Oppy remains silent at Meridiani Planum as a global dust storm envelops Mars, drastically reducing energy to the rover's solar panels. While ground controllers keep nervous vigil listening for a signal from the 15 year old veteran explorer, a flotilla of orbiting spacecraft are beaming back a bonanza of scientific info about this major Martian weather event.

What to keep an eye out for in the next few months if you're considering a smart phone upgrade. We look at what's brewing from Apple, Samsung, Google and the specialised premium Oppo Find X and Red Hydrogen One models.

Our weekly news round-up: Another data scandal hits Facebook; Big update for Apple HomePod; San Fransisco plans to issue electric scooter permits in August and begin year-long trials; Google fined US$5 billion over Android mobile system; Nvidia Shield media centre now on sale; Over-heating reported on top-of-the-line Macbook Pro with i9 CPU.

With almost 6 million Australians already signed on, 13,000 health professionals connected and 6.5 million clinical documents uploaded so far, the Federal Government's new ehealth system aims to improve health outcomes by better sharing of information between service providers. But there are real concerns over sensitive data protection and it is possible to completely opt out by October 15, 2018.

Google engineers and third-party app developers are given permission to read the emails of the 1.2 billion Gmail users around the world. In some cases this is done to train algorithms to handle the data contained in emails, but it does highlight the vulnerabilities of Google's permission system. Companies like Microsoft, Return Path and Edison Software have also been given access to Gmail user info and the problem applies to other online email services.

After a lead diver in the Thai cave rescue Vern Unsworth told Elon to "stick his submarine where it hurts" and described it as a PR stunt, Musk branded him a "pedo guy" on Twitter, where the tech billionaire has 22 million followers. He now faces the prospect of being sued for this so far unjustified slur. In addition, his green credentials have been called into question after it was revealed he donated thousands to climate change denier Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.

Though incredibly promising for eradicating nasty disease, there remain troubling questions about unintended consequences. Now the US military is getting in on the act, looking at how to defend against and take advantage of gene drives - genetic engineering technology that can propagate inheritable genes through a population.

In the final part of our interview with professional apiarists Simon Mulvany and Ben Moore, we discuss what's so important about bees and how attitudes are changing both in Australia and abroad to the vital need for healthy bee populations. Plus, Simon updates us on his protracted legal dispute with Capilano Honey, saying "there's a very good chance we'll now be able to settle the case".

Many major Australian companies have had job applicants' data compromised by the hacking of Melbourne-based online recruitment services company PageUp. While the true scope of damage is unknown, some might well ask whether it's such a good idea to outsource their hiring needs.

Our weekly news round-up: New Facebook patent describes how a TV ad could contain a hidden audio trigger for your smart phone's mic; Raya - the world's most exclusive social network; NASA's NExSS aims to refine how biosignatures are used to assess the chance of life beyond Earth; Saturn's moon Enceladus is releasing plumes of far more complex organic molecules than we thought; Drones using AI to spot violent outbreaks in crowds; China builds the world's first laser assault rifle to vapourise targets within a 1 km range; Amazon Prime is well priced downunder; Much anticipated NVIDIA Shield gaming terminal on sale in Oz.