Finding a Samsung toner cartridge can take some digging around the internet but it can never be too deeply buried in virtual pages as to be deemed irretrievable — this is most especially the case when you have by your side a spiffy product search engine. Just throw in your line — ahem — keyword phrase, and you’ll be sure to get the image of what you want biting back. Then just pay for it. Buying electronics has become an everyday occurrence, and though some consideration is still necessary when choosing among competing product versions, availability, usually, is not an issue — unless, of course, it’s the latest iPhone that you’re after. For such times, being a two-time ex-vice president and having a Nobel Peace Prize win on top of an Oscar might entitle you to first pickings — everyone else must wait in line.

But, for most all other products, you’re sure to find few obstacles standing between you and your personal technological nirvana. For your blessed consumption, every day, technology is created, improved, reconfigured, and refined to meet a ceaseless demand. All this means is that the next time you need to wound your fingers around a Samsung netbook, you won’t have to go through more hassle than deciding on a specific model. The Internet is the world’s — and humanity’s — best catalogue for purchasable articles — it even comes with moving pictures of your objects of desire (and those needed for more utilitarian reasons).

For less obviously iconic objects, as some euphemistically put it, than a Samsung netbook, there are ways to search and for even something whose description includes a mind-boggling sequence like bp96-01073a (that’s a Samsung DLP TV lamp, for folks in the know). But something that’s easily forgotten in the rag-tag dance of online viewing and ordering is double-checking compatibility among electronics. This should be standard process but really isn’t; make sure you don’t get caught unawares and in desperate need of an adaptor. So browse for your Samsung wis09abgn LinkStick at your leisure, but also remember to make some inquiries about the battery needs of your new electronic device. If you don’t have the correct batteries when the product arrives, you won’t be able to use it until you’ve gone out on a battery run.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.