They may be well reviewed and China’s new top selling phone, but reader DavidGilbert99 writes with reason to be cautious about Xiaomi’s phones: Finnish security firm F-Secure has seemingly proven that Xiaomi smartphones do in fact upload user data without their permission/knowledge despite the company strongly denying these allegations as late as 30 July. Between commercial malware and government agencies, how do you keep your phone’s data relatively private? Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Originally posted here:
F-Secure: Xiaomi Smartphones Do Secretly Steal Your Data
Text expansion apps are a great way to save time when you find yourself typing the same information repeatedly, but they can do much more than that. One our favorites is TextExpander on Mac, and it’s a powerful tool once you learn how to use it. Read more… 
schwit1 (797399) writes with news that NASA scientists have tested the EmDrive, which claims to use quantum vacuum plasma for propulsion. Theoretically improbable, but perhaps possible after all. If it does work, it would eliminate the need for expendable fuel (just add electricity). From the article:Either the results are completely wrong, or NASA has confirmed a major breakthrough in space propulsion. A working microwave thruster would radically cut the cost of satellites and space stations and extend their working life, drive deep-space missions, and take astronauts to Mars in weeks rather than months. … [According to the researchers] “Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma.” Skepticism is certainly warranted: NASA researchers were only able to produce about 1/1000th of the force the Chinese researchers reported. But they were careful to avoid false sensor readings, so something is going on. The paper declined to comment on what that could be, leaving the physics of the system an open problem. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
First time accepted submitter wijnands (874114) writes Star Wars crews have started filming on the small Irish Island of Skellig Michael. This island, listed as a Unesco world heritage site, features the remains of a 6th century monastery as well as breeding populations of puffins , manx shearwaters, storm petrels, guillemots and kittiwakes. Currently the Irish navy has deployed one vessel to maintain a 2 mile exclusion zone around the island. Unesco is now concerned about what is going on the island, which is only visited 13 times a year by tourist groups, and has asked the Irish government for an explanation. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Remember that flame burst recorded by an astronaut aboard the ISS ? Well, it wasn’t just for the fireworks. In fact, that great ball of fire led to the discovery of a previously unknown type of cool-burning flame that isn’t even visible to the naked eye. Read more… 