Perfect Viewer (for Android)

Pros Attractive virtual bookshelf. Can sideload comics via an SD card. Ability to bookmark and favorite pages.

Cons Dense, confusing navigation. Bottom Line Perfect Viewer is a highly customizable Android digital comics reader that offers many reading modes.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

There are numerous digital comics readers of varying quality in the Google Play store, but the free Perfect Viewer is one that stands out from the pack thanks to its numerous customization options. Perfect Viewer lacks an integrated store like the Comixology's Comics app, but it supports numerous comic-friendly file formats, import methods, and reading styles. If you fancy yourself a digital comic book enthusiast, but don't want to be locked into Comixology's ecosystem, Perfect Viewer is worth a download. Note: The premium Perfect View app ($3) allows users to apply limited colors to black-and-white images.

Getting Started With Perfect Viewer
Perfect Viewer is an open-format comic-book reader that supports several DRM-free file formats including CBR, CBZ, RAR, and ZIP files (PDFs aren't compatible by default, but you can download a plugin). The app, as a result, is a solid tool for reading indie digital comics and Image Comics' new DRM-free catalog. You'll need to download the Comics or Marvel Comics app if you want to read the latest All-New X-Men.

That said, you can transfer comics by connecting your Android device to a PC and dragging and dropping files. You can even also up Perfect Viewer to check for newly added comic files when you launch the app—very cool. If your Android device has a memory card slot, you can load comics via removable storage—perfect for sharing books with friends or preserving onboard storage space.

Your digital comics collection lives on an attractive virtual bookshelf that displays cover thumbnail images, but you can tweak the comics to display the images of your choice. That represents Perfect Viewer's appeal. There are a ton of options available (such as two-page display, numerous portrait and landscape modes, layouts, start positions, and dimension tweaking) for those who really want to dig in and customize the experience. The downside is that the option menus are a bit dense and somewhat confusing.

Turning the Pages
Still, Rucka and Lark's Lazarus #1 looked great on my Samsung Galaxy Note II's 5.5-inch display. Word bubbles and captions were legible, but those who want to take a closer look at the words or art can zoom by dragging the page around the screen.

Tapping the left or right edges of the screen, naturally, turns pages, but you can also navigate comics using the Perfect Viewer Quick Bar. Activated by tapping the bottom portion of the screen, Quick Bar lets you quickly scrub pages (moving a slider so that you quickly access a particular page) or jump from book to book. Perfect Viewer remembers the last page you read before exiting the device, and returns you there to continue reading when you fire it back up. You can also favorite pages so that you can return to them at any time. There's a lot to like here.

The Final Caption
Now that a big-gun publisher like Image Comics has kicked DRM to the curb, multi-format Android digital comics readers will become even hotter commodities. If you're in the hunt for one, consider Perfect Viewer as it's a very solid reading tool despite lacking Comics' huge catalog.

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Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM

Pros Wide f/2.8 aperture throughout zoom range. Impressive telephoto reach. Very sharp. Minimal distortion. Excellent build quality. Compatible with USB dock.

Cons Expensive. Very large and heavy. Huge front element increases filter costs. Bottom Line Sigma's 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM is the lens to get if a 70-200mm f/2.8 just isn't long enough, but you'll need a strong back to lug it.

By Jim Fisher

The Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM ($3,599 direct) isn't a lens for the faint of heart. The zoom, which is compatible with full-frame and APS-C camera bodies and is available in Canon, Nikon, and Sigma mounts, brings new meanings to the words big and heavy. But that's the price you pay if you're shooting sports or wildlife and you want the versatility of a zoom and the light-gathering capabilities of an f/2.8 lens. Most event shooters and weekend warriors will be happy with the reach that a comparatively small 70-200mm f/2.8 lens provides, but if you need the extra reach, the image quality that this zoom captures will not disappoint you. It's unique in that it's the only zoom on the market that reaches 300mm at f/2.8. More importantly, it's an impressive performer in terms of sharpness, which earns it our Editors' Choice award.

