Online Fitness Startup Wello Launches Monthly Subscriptions For Individual And Group Training Sessions

Since launching last year, online fitness startup Wello has been trying to democratize training with Google Hangout-like video conferencing sessions. By doing so, Wello enables its customers to get into shape in their own homes and on their own time, while also offering up individual and group training sessions that are usually much cheaper than purchasing through your local gym.

The company started with individual training sessions, allowing customers to set their own workout schedules and connect with trainers that would most appeal to them. Earlier this year it began offering group sessions that were priced lower than individual workouts, and also provided a social component — users could invite their friends to work out with them and a trainer at a time of their choosing.

The next big business move for Wello is to begin offering gym-like membership subscriptions, which packages a group of workouts together and lowers the price further for users. With its subscription offering, Wello is offering a selection of different prices for users, based on whether they want to work out alone or in groups, as well as the number of sessions that they plan to use per month.

Pricing breaks down like this:

Group Class Memberships

• 4 Classes: $49 / mo.


• 10 Classes: $99 / mo.


• Unlimited Classes: $179 / mo.

1-on-1 Personal Training Memberships

• 4 Workouts: $99 / mo.


• 10 Workouts: $199 / mo.


• 30 Workouts: $379 / mo.

If users max out on their number of sessions for a given month, they can always upgrade, or buy more on an a la carte basis. Group classes cost $14 each, while individual training sessions still cost $29 a piece.

Each of its trainers are certified and tested out before they join the platform, and are rated by users who take part in sessions with them. Wello has more than 10,000 options available for different types of workouts at various levels of proficiency, so each user should be able to find something that works for them.

Wello has seen pretty good retention from customers who have already signed up for its video-enabled fitness sessions, but the subscription offering should provide the company with more visibility into recurring revenue on a month-to-month basis. According to co-founder and CEO Leslie Silverglide, about two-thirds of all customers who sign up and try one exercise session come back and do it again. And the average customer already takes about six sessions each month.

For Wello, the new subscription offering is designed to provide a new way to appeal to customers and to get people to sign up to train at home, instead of using a gym. The company has raised $1 million in seed funding from Kleiner Perkins, Mohr Davidow, Aberdare Ventures, Mayo Ventures, Morado Ventures, S-Cubed Capital, PhilQuo Ventures, and other angels.

Wello is re-envisioning wellness by taking what’s proven to work – meeting with experts – and combining it with emerging video technology. Wello’s first product delivers LIVE, online fitness training via two-way video to clients across the country and around the world. Wello matches clients with the right Wello-vetted trainer and workout program for them, provides seamless scheduling and payment, and establishes the live video connection for the workout to take place.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/sTEldOhFd5Q/
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China blocks flood victims from staging second day of protest

BEIJING (Reuters) - Authorities in eastern China dispatched hundreds of security officers to block a possible second day of protests on Wednesday after thousands of angry flood victims clashed with police to demand official help for the worst floods in a century.

More than 800,000 people in Yuyao in eastern Zhejiang province were affected by last week's massive floods after Typhoon Fitow hit eastern China.

On Tuesday thousands of flood victims marched in front of their city government office, criticizing what they said was ineffective relief efforts and urging the party secretary and the mayor to step down, according to accounts on microblogs.

State media said Yuyao was hit hardest in Zhejiang. The rainfall, the worst in a century, caused more than 70 percent of Yuyao to be flooded and economic losses of nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.15 billion), according to the China News Service. The local government has not released the number of casualties.

Riot police officers stood guard in Yuyao on Wednesday morning to prevent any further protests, according to photos posted by Chinese rights group, Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch. The founder of the group, Liu Feiyue, told Reuters he had received the photographs from residents in Yuyao.

Residents on Tuesday attacked the city's government office, tearing down the Communist Party's mantra, "Serve the People", mounted at the entrance of the office, according to photographs on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

Several residents were seen bleeding from the head, according to photographs on Sina.

"We strongly condemn the shameless acts by the police and riot police for using any pretext to beat people," said a microblogger from Yuyao.

State-run Yuyao Daily said in an editorial on Wednesday that residents should "express their rational demands at an appropriate time, and in a reasonable manner."

"Everyone has a duty to maintain stability, let us do more to help disaster recovery and social stability and resolutely not participate in matters that will hurt disaster rebuilding and recovery efforts and social stability," the newspaper said.

Cai Qi, head of the organization department of the party's Zhejiang provincial committee, called for residents to restrain from radical acts, adding government officials have been trying their best in disaster relief.

