Category: General

Using a standard SIM in an iPad

I tried this for several reasons: to share my iPhone data plan with my iPad, to see how difficult it was, and because I will likely want to swap SIMs between my dev iPhones, iPad, and my iPhone 4.

Also, soon I will be traveling internationally and plan to take only my iPad for computing. If trimming down a standard SIM is easy, I can plan to buy a prepaid SIM in each country. If micro SIMs are unavailable, I have a simple method for converting any standard SIM into an iPad/iPhone 4 compatible one.

Prerequisites: An iPad, a standard SIM from an iPhone or any other 3G GSM phone, a pair of sharp scissors, an x-acto knife, and a credit card (or unused SIM).

1. Create micro SIM adapter (skip a-d if using a spare SIM)

a. lay the iPhone SIM on top of the credit card.
b. using the tip of an x-acto knife or a fine marker, scratch the SIM outline onto the card.
c. cut out the new SIM adapter with scissors
d. Use a piece of sandpaper or the edge of the x-acto knife to scrape/sand the edges until the adapter fits into the iPhone SIM tray.

This next step is to position the micro SIM properly in the adapter. The micro SIM must be positioned so that the contacts of the micro SIM are aligned with the contacts of the SIM. I achieved this by flipping my SIM adapter and tray over, and aligning the contacts of the micro SIM in the tray slot. The net result is that my adapter has a border around 3 sides that is of identical size.

e. set the micro SIM on top of the adapter with the tabbed corners aligned
f. align the micro SIM so that it is centered horizontally and the bottom (non tabbed) border is the same width as the side borders.
g. mark the outline on the adapter with the x-acto
h. cut out with x-acto knife. Cut gently and accurately at first, and make subsequent passes to deepen the cut until you are through the material.
i. using the x-acto, scrape off adapter material until the micro SIM snaps into the slot

When you’re finished, is should look a lot like this:

micro SIM adapter

2. Test micro SIM adapter

Insert the micro SIM into the adapter, the adapter into the tray, and the tray into the iPhone. I did so with my iPad micro SIM which was not activated. Upon doing so, my iPhone 3GS detected the SIM, showed AT&T as the carrier, the 3G icon lit up, and I received the following notice, “Could not activate cellular data network: You are not subscribed to a cellular data service.”

Voila, my adapter allows a micro SIM to work in my iPhone. Phase 1 was successful!

3. Cut SIM down to micro SIM size

I was a bit hesitant to hack up my SIM card. If I erred and destroyed my SIM, it would require a trip to the Apple or AT&T store for a new SIM, as well as an $18 activation fee. But I couldn’t help myself.

Since the adapter was already built, this step was actually very straight forward.

a. set the adapter on top of the iPhone SIM
b. mark the cutout with the x-acto knife
c. trim off the edges of the SIM with scissors.
d. shave the edge of the trimmed SIM until it fits into the adapter

Notice the alignment of the contacts in the photo. When the SIM and adapter are aligned, the contacts will not be cut. I repeat, the contacts will not be cut.

4. Test SIM in iPad and iPhone

a. stick the newly minted micro SIM into the adapter and the iPhone and verify functionality.
b. point your iPad (w/o SIM) web browser at www.unlockit.co.nz and install a custom IPN for your carrier
c. move the new micro SIM from the iPhone to the iPad
d. turn off the iPad wifi and test 3G connection

I called my iPhone number while the SIM was inserted into the iPad. I was hoping I’d get dumped into voice mail, but instead I get an AT&T error message stating that calling feature wasn’t available from my number. I suggest setting your iPhone call forwarding before and after using an iPhone SIM in an iPad.

Weight Loss Recipe

The mathematics of weight loss is, in fact, quite simple, involving only subtraction. “Take in fewer calories than you burn, put yourself in negative energy balance, lose weight,” says Braun, who has been studying exercise and weight loss for years. — Weighing the Evidence on Exercise

U.S. consumers spend over $60,000,000,000 dollars a year on weight loss products, when the real solution is to eat less.

