Welcome, all again to – 5-For-Friday – your weekly, tech news roundup.
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1. Uber to bring a new driver app to the UK.
Peer-to-peer ridesharing, taxi cab, and food delivery firm Uber, has launched a new app for its drivers in the UK.
Launched today – September 7th – the app includes features that help them track earnings, calculate driving time and avoid speeding.
The Silicon Valley-based company unveiled the app earlier this year and is now being released globally.
Uber won a probationary licence to operate in London in June after it modified its business model to ease strained relations with the city’s transport authority, which had previously stripped the company of its right to operate in the capital.
2. A wind turbine has won the UK’s 2018 James Dyson Award.
A portable, low-cost wind turbine that can capture wind in any direction has won the UK’s 2018 James Dyson Award.
The inner-city turbine can be used in cities struggling to produce enough renewable energy for increasing populations.
The two inventors -Nicolas Orellana and Yaseen Noorani from Lancaster University – said they hoped the energy produced could be plugged into the home or the electricity grid.
Wind power currently produces 4% of the world’s electricity, but wind farms can only capture “horizontal” wind and tend to be located in rural areas.
3. eBay’s UK retail report reveals retro tech revival.
eBay’s UK retail report has revealed that typewriters, pagers, iPods and Polaroid cameras are among the products that have risen from drawers and boxes of clutter, to rank amongst the most popular retro tech items for UK shoppers.
eBay UK, says that “customers love retro tech and physical media. Households with previously loved tech hidden away in attics and drawers could be sitting on a tidy sum, as we’re seeing the growth of nostalgic buyers seeking the tech products that defined their childhoods.”
4. Facebook’s new Singapore based data centre.
It wouldn’t be our 5–for–Friday with a Facebook mentioned.
This week, the social networking giant has confirmed plans for its new Singapore data centre, expected to open in 2022.
The 170,000-sqm, 11–floor facility will cost more than £773m, and according to Facebook has been designed to conserve space in the crowded nation.
The new data centre will support ‘hundreds’ of local jobs.
5. British Airways suffer ‘malicious’ data breach.
British Airways has suffered a malicious data breach where hackers have accessed personal and payment details of approximately 380,000 bookings over a two week period.
BA has confirmed that stolen data ‘did not include travel or passport details.’
The police and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre have been informed, and the airline is compensating customers that have been affected.
Until next week folks. Have a great weekend!
#TeamCredas
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