It was recently revealed that a new site: http://thedarkknightrises.com went online. If you navigate there all you find is a black screen with an audio file playing. If one takes the audio file and displays the spectrum analysis of the clip you would find the hashtag #thefirerises imbedded in it. This leads to @thefirerises twitter account which generates a mosaic of Tom Hardy as Bane. That’s cool and all, but what really got me going was the hashtag embedded in the audio file. I wasn’t sure if someone leaked an image like that to clue people in to the twitter account, or if someone actually did a spectrum analysis. Well, it’s true. The hashtags exist, and I will show you how to see it for yourself with three popular applications: 1. Adobe Soundbooth 2. Soundtrack Pro 3. Audacity.

The first thing you will need to do is grab the audio file itself. You have a couple options, so go to the dark knight site and figure it out. Click on the page and then save the wav file to somewhere you will find easily such as your desktop. Now fire up your favorite audio editing program, of which audacity on my list is free.

Adobe Soundbooth Instructions

Import the audio into your timeline. By default you will have the waveform view as below.

Click View –> Spectral Frequency Display

And there you have it, hashtags revealed

Now for Soundtrack Pro. Once again, import your audio to the timeline. By default you will see the waveform.

Click View –> File Editor Display –> Show Spectrum

Voila! Instant Hashtags!

Finally, Audacity. Import the audio into the timeline.

Click the down arrow on the current track and select spectrum

And here. We. Go.

More info on the Bane image can be found here: [io9]

The hidden text will show up as audio noise when you listen to the .wav file.

I had just finished a long day from work and was headed home on the 15 freeway when I encountered an unusual slow-down near my exit. Scanning the road ahead, my eyes caught the blinking lights that would alert me to be cautious and aware. As I got closer the large yellow sign proclaiming, “over-sized load” summed it up for me. Curious, I inspected the truck and its payload. A gleaming white structure, oddly curved rested its enormous frame along the backbone of the industrial big rig. Bewildered I pondered to myself what this strange apparition could be. In a matter of seconds it clicked in my head. What I was beholding in front of my bespectacled eyes was the single blade of a propeller of gigantic proportions. To further justify my quick-draw analysis were the partially obscured words blade king. This blade will one join its brothers to form a new wind turbine somewhere, and I will remember the magnitude of construction even a single blade has from 1 foot away.

This is one of those times that I really wish I had my camera on me, as the blade itself was staggering in size. The truck bed was longer than normal to accommodate the blade length. Height-wise, the blade was at 4 feet at its thickest, and the flat edge was easily my height if not wider. As large as wind turbines may seem from afar, they are even more impressive up close.