President Donald Trump is considering using a Qatari Boeing 747-8 given as a gift as Air Force One while the new presidential jet faces delays.The ruling family of Qatar gifted the US president the $400 million luxury jumbo jet, and Trump said he would "never be one to turn down that kind of offer."The potential plane deal faced pushback from critics and even some Trump allies over security concerns and the legal and ethical issues associated with using a foreign-origin aircraft as Air Force One, the president's airborne command center.Besides Air Force One, the presidential fleet includes other fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft depending on the mission. Presidential aircraft fleet A VC-25A aircraft and a VH-3D Sea King helicopter taxi following former President Joe Biden's sendoff ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. US Air Force photo by Hayden Hallman Air Force One is a call sign that refers to any US Air Force aircraft transporting the president, though it is commonly recognized by its blue-and-white livery.The Air Force has two "specially configured" Boeing 747-200B jets that are primarily used as Air Force One. The VC-25A aircraft is uniquely modified to serve as an airborne command-and-control center for the president, staff, and guests with the same level of safety and security as the White House.Other than the number of passengers it can carry, the main differences between the VC-25 and the standard Boeing 747 include more advanced electronic and communications equipment, a self-contained baggage loader, and the capability for in-flight refueling.The VC-25 also has a rest area and mini-galley for the aircrew, six passenger lavatories, and a compartment with medical supplies and equipment for minor in-flight emergencies. Marine One Nighthawk 46 arrives for the 46th president's send-off ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. US Air Force photo by Hayden Hallman For shorter distance trips, especially to and from the White House, the president flies in Marine One, which includes military helicopters like the VH-3D Sea King and the VH-60N White Hawk.In service for nearly five decades, both military helicopters are set to be phased out and fully replaced with modernized rotary-wing aircraft, the VH-92A.The next-generation Marine One is designed to be a militarized variant of the Sikorsky VH-92 Patriot. Other aircraft An 89th Airlift Wing C-40 and C-37 sit near UH-1N Iroquois helicopters and a C-17 Globemaster III at Joint Base Andrews. US Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace/RELEASED The presidential fleet also includes other fixed-wing aircraft besides the modified 747. The C-32A, a modified Boeing 757-200, is better suited for smaller airports or low-profile missions.The C-40, based on the Boeing 737, can be used to fly the president but is more often used for Cabinet members or other VIP individuals.Based on General Dynamics' Gulfstream long-range business jets, the C-37 is used to transport high-ranking government and Defense Department officials for worldwide missions. 'Next Air Force One' An artist rendering of the "Next Air Force One," the VC-25B, which will succeed the current Air Force One, VC-25A. Courtesy rendering/US Air Force The two planes currently being used as Air Force One have been in service for nearly four decades. They are set to be replaced by a modernized variant dubbed the "Next Air Force One."Officially designated the VC-25B, the new presidential aircraft is set to feature "electrical power upgrades, a mission communication system, a medical facility, an executive interior, a self-defense system, and autonomous ground operations capabilities," according to an Air Force release.The two future VC-25B jets were initially scheduled to be fielded in 2024, but supply chain issues and shifting requirements could postpone their delivery to 2029.Facing pressure from the White House to have the new aircraft ready before Trump leaves office in January 2029, the Air Force and Boeing are aiming to have the new aircraft delivered by 2027, according to Darlene Costello, the Air Force's principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics. A 'security nightmare' US President Donald Trump's motorcade is parked next to a Qatari Boeing 747 on the tarmac of Palm Beach International Airport. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images An Air Force official told Air and Space Forces Magazine that the service is coordinating with the White House and Boeing "to further define the requirements and acceleration options while ensuring we provide a safe, secure, and reliable aircraft for the president."Trump has previously expressed his frustration with receiving the next-generation Air Force One, suggesting earlier this year that he may seek "alternatives, because it's taking Boeing too long."Despite the backlash, the president doubled down on his proposal to use the Qatari jet as Air Force One, saying he doesn't plan on using it after his term and would donate it to a future presidential library."I could be a stupid person and say, 'No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane,'" Trump told reporters Monday.Though free in cost, there's still a major cost to overhaul and retrofit the plane with the strict security requirements needed to serve as Air Force One."Along with the obvious ethical and legal issues, a $400M gifted luxury jet is not Air Force One," US Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut wrote on X. "Retrofitting a plane from Qatar would create huge costs & a security nightmare that would impede the work underway to deliver the actual AF1 by 2027."

