What You need to know - 9/29/2011

MadMen's Don Draper pitches Facebook Timeline; Nokia staff get the boot;SweetLabs gets sweet deal

Nokia shuts its door for an additional 3,500 people its Cluj factory in Romania. This cut came soon after 4,000 cuts announced earlier this year, which means Nokia will have lost 7,500 employees altogether by this time next year.  This latest round of firing outlines its new strategy going forward.  Nokia is being forced to make some drastic changes to get back on track as its lags behind in sales to  Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android market dominance.

SweetLabs secured $13 million in Series C funding on Thursday. Intel Capital led the Series C round of funding with investments also  coming from previous investors Google Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.

The San Diego, Calif-based SweetLabs, which was founded in 2008, has two products it's known for: Pokki,a personalizing desktop application platform, and OpenCandy Software Network, which essentially allows software developers to recommend their software to users.

VatorNews' reporter, Faith Marino, interviews Bill Harris to discuss, whether or not, it is the right time for Personal Capital. The personal finance service is a marked departure from those offered by Mint.com and Pageonce in that 1) it's more than a financial service, it's a financial institution, and 2) it's uniquely tailored to people with complex financial lives--people with high net worth and concerns about their asset allocation, not people who are struggling to get out of debt or spend within their budget.

ClearSlide, a sales communication platform, announced Wednesday thatit's raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Greylock Partners. Existing investor Felicis Ventures also participated in the round.

ClearSlide offers a platform that works through a personalized or company-branded URL to allow the sales professional and customer connect in one click.

MadMen's Don Draper character "pitches"  Facebook Timeline in a video remix. The Video has gone  viral with thousands of viewer in less than 24 hours.  Draper is heard saying to potential clients, "Technology is a glaring lure" during a pitch for Facebook Timeline, while a nostagic character-revealing Kodak Carousel presentation is running. Very cool. Very Don Draper.

It has been reported  by Mashable's Ben Parr that Facebook is going to launch an iPad app at Apple's Oct. 4 iPhone 5 launch. There is no confirmation from neither Facebook or Apple at this time, but the timing keeps with Facebook’s current trend of product announcements over the past few months.

Facebook market cap is staying strong at $82.2 billion. Even though, this figure is down  from around $87 billion reported in a previous auction, what is "down" for Facebook is clearly still very high. The social networking giant has been valued at around $82.25 billion with shares at $32, based on a shares auction by private company tracking service SharesPost.