It measures 11.5 by 4.8 inches (HD) and weighs 7.5 pounds. If you add the included reversible hood the height increases to 16 inches. Despite the added size, we recommend using the hood for a couple of reasons. It will reduce the chance of lens flares and give a slight boost to image contrast, but more importantly it will go a long way in protecting the huge front element. The hood is made of metal and can take some abuse, and it's certain to prevent stray fingerprints from hitting the lens element. Buying a good multicoated UV filter to protect the lens is a daunting prospect; at 105mm, even the bargain-basement filters can run $50, and a good one will set you back $180. There's no drop-in filter option, so if you're someone who still uses glass filters (the most useful of which are polarizing filters on digital bodies), you'll want to budget for one that fits the lens. You'll also have to reverse or remove the hood if you opt for a polarizing filter; you won't be changing its position very easily with the hood attached.

A tripod collar is included, and that's a good thing. You don't want to put this lens on the front of your SLR and for your mount to bear the brunt of the weight. There are three tripod sockets on the collar, so you can attach a quick release plate and an attachment for a BlackRapid or similar strap system. If you need to move about with this lens, we really recommend that you add a good monopod like the excellent Manfrotto 694CX Carbon Fiber 4-Section Monopod to your kit. Your arms will thank you at the end of a long day of shooting, and you'll be able to get sharp photos at longer shutter speeds. The lens does have built-in optical stabilization, and I was quite happy with its performance in conjunction with a monopod. I managed to get sharp photos at 300mm f/2.8 at shutter speeds as low as 1/60-second when shooting subjects that were relatively still. Obviously you'll want a shorter shutter speed to capture action when the light allows for it.

There are a few control switches on the lens, near the mount. You get a standard autofocus/manual focus toggle swtich, and three-position focus limiter that lets you seek focus over the full range, from 10 meters to infinity, or from the minimum focus distance to 10 meters. The minimum focus distance changes depending on focal length; at 120mm it is 1.5 meters, and at 300mm it is 2.5 meters. There's also a switch to set the stabilization mode, or to disable stabilization, and a custom settings switch. This has an off position and two separate custom settings; you can change custom settings by connecting the lens to your PC via Sigma's USB Dock accessory.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness and distortion of the lens when paired with the full-frame Canon EOS 6D. We consider a lens sharp if it exceeds 1,800 lines per picture height using a center-weighted testing method. The 120-300mm exceeds that mark at eevery tested focal length, even at its maximum f/2.8 aperture. At 120mm f/2.8 it notches 2,415 lines; stopping down progressively increases sharpness, which peaks at 2,657 lines at f/5.6. Edge sharpness is impressive as well. At f/2.8 edges are a little softer than the center, notching 2,143 lines, but are still very impressive. But setting the lens at f/4, f/5.6, or f/8 gives you an image that is evenly sharp from edge to edge. Distortion is completely negligible, just 0.1 percent.

Performance at 200mm is equally impressive. The lens notches 2,351 lines at f/2.8 lines, with edges that are just shy of 1,900 lines. You don't get the even edge-to-edge performance at this focal length that you do at 120mm when you stop down, but the already sharp lens improves steadily as you narrow its aperture, peaking at 2,609 lines at f/8. There's about 0.9 percent pincushion distortion, which is essentially irrelevant in field conditions.

The lens is at its weakest at 300mm, but even there it's pretty darned good. It manages 2,054 lines at f/2.8, with edges that top 1,800 lines. Performance increases as you stop down, peaking at 2,304 lines at f/8; edges top 2,000 lines there. We weren't able to measure distortion at this setting; the bars in our test chart that are used to analyze that weren't able to fit into the frame, but an eyeball inspection shows that it's nothing to be concerned about.

If a 70-200mm isn't long enough, and you need a lens that opens up to f/2.8, the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM is a tough one to beat. It's impressively sharp throughout its zoom range, gathers a heck of a lot of light, is compatible with Sigma's USB Dock, and is built like a tank. It's also as big and heavy as a tank, so you'll be a happier photographer if you pair it with a monopod or tripod; thankfully the included tripod collar has three tripod threads so you can move it from a BlackRapid strap to a monopod or tripod with ease. It's not an inexpensive lens, and if you prefer to use a filter to protect your lenses you'll be greeted with some sticker shock when you see the price of a good 105mm filter. Most event shooters will be content with a 70-200mm, but if you're a sports shooter, wildlife photographer, or just someone who really loves telephoto photography you won't be disappointed with the sharpness delivered by this 120-300mm. Its performance earns it our Editors' Choice award, but if you hurt your back schlepping it around, please don't send us your chiropractic bills.