Microsoft has issued fixes for a total of five new zero-day vulnerabilities out of a grand total of just over 70 addressable common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) on the fifth Patch Tuesday of 2025 – over 80 when third-party issues are accounted for. In numerical order, this month’s zero days are as follows: CVE-2025-30400, an elevation of privilege (EoP) vulnerability in Microsoft DWM Core Library; CVE-2025-30397, a memory corruption leading to remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Scripting Engine; CVE-2025-32701, an EoP vulnerability in Windows Common Log File System Driver (CLFS); CVE-2025-32706, a second EoP flaw in CLFS; CVE-2025-32709, an EoP issue in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (AFD.sys). All five of these CVEs are listed by Microsoft as being exploited in the wild, but have not yet been made public. They are all rated as being of Important severity, and all save the Scripting Engine flaw carry CVSS ratings of 7.8. Mike Walters, president and co-founder of patch management specialist Action1, said that the two CLFS issues stood out as particularly dangerous given its importance in computing – the CLFS is a critical component that providers logging services to user- and kernel-mode applications, and is widely used by various system services and third-party applications. “Attackers exploiting these vulnerabilities can escalate privileges to system level, granting them full control to run arbitrary code, install malware, modify data, or disable security protections,” said Walters. “With low complexity and minimal privileges needed, these flaws pose a serious risk, especially given the confirmed in-the-wild exploitation [and] while no public exploit code is currently available, the presence of active attacks suggests that targeted campaigns, potentially involving advanced persistent threats (APTs), are already underway. “Organisations should prioritise immediate assessment and remediation of these vulnerabilities to prevent potential compromise. Any organisation running Windows systems – across enterprise, government, education, or consumer sectors – could be exposed. Given Windows’ global footprint, millions of devices are likely at risk,” said Walters. CVE-2025-30400 in DWM Core Library should also be high on security admins’ patching lists, observed Kev Breen, senior director of threat research at Immersive. He explained: “If exploited, it would allow attackers to gain system-level permission on the affected host. With this level of privilege, attackers would be able to gain full control over the host, including any security tools and user accounts, potentially allowing for domain-level access to be compromised. “This CVE is marked as ‘Exploitation Detected’ by the Microsoft team, meaning patches should be applied immediately as threat groups, including ransomware affiliates, will be quick to leverage this once more details become public.” Breen added that once this happens, cyber teams and threat hunters should work quickly to review their systems for indicators of compromise (IoCs) to ensure that they haven’t been hit in the window between the point at which threat actors began at-scale exploitation, and the patch was released. Breen’s colleague, cyber threat intelligence researcher Ben Hopkins, ran the rule over the remaining exploited zero-days, CVE-20205-30397 in Scripting Engine and CVE-2025-32709 in AFD.sys “A scripting engine memory corruption vulnerability occurs when the Microsoft scripting engine mishandles objects in memory, in this case leading to an elevation of privilege being performed by an attacker,” he explained. “This specific vulnerability exists … involves access to a resource using (‘type confusion’) which allows attackers to execute code over a network. Type confusion in this context occurs when a program mistakenly treats a piece of data as a different type than it actually is, which leads to undefined and unpredictable behaviour, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code and elevate their privileges,” said Hopkins For the layperson, this means that having attained system-level privileges, a threat actor could easily access sensitive data and look for opportunities to pivot to other, more valuable parts of the victim’s network. Turning to the issue affecting AFD.sys, a core Windows kernel-mode driver that supports network socket operations by bridging from WinSock (Windows Sockets API) in user space, and lower-level network drivers in the kernel, Hopkins explained that an unauthorized attacker could exploit a condition in which memory that has been deallocated can still be accessed to inject