Mindbloom Upgrades Relationship Life Areas to Inspire Everyone’s Inner Cupid Every Day

New experts, relationship tips, inspirational reminders and thoughtful suggested actions now available for iPhone apps JUICE and Bloom, as well as the Mindbloom Life Game to inspire healthy relationships

Seattle, WA, February 6, 2013 – With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Mindbloom wants to inspire relationships to be celebrated and improved on every day, whether it’s with a partner, parent, child, sibling or friend. To help accomplish this, Mindbloom (www.mindbloom.com) today announced the expansion of its life improvement content for relationships across all its interactive health apps to inspire people with relevant tips, actions and resources. Three new relationship experts have joined Mindbloom’s growing partner network of experts to help create the inspirational content:  John Gray, Ph.D., best-selling relationship author of all-time with 18 books—including The New York Times #1 Best-Selling Book of the last decade, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus; Arielle Ford, love expert, leader in personal growth and contemporary spirituality, and author of current relationship bestseller Wabi Sabi Love; and Dr. Barton Goldsmith, award winning psychotherapist, syndicated columnist of Emotional Fitness and radio host.

Mindbloom’s applications JUICE, Bloom and Life Game, combine the principles of behavioral science and gaming mechanics with the knowledge of notable experts and bestselling authors to make life improvement simple, fun and effective every day. Ford, Goldsmith and Gray bring tremendous relationship expertise to Mindbloom’s highly respected expert partner network, which already includes Shawn Achor (author of international best-seller The Happiness Advantage), Patricia Bannan (registered dietitian and author specializing in nutrition and health communications), Brett Blumenthal, (bestselling author of 52 Small Changes and, just released, A Whole New You), Lori Deschene (founder of Tiny Buddha and author of Tiny Buddha and the Tiny Wisdom eBook Series), Keri Gans (registered dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet), Brian Johnson (author of A Philosopher’s Notes and chief philosopher at en*theos) and M.J. Ryan (one of the creators of the New York Times bestselling Random Acts of Kindness series and the author of The Happiness Makeover).

“The upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday is a wonderful day to let people know you care about them, but strong relationships require small actions every day regardless of how busy we are to truly blossom,” said John Gray, Ph.D., who’s latest book, Venus on Fire, Mars on Ice: Hormonal Balance – The Key to Life, Love and Energy, combines his 30 years as a relationship therapist with extensive new health research to explain the connection between your hormones and relationships. “Mindbloom offers a great way for people to get inspired to take a quick break from hectic schedules to nurture their relationship little by little everyday. These simple actions matter, allowing us to keep our relationships top of mind everyday and not just one day a year.”

Relationships Matter: The Mindbloom Apps that Inspire Your Life and Now Your Inner Cupid
In JUICE, Mindbloom’s recently announced free energy tracking app, ‘Relationships’ has been added as a new life ingredient to help users discover daily relationship habits that could be impacting their personal energy. Similar to JUICE’s earned ingredients of life balance, mood and stress, the relationship ingredient becomes available as users earn credits for tracking daily behaviors in the areas of nutrition, sleep, and exercise. In Juice, playful interactions within the app make the experience of recording and discovering habits fun, including offering a lighthearted visual sliding scale to quickly and easily rate and reflect on that day’s behaviors. For example, the new relationship scale ranges from ‘awful’ (a dog and a cat in the throws of battle) to ‘great’ (a dog and cat in a full embrace demonstrating love and affection). Personal and relevant relationship tips will then be offered based on the users input to encourage users to improve choices and behaviors that are problematic and favorite tips can be saved or scheduled as reminders. Some expert actions included are: “Do an altruistic act” by Shawn Achor, “Pull in positive people” by Brett Blumenthal, and “Stay in the present with your relationships” by Lori Deschene. Throughout the month of February, users can get the new relationship ingredient immediately with the promo code: love4all. Check out the video to how see how JUICE works.

