Here are the emerging technologies stories for the week of July 27th.

4G Network Tests - Verizon announced that they will launch tests of their 4G LTE network in Seattle and Boston later this year. The 8 to 10 Mbps speed sounds nice but we'll see.

Robot Firefighters - The London Fire Brigade has been using robot firefighters to deal with high-risk situations such as fires involving acetylene tanks. According to the report, the tests of these robot firefighters have been very successful.

Aluminum Goes Transparent - Scientists at Oxford University were able to turn aluminum invisible (for a very short time) using a high-powered laser blast. The scientists claim that this could have a huge impact for future technologies such as nuclear fusion. Though it doesn't sound like it would work as a Romulan cloaking device.