Facebook has today announced that it has added two new destinations for when you want to move your data from the social network. In a blog post, the company said that users will be able to move their images to Photobucket and event listings to Google Calendar. Product Manager Hadi Michel said that the tool has been “completely rebuilt” to be “simpler and more intuitive,” giving people more clarity on what they can share to which platforms. In addition, users can now launch multiple transfers, with better fine-grain control on what they’re choosing to export in any one transfer.

This is yet another feature piled on to the Data Transfer Project, an open-source project developed by Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Facebook users can already send their photos to Google’s own image-storage service, as well as Dropbox, Blogger, Google Documents and Wordpress. This is, in part, a way to address the long-in-progress ACCESS Act, which would enable users to transfer their data to any competing platform. Facebook says that it calls on government to “make clearer rules about who is responsible for protecting that data as it is transferred to different services.”

Acer and Apple aren't the only big PC brands reeling from ransomware attacks in recent times. Bleeping Computer and United Daily News report that Taiwan-based Gigabyte suffered a ransomware attack between August 3rd and August 4th. The company only confirmed that it shut down IT infrastructure and that a handful of servers were affected, but there are hints the attack might have been worse.

According to Bleeping Computer sources, the extortion gang RansomEXX claimed to have stolen 112GB of sensitive internal data as well as info from a code repository. This includes Intel and AMD chip information as well as a debug document. The breach is known to have affected both the Gigabyte support page and parts of the Taiwanese page.

Gigabyte said it contact law enforcement, but didn't say if it would pay the ransom.

RansomEXX started in 2018 under the Defray name, but rebranded in 2020 and has been targeting increasingly higher-profile organizations, including the Brazilian government, Texas' Department of Transportation and Ecuador's state-led telecom. It's not believed to be associated with the REvil group that attacked Acer as well as Apple supplier Quanta.

It's not surprising that PC companies would face these attacks. They not only have the money to pay ransoms, but a raft of technological secrets they're eager to protect. However, the string of attacks is still concerning. Apart from the short-term financial hit, there's also a concern these attacks could leak trade secrets that do long-term damage.

Don't worry about claims Spotify won't support AirPlay 2 on iOS — the doom and gloom were a bit premature. iMorereports that Spotify has 'clarified' its plans and will support AirPlay 2 streaming after all. The digital music giant didn't say when you might expect the feature, but promised updates "when they become available."

A representative previously claimed AirPlay 2 wasn't practical due to audio driver compatibility problems. It hadn't completely ruled out the concept, but suggested that it wouldn't be viable in the "foreseeable future."

We wouldn't expect a prompt turnaround on the feature even after Spotify's follow-up statement. However, this could still prove reassuring. AirPlay 2 should make it easier to stream music to HomePods and other devices that support Apple's media technology but have either limited or non-existent integration with Spotify itself.

Now is a prime opportunity to get an Apple Watch Series 6 at a good price, provided you're not picky about the color. Woot is offering the 40mm Product Red edition with GPS (that is, no cellular) for just $300, or a clean $100 below the usual price. This isn't the absolute lowest price we've seen, but it's still a solid deal that delivers a high-end smartwatch at a reasonable price.

Buy Apple Watch Series 6 at Woot - $300

Series 6 is still a very capable smartwatch months after launch. It's ultimately a refinement of Series 5 with a blood oxygen monitor and slight boosts to performance and battery life, but that still leaves you with a great always-on display, useful health features and a rich app ecosystem. WatchOS 8 will expand that functionality, too, with improvements to everything from mindfulness to messages.

As before, the catch is simply the timing. Series 7 is likely close at hand, and might include a new design with updated performance and wireless technology. If you're more interested in having the latest hardware than saving money, you may want to wait a few weeks. You'll likely pay much less for Series 6, though, and it's a much better value at this price than the Apple Watch SE.

Just be aware that Woot's return policy is stricter than Amazon's. You have to return products within 30 days, and Woot reduces the refund amount by the cost of shipping. This Apple Watch is likely a safe bet, but you'll want to quickly determine whether or not you intend to keep it.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

One day after Apple confirmed plans for new software that will allow it to detect images of child abuse on users’ iCloud photos, Facebook’s head of WhatsApp says he is “concerned” by the plans.

In a thread on Twitter, Will Cathcart called it an “Apple built and operated surveillance system that could very easily be used to scan private content for anything they or a government decides it wants to control.” He also raised questions about how such a system may be exploited in China or other countries, or abused by spyware companies.

A spokesperson for Apple disputed Cathcart's characterization of the software, noting that users can choose to disable iCloud Photos. Apple has also said that the system is only trained on a database of “known” images provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other organizations, and that it wouldn’t be possible to make it work in a regionally-specific way since it’s baked into iOS.

