seed

Sprout pencil comes with a future plant instead of an eraser

In this age of keyboards and stylii, there's still something beautiful about a pencil. I'm talking about real wood pencils, the kind you have to sharpen.

If you're anything like me, you end up with drawer full of pencil stubs that need to be cleaned out periodically. Instead of tossing them in the trash, there is an alternative.

The Sprout pencil from Democratech is made with a Ticonderoga cedar body, but it has a seed inside a water-activated cap. Once it gets small, just turn it upside down, plant it, water it, and reap the benefits of growing your own herbs or heirloom tomatoes.… Read more

Apple gives developers fully baked Mountain Lion

Apple's next major release of OS X, dubbed Mountain Lion, is in its final testing stages.

Apple today gave developers the same version of the software that will be released to consumers later this month.

Mountain Lion is the followup to last year's Lion, and represents the eighth iteration of OS X. Apple first debuted the software in late-February with a preview release, and has since followed with a handful of beta versions that squashed bugs and introduced new features.

As a quick recap, Mountain Lion brings a handful of iOS features to Macs, including the notes and … Read more

Apple asks retail employees to test Mountain Lion

Apple store employees can now join the party of people testing OS X Mountain Lion before it hits the streets next month.

In an e-mail to store workers revealed by 9to5Mac, Apple has invited its Genius Bar members and Creatives to partake in the AppleSeed testing program. Available to select customers as well as employees, this program gives participants access to pre-release software so they can test the products and provide feedback to the company.

Those who join the program adhere to a confidentiality agreement that prevents them from sharing the software with anyone else. Apple provides various tools for … Read more

The 404 961: Where we've got a Twitch in our eye (podcast)

There's plenty of live video broadcasting platforms to choose on the Web these days, but today we're chatting with one of the pioneers.

Justin Kan is one of the co-founders of Justin.TV, and he drops by our studio today for a full episode about the origins of life streaming and how the site paved the road to Justin's new project for live video gaming, TwitchTV.

We'll also talk to Justin about his participation in Y Combinator, a start-up incubator that helps green entrepreneurs through the first three months of genesis.

The boot camp gives founders the seed funding they need for general living expenses, allowing them to focus on the business idea. YC also guides them through the media pitching process and how to grab the attention of venture capitalists and seed investors.

Some of the headline-grabbing companies to grow from Y Combinator include Scribd, Loopt, Grubwithus, and Justin.TV itself.

Tune in to hear about how TwitchTV is bringing competitive gaming to a much larger audience, not to mention a few tips on what it takes to earn a spot in the next Y Combinator batch!… Read more

Developers get iOS 5 gold master

This probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, given that iOS 5 is arriving in consumers' hands next week, but Apple today gave developers a final copy of the software they can use to fine-tune their apps for compatibility.

Apple posted the gold master of the software on its developer site following this morning's announcements. Worth noting is that existing developers cannot install it as an over-the-air update, and they must use one of the recent developer betas of iTunes from the past two months.

The release today comes just after the date range predicted by … Read more

iOS 5 gold master expected next week, report says

A new analyst report making the rounds this morning asserts that Apple's putting the finishing touches on iOS 5, and plans to send it to its device assemblers as soon as next week.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities told AppleInsider and MacRumors today that Apple should be delivering the golden master version of iOS 5 between September 23 and 30. That software will then be imaged onto new devices that ship out to stores.

The timing is of special note given expectations of a new iPhone and iPod Touch in the coming weeks. Kuo suggests it will take … Read more

AOL writers being taught 'The AOL Way'

AOL is targeting its editorial divisions to teach them a new "way" of doing business.

BusinessInsider is reporting that it has acquired a leaked document from AOL that outlines the company's editorial strategy through 2011. Dubbed "The AOL Way," the 58-page document is reportedly designed to be a guide for editors, writers, and other content creators on what is expected of them in the coming months.

The document first discusses the company's traffic goals for the next few months. It claims about 31,000 pieces of content were produced by AOL editors and writers … Read more

10.6.3 Update: Apple testing font issues in latest private beta

In the latest private beta for Mac OS X 10.6.3, Apple has asked developers to focus on compatibility and stability with fonts. Many of our readers will recall ongoing font issues with Snow Leopard, outlined in this article from late September. Fonts have continued to provide issues in the 10.6.2, detailed in this article as well. For those of you hoping these issues would be addressed with an OS update, you may be getting your wish. Read past the break for more information about the impending release of Mac OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard.… Read more

VC investments sink to lowest levels in 12 years

The weak economy of 2009 took its toll on venture capitalists, though the year ended with hints of a recovery in store, says a new MoneyTree report.

VCs spent only $17.7 billion on 2,795 different deals last year, the lowest dollar amount and number of investments since 1997, according to the report released Friday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data from Thomson Reuters.

The numbers amounted to a 37 percent drop in dollars and a 30 percent fall in the volume of deals from 2008, marking the second consecutive year of declines. … Read more