The following creates the correct signature:
require 'openssl'
secret_key = '1234567890'
query = 'AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE&ItemId=0679722769&Operation=ItemLookup&ResponseGroup=ItemAttributes%2COffers%2CImages%2CReviews&Service=AWSECommerceService&Timestamp=2009-01-01T12%3A00%3A00Z&Version=2009-01-06'
data = ['GET', 'ecs.amazonaws.com', '/onca/xml', query].join("\n")
sha256 = OpenSSL::Digest::SHA256.new
sig = OpenSSL::HMAC.digest(sha256, secret_key, data)
signature = Base64.encode64(sig)