A hacking group claims to have pulled data from a GitLab instance connected to Red Hat’s consulting business, scooping up 570 GB of compressed data from 28,000 customers. From a report: The hack was first reported by BleepingComputer and has been confirmed by Red Hat itself. “Red Hat is aware of reports regarding a security incident related to our consulting business and we have initiated necessary remediation steps,” Stephanie Wonderlick, Red Hat’s VP of communications told 404 Media.

A file released by the hackers and viewed by 404 Media suggested that the hacking group may have acquired some data related to about 800 clients, including Vodafone, T-Mobile, the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center, the Federal Aviation Administration, Bank of America, AT&T, the U.S. House of Representatives, and Walmart.

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Tech companies are struggling to fill AI-specialized roles despite a surplus of available tech talent. U.S. colleges more than doubled the number of computer science degrees awarded between 2013 and 2022. Major layoffs at Google, Meta, and Amazon flooded the job market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts businesses will employ 6% fewer computer programmers in 2034 than last year. The disconnect stems from companies seeking workers with specific AI expertise.

Runway CEO Cristobal Valenzuela estimates only hundreds of people worldwide possess the skills to train complex AI models. His company advertises base salaries up to $490,000 for a director of machine learning. Daniel Park’s startup Pickle offers up to $500,000 base salary and expects candidates willing to work seven days a week. The WSJ story includes the example of one James Strawn, who was laid off from Adobe over the summer after 25 years as a senior software quality-assurance engineer. The 55-year-old has had one interview since his layoff. Matt Massucci, CEO of recruiting firm Hirewell, told the publication companies can automate some low-level engineering tasks and redirect that money to high-end talent.

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Neon, a service that pays you for recordings of your phone calls and then sells those to AI companies for training data, seems set to return in the wake of a privacy breach. The app swiftly went viral after its debut, but it has been on ice since last week after a security flaw emerged. 

According to CNET, Neon founder Alex Kiam apologized for the incident in an email to users and said the app would return “soon.” It went offline after TechCrunch found users were able to access other people’s call recordings, along with transcripts and metadata. Neon pledged to add extra layers of security during the outage before making a comeback. 

While the app has been offline, users have been unable to cash out their payments. Neon pays them up to $30 per day for call recordings — 30 cents per minute for chats with other Neon users, and 15 cents per minute for calls with anyone else. It offers $30 for referring a newcomer to the app as well. 

In the email to users on Tuesday, Liam wrote that, “Your earnings have not disappeared — when we’re back online, we’ll pay you everything you’ve earned, plus a little bonus to thank you for your patience!” 

Neon says it only records the user’s side of the conversation when they place a call through the app. If the person on the other end is a Neon user as well, it records both sides of the chat. The company claims its tech automatically filters out personal information like names and phone numbers. Some privacy experts have warned people not to use Neon, in part because of potential pitfalls related to two-party consent laws for recording conversations in various jurisdictions.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/viral-app-neon-vows-to-return-to-sell-more-of-your-phone-calls-to-ai-companies-150233035.html?src=rss

More than 100,000 people were sent to hospitals due to heatstroke in Japan between May 1 and Sunday, according to preliminary data from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Bloomberg, via Japan Times: The number is the most on record, according to NHK. Transport to hospitals of patients linked to heatstroke over the period rose almost 3% to 100,143 from a year earlier as Japan saw its national temperature record broken twice in a matter of days. The country’s average temperature during this summer was the highest since the statistic began being compiled in 1898, the nation’s weather agency said last month.

Heat waves around the world are being made stronger and more deadly due to human-caused climate change. Government officials in August pledged to boost public health protections and encouraged the installation of more air conditioners in school gymnasiums and the use of cooling centers in communal spaces like libraries. New rules came into effect this summer that require employers to take adequate measures to protect workers from extreme temperatures.

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Major health insurers are threatening to drop renowned cancer centers from their networks during contract negotiations, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s president and CEO Selwyn M. Vickers and chairman Scott M. Stuart wrote in a story published by WSJ. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center reported that both Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare prepared to terminate network agreements while patients underwent active cancer treatment. FTI Consulting found that 45% of 133 provider-payer disputes in 2024 failed to reach timely agreements. The disruptions have affected tens of thousands of patients.

Research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that care disruptions lead to more advanced-stage diagnoses and worse outcomes. Similar contract disputes involved Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University and University of North Carolina Health. New York lawmakers introduced legislation this year requiring insurers to maintain coverage for cancer patients during negotiations and until treatment concludes. Memorial Sloan Kettering’s leadership described the practice as using patients as bargaining chips despite record insurer profits.

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This morning, Tesla published its production and delivery numbers for the third quarter of the year. We’ve heard the same story for a while, one of diminishing sales as customers tire of a stale product lineup and are repulsed by the politics of the company’s CEO. But Q3 2025 tells a different tale. It’s been a good three months for the beleaguered automaker, one that appears to have cleared out a lot of old inventory.

Tesla built a total of 447,450 electric vehicles between July and September this year. That’s actually a 4.8 percent decrease compared to the same three months last year.

The Models 3 and Y production lines saw less of a slowdown—Tesla built 435,826 of these EVs, a 1.8 percent decline on last year. But the Models S and X, grouped together with the US-only Cybertruck, saw the greatest cutbacks. Just 11,624 of these collected models were produced, a 55.1 percent decrease compared to Q3 2024.

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