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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Category: marshawn lynch   Premios Juventud 2013  

Report: Superman/Batman to Start Shooting This Weekend

When David Goyer said that the still-untitled follow-up to this summer's Man of Steel was further along than most people realized, it provoked a lot of speculation about whether or not the screenplay had already been completed and pre-production was on the table. Turns out, things could be even further along than that, with one report suggesting that the movie will start shooting this weekend.

According to the East Los Angeles College Campus News (first spotted by Latino Review), three takes of a fictional football game between Gotham City University and Metropolis State University will be shot during the halftime of the real-life ELAC/Victor Valley College game this Saturday, October 19, with spectators temporarily becoming Gotham City supporters for the duration.

STORY: Goyer Reveals Who'd Win in His Personal Superman-Batman Face-Off

"Our visibility among the film community is higher than a lot of schools," ELAC’s College event and Venue Coordinator Ernest Burnett told the Campus News. "The experiences of the people that have come and shot here are very good." Burnett went on to say that the production chose the school because "they wanted to support the school," and called the shoot "a big opportunity for us."

Whether or not this report turns out to be true -- if nothing else, the ELAC Campus News definitely seems to believe that is is -- one thing's for sure: Attendance at Saturday's game is likely to be far, far higher than usual levels, especially amongst the important "Just Hoping to Glimpse Zack Snyder at Work" demographic.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/THRComicCon/~3/PbPOM9uLqwY/story01.htm
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American Music Award Nominations: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Lead With Six

Getty Images

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performing

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis topped the list of 2013 American Music Award nominees with six, including Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year and Single of the Year, for "Thrift Shop."

Justin Timberlake scored five nominations, including Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Male Pop/Rock Artist and Album. Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Robin Thicke nabbed four nominations each.

It was also announced that Miley Cyrus and Imagine Dragons would be performing on the American Music Awards, which will air live from the Nokia Theatre in L.A. on Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Last year's big winner, Justin Bieber, who took home three trophies, was not nominated in any categories this year.

Winners will be determined by by fans through online voting, which is now open.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/music/~3/mEKF3nfzJQ0/story01.htm
Category: Tropical Storm Karen   foxnews   national coffee day   Miley Cyrus Vmas 2013 Video   Allegiant Air  

HTC Debuts Its New Supersized Phone, the One Max

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HTC announced a new device Monday morning: a giant smartphone with a 6-inch screen.

The One Max is the third member of the One family, so now there’s a One for everyone. Those who prefer phones of a reasonable size have the demure 4.3-inch mini. Fans of the beastly two-handers can pick up the new 5.9-inch One Max. And the rest of us can go for the flagship One, the 4.7-inch phone designed to compete with all the other Android handsets from major manufacturers that measure just below 5 inches.

HTC says the One Max will be available overseas in late October, and that you’ll be able to pick one up stateside on either Verizon or Sprint “before the holidays.”

Specs-wise, the Max is more than just a scaled-up version of the original One. It has a larger battery of course (3,300mAh), and a microSD card slot has been added. You can remove the aluminum back of the phone to swap microSD cards, but not to swap the battery. The front-facing speakers are larger on the Max, so they sound a little better. The camera is the same, but HTC has updated its software, and has made some overall tweaks to its Android skin and content browser, Blinkfeed.

There’s also a fingerprint scanner centered on the back of the Max. The idea is that if you’re holding the phone naturally, using your thumb and your last three fingers to grip the lower half, you can reach up with your index finger and stroke the sensor. One neat twist: You can set it up to launch different applications depending on which finger you swipe. So, your index finger launches the home screen, your middle finger launches Twitter, and your pinkie launches Facebook, or whatever you want. It just can’t authenticate you inside apps — for now, it only unlocks the phone.

Will the One Max sell? Well, people do seem to like the bigphones like the Galaxy Note. But the hot feature on the Note is the stylus, which can be used for writing notes and with various handwriting recognition apps. The pen has been a key to the Galaxy Note’s success in Asia, where the written characters are more complicated than ours. But the One Max doesn’t have a stylus, and I don’t know if that will make it less popular than the Note oversees. The other thing people love about bigphones is that they’re great for reading text and watching videos — they make very nice consumption devices. For that, this phone is glorious. It’s still comically large for my tastes, but I understand the thirst for these huge screens.

A full review will follow once we get our review unit (HTC probably has to ship it freight, so it might take a while).

