Your essential catch-up of the week's news
NSA's data challenge, the Postal Services technology innovations, and Facebook's DIY servers.
The big news of the week was the revelation that the National Security Agency has been harvesting vast amounts of metadata from telephone companies and online services, leading to fears of privacy violations and personal data-mining. That is a lot of data.
The Postal Service doesn't have a reputation for innovation, but two stories this week call that image into question. One details the organization's use of data mining and analytics for preventing or detecting fraud, and the other documents its use of agile software development.
Another story about big data describes the art required to collect and use it well. It is a science, yes, but a creative one.
The question of whether CIOs should have budget authority has come to the fore again.
Around the Web: Facebook's taken DIY to a new level – its newest data center is filled entirely with servers that the social networking company designed itself, reports Ars Technica.