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    Jordan-Lee Pirrie

    Jordan-Lee Pirrie

    A tech enthusiast ever since I was 2 years-old and learning to type in his Nursery on a Windows 95 cream-white box they called a computer.

  • The iPhone SE is the best response to the Government

    I, like probably many people, was surprised when Apple announced the new iPhone SE just over a week ago. It baffled me how a company that I had hailed as being such innovators, creatives and forward-lookers had taken the shell of a 3 1/2-year-old phone and stuffed it with the internals of their flagship device. From reports, it seems to have hit the jackpot with Chinese and Indian customers, but there's something deeper afoot.Take the last couple of months for Apple and it's very public fight against the government which has ended somewhat abruptly. From reports, it seems the slightly less secure iPhone 5c could have its contents extracted due to the lack of hardware security that is enjoyed by every phone after. It must have killed Apple to know that there probably was a small chance of others being able to access that data through other means, rather than installing govtOS onto the phone in order to remove the software security factors. The response? The iPhone SE - Security Edition (I've christened it that). It couldn't have come at a better time for the company; as well as creating a buzz around the cheapest iPhone they have ever offered, they have also swooped in and doubled down on the security thanks to the secure enclave chip (and offered Apple Pay simultaneously). On the surface, it feels as if this has been in the works for a while, but the fact that it coincided perfectly with the court case to create a fully secure lineup of phones is only working in Apple's favour more. Well... depending on what side of the security fence you sit on. They're making sure that they are future proofed, both for the next few refreshes, and whatever is thrown into the Government v. Apple fight. For now, it seems the waters are only partially settled, with more court cases to come and Apple's possible fight to find out hot they unlocked that iPhone will continue over the next few months, the state of minds of the American people only another weapon in someone's arsenal.

  • The day I leave my wallet at home is still a long way away

    Apple Pay has been available in the UK for around 8 months now and it fast became entrenched in the way I would go about my daily life. Getting the bus, grabbing lunch and even an evening drink was just a fingerprint and a tap away; that is after my bank finally came to support it. On the eve of Android Pay launching in the UK, it's clear to see that the downfall of mobile payments might be something that has stunted many technological advancements - the fear of change. Barclays has yet again been the only bank to not commit to the launch of a mobile payment option like its contemporaries, instead focusing on its own options to pay with an app (limited to Android, sorry Apple fans). The bank has also held out on supporting Apple Pay so far, although announcing that they will roll out support "soon'. But this level of fragmentation can either cause one of two issues; either the banks will lose customers or the push for this new way of paying will flunk. Sadly, I fear that it is the latter that will occur. Not having the support of the industry that they are trying to change will only stop these new payment options/ And it's not just Apple and Android Pay, PayPal will have a much harder time justifying its place within this market, as well as other startups like Mondo who are trying to create a new, fresh take on a bank. The financial sector is possibly one of the longest and largest in the world, and as innovators try and step up to improve more and more areas of our lives, it's the pushbacks from those who believe they know best. The same can be said for the payment options themselves. As more and more options grow to try and replace the wallet, the market becomes murky; not one competitor is coming on top. Overcoming this is difficult, but the trend seems to be slowly moving towards the OS'es to be the ones in charge of the payment options. Apple, of course, has a good track record in privacy, and the numbers of Apple Pay are doing nothing but encouraging more adoption. But the need to have a simple, coherent approach to the new wave of payments is crucial, otherwise,we will still be living in the 'dark ages' with bits of plastic and a leather wallet to hold them all in.

  • My first time...

    It truly is a constant struggle of mine to find the right screen name. I was part of THAT generation; the ones who started growing up online which came with its own struggles including creating a one-word masterpiece that would be the envy of all your friends. Something that would draw the crowds in on forums and make them listen to your words of wisdom. My masterpiece? Mycatpro36nato. If it had one thing going for it it would be the originality, but certainly not cool in any way, shape or indeed form (although I think I would still struggle coming up with something today, giving Facebook and Google's insistence on using actual names). But at 13, my online existence was less about being cool and more about hiding my online identity from the prying parent eyes. Not that I was doing anything awful, but teenagers need their space and the internet boom in the 00's was the perfect place to get lost in MySpace, Bebo and all manner of chatrooms.The name comes from a blog post I read about finding the perfect screen name. It suggested you use numbers and things you would remember in a cool strand, but limited to 2 or three things, like TunaDog94 for example. The examples they used was a perfect template for creating my own, I thought, and with that I crafted the most obscure and ridiculous screen name by cramming 5 different inspirations into one. Sure if was memorable, and of course my parents did not suspect a thing. I still remember the name with great ease, although it is now most definitely defunct. I was young, dumb and weird enough to come up with something like that, but in today''s world where branding is so important to both online and offline life, sticking with Jordan-Lee seems a better option for now.