It’s not surprising that Facebook would take issue with Apple’s plans. Apple has spent years bashing Facebook over its record on privacy, even as the social network has embraced end-to-end encryption. More recently, the companies have clashed over privacy updates that have hindered Facebook’s ability to track its users, an update the company has said will hurt its advertising revenue.

Over the next 12 months, Microsoft is rolling out a series of updates for its OneNote apps on Windows with the intention of creating a single user experience. At the moment, there are two versions people can use: The OneNote app installed with Office and the OneNote for Windows 10 app available in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft will update the OneNote app with features currently exclusive to its counterpart pre-installed on Windows 10, though, and it will also give the program a visual refresh.

Microsoft originally intended to kill the OneNote app when the one for Windows 10 became available, but it changed its plans and revived the app in 2019. It upgraded the note-taking program with a bunch of new features and bundled it with Office installs a year later. Now, the tech giant says it will update OneNote with visual elements that it'll share with other Windows apps as part of Microsoft's efforts to give Windows 11 a more seamless look. The merged OneNote application will also gain access to the latest Microsoft pen and ink features, as well as a new navigational UI layout option. 

Those already using the app installed with Office don't have to do anything but wait for the upcoming updates to roll out. As for those using OneNote for Windows 10, Microsoft will send them an in-app invite to upgrade to the other application once it's ready. The company says it expects to start sending out invitations in the second half of 2022, and it now advising organizations to make their personnel use the OneNote app, so they don't have to migrate next year.

Microsoft

As a wearable device, Amazon's Halo wristband is about as no-frills of a fitness tracker you can buy. It doesn't include a display, and outside of the two microphones that enable its controversial tone detection feature, it forgoes many of the more advanced sensors we've seen make their way into devices like the Apple Watch. But starting today, you can use the Halo band to see an overlay of your heart rate across various third-party apps and fitness equipment.

At launch, the integration works with machines from brands like NordicTrack and CLBMR, in addition to software like iFit and Openfit. To enable the feature, open the settings menu in the Amazon Halo app and find the "Heart Rate Sharing" option.

While not an exact match for the Apple Watch's GymKit functionality, the inclusion of heart rate sharing should make the Halo band more versatile, and that's something the wearable desperately needs. Once you get past its more controversial features, the problem with Halo is it doesn't stand out. In fact, most of the platform's best features are found inside the accompanying Halo app.

When California’s fair employment agency sued Activision Blizzard, one of the largest video game studios in the world, on July 20th, it wasn't surprising to hear the allegations of systemic gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the company. It wasn't a shock to read about male executives groping their female colleagues, or loudly joking about rape in the office, or completely ignoring women for promotions. What was surprising was that California wanted to investigate Activision Blizzard at all, considering these issues have seemingly been present since its founding in 1979.

Activision Blizzard is a multibillion-dollar publisher with 9,500 employees and a roster of legendary franchises, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo and World of Warcraft. On July 20th, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging executives had fostered an environment of misogyny and frat-boy rule for years, violating equal pay laws and labor codes along the way. This is about more than dirty jokes in the break room — the lawsuit highlights clear disparities in hiring, compensation and professional growth between men and women at Activision Blizzard, and it paints a picture of pervasive sexism and outright abuse in the workplace.

Here’s a rundown of some of the allegations:

• Just 20 percent of all Activision Blizzard employees are women.

• Top leadership roles are filled solely by white men.

• Across the company, women are paid less, promoted slower and fired faster than men.

• HR and executives fail to take complaints of harassment seriously.

• Women of color in particular are micromanaged and overlooked for promotions.

• A pervasive frat-boy culture encourages behavior like “cube crawls,” where male employees grope and sexually harass female co-workers at their desks.

It’s been a few weeks since the lawsuit was filed, and employees, executives and players have all had a chance to respond. Meanwhile, additional reports of longstanding harassment and sexism at Activision Blizzard have continued to roll out, including photos and stories of the “Cosby Suite,” which was specifically named in the filing. According to the lawsuit, this was a hotel room where male employees would gather to harass women at company events, named after the rapist Bill Cosby. 

Days after the filing, Kotaku published photos of the supposed Cosby Suite, showing male Activision Blizzard developers posing on a bed with a framed photo of Bill Cosby at BlizzCon 2013. Screenshots of conversations among the developers discussed gathering “hot chixx for the Coz” and other insulting, immature things (especially when you remember these are middle-aged men, not middle-schoolers).

One of the only executives actually named in the suit was Blizzard head J. Allen Brack, and it alleges he routinely ignored systemic harassment and failed to punish abusers. Brack called the allegations “extremely troubling,” but this line was thrown back in his face on Twitter when independent developer Nels Anderson compared it to a video out of BlizzCon 2010, featuring Brack on the far left. 