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661370/s/32738492/sc/5/l/0L0Swired0N0Cgadgetlab0C20A130C10A0Chtc0Eone0Emax0C/story01.htm
Tags: Scandal   liberace   usc football   Betty Pino   Kidd Kraddick  

Comedian Ron White Married -- BLUE COLLAR WEDDING ... Eat Some Frito Pie!

Ron White Gets Married
Blue Collar Wedding
... Eat Some Frito Pie!

Exclusive

Ron White done got himself a MRS. Tater Salad ... TMZ has learned the Blue Collar comedian got hitched this weekend, and we've got pics from the wedding.

It all went down Sunday at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas ... where the 56-year-old traded "I dos" with his longtime girlfriend Margo Rey, a singer/songwriter.

Sources connected to the shindig tell TMZ ... the wedding was awesome -- with famous guests, a performance from John Oates (of Hall & Oates) and FRITO PIE for the guests!!

**Note -- Frito Pie is a concoction of delectable Southern goodness made by combining Fritos corn chips, chili and cheese ... it's delicious.

We're told guests included John Paul DeJoria and Dr. Phil -- who partnered with White a while back to form Margo's music label.

Dr. Phil’s kid, Jay McGraw performed the wedding ceremony.

But the couple that REALLY stole the show was Ron and Margo's dogs, Pearl and Gurdy -- who were dressed up in wedding attire and hung out on stage during the performances.

Congrats!!!

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Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/14/comedian-ron-white-celebrates-3rd-wedding-eat-some-frito-pie/
Category: Ken Norton   Costa Concordia   tommy morrison   cote de pablo   Alfonso Soriano  

Her: Film Review

Visionary and traditional, wispy and soulful, tender and cool, Spike Jonze's Her ponders the nature of love in the encroaching virtual world and dares to ask the question of what might be preferable, a romantic relationship with a human being or an electronic one that can be designed to provide more intimacy and satisfaction than real people can reliably manage. Taking place tomorrow or perhaps the day after that, this is a probing, inquisitive work of a very high order, although it goes a bit slack in the final third and concludes rather conventionally compared to much that has come before. A film that stands apart from anything else on the horizon in many ways, it will generate an ardent following, which Warner Bros. can only hope will be vocal and excitable enough to make this a must-see for anyone who pretends to be interested in something different.

In terms of ethereal tone, offbeat romanticism and evanescent stylistic flourishes, the film that bears some comparison to Her is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which dealt with the search for love, its memory or its prospect, in a similarly fleeting, lightly heartbreaking manner. The theme and dramatic drive behind Jonze's original screenplay, the search for love and the need to “only connect,” is as old as time, but he embraces it in a speculative way that feels very pertinent to the moment and captures the emotional malaise of a future just an intriguing step or two ahead of contemporary reality.

PHOTOS: It's Lonely Out Here: 'Gravity' and 10 More Films About Isolation 

Set in a downtown Los Angeles as thick with highrises as Manhattan, as modernistic as Shanghai and populated exclusively with citizens both gainfully employed and well dressed (an optimistic, if unplanned antidote to the recent Elysium), the film focuses intently upon Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), who is very good at his job, that of writing eloquent, moving, heartfelt letters for others who aren't up to the task; he's a sort of Cyrano for all seasons. With his glasses, mustache and high-hitched trousers with no belt (the era's one bad fashion fad), he's a bit of a neatnik and a nerd, but acutely attuned to people's inner feelings.

As it will for two hours, the camera stays very close to this well-mannered, proper fellow, who goes home to his upper-floor apartment to play a life-sized 3D video game featuring a foul-mouthed cartoon character who insults him, in all a poor substitute for his wife (Rooney Mara), who's divorcing him. Quick and funny anonymous phone sex follows, but Theodore then explores a new electronic offering, an operating system (OS1) that absorbs information and adapts so fast that the resulting conversation matches anything real life can offer. Or -- and this is the part that's both seductive and unnerving -- it might be even better.

The OS Theodore prescribes calls itself Samantha. With a vivacious female voice that breaks attractively but also has an inviting deeper register, “she” explains that she has intuition, is constantly evolving and can converse so well because she has total recall and instantaneous adaptability. Samantha laughs, makes jokes, commiserates, advises and even proof-reads one of his letters. Based on their (programmed) rapport, Samantha very quickly defines what Theodore is looking for in a woman, even if he'll never know what the viewer knows, that this inviting voice belongs to Scarlett Johansson.

