John Pendry and his colleagues at Imperial College London have calculated that special materials engineered to have abnormal optical properties, known as metamaterials, could make light pass around an object so it appears as if it were not there at all.

Other designs for invisibility cloaks have been contemplated in the past.  One idea was to calculate exactly how an object scatters light and design a surrounding material to exactly cancel this out.  But that type of cloaking device could not be used for more than one object.

Watch out for the Klingon battleships or maybe even a Ford Mustang with this option!

Although it lacks the HD graphics of the PS3 and XBOX 360, the Nintendo Wii stole the show last week at the annual E3 Expo.  The key feature of the Wii is its controller.  The controller resembles a TV remote and is motion-sensor enabled, which allows users  to direct action on the screen.  The Wii controller can be used  like a sword, a baseball bat, tennis racket or golf club.  Another advantage the Wii has over its competitors is its reasonable price.  While the XBOX 360 currently costs $399 and the base PS3 will cost $499, the Wii is projected to cost between $200 and $300, although Nintendo has yet to release an official price. 

The Wii will be completely compatible with Nintendo GameCube gams, along with most of the GameCube peripherals.  During the E3 Expo, Nintendo also announced that the following new game titles will be available for the Wii:

• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

• New Fire Emblem

• Super Mario Bros. Galaxy

• Tony Hawk 4 Downhill

• Red Steel

• Raymand

• Sonic Wildfire

• New Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

Although no official date has been announced, the Nintendo Wii is expected to hit stores between October and November of this year.

No more sexy half nude babes at the E3 Expo?!

A spokesperson for  ESA (Entertainment Software Association) confirmed that all the following are banned this year; nudity, bikini bottoms, partial nudity and/or any sexually explicit and provocative conduct.  Meaning no more rub downs by a topless Lara Croft.  ESA will be fining any company breaking these rules $5,000 a pop.

Word from friends is that there is still alot of sexy skin to be seen, just a little less than last year.  Supposedly Microsoft has some very sexy ladies handing out flyers for XBox 360, I guess they can afford the fines. 

Sony just released pricing information on the new Playstation 3, and it is going to be priced $100 then XBox 360. 

Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios is quoted as saying; “I think that price and value have always been two different things,”

Firstly I think XBox 360 has proven that home video game hardware will continue to dominate the gaming market, not allowing home computer gaming to get back into the race.  I also think the Mr.  Harrison has a lot riding on Playstation3, because XBox 360 is awesome PS3 is really going to have to blow folks away to make much of an impression, especially at the higher price.

As the history of mobile phones go I still remember my first, it was a 2lb Nokia model and I was so proud because it was truly portable.  No 5lb briefcase needed.

Today’s roundup of phones can do so much - play music, tv, videos.  It would be cool if they had one that would change your babies dirty diapers, but hey, I am sure that is on the horizon.  I will just have to keep my eyes open for that little tidbit of mobile phone news.

For the past 75 years, people have dreamed of drilling through the Earth’s crust to the mantle.  Thinking of what wonders might await us, perharps a solution to our energy shortages? We are now a step closer, having reached the “gabbro” layer of oceanic crust for the first time.

About 60 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered in oceanic crust, but there are still many questions about how it forms. Gabbro, a coarse-grained rock that forms as trapped magma slowly cools, might hold some of the answers.

To accomplish this amazing feat, a team led by Douglas Wilson of the University of California bored into the ocean floor 800 kilometres west of Costa Rica.

The tough rock at times only allowed their drills to burrow 10 metres per day, but eventually, at 1157 metres, the team hit gabbro. The hole, now 1500 metres deep, is still about 4 kilometres short of the mantle.  “Shortly will shall possibly discover the undiscovered, and that is exciting!”, states Richard Brassdon of Cal Tech.

Not exactly rocket science but a heck of a good idea.

THE next time a motorbike passes you on the road at night it may be a little easier to spot, thanks to a new way of coating vehicles with a glow-in-the-dark film.

The phosphorescent polymer film, developed by Yamaha of Japan, absorbs sunlight and then releases the energy at night as a soft glow. The feature could help make it safer to drive small, vulnerable vehicles in the dark.

In phosphorescent materials, incoming UV light excites electrons to a state that they depart from very slowly, emitting visible light as they do so over many hours. Yamaha has developed a vacuum pressure process that sticks an even, thin layer of phosphorescent plastic film to irregularly shaped fenders, engine covers and cowlings.

The technology will be launched in May, on Yamaha’s EC-02 electric scooter