compression

Check out this video of a high-powered marshmallow cannon fired by President Obama and eighth grader Joey Hudy at the White House.

The second White House Science Fair yesterday gave 100 student winners of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competitions from across 45 states the opportunity to show off neat science projects to the president, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and several well-respected educators and leaders from the science and engineering community.

Perhaps the viral star of the expose is 14-year-old Hudy's "Extreme Marshmallow Cannon," a compressed air-powered weapon that can launch the tasty confections more than 170 feet. The president helped Hudy pump the cannon to 30psi, and then shot the marshmallow across the State Dining Room. … Read more

In real life a folk singer isn't as loud as a rock band, but once her recording is compressed she might be as loud as Metallica. Of course, with most types of music the sound isn't turned up to 11 all of the time.

There are quiet passages, and only the loudest parts, like the hardest drum hits, are really loud. We have the technology to accurately record music, but few record companies choose to make lifelike recordings.

The Loudness Wars refers to mixing and mastering techniques that squash music's natural soft-to-loud dynamics. Obviously, you can control … Read more

WinZip for Mac brings one of the oldest names in Windows compression utilities to the Mac, and we think they did it right. Featuring a clean Mac-like interface, WinZip for Mac lets you compress and secure your files for both sharing with others while keeping them away from prying eyes. Using a simple drag-and-drop interface, you can quickly add files to an archive, then compress them in the standard .ZIP format or create .ZIPX files--a format WinZip says is its smallest compression format to date. Both worked great on our test machines and the ability to password protect even just … Read more

OK, I'll come out and admit the blushingly obvious: the above screenshot reveals which chest I chose. But I shouldn't feel guilty, right? I've just learned how to give hands-only CPR!

The American Heart Association's "Hands-Only CPR" campaign is officially in full-force. After issuing new guidelines in October 2010 that, in adults, rapid chest compressions without rescue breathing is the way to go, it threw a lot of weight behind its hands-only campaign, which boasts press releases, catchy YouTube videos, an app, and so on.

According to the new guidelines, a bystander should compress … Read more

Most of today's music on CD, LP, or download is compressed to sound loud all the time. The engineers, producers, and record labels are afraid not to make music sound as loud as possible.

Dynamic range compression isn't new, it's been used by recording, mixing, and mastering engineers for decades. A little bit of compression is fine, but the unnatural onslaught of dynamically compressed sound obliterates musical nuance, delicacy, and emotional power. Compression's loud-all-the-time nature sucks the life out of music. The overuse of compression has become known as the Loudness War.

Before we go any … Read more

For years, 7-Zip has been one of our favorite Windows utilities. We recently looked at 7-Zip Portable, a fully portable version of the freeware file zipper. Like the installed version, it can compress and decompress files and folders in a variety of ways as well as open other file types such as TAR and RAR files. The portable version is small enough to take along with you on a USB drive, iPod, or other portable device. The chief difference with the installed version is the portable version can't be integrated into context menus in Windows.

We installed 7-Zip Portable … Read more

Most of the music people enjoy doesn't sound very good. That's not to say it isn't good music, just that it doesn't sound great. I'm not picking on digital or contemporary music; most of my favorite Motown and Stax soul music from the 1960s and 1970s sounds like crap. Most rock music from any decade sounds cruddy; that's just the way it is.

A lot of today's best bands, including alternative darlings Arcade Fire, make awful-sounding recordings. I'm specifically referring to their Grammy Award-winning "The Suburbs" album from 2010; it'… Read more

General Compression said today it has raised money to further develop a method for storing energy from wind turbines with compressed air.

The Boston-area start-up secured the first tranche in a $54.5 million in a series B round of funding. The full funding is contingent on meeting certain milestones.

General Compression was started in 2006 to adapt air compressors used in other industries to store wind power by pumping pressurized air into underground formations. The company received seed funding in 2007 and has been seeking additional funding and corporate partners to advanced product development.

There are already two installations … Read more

Onavo is an intriguing new app that works a little money-saving magic. It compresses your iPhone's data stream, in some cases significantly, resulting in less total data consumption overall. Upwards of 80 percent less, according to developer Onavo Mobile.

That means if you're in a roaming area, like overseas, you stand to pay less for data. And if you subscribe to AT&T's DataPro plan, you might just be able to downgrade to the cheaper DataPlus. Do I have your attention yet?

The first time you run the app, it installs a new profile on your iPhone, one that allows the service to act as a proxy server. Translation: all your data gets routed through Onavo's servers.

(Privacy junkies, take note: the company does collect certain kinds of traffic-related information, like session durations and IP addresses, but doesn't sell any "personally identifiable information" to third parties. I highly recommend reading the company's privacy policy if you have concerns.)

Onavo compresses inbound data to apps like Safari, Mail, Facebook, and Google Maps, and does so entirely in the background. In my tests, I noticed no performance hit while using these and other everyday apps.… Read more