Your essential catch-up on the week's news

Machines are getting smarter. FCW recently published a big feature package on advances in machine learning, cybersecurity and other technologies. Read the articles online here and here.

Who put a hold on an innovative Energy Department data-center project that, if it succeeds, could bring significant savings in both power and dollars? OMB was first named, but now it seems that DOE itself might have put on the brakes.

Strategic sourcing is spoken of as if it were a no-brainer, but some senators have doubts that it can really deliver on its promises. FAS Commissioner Thomas Sharpe, however, is a fan, and other legislators are introducing bills to expand the practice.

The Energy Department's supercomputer projects have always been impressive, but if America is to break the exaflop barrier – meaning, 1 quintillion floating-point operations per second – Congress must keep the funding flow generous.

Whether or not you think it's ok for law enforcement to monitor the movements of ordinary citizens who are not under suspicion, the technologies that allow them to do so are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Cyrus Farivar, writing in Ars Technica, shares what the Oakland Police Department knows about his whereabouts.