Every economic opportunity in the world, at your fingertips

Moodboard | Cultura | Getty Images _The latest news from the brave new world of the Data Economy:_ LINKEDIN'S MAP OF THE WORLD Right now, you can endorse your professional buddies on

LinkedIn, learn about some relevant job opportunities, and wonder how in the heck this person you don't know who runs a company you never heard of decided to ask you to add him to your

professional network. In the grand vision of the LinkedIn gurus, though, the future will offer a world map based on LinkedIn data showing every single economic opportunity on earth. The map

would include a profile of every company, every higher educational organization, every worker and every job opportunity on the planet. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, STAYS IN VEGAS ... ON A SERVER

Inside the Flamingo Hotel, in the heart of the Vegas strip, 200 people are hard at work gaming the system and making bets in ways very different from typical casino patrons. A better way to

price the hotel, a wiser arrangement of tables, a sudden lapse in visits from longtime patrons—Caesars Entertainment's data analytics team is considering all these issues on a daily

basis. Even getting their heads around why Atlantic City gamblers never returned to the casinos after Superstorm Sandy. The answer... (_Read more_: The new Vegas bookie is a cyborg) SILICON

VALLEY VS. BIG BROTHER Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said at this past week's TechCrunch Disrupt conference that there was a good, simple reason a tech company can be only so demanding about

government transparency on data requests: She'd be sent to prison for treason if she shared classified information. But tech giants are using whatever leverage they have to nudge the

government to be more forthcoming about its Big Brother aims. Google has filed a petition seeking the ability to publish "detailed statistics" about information sought under the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And because Mayer doesn't want to go to jail, Yahoo and Facebook have filed a petition similar to Google's, asking for permission to publish

more detailed disclosures about data requests from U.S. government agencies. AMERICA'S INTEREST IN BRAZILIAN OIL The age of energy independence has arrived for the U..S., which is awash

in natural gas and oil from shale deposits. Why, then, is the government tapping into the communications of Brazilian energy giant Petrobras? It was that the National Security Agency

targeted the private computer networks of Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a Brazilian TV report said. (_Read more_: Google's

big brother technology for the rainforest) ATHLETIC STARDOM Never mastered the crossover dribble? Can't hit a curve? No problem. Just because you don't have the game to be a

professional athlete, doesn't mean you can't find a job in the sports world. Becoming a data superstar could be the key to your athletic stardom. Business schools around the

country are beginning to offer dedicated sports analytics courses, and it could be a viable career path that brings you closer to the base paths, even without a .300 average. GOING PRIVATE

Twitter may be about to hit the public market, but less public-oriented social media platforms are having major success in an age of too much information in the hands of just about anyone

who wants it. Don't want the government nabbing your mobile communications? It seems you really don't: Snapchat, the mobile app that lets users send self-destructing pictures and

videos to friends who also use the app, has seen significant growth on the Android platform Snapchat now has 350 million messages sent on its platform daily, compared with 200 million a day

in June. MEMORIZE YOUR HEARTBEAT Last Tuesday, Apple unveiled a fingerprint sensor that can be used instead of a passcode to unlock an iPhone—a neat trick that already has one big fan, Yahoo

CEO Marissa Mayer. As security risks associated with individual information mount, the area of biometrics is blossoming, and long-time puzzles in the area of technology authentication are

finally being solved. Cryptographers at the University of Toronto have developed a wristband with one of the more unique biometric signatures—your heartbeat. Security is a big part of the

Nymi wristband's marketing pitch, according to a report in the _New York Times_. THE FUTURE IS QUANTUM COMPUTING Moore's Law implies that silicon has a limit, and that limit is

soon to be reached, and then, what's the computer industry to do to keep unlocking unlimited amounts of memory? According to some, the answer is quantum computing. D-Wave, the maker of

the first quantum computer, has already sold its machines to Google and Lockheed Martin, among others. (_Read more_: The first Bieber tweet, and billions more) DEVICE EXHAUSTION With

innovation waning and saturation climbing, the ability of Apple and other smartphone makers to make a big market splash could be limited. Citigroup sees "device exhaustion" in the

smartphone market, a condition in which it's getting harder and harder both to find people who don't own smartphones and who are impressed with or motivated by marginal

improvements. That certainly seemed to be the fatigued response to Apple's big launch last week of its newest iPhone models, which was judged a big disappointment, fingerprint sensor

notwithstanding. A NEW ARGUMENT GETTING OLD QUICKLY The big data revolution will transform the global economy in a way similar to the first internet wave or the introduction of the gasoline

engine and Model T. Or it won't. Economic dud or miracle? Deserved hype or hyperbole? Depends on who you ask, and lately, it's a question being asked and answered on a daily basis.

So here's one more crack at a new question that's getting old pretty quickly. MAN VS. MACHINE ON WALL STREET The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking to build a

regulatory framework around high-speed and algorithmic futures trading. The announcement, made earlier this week, comes in the form of a "concept release." It's a 137-page

document requesting public input on more than 100 questions about dozens of proposed ways to control risks from technology that enables many more trades to be made much faster, with much

less human interaction, than any time in the past. Despite the report's length, however, the CFTC doesn't appear to be addressing this problem directly—by forcing the traders to

accept responsibility for their trades. —By Eric Rosenbaum, CNBC.com