State media reported on Monday that a Chinese official photographed being given a piggyback by a villager while visiting flood victims in Zhejiang was sacked after the image caused public outrage online.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-blocks-flood-victims-staging-second-day-protest-064436137.html
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Hernandez girlfriend said to throw out evidence

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — The girlfriend of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a perjury charge for allegedly lying to a Massachusetts grand jury, including about disposing of evidence in the murder case against him.

Shayanna Jenkins was released on personal recognizance during her arraignment in Fall River Superior Court on a single perjury count. Prosecutors had sought $5,000 cash bail.

In August, Jenkins lied to the grand jury hearing evidence in the case, including about where she threw out a box Hernandez asked her to "get rid of" in the aftermath of Odin Lloyd's killing, Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg said.

Jenkins initially invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but was later granted immunity for her testimony, Bomberg said.

Hernandez, 23, has pleaded not guilty to the June murder of Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player from Boston who was dating Jenkins' sister. He is being held without bail.

In court Tuesday, Bomberg said that the day after Lloyd was killed, Jenkins retrieved the box from the basement of the home she shared with Hernandez in North Attleborough, Mass., put it in a trash bag, covered it with baby clothes and drove away with it. Jenkins repeatedly told grand jurors she threw the box in a Dumpster but couldn't recall where, according to Bomberg.

Bomberg did not say what is believed to have been in the box. Hernandez associate Carlos Ortiz, who is charged as an accessory in the case, has told investigators that Hernandez put firearms in a box in his basement after the killing, according to court records. Prosecutors have said the murder weapon has not been found.

Defense attorney Janice Bassil said Jenkins answered every question asked of her before the grand jury and that prosecutors were overreaching with the perjury charge. She said there is no evidence Jenkins lied and that prosecutors sought the indictment simply because they didn't believe her. She called lead prosecutor William McCauley's questioning of Jenkins "extremely aggressive" and heavy-handed.

Bassil described the relationship between Jenkins and Hernandez, who have a young child together, as one of "don't ask, don't tell." Bassil had no further comment outside court.

The perjury charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Prosecutors have asked the judge assigned to the Hernandez case, Susan Garsh, to recuse herself, saying she and the McCauley have a "well-known and publicly documented history of antagonism" stemming from a 2010 murder trial he argued before her.

McCauley won a conviction in that case but was quoted in the press as criticizing Garsh, saying she had unfairly limited or excluded evidence and exhibited antagonism. A hearing on the request is scheduled for Monday.

Three others face charges in the case. Ernest Wallace and Ortiz, who prosecutors say were with Hernandez and Lloyd in a car on the night Lloyd was killed, have been charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact.

Wallace has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $500,000 bail. Ortiz is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

Hernandez's cousin, Tanya Singleton, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit accessory after the fact and criminal contempt. Prosecutors say she refused to testify before the grand jury even though she was offered immunity.

Hernandez has also been linked to an investigation into a 2012 double homicide in Boston. While investigating Lloyd's death, police found a sport utility vehicle rented in Hernandez's name at the home of Hernandez's uncle in Bristol, Conn., that was wanted in connection with those killings.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hernandez-girlfriend-said-throw-evidence-214741730.html
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Markets still believe in US debt deal

LONDON (AP) — Hopes that lawmakers in Washington are inching toward a key budget deal shored up markets Tuesday, but with only two days before a deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, the mood was cautious, particularly on Wall Street.

A failure to raise the debt ceiling by Oct. 17 could cause the U.S. to default on some of its debts — a development that analysts say could derail the U.S. economic recovery and cause mayhem in financial markets around the world.

Investors have been remarkably sanguine in recent days as they seem to expect that a deal will eventually be agreed between Republicans in Congress and the White House because no politician wants to be blamed for a default.

"The history of U.S. fiscal stalemates is that typically a last-minute deal is reached," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed 0.7 percent higher at 6,549.11 while Germany's DAX rose 0.9 percent to 8,804.44. The CAC-40 in France ended 0.8 percent higher at 4,256.02.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.1 percent at 15,291 while the broader S&P 500 index was flat at 1,711.

The focus will remain on Washington in what is a fluid situation. In brief remarks following a meeting with his Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner did not indicate that a bill was in the offing but insisted that the idea of a default was wrong and that he was looking to talk to members on both sides of the aisle to make progress.

