iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Bayside Line launches 23 August 2026, officially called the Werribee, Laverton, Williamstown and Sandringham Line. I created a line map showing how this will operate. Timetables and journey planners don't always have the same impact that a diagram can have. Inspired by the Metropolitan Line maps.

Map showing light pink for all stations services, and a darker pink line for services from Werribee that run limited express and terminate at Flinders Street station

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Zara Larsson switching from iPhone Air to Pro feels like a notable event

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

WhatsApp username Pros: - Useful for people not wanting to share phone numbers - For those of us with more than one primary number Cons: - Another step towards merging FB, IG and WhatsApp accounts. Shared Meta profiles is the end-goal and has been for the past decade

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Reposted by Jeremy Burge

JJW @jjw.wtf · 25/06/2026

gals, guys, everyone: my birthday is coming up and i just wanted to leave this link lying around. thanks to @jeremyburge.bsky.social for the tip. paom.com/products/yar...

paom.com

Yarra Trams Shirt - PAOM

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Had a lot of great feedback about RichmondTonight.com - especially from people working in and around the sporting precinct in Melbourne. Added a few details like links to live scores when games are taking place, and door/gate times when available.

richmondtonight.com

Richmond Tonight

What's on tonight in Richmond, Melbourne — live events from every venue in the precinct.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Half price travel until the end of 2026. Contactless expansion to the remaining train lines? Gov spokesperson says “more to say on next steps soon” 🔜💳📱

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Might be a bit inner east of Melbourne niche, but I love walking around Yarra Park, Melbourne Park, and the Domain. I’m often Googling to check which gig I can hear, which team is training on the oval, or where fans are heading. Mostly for me, but some might enjoy it too: richmondtonight.com

richmondtonight.com

Richmond Tonight

What's on tonight in Richmond, Melbourne — live events from every venue in the precinct.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I regret to inform you that Apple’s Genmoji has not improved its understanding of Australian culture in the past 18 months.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Begging transport agencies to include which city they service in their social bios. You can’t all be MTA, CTA, or Translink.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Melbourne build a physically separated, safe on-road bike lane longer than 6km challenge: impossible

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

If you're in Melbourne and fancy thoughts on making a great city greater, I've recently start posting some videos here – I'd love for people with similar interests to join and leave a comment when you think I hit (or miss) the mark! www.instagram.com/smartermelbo... www.tiktok.com/@smartermelb...

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

I hadn't yet come across the Anker Nano for international travel – and Dan's right, it's much smaller than what has become a fairly standard sized brick for international plugs + USB-C from lots of brands. Also pleased that @expresstransit.bsky.social was useful for the local transit info sixcolors

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Interesting data from Melbourne's free train travel experiment April 2026 vs March 2026 on Melbourne Metro trains: 👔 Weekdays: up 4.4% 🕶️ Weekends: up 38% Some of this will be due to school holidays. Some may be due to business passengers being less price sensitive than leisure passengers. Bigge

Chart: train travel in Melbourne April 2026 vs March 2026 and vs April 2025. Summary is in the post.

Photo: Raymond O'Flaherty CEO of Metro Trains

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

POV: the first five minutes after you order something online Text: THANKS FOR YOUR ORDER Email: THANKS FOR YOUR ORDER App: THANKS FOR YOUR ORDER Email: YOUR ERECEIPT Text: YOUR ORDER IS BEING PREPARED Email: YOUR ORDER IS BEING PREPARED App: YOUR ORDER IS BEING PREPARED Email: YOUR FEEDBACK PLEASE

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Absolutely stunning out in Melbourne last night 🌃

Photo: Southbank high rises through trees at night

Photo: Yarra river with boat in foreground and city skyline in background at night

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I my youth I spent my time writing for the local Mac User Group in Melbourne (any AUSOM members here?) and always looked forward to getting the latest shareware on floppy when meetings happened at Box Hill TAFE. I was a very cool teen. Anyway, I check back in from time to time. The average age may

Article title:: See you on the train
Editor's Note: I'm delighted to introduce Jeremy Burge. As a young AUSOM member in mid-1998, Jeremy volunteered to write articles for AUSOM News _ "The Coolness of Mac Shareware". That was just the beginning...

Article body: My last time appearing in the monthly AUSOM magazine was in 2016, a gap of fifteen years between articles. Two articles in 26 years isn't my finest work, but I appreciate the opportunity to bring up a passion project in here from time to time.
For nearly a decade, I ran Emojipedia, a reference website for every emoji in existence. Weirdly enough, that led to me meeting pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, star of the Emoji Movie, Patrick Stewart, and regularly flying to Silicon Valley to discuss and approve new emoji additions at Apple offices around Cupertino.
In 2026, I'm now focusing on the intersection of technology and public transportation with a new website called Express Transit.