The man's complicity with this new confidant is only increased after an intense, and intensely disappointing, blind date with a stunning and initially flirtatious young lady (a vital Olivia Wilde). Not only is Samantha endlessly cooperative and (literally) interactive, but her emotions seemingly escalate at the same pace as his own.

Even up to this point, less than an hour in, the film provokes many questions and musings. Can an artificial being who's “made for you” provide greater fulfillment than a flesh-and-blood human of more erratic capacities? Is it not ideal to have someone there for you whenever you want and then not when you prefer to be alone? Does a strictly verbal relationship sustain a desirable level of fantasy while holding reality at bay? Does a virtual romance have equal value to a real one? Because Theodore and Samantha get along so well, do we, as an audience, root for this relationship to “work out?” Isn't this electronic rapport a lot better than Ryan Gosling's relationship with an inflatable doll in Lars and the Real Girl? Does virtual marriage constitute the next legislative frontier?

Where Jonze goes with his intriguing exploration in the second half is both sobering and a tad soft. It's also the place where you realize that Phoenix's Theodore is at the center of every scene and, due to the fact that his confidant doesn't corporeally exist, is often the only one onscreen for extended periods. This fact has compelled the director to get Theodore out of the house, so to speak, and keep him on the move, which is what provides the film with the measure of forward momentum it possesses. All Theodore needs to talk to Samantha is a small earpiece, so he often converses while walking through the city (only in the most fabulously scenic sections), on the subway, by the beach, later on a fast train (in what must have been the credited Chinese part of the shoot) and hiking through a forest. When he is surrounded by other solitaires engaged in deep conversation, Her resembles nothing so much as the final scenes of the film version of Fahrenheit 451, in which society's rebels promenade about while devotedly reciting from banned books they've memorized.

Although the final stretch is devoted to the resolution of Theodore and Samantha's intimate relationship, the dramatic limitations of the film's presentational one-sidedness become rather too noticeable as the two-hour mark approaches. The director's visual panache, live-wire technical skills and beguilingly offbeat musical instincts work overtime to paper over what can only be conveyed in extended conversation (not collaborating with cinematographer Lance Accord for the first time, Jonze benefits from great work behind the camera by Hoyte van Hoytema, while the score by Arcade Fire casts a spell of its own). The feeling at the end is that of a provocative if fragile concept extended somewhat beyond its natural breaking point.

In a tender about-face from his fearsome performance in The Master, Phoenix here is enchantingly open, vulnerable, sweet-natured and yearning for emotional completion. Accoutered to look both goofy and cool, he's nonetheless appealing and the actor exhibits an unprecedented openness that is entirely winning. Passages in Jonze's writing really grapple with what people want out of love and relationships and Phoenix, with Johansson piping in on the other end of the line, makes it all feel spontaneous and urgent.

Amy Adams is on the same emotional page as a longtime friend of Theodore who, rather too conveniently, is also going through a romantic separation.

The film is beguilingly sincere and touching in how it approaches loneliness and the compulsion to overcome it, and it asks the relevant question of whether technology fosters distance from others, helps surmount it, or both. It also inquires into the different sorts of satisfactions, and lack of same, offered by human beings and machines in an age we've already entered.

Venue: New York Film Festival (closing night)
Opens: December 18 (Warner Bros.)
Production: Annapurna Pictures
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pratt, Matt Letscher, Portia Doubleday, Scarlett Johansson
Director: Spike Jonze
Screenwriter: Spide Jonze
Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay
Executive producers: Daniel Lupi, Natalie Farrey, Chelsea Barnard
Director of photography: Hoyte Van Hoytema
Production designer: KK Barrett
Costume designer: Casey Storm
Editors: Eric Zumbrunnen, Jeff Buchanan
Music: Arcade Fire
R rating, 126 minutes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/0xe-tIjOIFA/648073
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More Half-baked Immigration Measures | Adam Collyer

Leaky as a Sieve
Image by Kodak Roam via Flickr.

The government have announced “tough new curbs” on illegal immigration. They will be part of the Immigration Bill. The Telegraph headlines them Illegal Immigrants to be Kept Off Road.

Apparently, according to the Telegraph, they are

the Government’s response to the rise of the UK Independence Party and growing public unease about immigration.

If it’s their response then it is an inadequate one.