controlled data into memory and influence how the program behaves, ultimately granting them the ability to elevate their privileges. In both cases, what this means is that having attained system-level privileges, a threat actor could easily access sensitive data and look for opportunities to pivot to other, more valuable parts of the victim’s network. Two additional zero-days have been publicly-disclosed today (13 May) but have not yet been reported as coming under attack at the time of writing. These are CVE-2025-26685, a spoofing vulnerability in Microsoft Defender for Identity, and CVE-2025-32702, an RCE vulnerability in Visual Studio. Both of these are rated of Important severity, carrying CVSS scores of 6.5 and 7.8 respectively. Finally, the May update brings a total of 11 critical flaws affecting Azure Automation, Azure DevOps, Azure Storage Resource, Microsoft Dataverse, Microsoft msagsfeedback.zurewebsites.net, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Power Apps, Microsoft Virtual Machine Bus and Remote Desktop Client (RDP). In their impact, these issues run the gamut from EoP to spoofing to information disclosure, and six of them lead to RCE, said Microsoft. Of the critical issues, Walters’ co-CEO and co-founder at Action1, Alex Vovk, told Computer Weekly that the two RDP flaws stood out in particular. These are tracked as CVE-2025-29966 and CVE-2025-29967. “Both vulnerabilities pose critical risks, including remote code execution, full system compromise, and data breaches,” remarked Vovk. “Given the broad adoption of remote desktop services, many organizations are potentially exposed. CVE-2025-29966 and CVE-2025-29967 underscore the urgent need to secure both client and server components in remote access environments.” Read more about Patch Tuesday April 2025: Microsoft is correcting 124 vulnerabilities in its March Patch Tuesday, one of which is being actively exploited in the wild, and 11 of which are ‘critical’. March 2025: The third Patch Tuesday of 2025 brought fixes for 57 flaws and a hefty number of zero-days. February 2025: Microsoft corrected 57 vulnerabilities, two of which are being actively exploited in the wild, and three of which are ‘critical’. January 2025: The largest Patch Tuesday of the 2020s so far brings fixes for more than 150 CVEs ranging widely in their scope and severity – including eight zero-day flaws. December 2024: Microsoft has fixed over 70 CVEs in its final Patch Tuesday update of the year, and defenders should prioritise a zero-day in the Common Log File System Driver, and another impactful flaw in the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. November 2024: High-profile vulns in NTLM, Windows Task Scheduler, Active Directory Certificate Services and Microsoft Exchange Server should be prioritised from November’s Patch Tuesday update. October 2024: Stand-out vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday drop include problems in Microsoft Management Console and the Windows MSHTML Platform. September 2024: Four critical remote code execution bugs in Windows and three critical elevated privileges vulnerabilities will keep admins busy. August 2024: Microsoft patches six actively exploited zero-days among over 100 issues during its regular monthly update. July 2024: Microsoft has fixed almost 140 vulnerabilities in its latest monthly update, with a Hyper-V zero-day singled out for urgent attention. June 2024: An RCE vulnerability in a Microsoft messaging feature and a third-party flaw in a DNS authentication protocol are the most pressing issues to address in Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday update. May 2024: A critical SharePoint vulnerability warrants attention this month, but it is another flaw that seems to be linked to the infamous Qakbot malware that is drawing attention.

Microsoft 365 apps for Windows 10 will continue to get security updates until Oct. 10, 2028, three years after the company ends support for Windows 10 this coming Oct. 14, Microsoft said in a blog post. At the same time, the company noted that the apps could experience performance issues over time when running on Windows 10. If a customer contacts support about a problem with an M365 app for Windows 10 that does not occur on Windows 11, the customer will be told to upgrade to Windows 11. If the user can’t do so, support will then only assist in troubleshooting the problem. Technical solutions might be limited — or not available at all. And it will not be possible to report bugs or request other product updates. The extension of M365 support is a change from Microsoft’s plans in January, when it said support would end in October 2025.