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Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DC HSM

Pros Wide aperture. Excellent center sharpness. Includes soft case and lens hood. Internal focus motor.

Cons Weak edge performance, even when stopped down. No optical stabilization. Some barrel distortion. Bottom Line The Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DC HSM captures a lot of light, but it doesn't offer the edge-to-edge sharpness of more recent Sigma lenses.

By Jim Fisher

Sigma has been on quite a run lately, producing camera lenses with ambitious apertures and impressive edge-to-edge sharpness. The 50mm F1.4 EX DC HSM ($499 direct) is an older design, and not quite up to the company's recent standards. It's sharp in the center, but edges are a bit soft, even when the aperture is narrowed. The lens is available for Sigma, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, and Sony cameras, and it doesn't offer a significant price advantage over its competition. Our Editors' Choice 50mm lens is still the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G, and is the clear choice if you're considering this lens for a Nikon system; but if you shoot with another camera system, you may want to consider this Sigma lens.

The lens measures 2.7 by 3.3 inches (HD) and weighs about 1.1 pound. It's got an internal focus motor and a big 77mm front element. The lens can focus as close as 17.7 inches, which is in line with the other 50mm f/1.4 lenses that we've tested. A reversible petal-style lens hood and a soft carrying case are included. There's no optical stabilization system, which is also typical for this type of lens; Sony and Pentax owners will benefit from the in-camera stabilization that those cameras provide. Alpha shooters will want to consider this as an alternative to the Sony 50mm f/1.4, which uses a screw-drive focus system that is noticeably noisier than the Sigma's internal focus motor. Sony cameras that use full-time Live View for fast video autofocus will benefit from this, and if you have an APS-C body like the Alpha 77, the lack of edge sharpness that we saw on a full-frame camera isn't a concern.

I used Imatest to check sharpness when paired with the full-frame Canon EOS 6D. At f/1.4 it delivers impressive sharpness at the center areas of the frame, but edges are very soft. Our evaluation looks at a center-weighted score that considers the entirety of the frame; the cutoff for an acceptably sharp photo is 1,800 lines per picture height. The lens does better that, notching 1,959 lines on the test, but outer row of test squares is downright blurry at 838 lines. It's a disappointing result, especially when you consider that the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM managed a comparable 1,874 lines at f/1.4, with an edge score of 1,341 lines using the same test camera.

Stopping the lens down improves the score marginally; at f/2 the overall score is 2,140 lines, and at f/2.8 it improves to 2,173 lines; edges are around 1,000 lines at both of these settings. Narrowing the aperture to f/4 improves sharpness to 2,317 lines with edges that land just shy of 1,200 lines. Edge performance finally gets to an acceptable level at f/5.6; the overall score is 2,472 lines there, with edges that hover around 1,650 lines. At f/8 the lens sings; the overall score is 2,600 lines and edges top 2,100 lines. But the Canon lens gets sharper faster. It hits 2,466 lines at f/4 with edges that resolve 1,750 lines; at f/5.6 its sharpness is rated at 2,739 lines with ultra-sharp edges that resolve 2,321 lines. Our Editors' Choice Nikon lens is even better; its sharpness is 1,955 lines at f/1.4, with edges that are just shy of 1,800 lines. The Sigma shows 1.5 percent barrel distortion, which is just enough to mention—straight lines are going to show a bit of an outward curve in your photos, but it's easily corrected in software. Both the Nikon and Canon 50mm f/1.4 lenses show 1.6 percent.

On a full-frame camera, the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DC HSM is a bit of a disappointment. Imatest shows that it's quite sharp in the center, but the edges just can't keep up. How often this affects real-world performance will depend on your photographic style. If you like to frame in-focus subjects towards the center of the frame, the shallow depth of field that you'll get when shooting at wider apertures perfectly disguises this shortcoming. And if you've got an APS-C camera, the unsharp edges are going to be cropped out of your photos due to the smaller image sensor size. Sony shooters, especially those with APS-C cameras, should take a close look at this one as it offers an internal focus motor, and Pentax shooters who don't want to drop $800 on the weather-sealed DA* 55mm f/1.4 should also consider this as a less-costly alternative. But Canon shooters are better off with the 50mm f/1.4 USM, and if you're rocking a Nikon D-SLR you'll be happy to know that the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G is an excellent performer. It impressed us enough to earn our Editors' Choice award.

