Facebook to allow transfer of photos, videos to Google Photos. Dec 2 (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Monday it has introduced an option to transfer photos and videos from the social media network directly to other services, starting with Google Photos. All data transfers will be encrypted and users will be asked for a password before the transfer is initiated, the company said in a blog post. United States Senators Josh Hawley, Mark Warner and Richard Blumenthal introduced a bill in late October that would require communications platforms with more than 100 million monthly active members to allow its users to easily move, or port, their data to another network.

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Foo Yun Chee, reporting for Reuters, said the questionnaires for the latest investigation showed that the EU’s focus was on “data related to local search services, online advertising, online ad targeting services, login services, web browsers and others”. The new investigation suggests that the EU is not yet done with its scrutiny of Google, which has already resulted in more than €8bn (£6.8bn) of fines. A 2017 investigation into Google Shopping resulted in a fine of €2.4bn; in 2018, anticompetitive practices involving Google’s Android smartphone operating system were the basis of a €4.3bn fine; and those were followed in 2019 with a €1.5bn fine over advertising violations. In the latter violations, the competition commission has placed increasing emphasis on the contracts Google has signed with third parties – restrictions which are not traditionally a part of antitrust enforcement, but which are widely seen as crucial to how companies such as Google maintain their lead.

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Black Friday isn't over yet, with many offers still live throughout Cyber Monday. BT has some great Black Friday mobile deals on right now, making it the perfect time to bag yourself a new phone - yes, the deals include the brand new iPhone 11, too. The BT deals are especially worth it if you already have BT broadband, as further discounts are available to existing customers. The plan is even cheaper for those with BT broadband, coming in at £17 per month - saving you £240.

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The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Meanwhile, the Computer and Technology sector has returned an average of 29.68% on a year-to-date basis. Looking more specifically, MSFT belongs to the Computer - Software industry, a group that includes 46 individual stocks and currently sits at #86 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Click to get this free report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

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LONDON, Dec. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- British Gas has used its knowledge of UK boilers and expertly trained engineers to develop a voice activated troubleshooting service with Google Assistant. British Gas receives around 1.3 million boiler breakdown call outs each winter and estimates that many of these issues could be resolved using the service – saving time and money with no need to call an engineer. Jay Slaney, technical support engineer at British Gas said:"This service solves many of the common, but fixable, problems our engineers encounter all the time while visiting customer homes. "There will still be times where a more complex problem requires a Gas Safe registered engineer to come and visit your home, but we wanted to create something that helped households do it themselves when that isn't necessary." If you think there's a problem with your boiler, you simply say to your Google Home or Google Nest device (or to the open Google Assistant app on your smartphone): "Ok Google, talk to Boiler Support".

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Beat Games will join Oculus Studios but will continue to operate as an independent studio from its Prague-based headquarter. Although financial details of the transaction have been kept under wraps, the studio will continue to provide support to Beat Saber across all current platforms. The strong potential has not only attracted video gaming console makers like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft but also tech giants, including Facebook, Alphabet division Google, Samsung, HTC, Lenovo and others. Notably, Beat Games is one of the few successful independent VR game studios having sold one million units of Beat Saber by the end of Mar 31, 2019. In late September, the company introduced Facebook Horizon, a social VR world where users can design detailed individual avatars to interact and create their own spaces, including tropical hangout spots and interactive action arenas, using World Builder, a collection of easy-to-use tools.

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Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has defended the company’s decision to not take down political advertising that contains false information – and compared the alternative to censorship. Gayle King, co-host of CBS This Morning, pointed out that 200 Facebook employees wrote a letter asking Zuckerberg to reconsider as “free speech and paid speech are not the same”. Zuckerberg has come under criticism from lawmakers including New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who have warned that the 2020 presidential election will be influenced by paid-for false claims spread by the social media platform. Facebook removed an ad by the Conservatives that showed BBC reporters seemingly decrying a “pointless delay to Brexit” – in fact the reporters were quoting politicians including prime minister Boris Johnson.

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Glencore expected to set out investment case amid ESG, African Copper worries. GLENCORE will use an investor update planned for tomorrow (December 3) to tackle factors that investors think are behind the relative under-performance of the Swiss group’s share price. The investor update was also likely to throw the spotlight on the Glencore’s African copper business which had been subject to a restructuring this year, said the Financial Times in a report today. “Despite our lower medium-term copper price forecasts … we are becoming more positive on Glencore’s commodity mix, where we are ahead of consensus,” said RBC Capital Markets.

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Apple’s sweeping ban on vaping-related mobile apps is a “knee-jerk” response to health concerns over e-cigarettes, according to pot giant Canopy Growth. Last month, Apple (AAPL) removed 181 mobile applications related to vaping from its App Store. Software purged by Apple allows users to control lighting, temperature, locks and games on their vape device from their iPhone via bluetooth. Like other cannabis and nicotine vape devices currently on the market, Canopy’s offerings come with an app-based passcode lock to disable the device, and location and temperature controls. “Apps that encourage consumption of tobacco and vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol are not permitted on the App Store,” the section reads in part.

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Facebook is releasing a tool that allows users to transfer their photos directly to Google’s storage service in a bid to give people “control and choice”. The feature will be rolled out to Ireland first as it undergoes testing before being made available worldwide some time in the first half of 2020. Encryption will be used to transfer photos and videos from the platform to safeguard privacy and security, the social network said. The technology is based on code developed through its participation in the open-source Data Transfer Project, which big tech firms including Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter are also a part of.

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