Gather.com, a news website run by freelancers has raised $2.4 million in funding. Every month, Gather.com freelancers write over 8,000 articles. They receive about 7 million visitors per month. The company plans to use the funding to create an on-demand platform for publishers in a model that is similar to Demand Media. Gather currently works with writers that submit content and share revenue based on pageviews and engagement.

Criterion has announced that if this trailer hits 1 million views by December 12th, they will release a pack that will give gamers access to the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster, and the Dodge Viper SRT10 Convertible Final Edition.

ZipList.com is a service grocery list and recipe sharing service that has raised $4.5 million in funding from SoftBank Capital, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and other angel investors. ZipList family members lets you add grocery items through instant messages, text messages, mobile browser, e-mail, and from the web. ZipList has mobile applications for the iPhone and on Android. Changes made to the grocery list on ZipList are made in real-time. ZipList was founded by CEO Geoff Allen. Allen previously founded a company called Anystream and sold it to Telestream. [TechCrunch]

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is working on ways to improve their investment-grade credit rating and they have reduced debt by over $1.9 billion. They paid investors convertible debt to exchange notes for shares. Ford has been able to strengthen their balance sheet and has lowered annualized interest costs by around $180 million. Below is the full press release:

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ:PCLN)? co-inventor Jay S. Walker is suing Facebook over patent infringement through his company Walker Digital LLC. “We believe this suit is completely frivolous and we will fight it vigorously,” stated Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes. The patent covers the ability for computer users to establish anonymous communications. The complaint claims that three Walker Digital employees had invented a system that allows people to manage and control release of personal information. Walker is the chairman of Walker Digital. The case is filed as Walker Digital LLC v. Facebook Inc., U.S. District Court, 10cv1026, District of Delaware (Wilmington). The patent in question is 5,884,271. [BusinessWeek]

Joshua Schachter founded Delicious and sold it to Yahoo! in December 2005. Then he left Yahoo! in 2008 to join Google in 2009. This year he is involved in a stealth start-up company called Tasty Labs. According to the company’s homepage, Tasty Labs will put “the useful back into social software.” Tasty Labs has funding from Union Square and Andreessen Horowitz. [Union Square Ventures Blog]

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has added a drag-and-drop uploading feature to Google Docs. Basic Google Docs accounts have about 1GB of storage but additional data storage can be purchased. The drag-and-drop feature is only available on Chrome, Safari, and Firefox browsers — no IE. This new feature is available for all users. [Google Docs Blog]

Stephanie McCloskey is a co-founder in a company called VisionTech Components. VisionTech had sold counterfeit computer chips to the military. Thirty eight year old McCloskey of Clearwater, Florida made $15.9 million over three years. The counterfeit chips came from China and Hong Kong. The chips came from China and a lot of them was covered in dirt and grime. McCloskey will face 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. [Gizmodo]