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Blogwatcher Gather.com gathers some capital

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
Expertise AI, tech, language, grammar, writing, editing Credentials
  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
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Jon Skillings

The Web start-up Gather has rounded up some venture capital dollars to help it in its quest to provide a one-stop shop for readers and writers in the blogosphere, according to a story in Saturday's Boston Globe.

Next week the company plans to announce a $6 million infusion from investors led by Jim Manzi, the former head of Lotus Development, and former Sen. Bill Bradley's investment bank, Allen & and Co. , the Globe reported. Both men will also join Gather's board.

The start-up's site, Gather.com, is in a beta state at the moment, and a formal launch is set for February or March. It is joining a crowded field of players, including Technorati, Bloglines and Digg, that seek to bring some order to the vast proliferation of blogs. What sets Gather apart is that it plans to recruit bloggers with the promise that they will get a share of the company's advertising revenue, the Globe said.

'As our audience scales," Gather founder Tom Gerace told the Globe, "our authors will see their earnings increase." The site currently has about 8,500 readers.