Here's everything that was announced at Google's Android Show I/O Edition 2025. Credit: Google Google I/O 2025 is just one week away. But, if you just can't wait, Google held a special event on Tuesday: Android Show I/O Edition, which gave a look at some new big things headed to Android devices with the Android 16 update. Google shared some interesting stats during the livestream. For example, there are 3 billion active Android devices around the world, making it the most popular mobile operating system. More than one billion messages are sent in the U.S. alone across all mobile devices (iOS included) using the new RCS Messaging standard, which allows Android and iOS users to easily text as one big happy family.The real highlights, however, are in all the new features Google announced today. Here's everything you need to know from The Android Show event.Android 16According to Google, Android 16 will feature the operating system's biggest redesign in years, with a "whole new look and feel." Material 3 Expressive brings a brand new UI to Android devices, which can be tailored to each individual user.  Android 16 Credit: Google For example, Android 16's Material 3 Expressive allows users to personalize everything from the device interface's colors, fonts, and even animations. Even haptic rumbles can be connected to on-screen swipes and slides. A "refined" homescreen grid will also bring a neater, more visually pleasing app layout to users' screens.Another new Android 16 feature is Live Updates, which will highlight the most important notifications on the users' lockscreen. Rideshare services, food deliveries, and navigation apps will all be prioritized in order to provide users with up-to-date information on time-sensitive events so that they aren't pushed down the screen with less important notifications. Google says that Pixel devices will be the first to get Android 16 when it rolls out later this year.Wear OS 6Google's smartwatch operating system is also getting a big visual update in what the company is calling its "most expressive version yet." Watch OS 6 Credit: Google Wear OS 6 will have a new Material 3 Expressive UI that embraces the circular screen of smartwatches and matches the on-screen visuals to the physical display shape of each smartwatch device. Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! Transitions and animations that Android users have become accustomed to will also be coming to Wear OS 6, along with a 10 percent battery improvement for smartwatches that update to the new operating systemIn addition to all that, Google Assistant will be replaced with Gemini, bringing Google's AI model to its smartwatch operating system.Gemini across all devicesGemini isn't just coming to smartwatches either. Google announced that Gemini will be rolled out across all of its Android devices. That's right, Google is bringing AI to your car, your watch, and your TV. Gemini across all devices Credit: Google Google's AI Gemini will soon be coming to Android Auto and Google Built-In cars, in order to bring AI assistant abilities to drivers without having to use their smartphone. For example, drivers can conversationally ask Gemini details about locations on their map app and Google's AI chatbot will provide the user with real-time facts and other information based on their query.Gemini was also announced for smart TVs, which will bring AI chatbot capabilities to users while watching their favorite movies and television shows.  Gemini on smart TVs Credit: Google And finally, Google teased that Gemini would be integrated into Android XR, the company's operating system for virtual and augmented reality headsets and smartglasses.Google also shared some new Gemini features for Android smartphones, which allow the user to screen record documents and snap photos of real-world items and then share the content with Gemini in order to receive summaries or ask questions.Safety and Security The new Google 'Find Hub' will replace Find My Device. Credit: Google Perhaps the biggest news from The Android Show I/O Edition is that Find My Device is no more.Find My Device is now known as Find Hub in order to reflect that the tracking feature isn't just for devices anymore. Find Hub can be used to check on the location of loved ones, share locations with friends and families, and more.Google shared that they are working with new tracker tag companies such as July, which makes Bluetooth-tag embedded smart luggage. Google is also working with major airline partners so users can share their tags and track them through the airline when traveling. Disney tracker tags Credit: Google Disney will also soon release its own themed tracker tags with popular Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars characters. On the cybersecurity end of things, Google shared how Google Messages is continuing to get smarter when it comes to text message scams. Android's enhanced protections have been able to detect even newer schemes, such as the recent fake E-Z Pass toll road scam.All-in-all, there was nothing too groundbreaking announced at The Android Show I/O Edition. However, what was announced will bring some major changes and upgrades across a slew of devices in the coming months. Google packed a lot into a roughly 30-minute event, so we can only imagine what more they have in store at Google I/O next week.

