, Calif., last week, Hesse said of the Pre: “You won’t know if we have a real hit on our hands until its been out three months, four months, five months….It’s too early to tell….We’re just getting it rolled out in decent quantities for direct distribution.”

An interesting admission. That said, the Pre did set record first-day and weekend sales for Sprint, And according to the channel checks of some other analysts, sales are not slowing. Fact is, we won’t know for sure until Palm (PALM) and Sprint go on record with real sales metrics–as Sprint may do later this week when it reports earnings.

One last point worth noting here: CL King’s note arrives amid widespread reports this morning of a Best Buy promotion that cut the Pre’s price to $99 with a two-year contract. Though the retailer dismissed the cut as an “unintentional pricing error” and promptly withdrew it, a number of Pres appear to have been sold at that price across the country.

Odd that such an accident would occur nationwide complete with in-store pricing sheets, isn’t it? Makes you wonder if someone jumped the gun on a forthcoming promotion and if we’ll see the Pre at $99 before the end of summer. And if we do, at what price will the Eos/Pixie–the Pre’s rumored little brother–be sold? $49.99?

Among those who’ve suffered grotesque losses: Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates, who ranks first on the Forbes list with an estimated net worth of $40 billion despite seeing his fortune decline by some $18 billion. Just behind him, in second place: Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, who saw his net worth fall $25 billion to $37 billion. Finally, telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu placed third, with $35 billion, down from $60 billion. Combined losses for the three: $68 billion.

“The world has become a wealth wasteland,” Forbes says in its report. “Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year.”

If seeing your personal fortune slip to $40 billion from $58 billion is disaster, it’s one I think most of us would happily endure.