Tap and go
For anyone who has travelled overseas or even interstate, the first question that comes to mind is often "How do I pay for the train, tram or bus?"

In recent times, you may have been in Sydney and seen the new Light Rail whizzing past you on George St, but being a visitor, it might not be all that clear if you need a ticket, an Opal card, or something else.

The good news is that many cities globally are now accepting contactless tap and go payments by Visa or Mastercard, or for this crowd, Apple Pay. That's something you can now do in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra, as well as international cities like London, New York, Toronto, Lisbon, and more.
2026 is the year Melbourne is set to launch contactless card payments for the train, tram and bus. No need for a Myki card - just tap to ride.

Being able to tap your phone without first having to use FaceD, as you would with any regular payment.
As you are likely aware, paying for groceries, a coffee, or any other purchase via Apple Pay usually involves three steps. First, you double-press the side button on your iPhone, which brings up Apple Wallet. Assuming your face is in view of the front-facing camera, FaceD will automatically kick in and confirm that you are authorised to make the payment.

Then you simply tap the upper region of the phone on or near the payment terminal. If FaceID fails for any reason (scarf up over your face in winter, or a floppy hat), you will be prompted to enter your PIN.

On public transport, there's one better option:
Express Mode. This feature was formerly known as Express Transit Mode and allows you to say that for public transport only, you permit your phone to authorise a payment without using FaceD. This is found under Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Express Transit Cards.

One catch
I'm aware that I may be a little younger than many AUSOM readers today, and that means one catch that applies to you, and not to me: Senior's concession travel.
If you want to use your seniors discount but also leave the Myki at home, that's something coming in
2027. It will involve linking your preferred debit or credit card to your Seniors Card on the Transport Victoria website. Not many cities around the world support concession discounts with contactless bank cards. So let's hope Melbourne can deliver this as expected.

The selected payment card can be used to pay your
Tare ocations wher vour express ransi cares nor accepted.
Tap and Go with Express Mode
Hold your iPhone near a reader to pay your fare without double-clicking or unlocking your iPhone.
Choose which debit or credit card you want to use with Express Mode, and the next time you use a public transport system that supports it, you can just tap your phone on the fare gate, without using FaceID. In fact, you don't even need to touch any buttons on your phone or even look at it. Just like Apple Home Key and Apple Car Key, this continues to work for hours after your phone runs out of battery.

With Express Mode enabled, your Apple Watch can also make payments for the train, tram or bus, without first double-pressing the side button on the watch.
And for the true fans of leaving the house without a wallet, the Services Victoria app already allows a digital seniors card to be included, which is one less piece of plastic to carry around.
Check before you go
Overseas trip coming up? I found that it was quite confusing to arrive in new cities and not be sure about whether I can use Apple Pay for public transport, and then if that city also supports Express Mode.

That's why I made ExpressTransit.com — a website where you can quickly browse any city and see if it takes contactless bank cards for transport.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Crazy niche detail but Transport for NSW have a PDF train map, but at a nice canonical URL without .pdf at the end Clean URL that appears on Google every time, and overcomes any browser performance issues of making a custom viewer or having a blurry raster transportnsw.info/sydney-trai...

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Four ways Melbourne's newest rail line could look: 1. SRL Dark Green 2. SRL Light Green 3. DLR / Sydney Metro Turqouise 4. Bakerloo Brown

Proposed Suburban Rail Loop Map with Dark Green Colour very similar to Frankston Line Green

Proposed Suburban Rail Loop Map with Light Green Colour very similar to Yarra Trams Green

Proposed Suburban Rail Loop Map with Turqouise Colour very similar to both DLR in London and Sydney Metro

Proposed Suburban Rail Loop Map with Brown Colour very similar to Bakerloo Line in London

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

A map I enjoy – Northern Railway (UK) routes: - Metrolink tram connection between Manchester stations - How the lines around Edale and Buxton feel calm like when you're on them - Walking distance between terminus stations in Bradford www.northernrailway.co.uk/sit...

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Yes I double checked, and it’s “Express pay” and not “Express Pay”

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

me: finally I can get rid of my multiple phones for testing emojis across different devices 🙌🥳 also me: starts a new project testing transit payment cards across different devices...and countries 🤪🥲

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Free transport starts in Melbourne and Victoria for one month on Tuesday. Big win for anyone travelling off-peak and shorter distances. Not so much for anyone at an overcrowded regional train station, with no extra services added.