Rust has become a popular programming language in recent years as it combines security and high performance and can be used in many applications. It combines the positive characteristics of C and C++ with the modern syntax and simplicity of other programming languages such as Python. In this article, we will take a step-by-step look at the installation of Rust on various operating systems and set up a simple command line interface to understand Rust’s structure and functionality. Installing Rust — step by step Regardless of the operating system, it is quite easy to install Rust thanks to the official installer rustup, which is available for free on the Rust website. This means that the installation only takes a few steps and only differs slightly for the various operating systems. Installing Rust under Windows In Windows, the installer completely controls the installation, and you can follow the steps below: Go to the “Install” subsection on the official Rust website (https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install) and download the rustup-init.exe file there. The website recognizes the underlying operating system so that the appropriate suggestions for the system used are made directly. As soon as the download is complete, the rustup-init.exe file can be executed. A command line with various installation instructions then opens. Press the Enter key to run the standard installation to install Rust. This also includes the following tools: rustc is the compiler, which compiles the code and checks for errors before execution. cargo is Rust’s build and package management tool. rustup is the version manager. After successful installation, Rust should automatically be available in your PATH. This can be easily checked in PowerShell or CMD using the following commands: rustc --version cargo --version If “rustc” and “cargo” are then displayed in the output with the respective version numbers, then the installation was successful. However, if the command is not found, it may be due to the environment variables. To check these, you can follow the path “This PC –> Properties –> Advanced system settings –> Environment variables”. Once there, you should make sure that the path to Rust, for example “C:\Users\UserName\.cargo\bin”, is present in the PATH variable. Installing Rust under Ubuntu/Linux In Linux, Rust can be installed completely via the terminal without having to download anything from the Rust website. To install Rust, the following steps must be carried out: Open the terminal, for example, with the key combination Ctrl + Alt + T. To install Rust, the following command is executed: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh 3. You will then be asked whether the installation should be started. This can be confirmed by entering “1” (default), for example. All required packages are then downloaded, and the environment is set up.4. You may have to set the path manually. In this case, you can use this command, for example: source $HOME/.cargo/env After the installation has been completed, you can check whether everything has worked properly. To do this, you can explicitly display the versions of rustc and cargo: rustc --version cargo --version Installing Rust under macOS There are several ways to install Rust on macOS. If you have installed Homebrew, you can simply use this to install Rust by executing the following command: brew install rustup rustup-init Alternatively, you can also install Rust directly using this script: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh During the installation, you will be asked whether you want to run the standard installation. You can simply confirm this by pressing the Enter key. Regardless of the variant selected, you can then check the installation by displaying the version of Rust to ensure that everything has worked: rustc --version cargo --version Creating a Rust project with cargo During the installation of Rust, you have probably already come across the cargo program. This is the official package manager and build system of Rust and is comparable to pip in Python. cargo performs the following tasks, among others: Initialization of a project Management of dependencies Compiling the code Execution of tests Optimization of builds This allows you to manage complete projects in Rust without having to deal with complicated build scripts. It also helps you to set up new projects quickly and easily, which can then be filled with life. For our example, we will create a new project. To do this, we go to the terminal and navigate to a folder in which we want to save it. We then execute the following command to create a new Rust project: cargo new json_viewer --bin We call this project json_viewer because we are building a CLI tool that can be used to open and process JSON files. The --bin option indicates that we want to create an executable program and not a library. You should now be able to see the following folder structure in your directory after executing the command: json_viewer/ ├── Cargo.toml # Project configuration └── src └── main.rs # File for Rust Code Every new project has this structure. Cargo.toml contains all the dependencies and metadata of your project, such as the name, the libraries used, or the version. The src/main.rs, on the other hand, later contains the actual Rust code, which then defines the steps that are executed when the program is started. First, we can define a simple function here that generates an output in the terminal: fn main() { println!