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Umano (for iPhone)

Pros Free. Fast, simple setup. Users can download playlist articles for offline playback. Lots of content.

Cons Users can't filter news sources. Bottom Line Umano takes news and merges it with a podcast aesthetic to create a delicious mix of information and entertainment.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Have you ever wanted to read a long-form article while at work, but knew that your boss wouldn't be keen on the idea when there were spreadsheets that needed your attention? The free Umano iPhone app lets you stick it to your superior by letting you listen to articles from The Atlantic, Business Insider, The New York Times, NPR, Vice, Yahoo!, and other outlets—yes, listen. Umano hosts audio versions of news and opinion pieces read by professional voice artists. The result is an informative and entertaining service that lets users dive into written content in a fresh (and work-friendly) way.

Text Meets Audio
You can get started with Umano without creating an account, or by logging in with your Facebook credentials (the Android version, naturally, lets you log in using Google+, as well). You can also create a dedicated Umano account. Logging into Umano has an important benefit: you can create playlists. More on that in a second.

Before you start listening, you select topics of interests from the Inspirational, World & Politics, Scientific, Entrepreneurial, Technology, Lifestyle, Facts & History, Entertainment, and Business categories. You're then taken to the attractive Umano home screen where your personalized feed lives. Set up, as you can see, is incredibly simple.

But there's a tradeoff that comes with that simplicity—you can't fine tune your feed. The general categories that you pick are in full control of the presented content, so there's no way to specifically filter out The Daily Beast or only read articles from Ziff Davis' own Geek. It's a lot like Swell Radio in that regard.

North of the feed is a rotating banner that displays articles related to hot topics such as a planned 35-city fast food worker strike. Umano also lets you browse by category or search for a particular term.

The Umano Listening Experience
Tapping a story takes you to a dedicated story screen where you can check out sharing options, social activity (the number of likes and listens), categories, comments, and the name and bio of the voice over artists. You can also double the playback speed should you want to blow through an article, rewind the stream in 15 second intervals to return to a particular section, visit the original text-based article, and add articles to playlists. Articles added to playlists can be downloaded for offline playback.

The voice artists' clear, crisp contributions shouldn't be overlooked, as their presence greatly enhances the written word. Medium's "Why Beer Is the New Wine, And Wine the New Fur Coat," as read by Noah Michael Levine, is a prime example of how voice adds to text. Mr. Levin's reading adds weight and a touch of humor to the already interesting story. When he refers to hedge fund darlings who purchase vineyards as a mark of success as "douchebags" he adds just enough disgust to the word to make one literally laugh out loud.

Bravo, Umano
Umano for iPhone takes traditional news and opinion articles and spices it up with engaging vocal performances—it's a delightful blend. It's also a fine way for smartphone users to stay on top of the news without squinting at the relatively small screens. For its convenience and entertainment value, Umano for iPhone, like its Android counterpart, is an easy Editors' Choice pick.

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Bookmaker handicaps Microsoft CEO race

Computerworld - Adding insult to injury after Wall Street boosted Microsoft's stock price when CEO Steve Ballmer announced he would retire, now a U.K. bookmaker is taking bets on Ballmer's replacement.

Ladbrokes, a 127-year-old bookmaking conglomerate that runs nearly 3,000 betting shops in the U.K., Ireland, Belgium and Spain, has opened wagers on Microsoft's next CEO with a list of 26 candidates that include current and former Microsoft executives as well as people from rivals such as Apple and Facebook.

"There is always interest in high-profile CEO vacancies and we feel that offering the odds gives our view of the likelihood of the chances various contenders have," said Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes in an email.

Current Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop was the favorite, at odds of 5 to 1. Betting $100 with Ladbrokes on Elop to get the CEO chair would return a profit of $500 if he was, in fact, named to the top spot.

