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London Ruby User Group:Packet Sniffing
Packet Sniffing
James Darling has recently been hacking about with the Shazam iPhone app and the Last.fm API in an attempt to scrobble his vinyl listening habits. Along the way he used a ruby packet sniffing tool. In this short talk he's going to show off the packet sniffer and the end-to-end hack he came up with.
Review:
In this November 2008 LRUG meeting, Chris Mear had to step in at the last minute for James Darling. He presented a very lively demonstration of a project he worked on that aimed at allowing the vinyl music he listens to, be added to his last.fm profile.
Last.fm is one of the many interactive websites that have taken off recently. It's premise is understanding and profiling the type of music you listen to and making recommendations on other music you might like. It does this by “scrobbling” the music you listen to that a record is kept on last.fm. This is great for music that is digital and nicely tagged as to what song it is, but what if you're listening to vinyl? Chris introduces his hacked solution with a live demonstration of it working.
By marrying an iPhone, Shazam, and a simple ruby application, Chris demonstrates how he managed to solve the problem. By using the Shazam iPhone application to figure out what song was being played and then using the ruby application to sniff for the particular packet detailing the song Chris was able to add the music he listens to in vinyl to his last.fm profile.
With a few key points on wireless security showing how easy it is to figure out information sent wirelessly, Chris provides a very entertaining presentation of the application. After outlining the application and a successful live demonstration (at the second attempt) Chris get's a well-deserved round of applause.
Review by David Mulholland
Download the slides here
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