("Hello, Rust CLI-Tool!"); } The program can be easily called up from the terminal using cargo: cargo run For this call to work, it must be ensured that you are in the main directory of the project, i.e. where the Cargo.toml file is stored. If everything has been set up and executed correctly, you will receive this output: Hello, Rust CLI-Tool! With these few steps, you have just created your first successful Rust project, which we can build on in the next section. Building a CLI tool: Simple JSON parser Now we start to fill the project with life and create a program that can read JSON files and output their content in the terminal in a structured way. The first step is to define the dependencies, i.e., the libraries that we will use in the course of the project. These are stored in the Cargo.toml file. In Rust, the so-called crates are comparable to libraries or modules that offer certain predefined functionalities. For example, they can consist of reusable code written by other developers. We need the following crates for our project: serde enables the serialization and deserialization of data formats such as JSON or YAML. serde_json, on the other hand, is an extension that was developed specifically for working with JSON files. For your project to access these crates, they must be stored in the Cargo.toml file. This looks like this immediately after creating the project: [package] name = "json_viewer" version = "0.1.0" edition = "2021" [dependencies] We can now add the required crates in the [dependencies] section. Here we also define the version to be used: [dependencies] serde = "1.0" serde_json = "1.0" To ensure that the added dependencies are available in the project, they must first be downloaded and built. To do this, the following terminal command can be executed in the main directory: cargo build During execution, cargo searches the central Rust repository crates.io for the dependencies and the specified versions to download them. These crates are then compiled together with the code and cached so that they do not have to be downloaded again for the next build. If these steps have worked, we are now ready to write the actual Rust code that opens and processes the JSON file. To do this, you can open the src/main.rs file and replace the existing content with this code: use std::fs; use serde_json::Value; use std::env; fn main() { // Check arguments let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect(); if args.len() < 2 { println!(“Please specify the path to your file.”); return; } // Read in File let file_path = &args[1]; let file_content = fs::read_to_string(file_path) .expect(“File could not be read.”); // Parse JSON let json_data: Value = serde_json::from_str(&file_content) .expect(“Invalid JSON format.”); // Print JSON println!(" JSON-content:\n{}”, json_data); } The code follows these steps: Check arguments: We read the arguments from the command line via env::args(). The user must specify the path to the JSON file at startup. Read the file: With the help of fs::read_to_string(), the content of the file is read into a string. Parse JSON: The crate serde_json converts the string into a Rust object with the type Value. Format output: The content is output legibly in the console. To test the tool, you can, for example, create a test file in the project directory under the name examples.json: { "name": "Alice", "age": 30, "skills": ["Rust", "Python", "Machine Learning"] } The program is then executed using cargo run and the path to the JSON file is also defined: cargo run ./example.json This brings us to the end of our first project in Rust and we have successfully built a simple CLI tool that can read JSON files and output them to the command line. This is what you should take with you Installing Rust is quick and easy in many operating systems. The other components that are required are already installed. With the help of cargo, an empty project can be created directly, which contains the necessary files and in which you can start writing Rust code Before you start Programming, you should enter the dependencies and download them using the build command. Now that everything is set up, you can start with the actual programming. The post Get Started with Rust: Installation and Your First CLI Tool – A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on Towards Data Science.

IT Support Specialist (Contract)Sony PlaystationUnited States, Los Angeles, CA6 minutes agoApplyWhy PlayStation?PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.***This contract role is onsite in Playa Vista, CA.***This dynamic and engaging role does not fit the average definition of Desktop Support. For SIE, the Studio IT Support Specialist possesses a mix of skills and experience often found in desktop support, helpdesk support, and limited system administration roles. The right candidate is versed in a wide range of client technologies; responsible not only for the implementation, maintenance, and highest level of performance-tuning for client technology, but also for being a champion for strong working relationships directly with the people who utilize that technology.This is a customer service role and fundamental to its success is building and maintaining support relationships with internal business teams, promoting trust, setting expectations, and achieving mastery in customer service. The ability to think strategically at a fast pace, troubleshoot accurately while navigating interdependent system relationships - all while driving multiple projects to successful completion in tight, shifting deadlines is the reality of this position.Please note, flexibility is possible, but this is considered primarily an in-person role, reporting daily to offices located in Playa Vista, California.Responsibilities:Provides helpdesk-level coverage and support for internal clients. Coordinates, diagnoses, and troubleshoots incoming employee requests for support according to established process.Solve technical problems and information technology issues involving desktop, laptop or network services from local personnel or from employees using network remote access. Collaboration with remote sites expected and encouraged.Provides timely resolution of problems or escalation on behalf of customer to appropriate technical personnel.Develops, documents, and implements standard operating procedures and customer service guidelines relating to IT support.Perform first and second level support and troubleshooting for workstation and mobile systems.Interface directly with end users in peril, lead and resolve incidents in an efficient manner, maintaining the highest levels of customer support and response and documentation.Establish and maintain direct relationships with business units as a support resource and contributing member of the production teams.Organize the unorganized, communicate thoroughly and effectively in both written and spoken forms across the organization.Work