The top 10 bike-friendly cities in America: Yes, Portland coasts to the top of the list

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Well, I guess the stereotypes of Portland are true. (At least as they relate to the city’s famous bike culture). According to a new ranking from Seattle startup Walk Score — which unveiled its Bike Score online ranking service last year — Portland is the No. 1 city in America for biking. It just edged… Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote here for App of the Year

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It’s time to cast your vote in one of the most hotly contested categories of this year’s GeekWire Awards: App of the Year. Competing for your vote are a great mix of newly released apps along with established titles that made significant upgrades and additions over the past year. The finalists in this category — Glympse,… Read More…

Here’s why your next meeting should be spent walking, not sitting

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(Thanks to Twitter user @TroyJMorris for the Aaron Sorkin “Walk and Talk” tip — hence the video above) For those working every day, and especially in the startup world, it’s not easy to fit exercise into hectic schedules. So here’s something to try next time you set up a one-on-one meeting: ditch the chairs and… Read More…

Walk Score tool measures neighborhood access for restaurants, schools, coffee

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How many coffee shops are within a 20-minute walking distance radius in downtown Seattle? What about grocery stores? Restaurants? Walk Score‘s new ChoiceMaps tool can answer those questions and more. The Seattle-based company that promotes walkable neighborhoods debuted the neighborhood analytics product today, which helps users measure access and depth of choice in cities and neighborhoods —… Read More…

Vancouver beats out Seattle, Portland as most walkable city

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Portland has the donuts, Seattle has the coffee and Vancouver, B.C. has the … sidewalks. Walk Score, a Seattle-based company that promotes walkable neighborhoods, just ranked the most walkable cities in Canada and Vancouver, B.C. took the top spot with a “Walk Score” of 78. That beats out Seattle (74) and Portland (66) as the most… Read More…

Small business, big impact: Support your local shops this holiday with Walk Score

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When Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around every year, big-name businesses usually dominate the conversation and airwaves. Walk Score, a Seattle-based company that promotes walkable neighborhoods, wants to remind us that it’s important to support local shops amid all the corporate advertisements this holiday season. Walk Score is joining Small Business Saturday in asking people to… Read More…

Get to know your neighborhood: Walk Score unveils new crowd-sourced pictorial guides

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Seattle’s Walk Score today rolled out a series of new community-oriented features for the Web site and iPhone app that allow individuals to get more information — primarily via photos — of the neighborhoods in which they live. “In a nutshell, we’re enabling our users to share and discover the places that make neighborhoods unique,”… Read More…

Bike Score arrives, analyzing the most bike-friendly cities

Bike sign in Seattle. Photo via Robert Ashworth

You’ve heard of Walk Score, which assigns a ranking of 0 to 100 to homes and apartments based on how close they are to schools, transit, restaurants and more. Now, the folks behind that Seattle startup are rolling out the much-anticipated companion to that service: Bike Score. Like the name suggests, Bike Score rates the… Read More…

KidScore: The best places to eat with your screaming kids

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As a parent with an energetic toddler, I sometimes struggle to find restaurants that have the right balance of good food and entertainment when dining with a two-and-a-half year old. For the most part, we’ve relied on word-of-mouth, getting recommendations from other parents of the best spots. (We love Fremont Brewing Co. and The Ridge… Read More…

Walk Score reveals transit system rankings of 25 cities

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Walk Score, which has made a name for itself ranking neighborhoods by how easy it is to walk to amenities and transit, is now rolling out its first ratings of entire public transit systems. The new rankings leverage Walk Score‘s Transit Score index to evaluate residents’ access to public transportation, overall, in 25 cities. Perhaps not… Read More…

Walk Score shows renters how close they’ll live to coffee shops and car shares

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Seattle startup Walk Score is rolling out a new search function that allows would-be apartment dwellers to find the perfect neighborhood — discovering rental properties that are close to coffee shops, grocery stores, car sharing drop-offs and schools. Walk Score co-founder Matt Lerner said that the new service is designed for those in their 20s,… Read More…

Walk Score propels forward with $2 million, promises commutes that ‘don’t suck’

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As gas prices soar and commute times lengthen, Walk Score CEO Josh Herst thinks Americans are going to ditch their cars in larger numbers. Instead, he believes they will demand “more walkable places to live with commutes that don’t suck.” If that trend occurs, it could be very good news for Walk Score.  And some prominent investors… Read More…

What’s a 45-minute commute to Microsoft look like? Walk Score maps may have the answer

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Walk Score already helps people figure out the most walkable properties in cities across the country, assigning a score from 1 to 100 based on how close homes are to certain amenities like restaurants or theaters. Now, the Seattle-based upstart, which operates under the parent company Front Seat, is rolling out a new service that… Read More…