Technologies

Over Facebook? Transfer your photos, posts and notes to other sites. Here’s how

Want to quit Facebook? You can still keep all of your photos and posts. We’ve got step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

Are you finally ready to delete Facebook? Or do you just want to make sure all your years of photos, videos, posts, notes and events on the social media site are safely saved elsewhere for you to access? Good news: Facebook will let you transfer all of your valuable information from the site to other platforms, and it’s not difficult to do.

Facebook already allows you to download all of your data (including the ad-targeting information the site collects about you) in a ZIP file, and to move photos and videos specifically to Google Photos, Dropbox, Backblaze and Koofr. And it’s been adding more options in recent months. As of August, you can also directly transfer your posts, notes, photos and events from the site to Google Docs, Blogger, WordPress.com, Photobucket and Google Calendar. Facebook will add more types of data you can transfer and more transfer destinations in the future, according to a company blog post.

The expansion of Facebook’s Transfer Your Information tool comes as Facebook and tech companies like Amazon and Google have faced allegations from regulators and lawmakers that they use monopoly power to illegally suppress their competitors, CNET’s Queenie Wong reports. Lawsuits filed against Facebook last year noted that people have a difficult time moving their information to other platforms, an issue that keeps them on the social network.

Here’s how to use the Facebook Transfer Your Information tool to send your photos, videos, posts, notes and events to other platforms. These instructions are largely the same whether you’re accessing Facebook in a browser or on the mobile app.

How to transfer your Facebook photos, videos, posts, notes and events

1. On Facebook on desktop, click the down arrow in the top right corner. Click Settings & Privacy > Settings > Your Facebook Information.

2. Click Transfer a Copy of Your Information, and re-enter your Facebook password.

3. From the drop-down menu, choose which platform you want to transfer your information to. Click Next step.

4. Choose what you’d like to transfer — photos, videos, posts or notes, depending on which platform you selected. You’ll have the option to move all, or those from a selected date range or album. Click Next step.

5. Click Connect and Start Transfer. Log into the service you selected to move your information to, and select Confirm Transfer. (Facebook notes that after the transfer, that service’s terms and policies will apply to their use of your information.)

Now you’ve got a copy of those precious Facebook posts to do with what you choose.

For more, check out how to completely delete your Facebook account, and a few tips for how to ease your transition off of Facebook.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Oct. 14

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 14.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword has an odd vertical shape, with an extra Across clue, and only four Down clues. The clues are not terribly difficult, but one or two could be tricky. Read on if you need the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Smokes, informally
Answer: CIGS

5A clue: «Don’t have ___, man!» (Bart Simpson catchphrase)
Answer: ACOW

6A clue: What the vehicle in «lane one» of this crossword is winning?
Answer: RACE

7A clue: Pitt of Hollywood
Answer: BRAD

8A clue: «Yeah, whatever»
Answer: SURE

9A clue: Rd. crossers
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Things to «load» before a marathon
Answer: CARBS

2D clue: Mythical figure who inspired the idiom «fly too close to the sun»
Answer: ICARUS

3D clue: Zoomer around a small track
Answer: GOCART

4D clue: Neighbors of Norwegians
Answer: SWEDES

Technologies

Watch SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11

Technologies

New California Law Wants Companion Chatbots to Tell Kids to Take Breaks

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new requirements on AI companions into law on Monday.

AI companion chatbots will have to remind users in California that they’re not human under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The law, SB 243, also requires companion chatbot companies to maintain protocols for identifying and addressing cases in which users express suicidal ideation or self-harm. For users under 18, chatbots will have to provide a notification at least every three hours that reminds users to take a break and that the bot is not human.

It’s one of several bills Newsom has signed in recent weeks dealing with social media, artificial intelligence and other consumer technology issues. Another bill signed Monday, AB 56, requires warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those required for tobacco products. Last week, Newsom signed measures requiring internet browsers to make it easy for people to tell websites they don’t want them to sell their data and banning loud advertisements on streaming platforms.

AI companion chatbots have drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators in recent months. The Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several companies in response to complaints by consumer groups and parents that the bots were harming children’s mental health. OpenAI introduced new parental controls and other guardrails in its popular ChatGPT platform after the company was sued by parents who allege ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide.

«We’ve seen some truly horrific and tragic examples of young people harmed by unregulated tech, and we won’t stand by while companies continue without necessary limits and accountability,» Newsom said in a statement.

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One AI companion developer, Replika, told CNET that it already has protocols to detect self-harm as required by the new law, and that it is working with regulators and others to comply with requirements and protect consumers.

«As one of the pioneers in AI companionship, we recognize our profound responsibility to lead on safety,» Replika’s Minju Song said in an emailed statement. Song said Replika uses content-filtering systems, community guidelines and safety systems that refer users to crisis resources when needed.

A Character.ai spokesperson said the company «welcomes working with regulators and lawmakers as they develop regulations and legislation for this emerging space, and will comply with laws, including SB 243.» OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice called the bill a «meaningful move forward» for AI safety. «By setting clear guardrails, California is helping shape a more responsible approach to AI development and deployment across the country,» Radice said in an email.

One bill Newsom has yet to sign, AB 1064, would go further by prohibiting developers from making companion chatbots available to children unless the AI companion is «not foreseeably capable of» encouraging harmful activities or engaging in sexually explicit interactions, among other things.