.| UrbanNerd |.

As T-Mobile Germany announced today, the biggest German operator (and official partner of the FIFA World Cup 2006) will stream at least 20 matches of the FIFA Football World Championship to its customers – live, in color and competently commentated – over its UMTS and HSPA networks. T-Mobile plans to stream all German team matches (hopefully more than 3 only) as well as the most round of sixteen, the quarterly final as well as both semi-finals and naturally the final. As the operator said, he will cooperate with the German pay TV channel Premiere who is providing the stream as well as comments. To use the MobileTV of T-Mobile, customers needs to have a contract with T-Mobile (Germany), an UMTS enabled mobile phone and UMTS coverage; that’s it.

T-mobile charges this service on a monthly fee (for all 20+ matches) of 7,50 Euro as well as on a daily, fee which is valid for for 24 hours, of 2 Euro. T-Mobile isn’t charging anything additional for the data transfer or anything else (so yes, basically it’s a flat fee). T-Mobile Relax XL-tariff customers gets the MobileTV channel for free, it’s already covered by the monthly fee.

Two prescriptions for an invisibility cloak have been unveiled by physicists in the United Kingdom and the United States. The researchers say that in principle the technologies needed for building these devices already exist. “Invisibility is visibly close,” says Ulf Leonhardt of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, one of the researchers behind the proposals.

He and John Pendry of Imperial College London, UK, and their co-workers have independently described similar ways to create an invisible ‘hole’ in space, inside which objects can be hidden. They say it is possible to guide light around the hole, rather like water flowing around a rock in a river, so that the object inside it cannot be seen.

Light rays are bent when they pass between materials with different refractive indices, such as air and water. But bending light so that it passes round a region of space and emerges travelling along the same line as it was initially is a difficult trick, requiring an invisibility cloak made from materials with a ‘tunable’ refractive index.

Such substances have been made, in the form of so-called metamaterials. These are built from rings or coils of metal wire, etched into printed circuit boards and glued together, which act as antennae that interact with the electromagnetic field of incoming light and modify the paths the light takes. Such metamaterials can have bizarre optical properties: for example, having negative refractive index, so that they bend light the ‘wrong’ way.

Full Nature.com Story

The on-screen kiss between Potter stars Dan Radcliffe and Katie Leung is causing quite a stir on the set of the fifth film – Order Of The Phoenix.

Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, told Newsround that the kiss was “the gossip” of the movie.

Dan and Katie, who play Harry and Cho, were meant to film the scene earlier, but Dan got ill, so it was put back.

“Katie escaped, but I will get her,” joked Dan. Katie said she was “excited and nervous” about the scene.

Click here to win a signed copy of the GoF DVD

The young actress added that they intended to be “very professional” about the kiss, but Emma couldn’t resist a cheeky comment, saying she would be “sniggering in the background”.

The stars were talking to Newsround to promote the launch of the DVD for Goblet Of Fire, which went on sale in the UK this week.

It has already shattered records in the US.

Looking forward to OOTP, producer David Heyman told Newsround that the film will probably come out in the summer or autumn of 2007, with Half-Blood Prince set to follow in 2008.

But Potter fans won’t have to wait that long for a glimpse of what’s to come.

David told Newsround that a trailer can be expected “some time towards the end of the year”.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – About 9,500 Riverside residents found themselves in the dark after a rat chewed through power equipment at a substation.

The rodent had to gnaw through two barriers before it reached the 12,000-volt equipment that it shorted out on Tuesday night, Public Utilities deputy director Steve Badgett said.

“We found him. What was left of him,” Badgett said.

The rat made it to the live wires despite traps and rat poison placed in the substation, he said.

Some 1,100 customers went without power until early Wednesday morning.

Badgett said he braced for the worst when he realized that residents lost their power just as the semifinalists of “American Idol” were to perform on television.

Marvel held its 2nd Quarter Webcast conference call and released the following schedule for its projects:

Marvel Character Feature Film Development Pipeline
X-Men 3, Fox – Script, Director, May 26, 2006 release
Ghost Rider, Sony – Filming completed, Slated for Summer 2006
The Punisher 2, Lions Gate – Writer, Director, Targeted for 2006
Spider-Man 3, Sony/Columbia – Director, May 4, 2007 release
Namor, Universal Pictures – Script, Targeted for 2007
Iron Man, New Line Cinema – TBD
Luke Cage, Sony/Columbia – TBD
Deathlok, Paramount – TBD
The Hulk 2, Universal Pictures – TBD
Wolverine, Fox – TBD

Marvel Character Feature Film Projects in Development
Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Killraven, Nick Fury, Silver
Surfer and Thor

Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-Video Projects in Development
Partnership with Lions Gate to develop, produce and distribute original animated DVD features. Four projects in 2D/3D format are in development with the first release slated for 2006. Titles include: The Avengers 1, The Avengers 2, Iron Man and Dr. Strange.

Marvel Character Animated TV Projects in Development
Partnership with Antefilms Distribution to produce an original animated television series based on the Fantastic Four. Twenty-six, 30-minute 2D/3D animated episodes are planned with initial TV airings in 2006.

Marvel Character Live Action TV Projects in Development
Brother Voodoo.

20th Century Fox has launched the new trailer for action-comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend in Flash format at MTV!

In the Ivan Reitman film, Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) thinks he’s finally found the perfect girlfriend, the beautiful Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman) – who just so happens to be a superhero. When Jenny/G-Girl becomes overly possessive, Matt wants to call it quits – but how do you break up with a superhero? A scorned woman, Jenny/G-Girl unleashes on her ex the full fury of her super-powered wrath as she sets out on a no-holds-barred mission to bust up Matt’s budding romance with his co-worker Hannah (Anna Faris).

