a robot scratching his chin and looking confused against a martian landscape
National Payments Vision

A short critique of the UK National Payments Vision, with emphasis on Open Banking as the UK National Payments Vision also emphasises Open Banking.

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26
Jun
a rocky red planet landscape showing a night sky and a moon, with an ape in silhouette, looking at the moon.
Inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey

What inspiration can we take about product and project management from 2001: A Space Odyssey? [...]

26
May
A robot in a library studying an old book
How AI Legitimises Flawed Human Responses

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly trusted as an authoritative source of [...]

13
May
Two bandits in dark clothes and masks looking at a computer and counting money
IONOS SSL email clicker scam

I very nearly clicked, it looked convincing at first sight, but then on closer inspection [...]

08
May
A robot looking at a debit card through a magnifying glass.

Standards

How the PCI-DSS facilitated the Shimmer
May 5, 2025

PCI-DSS has led to the widespread use of chip card shimmers across the US. Shimmers don't work if chip cards are implemented properly, but the PCI-DSS, by design, focuses development attention on magstripe rather than chip.

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A man in a suit holding the scales of justice in one hand and a bunch of debit cards in the other looking into the distance where there is a bride waiting against a backdrop of technology
We’re all Suckers!

It isn't just sad old men that make decisions against what might otherwise be their [...]

28
Apr
a man looking confused, holding a card in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
Direct Debits as a top-up vector

So, we were building a pre-pay card proposition, and we were considering ways and means [...]

15
Apr
a safe on what must be the moon with the Earth in the background, surrounded by payment cards
Last week’s losing lottery ticket

Security is an important part of any payment system, but maybe we should be concentrating [...]

14
Apr
a robot scratching his chin and looking confused against a martian landscape
National Payments Vision

A short critique of the UK National Payments Vision, with emphasis on Open Banking as the UK National Payments Vision also emphasises Open Banking.

26
Jun
a rocky red planet landscape showing a night sky and a moon, with an ape in silhouette, looking at the moon.
Inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey

What inspiration can we take about product and project management from 2001: A Space Odyssey? More than you think - still relevant!

26
May
A robot in a library studying an old book
How AI Legitimises Flawed Human Responses

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly trusted as an authoritative source of information, a subtle but dangerous phenomenon is emerging – the tendency for AI to legitimise flawed or misleading human responses by synthesising and amplifying them.

13
May
Two bandits in dark clothes and masks looking at a computer and counting money
IONOS SSL email clicker scam

I very nearly clicked, it looked convincing at first sight, but then on closer inspection ...

08
May
A robot looking at a debit card through a magnifying glass.
How the PCI-DSS facilitated the Shimmer

PCI-DSS has led to the widespread use of chip card shimmers across the US. Shimmers don't work if chip cards are implemented properly, but the PCI-DSS, by design, focuses development attention on magstripe rather than chip.

05
May
A man in a suit holding the scales of justice in one hand and a bunch of debit cards in the other looking into the distance where there is a bride waiting against a backdrop of technology
We’re all Suckers!

It isn't just sad old men that make decisions against what might otherwise be their better judgement. Industry executives are just as likely to ignore common sense, but this time, it's other people's money!

28
Apr
a man looking confused, holding a card in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
Direct Debits as a top-up vector

So, we were building a pre-pay card proposition, and we were considering ways and means of adding cash to the card account. You just wouldn't use a Direct Debit.

15
Apr
a safe on what must be the moon with the Earth in the background, surrounded by payment cards
Last week’s losing lottery ticket

Security is an important part of any payment system, but maybe we should be concentrating our efforts building payment systems that are secure rather than secure systems that do payments. How did we get here?

14
Apr
a halifax ATM dispensing a pile of cash on the ground
The Halifax ATM and The Sun Lotto

The Philips 6601 ATMs had a habit, although not particularly widespread, of dispensing more than the cardholder had requested, usually exceeding what they had in their account and often by several thousand pounds.

07
Apr
Mastercard and Visa linked to Illegal Gambling Sites

The Guardian website published this article from the Observer, which talks about unlicensed gambling websites and that this is a bit of a problem. It then tries to link Mastercard and Visa to illegal gambling sites.

14
Mar
the Payment Monkey sitting on a desk in front of a monitor
The Birth of the Payment Monkey

Back in my younger days, I spent some time working for Tesco. I was hired to provide payment knowledge, and in acknowledgement of this, I was given the name "Payment Monkey".

11
Mar
A man sitting at a desk with books in the background , taking a selfie of himself
The Shadow of a Stroke: My TIA Experience

I wanted to write this to capture the experience whilst it was fresh in my mind, thereby limiting the inevitability of it fading away as memories sometimes do.

24
Feb

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