Then again, with all the heat the company has been getting about this top secret project, these could very well be reference designs (as opposed to proper models) for a forthcoming lineup of devices.

ENGADGET: Microsoft's Pink phones revealed?

TC4 project will generate new data on the icy cirrus clouds that are formed in the upper atmosphere by heat-driven, or convective, storm systems that coalesce over warm waters in the tropics.

ECONOMIST: Climatology

Ivanpah is a solar concentrator project, using fields of mirrors, known as heliostats, to concentrate sunlight onto a solar receiver on top of a tower. (This project when finished will include 173, 000 heliostats.) The concentrated sunlight is used to heat water, generating steam which is used to turn a traditional turbine and generator to produce electricity.

FORBES: Google Invests $168 Million In BrightSource Energy Solar Plant

Although it doesn't quite have the wow factor of Cornell's invisibility project, the thermal research may prove to be more practical because it also can be used to manage heat and improve cooling in components such as computer chips.

ENGADGET: Researchers working on thermal cloak, Predators trill their disapproval