Elop, 49, worked for Microsoft two years, running the group responsible for Office after another former executive, Steven Sinofsky, left that position to head up Windows development. Elop has been the CEO at Nokia since September 2010.

Kevin Turner followed Elop at odds of 6 to 1, while Sinofsky and Julie Larson-Green were listed at 8 to 1.

Turner, currently Microsoft's COO, was previously the CEO of Sam's Club, the warehouse outlet owned and operated by Wal-Mart. Sinofsky was ousted from Microsoft last November, reportedly after clashing with Ballmer, but according to some analysts also because of his strategy and execution on Windows 8 and Windows RT. Larson-Green, a Sinofsky protégé, has worked for Microsoft for two decades and now runs the Devices and Studios Engineering Group, which handles hardware device design, including the Surface tablet line and Xbox game console. Previously, she was in charge of Windows engineering.

Ladbrokes' list leans toward former and current Microsoft employees; 58% of the wager-ready candidates have ties to Microsoft.

Along with Elop and Sinofsky, the eight former executives on the bookmarker's list included co-founder, former CEO and current chairman Bill Gates at 50 to 1; Jeff Raikes, who runs Gates' foundation (25/1); and Paul Maritz, who stepped down as VMware's CEO last September (14/1).

All seven current Microsoft employees on the list have been touted on one roundup or another of possible Ballmer replacements, including Qi Lu (10/1), head of the new Applications and Services Group; Terry Myerson (12/1), leader of the Operating Systems team; and Satya Nadella (14/1), the chief of Cloud and Enterprise.

The 11 outsiders included Reed Hastings, CEO of NetFlix and a former Microsoft board member (16 to 1 odds); eBay CEO John Donahoe (20/1); Marissa Mayer, the new CEO at Yahoo (33/1); and Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook (40/1).

But the oddest candidates on Ladbrokes' odds list were Jonathan Ive, who overseas all software and hardware design at Apple, and current Apple CEO Tim Cook. Ladbrokes gave Ive odds of 40 to 1, and Cook even longer odds of 100 to 1.

In the off chance that Cook moved north to Redmond, Wash., someone who put down $100 would see a profit of $10,000.

"We often take bets on things like this, under the umbrella of 'novelty betting,'" said Donohue of Ladbrokes. "It's not something we will take vast sums of money on at all, with the average stake less than £10 [$15.54 at today's exchange rate]."

Ladbrokes' odds are listed on its website.

The bookmaker's line on the top 10 candidates for Ballmer's CEO chair. (Data: Ladbrokes.)

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at  @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

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CIOs Play Vital Role in the Emerging Science of Talent Analytics

CIO - When two of your best employees eat lunch together, does the company make more money as a result? When call center staffers take group breaks to socialize, do they complete calls more quickly afterward? When lunchroom tables are a bit more crowded, does overall productivity increase?

Welcome to the fascinating but nascent world of talent analytics, where the "yes" answers to all of those questions are based on science and real data. No guesswork need apply.

As you'll learn in our cover story (" HR Departments Invaded by Data Scientists"), there is an expanding array of business uses for talent analytics--and a crying need for CIOs to dive in and give HR executives a helping hand.

"HR is being held accountable to deliver business results. And the language of the business is analytics," says General Motors' Michael Arena, who leads the global talent group there. "A big piece is integration--ensuring the right systems are connected so we know where to draw the data from."

That puts IT at the white-hot center of the data-driven HR efforts happening today at companies like Chiquita Brands, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Fairchild Semiconductor, GM, Praxair, Steelcase, and many others. They are crunching new sets of data drawn from SharePoint, ERP systems, social networks, email, workplace sensors and other sources. The often-surprising results provide fresh answers to all sorts of HR questions about new-hire screening, successful project staffing, call center efficiencies--and attrition predictions for top performers.

Our story also delves into the dark side of personal data-collecting, which skirts the boundaries of privacy. "The barrier at this point is not the technology," says Ben Waber, author of People Analytics and CEO of Sociometric Solutions. "The challenge is that organizations are not used to looking at themselves this way."

Waber notes that companies have assembled employee data for years, mostly for qualitative purposes. But these next-generation metrics "give us radically more powerful information," he says.

