How Apple uses Anodizing finishes and how it’s created…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com?v=3ZhVOy-ytJY]

The beautiful anodized aluminum finish on many Apple products keeps them from corrosion, provides a hard and (mostly) scratch resistant surface, and even — in the case of the iPod nano and shuffle — a beautiful color tint. But have you ever wondered about the process of anodizing? To give yourself an edge the next time you’re trying to impress someone, watch the short video at the end of this post and learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about anodizing aluminum.

In the video, Bill Hammack the Engineer Guy provides a simple description of how oxidizing aluminum (basically making it “rust”, although that term specifically describes oxides of iron) can give a hard protective layer and be dyed to give coloration. Yes, Apple could produce multicolored MacBook Airs if they wished, all with a tough and scratch-free finish.

Star Wars Trilogy: The Radio Play (Comicon version)

William Shatner as C3P0?  Jake (from Adventure Time) as Princess Leia?

No this isn’t a weird alternative universe….

It’s the Star Wars Trilogy like you’ve never heard it before! Join voice actors Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen as they re-create the magic of the Star Wars films, albeit in their own special way! You never know what you’ll hear when this cast gets together.

On March 31st, 2012 some of the greatest voice talent on the planet descended on the Emerald City Comicon to give you one of the greatest, most outrageous readings of Star Wars you will ever hear!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com?v=SBzRmWeC6Ds]

 

 

Steganography: how al-Qaeda hid secret documents in a porn video

Maybe the subtitle should be:  How the War on Terror, is over….

When a suspected al-Qaeda member was arrested in Berlin in May of 2011, he was found with a memory card with a password-protected folder—and the files within it were hidden. But, as the German newspaper Die Zeitreports, computer forensics experts from the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) eventually uncovered its contents—what appeared to be a pornographic video called “KickAss.”

Within that video, they discovered 141 separate text files, containing what officials claim are documents detailing al-Qaeda operations and plans for future operations—among them, three entitled “Future Works,” “Lessons Learned,” and “Report on Operations.”

So just how does one store a terrorist’s home study library in a pirated porn video file? In this case the files had been hidden (unencrypted) within the video file through a well-known approach for concealing messages in plain sight: steganography.

Read the Rest of ArsTechnica’s look at how al-Qaeda hid secret documents in a porn video.