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Peep: The Network Auralizer
Manuka writes "I have just returned from LISA 2000 in New Orleans (it was a blast), where Michael Gilfix of Tufts University presented a best-of-LISA paper on his creation, called Peep. This has got to be one of the coolest networking tools I've seen - it generates sound events based on network traffic. Really neat stuff like a bird chirping when mail comes in, or an owl hooting when your web server dishes up a page (you can actually use any sound for any event). Neat little way to generate background noise, and you can see (hear) what the network is up to and if it's doing anything weird - if the owl sounds like it's on speed, you're being slashdotted, or if the birds sound a little too hitchcockian, you're being spammed. " But what is the sound of one cracker scanning?
If you've used a recent Mac OS, you'll notice it has the options to make sounds that reinforce what you're doing.
For instance, whenever you're scrolling, there is a "scrolling" sound. Very soft and subtle -- but continuous for as long as you're holding down the mouse button. There is a "window dragging" sound. Again, soft and subtle. But it strongly reinforces what you're doing. Grab the scroll-thumb and drag it rapidly, and the sound changes to match.
Using sounds to notify you of very frequent, non-user initiated, events, such as web server hits (or on some systems, frequent events, such as blue screens), seems to be potentially annoying.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
MG: "Yeah, there's a problem with system XYZ..."
Me: "How so?"
MG: "Well, usually is goes 'ree-ree-tinktinktinktink', you know? But right now it's going 'ree-ree-tinktink-bong-bong-tink'!"
Me: "Is that 'bong' like a doorbell chime, or more like a big chinese gong?"
MG: "In between but more like a gong, I think."
Me: "Well, shit."
cheers,
mike
Mr. Gilfix musta just heard a whole mega-flock of owls....
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Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.
NASA did a study back in the '60s that showed that using tones for status information was a very effective method for important (but non-critical) information. This technique was used on the Apollo program. After a while the normal sounds become part of the background noise but when something changes, the brain picks up on it very quickly. It has the advantage that the human does it as a background task.
Well, seeing that the site is slashdotted, you can find it here for now:
http://www.eecs.tufts.edu/peep/download.html
The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool. -Crowe