UPDATED 13:38 EDT / MAY 31 2013

Lars Dalagaard Joins Andressen Horowitz & Pepsi Puts-Out for Likes – SiliconANGLE News Roundup

Andressen Horowitz is boosting its investing team today with the addition of Lars Dalagaard as their newest general partner.

Dalgaard was the founder of SuccessFactors, a human-capital management software firm that was purchased by S-A-P in 2011 for a whopping $3.5 billion. According to Horowitz, that buyout was “by far the most important acquisition in the history of software as a service.”

After deciding to move to the investor side of the entrepreneur equation, Dalagaard considered joining many venture capital organizations. He ultimately decided on Andreesen Horowits after visiting the firm.

Dalgaard has niche startup investment interests. When describing the kind of deals he’ll look for, he hinted that consumer facing startups were becoming repetitive.  He’s interested in real estate and medical startups, believing that he may find investment opportunities there.

Murdoch Wastes Money Again

 

After a failed experiment with Myspace, News Corp is preparing to dive back into the social networking game by expanding the Wall Street Journal’s website. Their plans are to transform the journal into a platform where users will be able to do more than just read the news.

Competing with sites like Linkedin will be a challenge, but if their social media efforts are successful, it could be a huge benefit to the company.

When discussing the plans, the CEO of Dow Jones Lex Fenwick stated,  “If you build applications and become a platform, it does lots of magical things that help us, It increases the customer stickiness and it means the customer spends longer on the site then he or she previously was. It allows targeted advertising as you start to understand more about your customer, what their interests are and what they may care about.”

A launch date for the new, social platform has not been announced.

Evernote & The Security Two-Step

 

Following a major security breach in February, Evernote has responded with three new security features that will give users better control over their accounts.

The popular note-taking app now offers  two-step verification, access history, and authorized application listings. The SMS-based verification process is an opt-in service. It will be rolled out to premium users first. The authorized apps list lets users see all the apps linked to their account, and revoke access if they choose.

Perhaps most useful of the three new features is the new access history, which lets users see each time Evernote has been used over the past month.

A Niche Console for a Niche Market

 

Bluestacks, the company that lets you run Android apps on Windows and Macs, just announced the price for its forthcoming gaming console.  The Android-based GamePop will come with a one-hundred-and-twenty-nine dollar price tag.

Due to high demand, they’re extending an offer to give the console away for free until the end of June.

GamePop will work by combining a game console and controller with an all-you-can-play subscription service that costs $6.99 per month. Users can play the entire  library of mobile games on a big screen by connecting the device to a TV.

Similar Android-based consoles already exist on the market, such as the OUYA, which is priced at One-Hundred Dollars.  However, unlike the GamePop, games on that device will need to be bought separately.

Kulor to Color While You Color

 

Adobe just launched a new color-palette generating app that should come as a great accessory to their recently-launched suite of cloud-only apps and services.

The simply named Kuler app will be available on the iPhone, and it lets you use your phone’s camera to capture and generate color palettes from the resulting image. Using a web app, these color schemes can be synched with Adobe’s other apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe Ideas.

The app features a responsive design, has been optimized for tablet use and is now available for download.

Cameras Shooting in Low Light

 

Cameras fitted with a new revolutionary sensor will soon be able take clear and sharp pictures in dim conditions. Previously, even the best cameras struggled with low lighting, but scientists at Nan-yang Tech in Singapore have developed a new graphene-based image sensor fully capable of detecting the broad spectrum light.

The sensor is a thousand times more sensitive to light than current imaging sensors, and uses ten times less energy at lower voltages, making it ideal for all cameras.

Assistant professor Wang, who worked on the project commented on the new sensor’s applications, saying, “We expect our innovation will have great impact not only on the consumer imaging industry, but also in satellite imaging and communication industries, as well as the mid-infrared applications.”

Now all that’s left is to get the sensor into production. When mass produced, the graphene sensors are estimated to cost at least five times cheaper.

Suffering Siggraph!

 

Siggraph, the annual computer graphics convention, will showcase several new advancements in rendering at this year’s event in Anaheim next month.

The ever-increasing power of computer chips, and research in human kinetics, gait, and bio-mechanics, allows the human body and face to be modeled with superb realism.

Now, thanks to the combined efforts of researchers at Princeton and USC, it’s possible to render beautiful, bouncy and realistic looking hair. Using Structure Aware Hair Capture, or SAHC, scientists can make a 3D point-cloud of the hair around the human model. Using a complex direction analysis, the rendered hair is then capable of looking and moving in photorealistic detail.

Pepsi Likes Likes…Like, A Lot

 

Pepsi has unveiled a new concept in Belgium: A “like machine” that dispenses free cans of soda in exchange for Facebook likes.

Customers can access their Facebook accounts in one of two ways, either through their smartphones or with the use of a touchpad located on the soda dispenser itself.

The new machine was recently displayed at a Beyonce concert and Pepsi has plans to display the smart-vending machines at several venues and events this summer.

To keep up with this and all tech news, don’t forget to watch us live and online every Morning NewsDesk with Kristin Feledy.

photo credit: apasp via photopin cc
photo credit: whatleydude via photopin cc
photo credit: Travelin’ Librarian via photopin cc
photo credit: margotwood via photopin cc
writing credit: Andrew E. Lowe

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