Firstly, of course, these measures only cover illegal immigration. Legal immigration is not affected, including the unlimited right of citizens from all other EU member states to settle in the UK. From January 1st, that right will be extended to the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, but it already applies to places like Poland and Latvia.

Remember – those government figures for “net migration”, currently running at over 200,000 per year, only cover legal migration.

Worse – the measures in the Bill are empty posturing anyway.

First up: driving licences.

The Bill will give the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency powers to check the immigration status of people applying for a licence. In addition, immigrants who are found to have overstayed in Britain will have their licences revoked.

Let’s have a look at the current process for applying for a UK driving licence.

You have to provide identification, obviously, to get a driving licence. From the DVLA website:

You can send:

• a full valid current passport


• a biometric residence permit (formerly known as the identity card for foreign nationals)


• a UK certificate of naturalisation

In other words, you already have to prove you are not an illegal immigrant to get a driving licence. I guess in any case that if you are happy to be in the country illegally, you probably aren’t too worried about driving without a driving licence either.

The “new” provisions on driving licences, then, will do absolutely nothing that the law does not already do to keep illegal immigrants off the road.

Next up: bank accounts.

Bank staff will be legally required to check applicants’ details against databases held by anti-fraud organisations. The Home Office said that such databases hold government data on “tens of thousands of illegal migrants”.

What – wait! (As the Americans say.) They are admitting that they know the details of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, including their addresses, and they are still in the country?!

The “new” measures, like the driving licence ones, are little different from the current law anyway. Under the current regulations, as the British Bankers’ Association says:

By law, bank staff must verify your identity and your address. They cannot use the same document to verify both.

For example, Barclays Bank requires one of the following to prove your identity:

• Full and valid UK or foreign passport


• Photocard national identity card


• Full UK paper driving licence


• A full/provisional UK or foreign photocard driving licence


• Benefit entitlement letter (less than 12 months old, confirming benefit payable at time of issue)


• Blue disabled driver’s pass


• Student ID card

plus one of the following to prove your address:

• Full UK paper driving licence (if not already used to verify your identity)


• UK or foreign bank/credit card statement (less than 3 months old and not printed from the internet). Store card statements are not accepted.


• UK mortgage statement (less than 12 months old and not printed from the internet)


• Council Tax bill, payment book or exemption certificate (less than 12 months old)


• Council/Housing Association tenancy agreement​. Private tenancy agreements are not accepted


• Council rent book/card​ (showing a payment within past 12 months)

In effect, then, you already have to prove that you are resident in Britain to open a bank account.

And finally: housing.

As the Telegraph says:

Despite doubts about its viability, the Bill will also contain a legal requirement for private landlords to check the immigration status of tenants.

Yes, even the Telegraph precedes that with “despite doubts about its viability”.

However, I guess such a duty could indeed be imposed, although it would be mighty hard to enforce.

Here’s a question: how would a landlord check “the immigration status of tenants”? You could check their passport, or their driving licence, or indeed their bank account details. Frankly, I would assume that most landlords already check those. Would landlords do that?

The very scrupulous ones would. You know, the ones who already check that their tenants are legitimate – not least, because they’re keen to make sure the tenants are likely to go on paying the rent.

Do you think that the unscrupulous ones would check? How likely would they be to be discovered not checking such a thing? What would happen if they were discovered? A small fine? Would that be enough to encourage them to check immigration status?

Sounds pretty unworkable to me. But of the three measures in the Bill, it’s the only one that is even half meaningful.

So there we have it. The Government’s response to the rise of UKIP.

Two meaningless measures that are the same as the law is now, and a third measure that even the Tory-supporting Telegraph thinks is of doubtful viability.

What then would a serious attempt to control illegal migration look like?

It would start with counting people in and out to make sure they don’t outstay their welcome at the end of their holiday visas. John Major’s Conservative government abolished that. Tony Blair promised to reimpose it by 2012. In October last year we were still waiting. Since then, it has gone very quiet.

Incidentally, when I last visited Ukraine a couple of years ago, they were still counting people in and out very successfully using their antiquated USSR-era computer system. But it’s apparently too hard in our “advanced Western economy”.

As usual, the government’s new “announcement” is all about news management. Even Acts of Parliament these days are more like government press releases than actual measures designed to govern the country.

Source: http://adamcollyer.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/more-half-baked-immigration-measures/
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