Corporate venturing -- established businesses funding start-ups -- has produced another company: General Magic, in Mountain View, Calif. The three founders are former employees of Apple Computer, which spun out the idea, and Apple president John Sculley sits on the board of directors. As an investor, big brother Apple gets the first nonexclusive license to manufacture the new company's technology, which the secretive founders will describe only as a "personal intelligent communicator."
-- Leslie Brokaw