proactively to determine potential issues existing in the environment. Apply performance tuning techniques where applicable.Research new trends and technologies leading to testing and justification for deployment.Be available off hours for scheduled, week-long on-call rotation, which will include system maintenance and emergencies.Perform inventory management of team resources; apply workstation build technologies; configure and manage user account provisioning and permissions.Be eager to grow and develop new skills and tackle special projects as needed.Appreciation and experience in platform/computer/video gaming is preferred!Qualifications:Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully.Strong in client hardware and software; strong email/messaging troubleshooting experience; mid to advanced-level understanding of Windows OS.Skilled in Microsoft Office Suite and other production software packages (Adobe, Maya, Zbrush, Visual Studio, etc.).Must understand and communicate system concepts to end users and technical teams.Familiar with the concepts behind a distributed build system; familiarity with enterprise storage technologies (SAN, NAS, iSCSI) – NetApp, EMC, HDS ideal; basic networking skills; knowledge of security concepts and industry best practices; Linux and Mac OS experience are both a strong plus.Ability to interact effectively with others on varying technical competency, vendors, management, and staff.Manages competing demands and changes approach or method to best fit the situation.Takes responsibility for own actions; Keeps commitments; Commits to required work when necessary to reach goals; Completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan. Is actively available to respond when needs arise.Volunteers readily, undertakes self-development activities and seeks increased responsibilities; asks for and offers help when needed.Operates across multiple projects concurrently and assumes responsibility for implementation of projects.#LI-OnsitePlease refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. Click here to learn more.The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate.$41.35 — $62.02 USDEqual Opportunity Statement:Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

The Qatari royal family has proposed gifting President Donald Trump a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane to use as a temporary Air Force One during his remaining time in the White House. The aircraft would then be donated to his presidential foundation after he leaves office, opening up the possibility of Trump using it for personal travel. (While the New York Times reported that a Qatari official said the proposal is still being discussed, Trump plans to accept the gift — though he told reporters on Monday that he would not use the plane once his presidency ends.)The plane is estimated to cost around $400 million, and Democrats have criticized the idea of the president receiving such an expensive gift. “This is not normal. This is blatant corruption,” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts wrote on X. “Trump First, America Last.”Trump defended the plan, saying he would be a “stupid person” if he declined the gesture. “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!”But it’s not just Democrats who are worried about the transaction. Some Republican senators have also raised security and legal concerns, with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia saying that the White House would “need to look at the constitutionality” of the gift.It’s true that part of the job of being president of the United States is to engage in diplomacy, and that very often includes exchanging gifts with foreign dignitaries and governments. Many of these gifts are symbolic gestures, like the pair of pandas China presented to President Richard Nixon in 1972. Other gifts are luxurious and intended to impress, like the $20,000, 7.5-carat diamond India presented to former first lady Jill Biden in 2023. Presidents have also received gifts in the form of 300 pounds of raw lamb, a puppy, oriental rugs, a gold mechanical bird, swords, and a Burberry coat. So what’s different this time? And why should we care about what other countries give to the president? How presidents are supposed to accept giftsAs past administrations have shown, it’s typical for presidents to accept gifts. But there are still laws in place to ensure that governments, be they foreign or domestic, can’t curry favor with presidents this way. In 1966, Congress passed a law — the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act — to cap the monetary value of a gift the president is allowed to personally accept. As of 2023, that amount is $480. This means that the president can accept gifts of any amount on behalf of the country but, after leaving office, they can only keep the gifts that are worth less than $480. If they want to hold on to a more expensive gift, they have to buy it themselves from the government at the estimated market rate. Otherwise, these gifts are typically sent to the National Archives, ultimately transferring ownership to the American people, not any specific individual. That’s why the Bidens didn’t take home the diamond from India and instead left it behind in the East Wing for official use. And the puppy was given to a family in Maryland because, per Axios, it “couldn’t be archived.” And it’s probably safe to say that no president has ever accepted a gift worth $400 million. In addition to the Foreign Gifts and Declarations Act, the US Constitution also has two emoluments clauses. These bar presidents from receiving money or gifts from foreign governments, as well as other branches of the US government, to prevent special interests from having undue influence over the president’s decision-making. So before the 1966 reforms, per the Constitution, Congress had to approve every gift that a president received if they were to keep it personally — something that became harder and harder to do as the United States’ influence grew and gifts became more commonplace. Trump was sued for violating the emoluments during his first term, though the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the cases in 