Revived from the depths of "no way this will happen," Intel has gone and shook hands with OLPC, disregarding prior quibbles and announcing that the two will "will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content." Presumably deciding that two heads were better working together than butting into one another, both firms have agreed to "bring the benefits of technology to the developing world through synergy of their respective programs." Phil Otellini, Intel's CEO, went so far as to state that joining forces with OLPC is just another example of his company's "commitment to education," and while absolutely no elaboration was given on what exactly the duo planned on completing together, at least we now know to be on the lookout.

We had assumed that with all the robots being developed for deployment to Mars, the human astronauts would mostly be lounging around inside the comfort of their robot-built habitats and ordering drinks from their robot bartenders, but yesterday's unveiling of a prototype spacesuit for navigating the Martian terrain proves that manned missions might not be as cushy as we anticipated. The 50-pound suit (which they somehow got The Office's Steve Carell to model) was designed by students from five North Dakota colleges in a collaborative project funded by a $100,000 NASA grant, and includes at least three innovative technologies for which patents have been filed. Among the slew of sensors and communications gear designed for the harsh, low-gravity environment are oxygen and carbon dioxide detectors, GPS system, full suite of health monitors, shoulder mounted CCD cam, Bluetooth server to coordinate all the data, and a high-power transmitter for beaming info back to the mothership -- though curiously, there's no mention of an onboard weapons system that would be crucial for encounters with the occasional hostile Martian. Also, as the AP helpfully notes, even with all the research and design that went into this project, the forty-odd students seemed to neglect a key feature of any good full-body suit, which is an "escape hatch" for when the astronauts need to "jettison their waste."

[Via futurismic and abc]