Equifax is set to pay up to $700 million to halt probes into its massive data breach, CNN reported. 150 million people had data held by the company exposed in a breach revealed in September 2017. It is the biggest ever payout for a data breach.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that Equifax will pay at least $300 million and as much as $425 million to compensate affected people with credit monitoring services. That money will go into a fund that will also reimburse people who purchased credit- or identity-monitoring services because of the 2017 data breach. The amount of the settlement could change depending on the number of claims still to be filed by consumers. Equifax will also pay $275 million in civil penalties and other compensation to 48 states, Washington, Puerto Rico and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Southern Stars Group, LLC has released the following:

On the 50^thanniversary of Apollo 11’s first manned moon landing, a new iOS app – Orbitrack – lets you explore the universe of spacecraft in orbit around our home planet today, using cutting-edge augmented and virtual reality technology.

Better yet: for just one day, July 20^th, 2019, Orbitrack will be offered for free on the iTunes Store.

Highly rated, Orbitrack is available in the Apple App Store now for $4.99 (free on 7/20) and for Android in the second half of 2019. For more information, visit Southern Stars Group.

Lawmakers in Russia are considering a proposal to make having locally made software on smartphones and other devices mandatory, Reuters reported. Apple is a key player in the Russian smartphone market, and I can’t see the company being happy with this idea.

The bill, tabled at the lower house of parliament on Thursday, would allow authorities to draw up a list of mandatory, locally-made software. If passed, it would come into force in July 2020. Russia’s cell-phone market is dominated by Apple, Samsung and Huawei products. The bill also proposes fining companies that sell devices without pre-installed Russian software from 50,000 to 200,000 roubles (£630.94-£2,531.75) starting from January 2021.

Apple has bolstered its security over the years, trying to prevent product leaks. It means some have gone to even more extreme lengths to get information out. MacRumors picked up on a report that Apple once found workers trying to get stolen iPhone components out via a tunnel they dug.

The security team is said to have uncovered workers going to extreme lengths to smuggle valuable components out of factories over the years, with some attempting to hide parts in crawl spaces, tissue boxes, shoes, belt buckles, bras, used mop water, under discarded metal shavings, and beyond. Apple once even caught factory workers “digging a small tunnel in a corner of a room behind a large piece of machinery,” hoping to use it to funnel stolen components to the outside, according to the report. “People were chipping away little by little at the wall ‘Shawshank Redemption’ style,” one person said.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink project presented a medical device Tuesday that could read data from 1,500 electrodes. Wired explained the science behind the ambitious project aiming to link brains with computers.

In a presentation to the California Academy of Sciences on Tuesday evening, Neuralink presented a medical device capable of reading information from 1,500 flexible electrodes connected to a laboratory rat – 15 times faster than current systems embedded in humans. The goal is to eventually implant it in people with paralysis or other medical conditions that will let them control computers with their minds – and the company has ambitious plans to begin human trials as soon as next year. So how does it work? Neuralink says surgeons would have to drill holes through the skull to insert flexible electrodes. But in the future, they hope to use a laser to pierce tiny holes in the skull.

Apple has renewed Carpool Karaoke for a third season, Cult of Mac reported. The show will be exclusively available to Apple Music subscribers. It came out of a segment of James Corden’s Late Late Show.

The cast of Stranger Things have already filmed an episode for season 3. Other celebrity pairings haven’t been announced yet. Last season featured Matthew McConaughey with Snoop Dogg, Kendal Jenner with Hailey Beiber and Miley Cyrus and Boyz II Men with Gisele Bundchen. Apple hasn’t said how many episodes to expect in season three. The first season had 21 episodes while the second had 19. Carpool Karaoke won a 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series. The series was nominated for an Emmy in the same category this year too.

Amazon faced the toughest questioning from lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday attended by representatives of big tech firms. Reuters reported that Apple too, found itself in the firing line during the hearing. Questions to Apple focussed on costs associated with App Store Purchases

Legislators also demanded explanations from Apple Inc about charges for apps and in-app purchases, Facebook Inc for its rapidly changing privacy policy and Alphabet’s Google over whether its rivals are demoted in search results. The committee does not have authority to punish the companies, and any effort to change antitrust laws affecting tech firms would face hurdles in the Republican-controlled Senate. So the questioning served largely to convey the panel’s displeasure over many of the companies’ business practices.

ZDNet writes: “The skills shortage is spreading further, with developers for data science, DevOps and cloud roles in high demand.”  Citing recruiting research in the UK:

Harvey Nash director David Savage said the recruiter found the biggest skills shortages were in data science and analytics. He said because data science demands a narrow field of technical skills, plus a highly academic approach, there are huge problems in the talent pipeline and no clear or easy way to increase the number of available professionals.

There’s a shortage in the U.S. as well for highly skilled programmers.