When it comes to supercomputing, flopping is a good thing. While geeks everywhere are gushing over gigahertz and terabytes, the uber-geeks at IBM, in conjunction with the nuclear overlords at Los Alamos, have been chasing the elusive petaflop — and they've finally got it, 6000ft² of it.

Neelie Kroes is a force to be reckoned with. As head of the European Union's antitrust division, she holds in her hands the future — and the financial health — of any company foolhardy enough to make monopolistic advances on the Old World. To top it off, she's now a vocal proponent of Open Source software.

Red Hat is no stranger to the problem of software patents, and will likely continue to endure conflict with them long into the future. Two of its troubles, however, disappeared today, as Red Hat announced that it has settled patent-infringement lawsuits with DataTern Inc. and Firestar Software Inc. — the latter ongoing since 2006.

If the number of lawsuits filed defines the worth of a client, then the Software Freedom Law Center must be courting the developers of BusyBox with champagne and caviar. Having already filed and settled suits against a gaggle of GPL-infringing companies — including communications giant Verizon — they've now started a new round, targeting Bell Microproducts, Inc. and Super Micro Computer, Inc.

The Yahoo-Microsoft cum Yahoo-Icahn drama continues, with very little if any progress, but quite a bit more sniping 'ore the redoubts. This time, it's Yahoo giving the master of the hostile takeover a tongue-lashing.

At the end of April, the sensational trial of Hans Reiser — the programmer behind ReiserFS — ended in a conviction for murdering his estranged wife Nina, with Reiser continuing to proclaim his innocence. That tactic seems to have given way after a month in jail, however, as the "abrasive" and "completely inept" geek is now looking for a deal.

Intel has been fighting off charges of monopolistic activity in the microprocessor market for years, with Advanced Micro Devices as the lead accuser before a range of world trade powers. Now the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is finally entering the fray — years after everyone else saw the writing on the wall.

High-speed internet access is the way of the future — at least the foreseeable future — a fact anyone still on a dial-up connection will swear to — perhaps in more ways than one. Plans have been popping up left and right to provide free coverage to various areas, but the one with the most potential to bring free nationwide access to the information superhighway has just hit a major pothole.

It's not uncommon for serious competitors to be at each other's throats — Ali and Frasier, Bush and Dukakis, children and the Trix rabbit — and chip-makers are no exception. Intel and AMD have been trading blows for years, and since 2005, have been locked in litigation alleging Intel took it all a bit too far. Judging from recent developments, it doesn't look like there is much chance of an end in sight.

Acer, Inc. — the Taiwan-based electronics company and third-largest computer maker in the world — has decided to jump on the Linux bandwagon, and it's jumping bigtime.

When Google Desktop — the widely popular desktop search software with a host of other shiny features — came to Linux in June of last year, it lacked one particularly shiny feature of the Windows version: Google Gadgets. A year later, Google is finally ready to gadgetize Linux — but they want you to have a look at their code first.

It's been a rough year so far for Yahoo. Microsoft tried a takeover, shareholders are suing left and right, and now Carl Icahn is buying up billions in shares in preparation for an investor revolt. Just as the odds are beginning to look insurmountable for Yahoo, we find out that the corner Mr. Yang has been backed into isn't quite as hopeless as it seems.

The ultra-lightweight laptop market is a booming one, with everyone from Intel to Asustek offering a miniaturized system with a price-tag lower than the cost of a tank of gas — well, almost. Linux is the darling of such systems — though Windows is making inroads — and the day has been dawning when the major Linux players would jump into the lightweight Linux game.

The official appeals over OOXML's adoption as an international standard have been coming in left and right over the last week or so, leading up to last Thursday's deadline for appealing the adoption. Now, those appeals are being backed up by a letter of protest from Denmark, delivered directly to the ISO Vice President.

Even with the madcap Apache dance between Microsoft and Yahoo supposedly over, it's still getting a lot of attention from people you'd assume have more important things to ponder. The latest bout, from the D: All Things Digital Conference, has a who's who list of technology execs tossing in their two cents on how to get the two bruised and bickering behemoths to play nice.

Everyone knows that Microsoft is desperate. After borking their bid to buy up Yahoo, Big Evil is looking for any way it can possibly increase its competition with Google in search and more importantly, search advertising.

Peer-to-peer file sharing technology is nothing new, nor is its use to widely distribute copyrighted content. Groups like the RIAA and MPAA desperately want to disrupt as much file sharing as they can, but there's a simple piece of advice they'd be wise to remember: When chasing file sharers, try not to break the law yourself.

Early this week, we reported that South Africa became the first nation to appeal the ISO's approval of Microsoft Office Open XML. Now they have been joined by a second appellant, Brazil, and the second round of charges are even more heated than the first.

Google's Linux-based Android platform for mobile phones has drawn a lot of attention since it was announced in November of last year, from phone makers as well as users. Now it appears the platform is about to cross the finish line, and Google is putting its developer search into overdrive.

If anything should be a maxim for operating a successful website, it's this: Stay on the good side of the search engines. Search engines drive web traffic, and if you set them off, they can drive that traffic right past your site without a second thought. This moves us to wonder: What the heck is going on with the Belgian press, and who told them it was a good idea to agitate Google?