Whenever Hongkongers like something, we go all out in the hyperfixation. In celebration of the upcoming Chiikawa Days exhibition in K11 Musea, Octopus is soon releasing two special-edition Octopus ...

Instead, they whip out their Octopus, a contactless smart card with a chip that communicates with a fare processor in less than a second. It has been in use in Hong Kong since 1997.

Virtual cards allow fare balances to be displayed at fare gates, but the technology has its limitations. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

While Singapore’s EZ-Link card can also be used at some retailers, hawker centres and coffee shops, which are frequented by seniors, it is not as widely used as the Octopus card.

SMART-card and fare collection company ERG has given up the fight to protect its core software, having agreed to drop its action against Octopus Cards in Hong Kong for infringement of its technology.

It marked a breakthrough after 10 years of negotiations between the Octopus card operator and the taxi industry. But the taxi-rental group's managing director, Wong Yu-ting, said only 12 now remained.