Google is a search engine for human readable content. Shodan does the same for machine readable content.
You can:
- search for specific IP addresses, and it will show you the active ports, and running services.
- search for a specific response header in the set of countries
- browse through the screenshots of open VNC & RDP
- open webcams
- and more...
The free accounts can use any feature, but the list of results is limited. But if you really want to look under the deck of the internet, the subscription is worth it.
Same thing happened to me few years back. I forgot I got the membership last time there was a promotion :D
I've used it in the past to pirate foreign broadcast TV, but lately I just occasionally check my own stuff, or our customers stuff when there's a problem. It's nicer than nmap, and good enough for the initial part of the analysis.
I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. I'm guessing a search for open RTMP ports, geolocation, and a few other criteria?
I was running tvheadend with dvb-t usb stick at the time, and one day wondered, who else might be running it. There were quite a few all over the world.