First human-like robot to fly in space

Robonaut 2, which NASA hopes to launch Feb. 3 aboard the space shuttle Discovery on a flight to its permanent home on the International Space Station, will be the first humanoidlike robot to fly in space. Based on technology nurtured in part at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View and built jointly by the space agency and General Motors, the robot has a head, two arms and a humanlike chest and shoulders. It has fingers, thumbs and wrists with enough dexterity to grip a pen and write "hello."
Rob Heyde spent more than 10 years working as an engineer for computer giants Hewlett-Packard and Apple. But when manufacturing jobs began moving out of the valley, Heyde's career path went from high-tech to high in the sky above Silicon Valley. Heyde, 56, now spends three nights a week hovering above Santa Clara County and providing a bird's-eye view for cops on the city streets below.

Santa Clara County schools will receive nearly $821,000 for technology purchases, and San Mateo County schools will receive nearly $306,000, in the second phase of a settlement of an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.

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