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adm_snackbar writes "If you're unlocking your new Apple iPhone, chances are you probably won't be using the AT&T SIM card that comes pre-installed in it. But how to get it out? This posts walks you through the first basic step towards freedom."
http://www.coderetard.com/2008/04/03/how-to-replace-the-iphone-sim-card/

The God Plays Dice blog has an entertaining post on how the date of Easter is calculated. Wikipedia has all the messy details of course, but the blog makes a good introduction to the topic. "Easter is the date of the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21... [T]he cycle of Easter dates repeat themselves every 5,700,000 years. The cycle of epacts (which encode the date of the full moon) in the Julian calendar repeat every nineteen years. There are two corrections made to the epact, each of which depend[s] only on the century; one repeats (modulo 30, which is what matters) every 120 centuries, the other every 375 centuries, so the [p]air of them repeat every 300,000 years. The days of the week are on a 400-year cycle, which doesn't matter because that's a factor of 300,000. So the Easter cycle has length the least common multiple of 19 and 300,000, which is 5,700,000 [years]."

Researchers from the University of Maryland have recently discovered three asteroids that appear to be roughly 4.55 billion years old, dating back to the formation of the Solar System. The scientists say that the asteroids have survived relatively unchanged since that time, and make good candidates for future space missions. "'The fall of the Allende meteorite in 1969 initiated a revolution in the study of the early Solar System,' said Tim McCoy, curator of the national meteorite collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. 'I find it amazing that it took us nearly 40 years to collect spectra of these [CAI-rich] objects and that those spectra would now initiate another revolution, pointing us to the asteroids that record this earliest stage in the history of our Solar System.'"

Bruce Schneier's latest blog entry points out an interesting analysis of how quantum computing will affect public encryption. The author takes a look at some of the mathematics involved with using a quantum computer to run a factoring algorithm, and makes some reasonable assumptions about the technological constraints faced by the developers of the technology. He concludes that while quantum computing could be a threat to modern encryption, it is not the dire emergency some researchers suggest.

covertbadger notes a developer's blog entry on a novel way of judging progress in refactoring code. "Software quality tools can never completely replace the gut instinct of a developer — you might have massive test coverage, but that won't help with subjective measures such as code smells. With Wodehouse-style refactoring, we can now easily keep track of which code we are happy with, and which code we remain deeply suspicious of."

A new energy efficient chip designed by researchers at MIT may use so little power that someday human body heat will be able to charge implantable medical devices. The new chip design, which researchers say will reduce power consumption by 10 times, is being unveiled this week at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. The chip, still in the proof-of-concept stage, is expected to be used in portable electronic devices, like cell phones, PDAs and even implantable medical systems. "We intend to implant these new low-voltage techniques as quickly as we can," said Dennis Buss, chief scientist at Texas Instruments, TI engineers worked with MIT researchers on the two year project. "To get to where we'd need to be with this will take about five years. Doing a research demonstration is an important step, but making it robust for commercial production will require some work." The key to the chip's improved energy efficiency lies in making it work at a reduced voltage level, according to Joyce Kwong, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the chip design project team. Most of the mobile processors today operate at about 1 volt. The requirement for MIT's new design, however, drops to 0.3 volts.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;96025242;fp;16;fpid;2

smooth wombat writes "Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Release of Star Wars, Ballantine Books is publishing J.W. Rinzler's "The Making of Star Wars", which bills itself as "The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film."

The book is the result of Rinzler's discovery of interviews that Charles Lippincott, Lucasfilm's VP marketing and merchandising in the mid-'70s, conducted with the film's principals between 1975 and 1978. A tidbit from the book includes Lucas' reaction to the lines of people lined up to see the movie on opening day:

"Remember, science-fiction films do really great the first week, then they drop off to nothing. It's a good sign, but it doesn't mean anything. Let's wait a couple of weeks.""

Regular aspirin use may protect more than just your heart - it could also reduce your risk of cancer

http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?i=fcf4af85139b6252af028d2c2979ac11

Second time in a row a tech brand has beaten household name in ranking based on each brand's dollar value, market researcher says.
http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-6178310.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

rabidmuskrat writes "PS3 Center reports that Square Enix has confirmed FFXIII is not a PS3 exclusive. Also, Joystiq reports that the next Katamari Damacy is not a PS3 exclusive either. You can practically hear the squirms of Sony execs."