8 RYAN HYNES ae@technewsiit.com [nology] % : Ocean depths explored in record plunge by Hollywood director By Mike Purdy OPINION EDITOR In his latest endeavor, filmmaker James Cameron plunged to the ocean floor of the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep, setting a record for the world’s deepest solo voyage at the world’s deepest point Cameron exubere antly emerged from his vessel, the “Deepsea Challenger", last Monday after his successfiJl sevenemile journey to the bottom of the Pa, cific Ocean marked a victory for both man and science in a time when adventure and exploration are more important than ever The monumental mission was funded by Cameron, along with the National Geographic Society and Microsoft coefounder Paul Allen, and illuminated mankind’s efforts to explore the far reaches of planet Earth in an impressive display of technology and hue ma.n enterprise The 57eyear old Cameron, who is most welleknown for directing such films as Titanic and Avatar, is a marine enthue siast at heart and has completed 72 deepesea dives in his prolific career Many of those dives were focused in and around the wreckage of the Titanic, where Cameron quickly gained a passion for the mysteries of the ocean depthsI During his submersible voyage, Cameron’s “vertical torpedo" submarine used its eightefoot tower of LEDs to cast an expanse of light onto the ocean floor while 37D came eras captured beautiful footage of a seemingly alien landscape The vessel also collected live ing samples and oceanographic data to be analyzed by the expedition’s science team The Mariana Trench, located rough, ly 200 miles southwest of the island nation of Guam, is about a mile deeper than Mount Everest is tall and nearly 120 times larger than the Grand Canyon Cameron is not the first to have experienced the wonders of Earth’s deep, est point, however; in 1960, Navy Captain Don Walsh and late Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard descended to the bottom of Challenger Deep but were unable to get a proper view because their submarine kicked up too much sediment from the murky ocean floor 52 years later, Walsh came back to aid Cameron’s mission and witness him “join the clu " in this historic diver Don’t expect the Deepsea Chale lenger mission to be a onetime occurrence; Cameron is already planning for many fiiture descents of the Trenchl A full length article of Cameron’s expedition will be published in a coming edition of National Geographic magazine, and the team is already working on a feature documentary in efforts to share TechNews I Tuesday,Apri110, 2012 this amazing achievement with the scien tific community and general public alikeI Billionaire tycoon Richard Branson is also in the process of developing his own deepesea adventure; one that will likely see him at the bottom of the Atlantic’s Puerto Rico Trench in roughly four months’ time A friend, ly competition seems to exist between Came eron and Branson, helping to bring much at, tention to the arena of privatized exploration Explorations such as Cameron’s journey to the Marianas depths do more than just advance the reaches of humanity; they Photo courtesy offiAtnredndeJom effectively inspire and motivate new genera, tions of energetic scientific pioneers and ex, plorers determined to bring Earth’s enduring mysteries to light At a time when fi.1nding for such endeavors is decreasing, privatized, collaborative exploration is more important now than ever Many areas of the Earth re, main unexplored, each presenting its own unique piece to the puzzle of this dynamic blue sphere we call home My hat goes off to Mr Cameron and his undying curiosity for the life which lies beneath If only all famous bile lionaires used their time and money as wisely [nology] ‘% : Pantech Burst phone review By Ryan Kamphius EDITOR-IN-CHIEF In the smartphone world, little attention seems to be paid to budget devicesl Every year the hot new devices are the topeofetheeline smartphones that cost more and more with every year The public is captivated by the new iPhone, which costs $200 with a twoeyear contract Android fanatics are flocking to the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which costs $300 with a twoeyear contract With the brand new Burst on AT&T, Pantech is looking to end the dominance of the smartphone market by high, end, multiehundred dollar devicesI Costing just $50 with atwoeyear contract, the Pantech Burst is attractivelypriced so that it ca.nbe afiordedby all Trying out the device for the first time makes it clear that this is a budget device The Burst is not nearly as thin as its highereend competitors, nor is it as beautifiilly designed as the iPhone But, this is not necessarily a problem While not as thin or sleek as the competition, the Burst still feels excellent in the hand and has a very good weight to it The device feels rugged, and looks cool The device has a 4 inch Super AMOLED display that is clear and vibrant The device also has a 5MP camera with an LED flash that is good in a pinch, but won’t be replacing your camera anytime soon Overall, I really enjoyed the Burst’s hardware It felt wellemade and solid, and despite the price of the phone, didn’t feel cheapI Powering up the phone for the first time revealed that it ran Android 2I3 Gingerbread with a Pantechecreated custom skint Android 23 is a solid build, and allows access to all of the hot new applications available on the Google Play StoreI Pantech’s custom skin left something to be desired, however The skin didn’t seem to add many features to the device, but merely made it more clutteredl I didn’t like it all and thought it took away from the Android 2I3 Gingerbread experience a lot I respect that Pantech is attempting to make an intuitive, featureeadding custom skin like Samsung’s, but I think Pantech’s skin on the Burst needs a little more time in the oven The one feature that Pantech’s custom skin brings that is a game changer is the lock screen, which allows you to launch into specific applications depending on which lock icon you drag into the middle of the screen Despite the lackluster custom skin, the Burst’s performance is phenomenal Using the device, applications, and all the features of the phone was a breeze I never experienced any lag while switching applications and applications never crashedl I was extremely impressed that the Burst was able to perform at such a high level It was performing just as well, if not better, than many of its $200 and $300 Android smartphone brethrenI Finally, the Pantech Burst is a 4G LTE device, able to use AT&T’s brand new LTE network I have found that many budget 4G devices drain through their batteries quite quickly I was delighted to see that the Burst did not, and stayed powered on all day even through heavy usageI At the end of the day, when you consider the price, the Pantech Burst is a great device It may not have a slick custom skin like the expensive Samsung Galaxy S II or a fancy cameralike the iPhone 4, but the Pantech Burst delivers in performance and utility The Burst is an excellent smartphone for just $50, and anyone willing to compromise on fancy features will find themselves with apowerful device that is able to keep up with the higheend devices Photo courtesy oftheverge.com