Shaunak's Universe

MATLAB helps solve millions of computational problems in nearly all fields of human scientific knowledge every day. There is absolutely no reason it can’t help with the trivial matter of your valentine’s card.

The mathematical function we are after is aptly called a Cardioid and its pretty simple to plot in polar co-ordinates.

The following script generates a matrix that holds 15 shades of pink. This matrix will then be supplied to the ‘ColorOrder’ parameter to cycle through while plotting. A polar plot of 1 – a * sin( theta ) gets you the cardioid shape. The "a" parameter is varied to add thickness to the plot.

 % Get 15 shades of Pink
   ColOrd = ones(15,3);
   ColOrd(:,2) = 1/15:1/15:1;
 % 
 % Theeta from 0 to 2PI
   theta = 0:0.01:2*pi;
 % 
 % Set the figure background to White
   figure(1);
   set(gcf, 'Color', [1,1,1]);
 % 
 % Plot iteratively with varying values of a - 
 % where a varies from 0.7 to 0.12
   for a = 0.7:0.01:1.2
       set(gca, 'ColorOrder', ColOrd);
       polar(theta, (1 - a*sin(theta)));
       hold all;
   end;

And here is the resultant plot:

And there you have it folks, a quick and easy valentine's card. Who say's MATLAB cant solve all your problems!

Now for the serious bit. If you are a male and though this post was a smashing idea - then you need help my friend. If you a female and you found this interesting - then I need your phone number!

PS: Download a Facebook Cover picture made with this plot.

The Raspberry Pi is a $ 25 credit-card sized computer that has taken the geek world by storm. It’s a joy for tinkerers because it allows the introduction of some serious computing power into junkyard projects. It means that we can now do water droplet photography on the cheap or even build a budget supercomputer.

I received my own Raspberry Pi fresh from the oven a few weeks ago from RS India. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the board and the infinite possibilities that lay before me. But before I could start to work on the Pi controlled thermonuclear reactor of my dreams, I knew I had to find a secure place to put the board in. A quick search on ebay led me to the RPi_Shop. They stock a range of cases but the Stripped Acrylic Case caught my fancy. It’s reasonably priced and comes with a free RCA cable to sweeten the deal.

The guys at the RPi_Shop are very professional and I enjoyed their proactive and responsive service. The case was shipped to me the very same day I purchased it and was sitting on my desk ready to sheath my precious Pi the next – making me one very happy customer.

The case consists of multiple layers of acrylic 9 layers of acrylic which when put together form one solid shell for the Pi. I would recommend buying this case over snap-in model . It just feels a lot more rigid and looks an order of magnitude better. The craftsmanship was excellent with no visible defects in the acrylic. The laser cut raspberry pattern on top and the alternating black layers gives it a really classy look.

Assembly was a simple procedure. One simply needs to stack layers 0 to 2 onto each other, place the raspberry Pi face up on it, stack the rest of the layers on top and fasten the assembly with the 4 provided nut-bolts. Make sure to just hand-tighten it. Putting too much stress on the acrylic is not a good idea. The case fits the board like a rather pretty glove and leaves all the important I/O ports unobstructed. Unfortunately the insulating acrylic can’t act as a heat sink but the laser cut pattern allows for sufficient ventilation.

Overall I am happy to have picked up a very reasonably priced and well-built case for my Pi. If you want a case that’s a little more upcale consider this one. Makes me wish banks were a lot easier to steal from. Well maybe we can come up with a Pi powered bank robbing robot.

Quick question: Who invented the light bulb? If you answered Thomas Edison, then unfortunately you are starkly mistaken. The incandescent lightbulb as we know it was invented by British Physicist, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan. (Sir Humphry Davy pioneered the concept) Edison began his experiments nearly a decade later, vastly improving the life of the filament and its pragmatic scope.

So why does history and your fifth grade teacher remember Edison as the 'lightbulb guy'? Because he commercialized the lightbulb. He made it economically viable for homes, offices and public spaces to be lit by this futuristic lighting. Edison and his electric company created the electricity supply market and brought the power of moving electrons to the public. And that is why history recollects Edison as the lightbulb man; because Edison created an environment conducive to incandescent lighting.

A century later, a completely new generation of pioneers, the brilliant brains behind Google, look to pull of a similar historical hijack. Over the last decade Google has created myriad range of products that provide convenient, pertinent and fruitful services to millions of Internet users everyday. From e-mails (Gmail), organizing (Calendar), photo sharing (Picasa), scholarly research (Scholar and Books), to your mobile phone (Android) there is a Google product to suit each of your necessities and more. With Google+, the company simply looks to leverage its grasp on the internet market place and very effortlessly foray into the lucrative market of social networking, all this while simple re-enforcing, consolidating and integrating its existing line of products. Ensuring that, while they may be late on the social network game, they will not be diminished in memory a few decades from now.

Instead of comparing Google+ to competing services head on, lets look at what it brings to the table for Google and their 'consumers'. It takes multiple products which weren't precisely market leaders, and turns their technologies into stepping stones for Google+. Picasa, for example, wouldn't stand ground against Filckr. But by integrating Picasa services seamlessly into the Plus network, its gets a new lease at life with a new mission. Similarly, lessons learned from the unsuccessful Wave network manifest themselves everywhere. Hangouts to Huddles, everything makes communicating with a group easier than ever. Google's dominant position in the mobile operating system market only arguments the usefulness of Google+, with their mobile application integrating the best of various prevalent services like Foursquared and Twitpic to name a few. (Check-ins anyone?)

One thing that instantaneously strikes the user is the sheer utility, neatness and intuitiveness of the User Interface, be it on the desktop, tablet or an Android powered mobile phone. (Sorry iOS, on application for you as of now.) The interface is smooth, clean and aesthetic. The beauty of the photo galleries, the rolling animation of the circles, and the little animations that play when you +1 a post, every small detail accrues your delight. A bouquet to Google's UI designers. Most of the UI is functional across browsers, though you might run into some niggles with Opera, but nothing drastic.

Google+ is a refreshing take on the social network which helps usher in a new era of idea and experience sharing. It extends Google's communication portfolio, functions as a master class in user interface design, rejuvenates weaker products by assigning new roles to them and most importantly, give Mark Zuckerberg sleepless nights.