Strange problem with internet connection

I had a very strangely looking problem with my internet connection. I was not able to browse any web page, although I was able to ping them. I was not even able to browse files in other computers in my local network... It was even more strange that I wasn't able to browse web after a certain period of time since disabling the network connection and reconnecting to AP - this always solved the problem temporarily.

However, I tried to find a permanent solution, and, mainly, find out what is the source of the problem. After reading a few discussions on the internet, I found one that was very similar to what I was experiencing, tried it and it worked.

Are you wondering what was wrong? Encryption. It seems that under some circumstances, there might be a problem with wireless connection using WEP encryption - the AP simply doesn't allow TCP packages to go through. I changed the encryption to WPA2 (AES), and the problem is gone :-)

Why Google comes with Chrome OS?

1. It's not an attempt to replace Windows or Mac OS. At least not from the beginning. Chrome OS will be very lightweight (after all, writing a complex operating system similar to Windows is quite an enormous task to be done in two years, even for Google). It cuts off most of the bloat of desktop operating systems and focuses on the tasks that can be performed on a mobile device nowadays. Here, Google follows the trend that mobile and desktop worlds are getting closer to each other.

2. Chrome OS in its current form only enables you to work with web applications. There is a clear Google's motivation to make use of its dominant position on the web (and add as many places for ads), while trying to improve the powers and capabilities of web applications to match those on desktops. This trend is inevitable, but the sooner it happens, the better for Google. That's also why Google is so active in defining HTML5 and extending current standards. Its obvious that some demanding applications will stay on the desktops for some time, but again, it's just a matter of time (connection speed, hardware graphics acceleration) until such applications are available as web applications, too.

3. Google knows that the computer with Chrome OS won't be your main computer, or it might be your main computer in terms of time spent with it, but you'll surely have a standard desktop at home (at least that's what they said at the yesterday's conference). That means you'll carry around your "pocket" computer, and when you connect it to WiFi/3G, you'll be able to do what 95% of people do with the computer: e-mails, documents, communication, everything via the web. The computer will be secure (although the data will be stored at Google, they will be so encrypted that they will be safer than at your computer). Moreover, if you lose your computer, (almost) nothing happens -- the hard drive is again so encrypted that it's close to impossible to get anything out of it, and you'll be able to load the same old system on any other Chrome OS computer. As a matter of fact, you can switch computers any time you want, and you'll have the same settings and data everywhere.

4. Who will Chrome OS be for? Theoretically, for everyone who uses Chrome (about 50m people). Typically, for people who hardly know how to use computer and only know how to read e-mails. Such people won't have to take care of the computer any more -- it will take care of itself, it will update itself, it will take care of security all by itself, and, as long as you're connected to the Internet, it will do everything.

There are of course many unanswered questions, such as Is the society ready for this change of thinking?, or Will it play with my hardware?, but we've seen many times in the recent years that Google is able to come up with new things at the right time and is able to make them successful...

Pulse - manage your Eclipse installations

With the growing number of plugins in my Eclipse, I started feeling the "speed" of overpacked program. What's more, when I couldn't see all my settings in Preference window, I decided it's time to think about neccessity of each plugin. But instead of removing some of the plugins, I wanted to start from scratch. As always, I started at www.eclipse.org looking for the pre-packed download. But I found something that someone like me might find very useful - Pulse.

Pulse is "a product family that provides Solutions to obtain, configure, manage or ship Eclipse-based products." It helps you with selecting the desired Eclipse features, downloading it, installing, running, modifying, reinstalling and everything you might possibly think about. It all sounds very nice, but what's the reality? Well, I'm going to find out now. And you can do the same - just start by opening www.poweredbypulse.com this time.