Eddie Izzard, Rainn Wilson and Wanda Sykes also star in the July 21 release

CBBC Newsround reports that Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, who was to be played by Helen McCrory in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will now be played Helena Bonham Carter. McCrory is expecting a baby and would be heavily pregnant when her scenes in the Ministry of Magic were filmed.

Meanwhile, the role of replacement Care of Magical Creatures teacher Professor Grubbly-Plank has gone to Apple Brook.

The casting of the young Marauders has also been completed. Young Sirius will be played by James Walters, Young Lupin by James Utechin and Young Snape will be played by Alec Hopkins.

Actor Jason Piper has also been cast in the part of the Bane the Centaur.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, directed by David Yates, is scheduled for a July 13, 2007 release.

In related news, Bloomsbury publishing director Liz Calder tells Daily India she expects that the seventh and last “Harry Potter” book will hit shelves in 2007 as well.

“One more ‘Harry Potter’ only but she (Rowling) said from the beginning that she would write seven. So she would not write another one after this. But Rowling would write other books for us,” said Calder. “The next ‘Harry Potter’ book is likely to come out in 2007. I hope so.”

The Star Wars trilogy comes out for a limited time as individual movie DVDs on September 12th — complete with the unaltered original films as bonus material — and will be available for pre-order starting this week. This is a chance for longtime fans to re-experience the movies as they originally played during their first theatrical releases, and an opportunity for new fans to see a bit of movie history.

Each movie comes as a two-disc set — one disc is the 2004 remastered version of the film, while the second disc is a version that captures its original theatrical presentation. For more information about this release, see the original announcement story here. StarWarsShop.com will be making Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi available for pre-order on Friday, May 12.

Here’s a look at the cover art for this release. Done in the photo-montage style of previous DVD release, each movie mimics a poster design from the original theatrical campaign.

At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Marvel. will once again explode into the video game arena as several highly anticipated Marvel Super Hero themed games are unveiled from industry leading partners Activision, Konami and 2K Games.

LOS ANGELES-“We are very excited to have an incredible array of Marvel video games from these top tier publishers showcased at E3 this year, including the first two Next-Gen Marvel titles X-Men: The Official Game and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance,” said Ames Kirshen, Vice President, Interactive for Marvel Entertainment. “Marvel Super Heroes lend themselves extremely well to captivating game play, and we are confident these newest releases will not disappoint. Marvel fans and gamers alike are in for a real treat.”

Marvel inspired video games that will be debuted at E3 by Marvel’s video game licensees include:

Activision

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an all-new action/RPG that features over 140 Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains and the largest roster of comic book characters ever seen in a video game. Players get to create their Super Hero dream team from over 20 playable characters including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Blade and Captain America, and through their actions determine the fate of both planet Earth and the Marvel Universe – revealed in one of several epilogues. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will be available for the PlayStation(R) 3, Xbox 360(TM), Nintendo Wii(TM), PlayStation(R) 2, Xbox, Sony PSP(TM), Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and Windows PC platforms. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB.

X-Men: The Official Game catapults players into an original storyline that serves as a prelude to Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Studios’ upcoming film, ‘X-Men: The Last Stand.’ The game allows players to command the distinct powers of Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Iceman as they face off against formidable enemies, battle through massive environments and embark on an epic quest to save mutant-kind. X-Men: The Official Game has been rated “T” (Teen – violence) and will be available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360(TM), Nintendo GameCube and PC platforms. The game for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Gameboy Advance has been rated “E-10+” (Everyone 10 and older – fantasy violence).

Konami

This Fall, Konami is releasing Marvel Trading Card Game, a card based-strategy video game featuring the Marvel Universe, for the Nintendo DS(TM), PSP(TM) (PlayStation(R)Portable) system and PC platforms. Based on the best selling trading card game from Upper Deck, Marvel Trading Card Game allows players to collect over 800 cards based on their favorite Marvel characters and compete in cross-platform online play in a variety of different modes.

Marvel Trading Card Game lets players assemble their own deck and take on different challenges to gain more cards based on legendary Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider and more. In the game’s single player story mode, players choose to play as hero or villain, then select a series of enemies to battle. In between each clash, detailed comic book scenes tell the game’s story as players choose to move on to the next enemy or explore a branch in the story for the chance to acquire additional cards.

2K Games

Ghost Rider is a new third person action video game based on the well-known Marvel Super Hero and upcoming feature film. Ghost Rider is being developed for current generation systems by Climax Group and is scheduled for simultaneous release with the movie in February 2007. Continuing the storyline from the upcoming Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studio’s movie, Ghost Rider drops players into the role of Johnny Blaze, a celebrity motorcycle stunt rider who is transformed into a Super Hero with powers to avenge any evil he encounters. Featuring many of the characters and motorcycles from the comic book and upcoming movie, Ghost Rider will engage gamers in an immersive, supernatural third person world with a seamless blend of hand-to-hand combat and high-speed motorcycle action.

It has been released that the Eragon movie will be released Dec. 15th, 2006, check out the website here.

Eragon is a novel written by Christopher Paolini and is the first book of the Inheritance trilogy. It was originally self-published by the author before being picked up by Alfred A. Knopf, after which it became a publishing success and a New York Times Bestseller. Eragon’s sequel is Eldest, and there are rumours that the third book in the series is going to be called Empire, though there is no official name yet.

When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands