Menuish helps you find restaurant menus on your phone

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Like many couples hitting the town for a bite, Chris Eigner and Devon St. Clair started scrolling through their phones to find a good place to eat. But much to their frustration, most restaurants have flash-filled websites that are difficult to navigate, much like this Oatmeal comic demonstrates. So after dinner that night nine months ago,… Read More…

Leafly: Like Yelp and Consumer Reports … for medical marijuana

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Brendan Kennedy had done his homework and knew it was a financially smart decision. That wasn’t the issue. What caused him to reach out to family and friends, though, had to do with a question centering on his moral compass. Was entering the controversial medical cannabis industry the right thing to do? That was a… Read More…

Food-finder Foxtrot looks to compete with Yelp, Urbanspoon

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As the assigned restaurant-selector of his travel group, all Suraj Samaranayake wanted to do was find the best places to chow down in San Francisco. He tried using popular review apps like Yelp, Zagat and Urbanspoon, but came up empty-handed. So he turned to a more trusted source – his Bay Area friend. “All his… Read More…

Microsoft integrating Yelp data into Bing local search

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Microsoft Bing announced a deal this morning with Yelp to incorporate information from the business search and review service into the Bing Local search experience, continuing the Redmond company’s strategy of partnering with established online applications to combat Google. The move follows the recent launch of a “social sidebar” on Bing search results pages that… 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…

Scrappy Urbanspoon turns to TV ads to connect with foodies

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Urbanspoon scratched and clawed its way to success, driven by the bootstrapping mindset of founders Adam Doppelt, Ethan Lowry and Patrick O’Donnell. The online restaurant directory grew largely through word-of-mouth; smart SEO and a cutting-edge iPhone application that caught the attention of the marketers at Apple. Except for a largely unsuccessful radio campaign, Urbanspoon didn’t… Read More…

Urbanspoon nibbles on 25,000 Zagat reviews

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Zagat corned the market on restaurant ratings in the 1980s and early 1990s, tapping the power of user-generated content before that term had even entered the popular lexicon. But then, the Internet came along, and review sites such as Yelp took over. Zagat is trying to get back in the online game, and that’s part… Read More…