Two buttons meme: Higher frequency services, peak/off-peak pricing, bus and tram priority, short distance fares, no waits over 15 min for trains or Free Fares. Finger hovers over free fares.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

"Tap to ride without opening Wallet" has been superseded by "Express Pay" on Google platforms Apple previously rebranded "Express Transit Mode" to simply "Express Mode" I've been referring to all modes of zero-authentication tapping for transit as "Transit Mode" generically. Might have to continue

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

While you could argue that a well informed tourist should be able to top up a local transit card like Suica (and will have a better experience if they do so) - having options for basic debit or credit cards across so much of the network will definitely help inexperienced or infrequent travellers.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

always makes my lol how petty this is

Screenshot: network devices on macOS showing beige PCs with Blue Screen of Death

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

I don't know when it changed but I LOVE that you can now: 1. Connect to a new WiFi network on your iPhone, then 2. Open your Mac - and it automatically knows the password This always worked the other way (connect Mac first, then iPhone) because the phone would have a cellular connection to sync pa

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

If you're using Melbourne's new contactless system with your phone or watch – note that the credit card numbers shown in the ticketing portal won't be familiar to you. They're the unique token that Apple or Google pay generates per-device. This is standard practice, but generally hidden from users.

Screenshot: Melbourne contactless payment portal

Screenshot mockup: example of question mark button next to payment token

Screenshot mockup: warning dialog to explain what the number represents

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Things are really popping off in Devizes

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

the name of this bus company in Merseyside makes me…uncumfy

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Some challenges for Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop: it's considered it's own mode, but it's a mode with one (1) line Branding currently has it shown as a green which is nearly identical to the Frankston Line green SRL needs a colour that is distinct from others on the rail map. I'm suggesting teal

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

It's something that most people don't consider - and shouldn't have to, really. How does a new currency symbol end up supported by every computer and phone in the world? The process to ensure our text communications interchange consistently now and for decades (and centuries?) to come isn't taken

blog.unicode.org

From Central Bank to Code Point: A Roadmap for Currency Symbol Implementation

I n the past year, several new currency symbols have been proposed for encoding in the Unicode Standard: February 2025: The Saudi Central Ba...

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Terminology used for contactless bank card payments around Australia: ⛪️ Adelaide: "Tap and Pay" 🏝️ Brisbane: "Contactless payments" ⛴️ Hobart: "Contactless payments" ☀️ Perth: "Contactless payments" ⛴️ Sydney: "Contactless payments" 🏙️ Melbourne: "Tap and go"

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

The Age reports that Metro Tunel stations won’t be included, presumably meaning you couldn’t tap out at State Library if arriving in the city at Melbourne Central This stage is mainly useful for people who are keen to test - or who forget their Myki and want to use it as a single trip ticket

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Melbourne Contactless Rollout to include Visa and Mastercard at launch in the coming weeks. New portal now showing publicly: ticketing.transport.vic.gov.au

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Good news for Canberra: It has been confirmed to me that Express Mode (aka tap to ride without opening wallet on Android) is on its way. Let's hope it gets a push when rolled out, as the validators can get very busy at times with people all using FaceID before tapping on or off. Quote from ACT Go

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

If you’ve felt the need to send a FIGHT CLOUD or HAIRY CREATURE (aka Bigfoot) in emoji form, boy have I got good news for you

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

New 🟡 option for cities that offer contactless on some modes of transit but not others contactlessornot.com

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Explaining this room to someone from 2012 would be amusing

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Upgrade your Melbourne Train Map: ✈️ Airport Line 🔄 City Loop directions 🪢 Untangled Caulfield-South Yarra 🌾 Missing Stations Returned bettermapformelbourne.com

Melbourne Airport line future route shown

City Loop directions with labels for lines that change direction

The Gippsland Line showing a cleaner design near South Yarra than the official map

Nhill, Dimboola, Horsham and Stawell from the Overground shown in western Victoria

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

For the first time, Apple is posting to TikTok and allowing comments. Not as ads. Not as replies to support queries. Actual fun videos and letting people engage. And it’s all for the MacBook Neo 🍋‍🟩

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

honestly, I don't have a good vibe check on YouTube shorts. I feel like I get TikTok and Reels fairly intuitively, spending more time there in recent years. For now I'm just cross-posting to Shorts, but can't help wondering if it's a good fit. Anyway, here's a video youtube.com/shorts/h0Roj...

youtube.com

How Melbourne Airport Rail should be shown on the map to avoid confusion

YouTube video by Express Transit

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

I love that U+1FAEF FIGHT CLOUD is a real code point that will be useful soon 🫯

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Melbourne Airport Rail: the next decade 1. 2026: Bendigo trains skip Sunshine 2. 2030: Bendigo trains stop at Sunshine (Superhub complete) 3. 2033: (?) Melbourne Airport Rail opens 4. 2036: (?) Melton Electrification opens

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I just know the devs implementing this TfL sponsor takeover did so under duress

TfL Status Updates page with Adobe Acrobat ads / previews as the background around the site content.

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Jeremy Burge @jeremyburge.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Recording Clockwise any minute now in front of a LIVE studio audience (my daughter's toy ducks) 🎙️ www.relay.fm/live

relay.fm

Listen Live - Relay

Listen to your favorite shows broadcasting live.

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