Better use of Empire state

I had a dream, I had a dream in which the top of the Empire State Building showed time. How much help would that be you ask? Imagine not being late for a date, or work for that matter. Knowing exactly how much time you can bear to stand in the cold until the ball drop. And keeping track of time you can spend at time square until you have to go home. How about time you have until you have to catch the last train from Grand Central.

If only my opinion mattered. But dream is a dream until it's reality and this is me making it happen. 

If you haven't tried GeekTool, it's time you do it. Sadly, it's only for Mac users. The above image only shows the current date, time and mail messages. But there are million things you can do with it. Here is a link to get you started. So go crazy, get creative. 

http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/customization/5-ways-to-make-your-macs-desktop-better-with-geektool/

Signed by,

My Empire State Of Mind

Command Prompt anywhere

Now this trick, I swear I knew a long time ago. Back in the days when every work computer had Windows 95. I know it was only a few years ago but Windows 7 is now the new and improved Windows 95. Everything in between is just in between.

I tried downloading command prompt anywhere... only to realize it was always there just hidden. It is the most simple and useful tool you need unless you love copy pasting your path to folders in the cmd prompt. So here goes.. you're welcome.

http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2009/02/09/windows-7-tip-elevated-command-prompt-anywhere/

p.s. This post is super old, looks like I need to get updated on the power toys.

Deciphering JSON

When you try printing a JSON response..it can be a little overwhelming if there are nested objects. Someone who is a newbie like me, it was hard to understand the actual structure of the returned response. Of course, you can use tools for pretty printing to really see the result. But, I found this really cool link http://json.bloople.net/. It converts json to html. So next time you get a long crazy json response, you might want to try the link out. It can help a lot to write code in order to iterate through the response.

It also give the information like the following:-

Number of Arrays:	592
Number of Objects:	2773
Total number of all elements:	7156
Nesting depth:	8

Cool eh.

JSON reader,

me

easy vim

A simple and neat way to use the vim editor. Even though I believe I've mastered the art, this seems like the most fun way to learn. Kudos to hendrik huttunan for putting up such a nice tutorial.

http://www.openvim.com/tutorial.html

full of vim,

me

JAMES BOND

My hero.......... !!!
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/26/secret-agent-crippled-irans-nuclear-ambitions/

FireSheep ... causing all the trouble

Sitting in a coffee shop browsing through your social network site ... next thing you know byebye session..your session has just been hijacked. Imagine the things you could do.... So I decide to grab this tool that has caused a havoc in recent times. Its called Firesheep. The most amazing part about this tool is the ease with which you can hijack a sesson id.
Some smart guy thought ... these sites just claim they provide security, lets teach them a lesson. And he did a wonderful job at it I must say. I got so interested in this and obviously I tried it! I am using windows 7 and here is what I did,
1) downloaded it from here, which I believe is a trusted source.
2) Its needs Winpcap to capture the cookies and other information. So you would have to install that first.
3) Also, you need Firefox version 3.6.12 and it will not work on earlier ones. trust me I tried.
4) Now you get the .xpi firefox plugin and install it on the firefox browser.
5) Now restart your browser ..
6) You're ready. Wow it is that simple.
7) Now go to View + Sidebar + Firesheep or press Ctrl+Shift+S and click on it.
8) A new sidebar opens with a settings icon for you to set your preferences.
9) Click on start capturing -> and now try logging to your facebook account.
10)You should be using a unsecured wireless network to execute this.
11) You can now see that your facebook session has been recorded. And its not just facebook .. there are a plethora of sites that can be hacked.

So you did all this ... you feeling on top of the world?? or you see nothing...muhahahahahha...
If only life was that easy. Its got some tweeks to it. But its definitely possible.

My Learning
1) If you are getting an "error backend exited with error 1" when you stop capturing ... I ain't sure what it means but I was able to read my session cookies .. It still works for me.
2) The hardware needs to be appropriate to successfully execute this attack.
e.g. I read this in a blog that it doesn't work on intel.. the author must have tried it but I dont vouch for it.. I have AMD Turion and it works fine on my machine.
3) I could only read my own traffic .. when I tried using it on my university wifi. Such a waste ! :(
4) You can hack a session only ... not passwords etc ! So if you had your hopes high on this ... too bad.
5) I played around with it for sometime and I will attach a screen shot for your information.

Disclaimer: This might be illegal. I used it for educational purposes only. No harm was caused to anyone's account. My friends have willingly participated in this experiment. :)