CIOs especially can help their companies figure out what data matters most. "Everyone is thinking about big data and collecting all kinds of data to try to figure out how to create smarter people," says Terry Sullivan, director of applied research at furniture-maker Steelcase. "CIOs can drive this effort."

Read more about business intelligence (bi) in CIO's Business Intelligence (BI) Drilldown.

This story is reprinted from CIO.com, an online resource for information executives. Story Copyright CXO Media Inc., 2012. All rights reserved.

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Forget Shark Week: Researchers tag n' track great whites

Computerworld - Meet Mary Lee, a great white shark that's the same weight and nearly the same length as a Buick. And, by the way, you may have been swimming within a few feet of her this past year and not known it.

Since last September, when she received an array of radio, acoustic and satellite tags, Mary Lee has travelled from Massachusetts to Florida, often hugging the coastline so closely that scientists tracking her called beach authorities in Florida to warn them about her. The 16-foot, 3,456-pound shark also headed into open ocean, taking a February vacation off the beaches of Bermuda.

"She was undoubtedly not the only one there. Sharks have probably been doing it for millions of years," said Nick Whitney, a marine biologist with the Mote Marine Laboratories in Sarasota, Fla. "We're learning things that 10 years ago we would have never dreamed we could have learned about these species."

Mary Lee, a 16-foot 3,456-pound great white shark, traversed the East Coast over the past year, at times hugging the shoreline so close as to prompt a warning call from researchers. (Image: OCEARCH).

Whitney, who spoke this week from a research vessel off of Cape Cod, Mass., is part of a team that runs OCEARCH, a non-profit, global shark tracking project that uses four different tagging technologies to create a three-dimensional image of a shark's activities. OCEARCH is hoping to develop successful conservation and management strategies by studying shark habits in more granular detail.

While traditional research has focused on small-scale movements, the data being gathered by OCEARCH offers surprising new information about where sharks go and what they do. That's where the tracking technology is crucial.

A dorsal fin tag attached by OCEARCH uses a satellite to track a shark's position each time it breaks the surface. Other tags include an RFID implant whose ping is picked up whenever the shark passes a special, underwater buoy; an accelerometer, similar to the technology used in an iPhone or Nintendo Wii, that detects up or down movement; and a Pop-off Satellite Archive Tag (PSAT), which acts as a general archive, recording average water depth, temperature and light levels.

"On average, we're collecting 100 data points every second -- 8.5 million data points per day. It's just phenomenal," Whitney said. "Second by second, we can pick up every tail beat and change in posture."

One of the surprises the tracking data revealed is that white sharks don't always stick to cold water, as previously thought. Some even venture into the Gulf of Mexico during the summer.

The OCEARCH team tags a great white shark off of Cape Cod, Mass.

In addition to in-depth data, what sets OCEARCH apart from past shark-tracking projects is that anyone -- from a child in grade school to a television arm-chair warrior -- can see the tracking data at the same time as researchers on the OCEARCH web site.

Each shark's location is represented by an icon on a Google Maps-based TruEarth Viewer. By clicking on the icon, a user can get detailed information such as the species, gender, size, weight, length, as well as where and when the shark was tagged. A user also gets images of the shark as it was being tagged.

By drilling down further, and clicking on the "Where Have I Been" icon, a user can also see a track of where the shark has been since being tagged, in some cases see a detailed trail over the course of a year or more.

OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischer calls the methodology "open source" research, since all scientists see the data at the same time; nothing's proprietary. Within a week, OCEARCH also plans to launch a "digital hub" shark tracker platform with a real-time social media interface that allows researchers to post FAQs and videos to the most popular social networks: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Twitter, according to OCEARCH spokesman Chris Berger.

OCEARCH will also be launching a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education-based curriculum for K-12 students. "We currently have 30 lesson plans for sixth through eighth graders, and will have more for K-12 -- eventually, even pre-K," Berger said.

Currently, OCEARCH is tracking 47 sharks, some of them bull and mako but mostly great whites off the U.S. East Coast and in the waters off South Africa.

Many of the sharks are given endearing names, such as Princess Fi, Genie, Opera, and Sabrina. Others have handles more befitting ships, such as Poseidon, Redemption, Perseverance and Courage.

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