Analysts said Boehner's comments may indicate that the Republicans in the House are still divided over what to do. That may strengthen the hand of the Senate, which is thought to be close to agreeing on a deal that would raise the debt ceiling temporarily until February. It would also reportedly see the U.S. government, which has been in partial shutdown for two weeks, reopen through Jan. 15.

Earlier, the mood in Asia was largely positive, too. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.3 percent at 14,441.54 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent to 23,336.52. South Korea's Kospi closed 1 percent higher at 2,040.96. China's Shanghai Composite index bucked the trend, down 0.2 percent at 2,233.41.

The focus remained on developments in Washington in other financial markets as well. In currencies, the dollar was largely being supported by hopes over a debt deal. The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.3483, while the dollar was flat at 98.66 yen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/markets-still-believe-us-debt-deal-155401056--finance.html
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'Fifty Shades' Of Christian: We Rank The Rumored Replacements

MTV News breaks down the round of candidates circling the project, like Alexander Skarsgard and Jamie Dornan.


By Jocelyn Vena

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1715620/fifty-shades-grey-christian-casting-skarsgard.jhtml

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Microsoft's phone update to feature driving mode

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, file photo, a new Microsoft Corp. logo, left, is seen on an exterior wall of a new Microsoft store inside the Prudential Center mall, in Boston. Microsoft is updating its Windows software for cellphones to accommodate larger devices and make it easier for motorists to reduce distractions while driving. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, file photo, a new Microsoft Corp. logo, left, is seen on an exterior wall of a new Microsoft store inside the Prudential Center mall, in Boston. Microsoft is updating its Windows software for cellphones to accommodate larger devices and make it easier for motorists to reduce distractions while driving. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is updating its Windows software for cellphones to accommodate larger devices and make it easier for motorists to reduce distractions while driving.

It's the third update to Windows Phone 8 software since the system's release a year ago. Devices with this update will start appearing in the coming weeks, and older phones will be eligible for a free upgrade, too.

Something that may appeal to motorists: a new Driving Mode will automatically silence incoming calls and texts so that you can focus on the road. You also can configure the feature to automatically send out a reply to say that you're driving.

It can be activated automatically when the phone is linked wirelessly with a Bluetooth device in the car, such as a headset. Apple has a Do Not Disturb feature for iPhones, but that needs to be turned on manually.

What the Driving Mode won't do, however, is block outgoing calls or texts. And there will be ways to override it. The feature won't stop a teenager from texting while driving, but it will help reduce distractions for those who want that, says Greg Sullivan, director for Microsoft's Windows Phone business.

The new update also will allow for better resolution to accommodate larger phones. Currently, the system supports a maximum resolution of 1280 pixels by 768 pixels, which is adequate for phones with screens no larger than 5 inches on the diagonal. But video and image quality degrades when stretched out on larger phones, such as a 6.3-inch Android phone from Samsung Electronics Co.

The layout for larger phones also will change. Phones may now sport a third column of tiles, for instance. Contact lists and other features will be able to fit in more information. That's a contrast to Android, where text and images simply get bigger with larger screens, without actually fitting in more content.

Microsoft's Windows Phone software holds a distant third place behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android, with a worldwide market share of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC. But shipments of Windows Phone devices grew 78 percent to 8.7 million in the April-to-June period, compared with the same time a year ago. The tile-based layout in Windows Phone is the inspiration for the Windows 8 software powering tablets and personal computers.

There are a few ways Microsoft Corp. will catch up to the iPhone and Android phones with the new update.

For the first time, Windows phones will have a rotation lock function, so that the screen won't switch back and forth between horizontal and vertical mode while you're curled up in bed. There also will be a central way to close open apps. Before, you had to go into each open app and press and hold the back button.

And Microsoft is launching a program to give app developers early access to the new software. Apple has had a similar program for the iOS software behind iPhones and iPads, while Google often has worked with selected developers on unreleased features.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-14-Microsoft-Windows%20Phone/id-cb642b47ff9c4a4d9cb74bb4d929b1c4
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Columbus Day Scoop

Jay Z & Chris Martin Took the Subway After a Gig [The Frisky] Sandra Bullock & Tom Hanks Play Piano on UK Show [HollyWire] Prince Premieres New Music Video [Right Celebrity] Selena Gomez Falls Off Stage During Concert [The Celebrity Cafe] Justin Bieber Sucker Punches a DJ [The Blemish] Amy Adams Dazzles in Runway Dress [The Huffington Post] Miley Cyrus Hates ...

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