The Things One Can Discover...

...with enough data and the right algorithm:

Falling Coca-Cola sales in a specific region of Africa are an excellent indicator of civil unrest, famine, or some other problem in that region.

Now That's What I'm Talking About!

A system that analyzes the content of books and suggests new books for you to read based on the amounts of dialog and action, the density, the pacing, and a couple of other factors. The books currently in the beta are heavily skewed towards science fiction, which is a genre I haven't really read in since I was 16, so I can't say how well it works based on what's in there now. But kudos for the general concept!

The Slashdot story has links to more background on the project and the person behind it.

Be a Data Geek, Win a Prize!

The British government is going to give 20,000 pounds to the person who comes up with the best idea for mashing up and re-using the reams of data collected by said government.

I checked the rules, and it's not limited to British citizens. The deadline is in September. Full details here.