Contribute 4.0 Review in Macworld

Macworld magazine recently published my review of Adobe Contribute 4.0. I wish I could have gotten more excited about this new version, as I really like Contribute (I did, after all, write the book on it.)

This also marks my return to Macworld reviews, after quite a while off. Thanks to a combination of me being busy writing books, and some odd politics, it's been almost two years. I'm glad to be back.

PlateWatch - Day 4

What I thought would happen: I figured that I'd put up the post about my license plate on Sunday, it'd get a link or three on Monday, and by Tuesday it would be over and I'd be on to other things.

Not so much.

I did put it up on Sunday, and it did get a link or three on Monday (e.g., Scoble, Kottke). And then a few more on Tuesday (e.g., Boing Boing, The Unofficial Apple Weblog). That led to a bit on on Wireless Flash News (no, I can't read it either), which I'm told is a hot resource for radio DJs

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got a call from Peter Anthony Holder of radio station CJAD (800 AM Montreal) asking if I would stay up late and be a guest on his show. I told him that I thought the chances of my license plate making it all the way to Montreal were pretty slim, and he said well, once we're done talking about that, you can talk about your current books. Hey, I'll always take that opportunity, and so I spent about 30 minutes last night on Canadian radio. If I'd had my act together a little more, I would have posted the link here, as it was streaming live… at 11:05 pm Pacific, 2:05 am Eastern. Okay, even if I'd posted the link you probably wouldn't have stayed up that late. But I had a lot of fun, and Peter, the host of the show, was great.

What's next? Who knows? While I was waiting to go on the show, I took a look at my site logs, and noticed one brand-new incoming link: MSNBC's Clicked. Uh… I don't think this is dying down quite yet.

And now, because I'm tired of answering the same questions in the comments of lots of different blogs, and because, well, I have to do something geeky in this post (I keep being accused of "not being a real geek" — pffft), here's the FAQ:

• Q: What are you talking about? License plates?
• A: Go read the original post here.
  
  
• Q: Why don't you just get a replacement tag?
• A: California's not like that. Not really, at least. The deal is that they send you two plates when your vanity plates are first issued. At that point, you're required to put one on the back and one on the front.
  

  I didn't do that. I put one on the back, and put one away in a stack of papers for safekeeping.

• Q: What was the point of that?
• A: California is sticky about replacing plates. If you lose both plates, you can't get replacements. Ever. Yes, really. You have to have at least one to get a replacement. And you have to bring it in with you (here's the DMV Form) (PDF).
  
  
• Q: So then, what's your problem, given that you didn't put both on your car?
• A: I put the front plate in a stack of papers for safekeeping. In 1998. In Los Angeles.
  

  For those who want the math done for them, that was one home, 8.5 years, and 500 miles ago.

• Q: And you haven't seen it since?
• A: I don't spend a lot of time looking for things I might need someday. Up until now, I haven't needed it.
  

  The plate is almost definitely in a box. Somewhere. The box could be in Tom's office. It could be in the garage. It could have been lost somewhere between the old house and the new. I don't know, and there are a lot of boxes.

• Q: You said you're required to put both plates on your car?
• A: Yes, and I've been ticketed before for only having one. While CA may give you a ticket for not having a plate, they care more about collecting the money than whether or not I fix the problem, so I just paid up.
  
  
• Q: What do you think your odds are of ever having your plates again?
• A: Right now, I'm guessing that it's about 1 in 3 of someone feeling the urge to send it back to me, about 1 in 3 of finding the front plate (wherever it might be), and about 1 in 3 of being completely SOL. Depending on how much more publicity this gets, of course.
  
  
• Q: How much publicity has this received? What do your hits look like?
• A: It's interesting to see what drives traffic, and how quickly the hits come in and then die down after a major site links here. Here's how the big hitters divvied up their share of the pie: BoingBoing sent about 40%, Kottke 27%, Scoble 11%, MSNBC 9%, and TUAW 5%. That 9% for MSNBC doesn't look like much until you realize that he posted just a few hours before my stats last ran.
  

  The remainder all seem to be from livejournal.com, and all from someone who doesn't (or someones who don't) allow public access to their journal. I can tell that the mysterious linker is friends with comicbook-greek, angall, con-girl, scumm_boy, carynb, defamatory, whynotsteve, foms, ash-pixie, foms, iolarah, thornleaf, and vandyke-brown, though. Didn't any of you have parents who taught you that it's rude to talk about people behind their backs?

• Q: Did you report this to the cops?
• A: Yes, because otherwise I can't drive my car on the street. When I drive my car now, I have to keep the officer's business card + the case number with me on the off chance I'm pulled over. That's until I get new temporary plates.
  
  
• Q: When do you get new temporary plates?
• A: I can't do that until the paperwork goes through our little PD. From there it goes to the county DMV, and it takes a while after that to get into their system. I was told it would take a few weeks, and that it wasn't worth bothering showing up at the DMV until they had all the paperwork processed. So I'm waiting on that, and hoping that the plate comes back home before then.
  
  
• Q: You've got a few people in your comments that are a little, hmmm…
• A: That's not a question, but I know what you mean. If you think those were iffy, you should have seen what I was called in some of the blogs, forums, and conferences where this was posted. Damn, there are a lot of people out there with too much time on their hands. Why don't y'all come over and help me look through a few boxes?

And finally, because someone else went to the trouble of doing this: could you please digg the original story? Thanks!

I Am A Crime Victim (and you can help)

Yesterday (Saturday) evening, I left my office, walked out to my car, and noticed something missing: the license plate off my car.

Yes, that really is my license plate. Or more precisely, that really was my license plate.

Here's my guess: someone from the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area was in Healdsburg yesterday wandering around the downtown area, saw my license plate, and thought it would be a giggle to take it. It would look great on someone's office wall, and hey, the car owner could just get a new one, right?

Wrong.

The best case scenario involves Tom and I spending many many many hours dealing with this, and ending up (finally) with a replacement plate. The most likely scenario involves Tom and I spending many many many hours dealing with this, and losing the plate forever.

This sucks.

I know a lot of people in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area. I know a lot of Web geeks. The chances are good that whoever ends up with my plate knows someone who knows someone who knows me. So, I'm asking you for a favor; could you please:

• Tell your Northern California friends that I'm looking for it.
• Tell your Web geek friends that I'm looking for it.
• Post a message on your blog asking for help for me to get my license plate back.
• If you happen to come across it when visiting tech company offices, help it get back to me.

I'm not asking people to call the police, or to turn their buddies in to the authorities, or anything like that. I'd simply like to get it back. No questions will be asked; no charges will be pressed — I just want my own property returned.

I got the license plate in 1998, and it's been a cool thing ever since then. I'm frequently stopped with questions about the plate (most recent occurrence: at the library last Thursday), and it has great sentimental meaning to me on top of the geek factor. The shot above, in fact, was clipped from one of our wedding photos.

I could go on and on in this vein, but it all boils down to one thing: I'd really like to get it back. Could you please help?

The plate can be sent to me at:

Later note: Use of the above images in helping track down the plates is fine. In fact, if you're helping out, feel free to hotlink 'em.