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Genetic reports are hugely popular right now. People are turning to companies like Ancestry.com to determine their ethnic background, and to see if they have relatives they’ve never met. It’s appealing because it informs your identity, and the process is not complicated or expensive. You can do the test from the comfort of your own home.
So what do you get in a genetic report?
AncestryDNA’s reports will show a breakdown of your ethnicity, according to its list of 26 ethnic regions. Since so many people have migrated over the centuries, your actual ethnic mix can look very different from what you assume it to be (based on links to your closest relatives). For example, let’s say your actual DNA includes Iberian, Western European and Polynesian roots, even though your Mom might be 4th generation Texan and your Dad is from Hawaii. You can get a clearer picture of your true roots that go back generations, so your ethnic mix will likely surprise you.
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Walmart is expanding its reach into the online fashion space with its latest acquisition of ModCloth, a young, hip online clothing retailer popular with 18-35 year-old women.
ModCloth gained popularity by offering unique designs and exclusive fashion, shoes, handbags and accessories that cater to different body types. The company is one of the largest online fashion retailers in the world, with an engaged community and strong social media following, thanks to its pioneering approach of promoting “size diversity, lifestyle inclusiveness and body positivity since it was founded in 2002,” according to its website.
ModCloth offers an extensive catalog of items, from national brands to independent designers to private label apparel. They have one physical store in Austin, Texas, where customers can meet one-on-one with stylists.
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More people are saying goodbye to their gym memberships than ever before – and turning to the Internet for help with their fitness routines.
An article in Entrepreneur Magazine pointed towards the trend in online fitness programs. For many, joining an online fitness program is not only cheaper, but it’s much more convenient. Instead of driving to and from the gym and trying to fit in certain classes or a workout with a trainer, online fitness programs offer home-based workouts and flexible time schedules.
A previous article in The Guardian also pointed to this trend. The gym dropout rate within the first eight weeks of joining a gym is about 80%. Many people just stop going when they can’t form a consistent plan that works with a busy or changing schedule. And when they do manage to get there, they often don’t know what equipment or techniques to employ to achieve the results they want without also hiring a personal trainer, which can get very expensive, very quickly.
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In February, a major security bug was found to have affected over 3,400 websites, including popular services like Uber, FitBit, and OkCupid. Usernames and passwords were leaked onto the Internet, mostly in cached pages from corrupted sites. The bug had been leaking sensitive information since September, according to an article in CNET.
The problem was discovered by Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy, who noticed the bug in a widely used tool provided by Cloudflare that was meant to help manage and protect internet traffic. He nicknamed the bug “Cloudbleed” after the bug “Heartbleed,” another major breach in mobile security that was exposed in 2014.
According to Ormandy, the security breach included other sensitive information besides exposed emails and passwords, such as "private messages from major dating sites, full messages from a well-known chat service, online password manager data, frames from adult video sites, and hotel bookings," according to his report.
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Diet companies come and go depending on the latest fad, but Weight Watchers is a weight loss industry giant, and continues to evolve with its customers’ needs as it has since its founding in the 1960’s. In recent years however, the company has made some bold moves to stay relevant, such as hiring Oprah Winfrey as a spokesperson and restructuring corporate management. The question on the minds of many Weight Watchers investors is: will these moves help boost memberships and give the company a fresh image?
Weight Watchers released its much-anticipated fourth quarter and full year 2016 fiscal report, and it looks like the moves are paying off with membership and revenues growing.
According to the fiscal report, memberships in the last quarter of 2016 were up 10.1% versus the prior year period. Q4 2016 Meetings “paid week” memberships increased 9.6%, and online paid weeks increased 10.5%. These gains were led by growth in North America where Total Paid Weeks (meetings and online) grew 13.2% in Q4 2016. Total paid weeks for 2016 (Jan-Dec) were up 5.5% vs. the previous year.
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Online Fitness has become popular in recent years, thanks to celebrity teachers and the convenience of working out from the comfort of home. More and more people are dumping their gym memberships in favor of using an online platform, which not only allows access to specific classes at any time, but is often much cheaper than paying that monthly membership fee.
The problem? Many people using online fitness programs lose motivation after a few months. After all, there’s no accountability – who is going to pay attention if you cut your routine short by ten minutes, or skip those crunches?
BurnAlong aims to change that. Its founders saw the lack of motivation in the online fitness world (which leads to less-than-satisfying results), and decided to change the game by allowing users to invite friends to work out with them.
