A lot has been written lately about the switch this past weekend from standard to daylight-saving time – three weeks earlier than past years. Some PC and PDA software needed to be updated, but what about all those other devices in your home? Like most consumers, I have a microwave, DVD player, a couple of VCRs and plenty of other devices whose clocks need to be set. Most of these devices aren’t smart enough to update themselves; they have to be reset by hand, regardless of when daylight-saving time starts and ends.
I had no idea how to set the clock on my microwave oven, and I certainly didn’t know where the manual was. Ditto for my VCRs and DVD player.
Fortunately there’s a new Web site that can help. Retrevo.com is a search engine designed to find information about how to use and fix products, including online access to user manuals. When I typed in the model numbers for my VCR, microwave, digital camera, iPod and several other products, in most cases I was able to find the documentation – typically as a PDF file. To get the specific information, you can even type in the task with the model number. Entering “Magic Chef MCD990w set clock,” for example, took me directly to page 10 of the user manual with the information I needed.
Retrevo can also help find reviews, discussion boards and blogs about products. It does have shopping and marketing information, but it keeps it separate from documentation, reviews and other material, according to company representative Andrew Eisner.
Although Retrevo is unique in its ability to pinpoint the exact page you need, it’s not the only way to find documentation. You can often find it by entering the model number plus the word “manual” in Google or other search engine. Amazon.com has some manuals, and you can always go to the product manufacturer’s Web site.
Still, there’s something nice about having a site dedicated to the lofty purpose of helping us figure out how to use all those gadgets.
Now all we need is an easy way to locate model numbers. I’d gladly use Retrevo to find the manual for my cell phone, but to find the model number I have to take out the battery and I’m not sure if I can figure out how to do that without the manual.
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