What you need to know - 08/29/11

Watch the latest videos from Venture Shift; 29% of people think online classes are just as good

Facebook last week finally announced details regarding f8, the social network’s yearly conference for developers and entrepreneurs. With the event already less than a month away, here are the three biggest changes to come to the platform recently.

Kenandy, a management platform for the cloud, closed a $10.5 million Series A round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) with participation from Salesforce and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati.

People still aren’t convinced that formal education on the Web is as effective as a classroom setting, according to a Pew study, which found that only 29% of the public believes online classes offer the same value as an in-person class.

Quixey, an app search engine, raised $3.8 million in Series A funding co-led by U.S. Venture Partners and WI Harper Group with participation by Webb Investment Network in addition to a follow-up investment by Innovation Endeavors.

Here's the video of Peter Thiel, founder of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund. Thiel, well known as the first investor in Facebook, took the stage at the first-ever VentureShift, delivering yet another one of his thought-provoking keynote speeches.

And here's a video of the Venture Shift panel: "How angels and super angels/micro-cap VC funds are changing the stakes and making a new ecosystem"