PSA: Don’t overpay for cables

overpriced HDMI cables
Don't Buy Expensive Cables

Before buying HDMI or other cables locally, check the price on them at monoprice.com or Amazon.com. Both will have low prices. I buy almost exclusively at monoprice because of their cheap USPS shipping. For example, a 6′ HDMI cable is $4. A toslink female to mini male adapter is $0.66 (use this to connect a Mac to your receiver via optical).

touchscreen comparison

Have you had the chance to play with a Blackberry Storm? Or a Palm Pre? Did you get the feeling that the touch screen, the primary input device, just didn’t feel as good as the iPhone? I’m not talking about the ignored taps that the Google Android suffers from, but that, “darn, I’m sure I tapped the right spot, but I sure didn’t get what I wanted” feeling. It turns out there’s a quantifiable reason the iPhone touch screen seems to work better.

TV makes you…

TV doesn’t just make you stupid and fat, it also makes you obedient:

…the manipulative power of television further increases people’s willingness to obey. – Fake TV Game Show ‘Tortures’ Man

Even the Iranian regime is willing to play Hollywood movies to entice its citizens to stay home and watch TV.

It makes me wonder what we’ll be discovering and saying about the internet in the next couple decades.

lay down your card, walk away, and you won’t get hurt

It’s Banks vs. Families, Who Will Come Out on Top?

The short version is that I studied the economics of the middle class and I began to see that credit products were becoming increasingly dangerous. Families didn’t know how much they were spending on credit and comparison among the products was practically impossible…
….
The idea behind the current model is, “I will hold something shiny in front of your eye, 3.9% financing, and the way I’m going to make money is on tricks and traps that I’ve buried in the fine print: $29 there, $49 there, triple interest rate, double cycle billing, over and over and over … .”

…one of the issuers took me aside and said, “We get that our business model is unsustainable over the long haul, but no one of us can jump first.” On the plane home from the meeting with the issuer I realized how broken the market is….

Is a sin tax the best tax?

I think Christine Gregoire’s sin tax is a mediocre approach to an excellent idea. In addition to taxing poor consumption, the tax plan should also create incentives for healthy foods. With that in mind, I present the Washington State Health Improvement Tax.

Rather than a flat tax on products that are ‘sin’ items, tax products based on the level of Bad Things[*] in them. For example, candy and gum would be taxed on the grams of sugar included per serving. Cigarettes would be taxed on the levels of tar and nicotine. The tax would discourage ‘more sinful’ items because of increased cost, and it creates a market incentive for manufacturers to create healthier products.

It’s illogical to tax sugar-free gums that prevent tooth decay (a health benefit) the same as sugar rich ones that contribute to decay and diabetes. Low sugar gums should be taxed less, giving them an market advantage. Cigarettes with lower levels of tar and nicotine would be taxed less, encouraging smokers towards cigarettes that are less addictive and toxic. Fat, juicy premium steaks would be taxed more than lean cuts. Milk with growth hormones would cost more, making organic milk more cost competitive.

* Bad Things is defined as FDA regulated (food) items consumed by humans that cause poor health. The list should include, but not be limited to: Nicotine, saturated fats, trans fats, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, BGH, high levels of sodium, e coli, etc.

The tax scale should be progressive, so that the most unhealthy products are taxed the most. Dieticians and nutritionists should determine the level of ill health each ingredient causes and the tax implemented based on that.

For example, every gram of sugar above 10 per serving is taxed at the rate of $0.01 per gram. Every gram of saturated fat above 1 is taxed at the rate of $0.10 per gram. Each mg of sodium above 250 per serving would cost $0.01. Under this scale, a 2 oz. Snickers bar with 28g of sugar ($0.18) and 4g of saturated fat ($0.30) would cost an extra $0.48. A slice of Costco chocolate cake would cost an extra $0.20. A bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos would cost $0.80 more.

To make compliance easier, charge the tax at the wholesale level for prepackaged foods. Prepared foods would have to be taxed at retail.

An optional nicety would be providing incentives to encourage merchants to include nutrition summaries on checkout receipts, as well as how much they contributed to the WS-HIT by making unhealthy choices.

Piggyback the WS-HIT tax with an excess packaging tax that taxes products with high levels of waste packaging. Rather than a $0.01 per ounce tax on bottled water, make the tax progressive so that it encourages consumers to purchase products with less packaging. Christine’s tax does not encourage someone to purchase a gallon jug of water versus 8-8oz bottles. The 8-pack has significantly more packing waste and should be taxed more. The large bottles that the Culligan man delivers are reused and should not be taxed at all.

That’s a tax proposal I’d vote for. Would you?