In the video, a young woman asks the panel of World of Warcraft developers, all six of whom are white men, whether they'll ever create a female character that doesn't look like she just stepped out of a Victoria's Secret catalog. The panelists laugh and one responds, "Which catalog would you like them to step out of?" They proceed to essentially dismiss her question. At the end of the exchange, Brack piles on and makes a joke about one of the new characters coming from a sexy cow catalog.

On August 3rd, just two weeks after California filed its lawsuit, Brack stepped down from his role as the president of Blizzard. In his place will be GM Mike Ybarra and executive development VP Jen Oneal. Oneal will be the first woman in a president role since Activision’s founding in 1979; the lawsuit notes that there has never been a non-white president or CEO of Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard’s initial response to the lawsuit was tragic, with one leader calling the allegations meritless and distorted. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who regularly gets into fights with shareholders over the ridiculous fortune he’s amassed, published his own response to the lawsuit, where he essentially promised to listen better. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t alleviate many employees’ concerns. A petition in support of the lawsuit ended up gathering more than 2,000 employee signatures, and workers organized a walk-out just eight days after the filing, calling for systemic change at the studio.

Shareholders weren't bolstered by Kotick's response, either. Investors filed an additional class-action lawsuit against Activision Blizzard on August 3rd, alleging the company failed to raise potential regulatory issues stemming from its discriminatory culture. Blizzard's head of HR, Jesse Meschuk, also left the company in the weeks following the initial lawsuit.

Meanwhile, other major game developers have rallied behind the suit, and former Activision Blizzard leaders have shared their support for employees, apologizing for their parts in sustaining a toxic company culture.

None of this is new. As evidenced by the photos, videos, stats and personal stories flowing out of Activision Blizzard, the company has operated on a bro-first basis for decades, and honestly, it’s been sustained by an industry that largely functions the same way.

In 2019, a wave of accusations against prominent male developers crashed over the industry, and AAA studios like Ubisoft and Riot Games made headlines for fostering toxic workplace environments. California is currently suing Riot over allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in hiring and pay practices.

But even that’s not new. Women, non-binary people and marginalized folks in the video game industry have been speaking up about systemic harassment and discrimination for literal decades. Sexism is apparent in the hiring and pay habits of many major studios, and it’s also clear in the games themselves, which feature an overabundance of straight, white, male protagonists.

What is surprising, this time around, is that the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard kind of came out of nowhere. It took a blockbuster media report to make California sue Riot in 2020, but the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard appeared on its own, after years of quiet investigation by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. If sexism is systemic in the video game industry, it feels like the system is finally fighting back.

With the start of a new school year quickly approaching, Apple is once again expanding the availability of its contactless student IDs. Following an initial rollout in 2018 and subsequent expansions since, the software is making its way to Canada for the first time.

In 2021, the University of New Brunswick and Sheridan College outside of Toronto will allow students to add their ID cards to Apple Wallet and use their iPhones and Apple Watches to access facilities and pay for food and other items and services across campus. In the US, “many more” schools, including Auburn University, Northern Arizona University, University of Maine and New Mexico State University, will adopt the software this fall.

It will likely take many more years before every school offers digital student ID cards, but the technology is clearly becoming more ubiquitous. In April, Apple said it saw more students use their mobile IDs to make purchases and access campus facilities than their plastic counterparts for the first time since it launched the software. In the fall, the University of Alabama, one of the early adopters of the tech, will exclusively issue mobile IDs to students with the necessary hardware, marking a first for the platform.

Facebook is reportedly looking into analyzing the content of encrypted data without having to decrypt it. The company is recruiting artificial intelligence researchers to study the matter, according to The Information. Their research could pave the way for Facebook to target ads based on encrypted WhatsApp messages. Facebook could also use the findings to encrypt user data without affecting its ad targeting approaches.

This area of research is called "homomorphic encryption," which relies heavily on mathematics. Microsoft, Amazon and Google are also working on the approach. The aim of homomorphic encryption is to allow companies to read and analyze data while keeping it encrypted to protect information from cybersecurity dangers and to maintain privacy.

Facebook told The Information it's "too early for us to consider homomorphic encryption for WhatsApp at this time." Facebook could benefit from the tech in a number of ways. Protecting data without impacting the effectiveness of ad targeting could allow Facebook to both meet its business goals and satisfy regulators who have expressed concern about how the company handles user information. Facebook could be years away from harnessing homomorphic encryption, however.

In 2019, Facebook revealed plans to roll out end-to-end encryption across all of its messaging services: Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. Later that year, the US, UK and Australia sent a joint letter to Facebook, urging it not to push forward with the project "without ensuring there will be no reduction in the safety of Facebook users and others, and without providing law enforcement court-authorized access to the content of communications to protect the public, particularly child users." However you slice it, encryption is a thorny issue for Facebook, whether or not it's able to analyze the data.