Invisibility Cloaks... not just RPG's no more.Follow

I was sittin at work actually doing my job for once when I ran across a site with an article I found particularly interesting. Apparently a group of Japanese scientists devised a method for recording the scenery on one side of a subject, and display it on subjects opposite side, thus making subject appear translucent. B/S you say? Thats what I thought... so I did google searches by inventor's name and the concept itself. Here's some links to see for yourself:

Original article, by Time Magazine, I saw which perked my interest.

Wired Magazine's Article of the topic.

Ananova's Article of same topic.

Thats what I came up with in a ten minute (non-intesive) search... I would have done a more complete investigation, but Time and Wired Magazines aren't exactly Weekly World News, the Enquisitor or The Star. BTW... expected release is 2008.

funny you should mention the flying car... saw a 60 min special on Travel channel (or maybe it was The Learning Channel) about a flying car. Had like 5 engines on it for reliability and has a 2.5 mil price tag I think they said. Also, one of the other articles I ran across was the Gibbs Aquada.

Check it out (site loads slow :\) and they're only 250k a piece?

Amphibious cars... Remade? Thats just crazy...

Ok, I understand thats a lot of info to read thru, and its mainly supporting arguments in the topic incase someone says I'm full of it. However, as of today, yes, they only have the camera/projector setup. However, by the year 2008, this is more or less what they hope to accomplish (You can find this under the images of how this whole concept works [2nd page of Wired's report]):

"To Achieve true invisibility, optical camouflage must capture the background from all angles and display it from all perspectives simultaneously. This requires a minimum of six stereoscopic camera pairs, allowing the computer to model the surroundings and synthesize the scene from every point of view. To display this imagery, the fabric is covered with hyperpixels, each consisting of a 180 x 180 LED array behind a hemispherical lens."

This will no longer be a camera/projection suit that you have to lug around or setup, but everything will be built into the coat itself. It will be all automatic, and electronically produced rather than being projected. The image will be very sharp and accurate during day or night and will then truely be an invisible coat. As for right now... they're only playing with the idea.

I'll never do any work again. Just hit the ole office and camou up.

seriously... look at what Kevin Bacon did when he was the invisible man... thats just not right... its like rape or something... oh and can you imagine the security camera's video of a robbery? there's just a shot gun pointed at the clerk and nothing more... :\. That'd be rather skeery.

I hope it does not go through as well...not just for common day uses, but for military appications as well. Can you imagine us being invaded by an army of soldiers and not even knowing its happening? Or us invading another country for example. Because you know once the governmment sees this application, they are going to want to put it into a military application. What ever happened to good ol face to face combat...

I think this isn't a bad idea. Unless they find a way to cover body heat all they would have to do is use heat vision goggles. Thats my 2 cents anyway. I hope to become a sniper in the army and that suit would be very helpfull.