2021.Why this mattersThe first and perhaps most important question you should ask about the whole plane gifting controversy is this: Why would a foreign government even want to give the president a gift worth $400 million? Sure, it might be intended as a good gesture, but a gesture that pricey almost certainly comes with the expectation that the president will give Qatar something in return. There doesn’t need to be an explicit quid pro quo to assume that the gift might be more of an investment — just like those looking to buy influence in the Trump White House might flock to buy stock in his media company or some of his meme coins. The fact that this proposed gift comes at the heels of the Trump Organization striking a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar should also raise eyebrows.But while the plan to gift Trump the plane is not finalized and might not happen, the fact that Trump considered and defended the idea is still concerning, even if his past history shows that it’s entirely unsurprising. After all, in his first term, foreign governments spent millions of dollars on his private businesses. Last year, his media company went public, making his conflicts of interest even worse by allowing anyone to buy shares in his business. And just last month, he offered to host a dinner for the top investors in his crypto meme coin — which he launched days before the start of his second term — calling it “the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World.” That Trump is not only open to receiving a $400 million plane but also argues that it’s a prudent move clearly shows that the US president is more than willing to accept extravagant gifts. That’s a problem in and of itself because it encourages other foreign governments to offer similar gifts in the hopes of currying favor with Trump or generating goodwill. This will only add to the many conflicts of interest Trump already has, making it even harder to understand where his loyalties stand and whom he might be beholden to.It’s likely that Trump will run into a legal headache trying to accept this particular gift, especially because of his desire to transfer it over to his presidential library. House Democrats are already seeking a probe into the potential jet, and some have argued that it’s outright unconstitutional. “A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a gift (and a grift),” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland wrote on X.In theory, if the president accepts the plane and the government maintains ownership of it — be it through the National Archives or keeping it operational for future presidents or some other official use — then it wouldn’t necessarily violate any ethics laws.But even if Trump can find a technical legal argument for why he can accept the gift, the question is whether he should given the conflicts of interest it raises. And it would be hard to find an ethics expert who would not raise concerns. See More:

The networking and security company said the partnership aims to build the world’s most open, scalable, resilient and cost-efficient AI infrastructure, and position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in digital innovation.

In context: Microsoft will officially end support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, though enterprise organizations willing to pay the fare will be able to extend support for a few additional years. However, users running Office applications or the Microsoft 365 suite will also receive extended support, at no additional cost. Earlier this year, Microsoft had clearly stated that Office apps running on Windows 10 would lose support alongside the operating system. Now, Redmond has partially revised its position and will provide several more years of official support for users running Office tools or the Microsoft 365 suite on Windows 10 machines. According to the recently updated support article, Microsoft 365 apps will continue to receive security patches and bug fixes on Windows 10 until October 10, 2028. "If your organization is using Microsoft 365 Apps on devices running Windows 10, those devices should move to Windows 11," Microsoft warns just in case. The company had already confirmed plans to continue updating Windows Defender malware definitions "at least" until October 2028. Meanwhile, support for the pay-once, subscription-free versions of the Office suite (Office 2021, Office 2024) follows a different fixed-lifecycle policy. This policy guarantees a minimum of five years of mainstream support, meaning Office 2021 and Office 2024 will continue to receive official updates on Windows 10 until October 2026 and October 2029, respectively. A separate support page detailing Office compatibility with different Windows versions still lists October 2025 as the end-of-support date for the full productivity suite on Windows 10. However, the aforementioned fixed-lifecycle policy remains in effect. So why did Microsoft decide to extend Office support on an operating system that's nearing its end of life? There's no official explanation yet, but we can speculate based on how the transition to Windows 11 is progressing. // Related Stories In its Microsoft 365 support article, Microsoft explains that the new timeline is intended to keep customers secure while they transition to the newer OS. Die-hard Windows 10 users will still be able to purchase an Extended Security Updates (ESU) license after October 2025, while enterprise organizations can pay for continued support until October 10, 2028. Keeping Office apps updated while the ESU program is active will likely offer tangible benefits to Microsoft's software business. On the flip side, Microsoft's apparent willingness to accommodate Windows 10 holdouts also serves its ongoing push to get users to adopt Windows 11. Hundreds of millions of perfectly functioning PCs will be left behind soon, and Microsoft would very much like force users to purchase a brand-new system. The company is also exploiting a few dirty tricks with its diverse software portfolio, like slowing down OneNote on Windows 10 to encourage people to finally enjoy their new Windows 11 environment.

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