My internet provider supplies me with a little supplementary box that allows me to access additional channels and content on my ageing TV. Of course, I have to rent it and the content costs a monthly fee, though nothing like what I used to pay with a previous provider. My needs are pretty simple, a few news channels, the capacity to watch football (soccer) highlights and such like.

One of the channels in my package is CNA, not be confused with the US network CNN. The former is an English-speaking Singapore-based news service. It is an excellent distraction from the awful Australian networks and has the added benefit of making you feel as if you are living overseas when you are not.

I raise this only by way of making a different point. I took a shine to one of the background music themes for the CNA world weather about three years ago - an ambient piece with an interesting chord progression - and yesterday, thanks to an app that cleverly tells you what the names of songs are, I found the artist and the original track.

I was reflecting upon this, how impossible this process would have been even twenty years ago, like finding the proverbial needle. But there it was, in only few seconds, in the palm of my hand. It's both remarkable and terrifying at the same time.