In Mindbloom’s popular app Bloom, which uses images and music to inspire people to live their life to its fullest potential, new Blooms authored by Mindbloom and its team of experts will be promoted in February in the Bloom Shop and are designed to spark positive change in interpersonal connections. Examples include “Let go of grudges” by M.J. Ryan and “Be open to romance” by Dr. Barton Goldsmith. Blooms are digital inspirational reminders that use rich media and captions to motivate people to do the important things in life one might never put on a to-do list. Blooms can be viewed privately or shared publicly on Facebook, Twitter or email to inspire or encourage friends and family. In addition to offering expert-created relationship Blooms, users are encouraged to create their own Blooms with their personal photos, music and favorite sayings. These Blooms can be used to stir positive action in relationships or across other life areas; such as, lifestyle, spirituality, career, creativity, finances, and health. Check out the video to see how Bloom works.

The Mindbloom Life Game, which makes it fun for people to define what’s important, discover what motivates them, and take meaningful daily actions in all areas of their life, is also getting a relationship upgrade. Suggested actions by Mindbloom experts have been added and will be featured for the month of February, such as “Rejoice in the success of a friend” by M.J. Ryan and “Stop trying to prove yourself to others” by Lori Deschene, founder of TinyBuddha.com. Using the metaphor of a Life Tree as a visual representation of a user’s priorities and progress in life, members are encouraged to grow the life they want by scheduling and completing simple actions that earn them sun, rain, seeds and awards. To date, users have followed through on millions of actions, including hundreds of thousands of personally created and expert suggested actions within the Life Game to improve their relationships. By integrating the new relationship content within the Life Game, members will be even more inspired to keep their Life Tree green and achieve their personal relationship goals. Check out the video to see how the Life Game works.

Mindbloom will actively promote the new relationship content in February across all its applications, as well as work with all its experts to offer seasonal and timely interactive health content to deeply engage users and motivate change across all areas of life throughout the year. Check out infographic titled “Top Ways We Relate” to see the top relationship actions and tips added by Mindbloom’s users to improve their relationships.

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About Mindbloom:
Mindbloom is a Seattle-based interactive media company that’s out to make life improvement accessible to everyone. By harnessing next-generation engagement techniques and focusing users on personal growth, Mindbloom has created a fun, simple, and effective way for people to improve the quality of their lives.  To start living a healthier and more balanced life, visit: www.mindbloom.com. You can also find Mindbloom on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mindbloom or on Twitter at @mindbloom.

Mindbloom and their respective logos are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Mindbloom. Other products and company names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:
Michele Mehl
Buzz Builders for Mindbloom
425-205-9444
michele@buzzbuilders.net

Relationships in Action

Among Mindbloom life improvement areas, Relationships is second only to Health in terms of personal development commitments and completions. Some of the most popular relationship actions are those created and shared by our users within the Mindbloom community. These actions are highlighted in our latest infographic below, starring a cast of characters now found in the new relationships assessment ingredient of Juice–the world’s funnest energy tracker (iOS app).

Can Smartphone Apps Break Your Bad Habits?

January 28, 2013
Mashable | Jill Krasny

Juice was the clear winner of the experiment

At 8 a.m. my smartphone alarm goes off, nearly jolting me out of bed. It displays a short message: “Aim for 30 minutes of exercise today.” Craving another hour of sleep, I duck under the covers, but immediately that thought is replaced by another: “You know, this app actually has a point.” Five minutes later, I’m in my sneakers and out the door.

Juice is one of the apps I downloaded as part of my three-week long experiment to see if my smartphone could help me change my bad habits. I wanted to be fitter, more energetic and more social. I also wanted to eat better and stop spacing out on what I wanted to see at the movies. Read this article.

 

Mindbloom Hires Xbox, msnbc.com and InfoSpace Technology Veteran to Lead Product Development and Technology

Travis McElfresh named CTO, VP of Product Development & Engineering as Mindbloom focuses on meeting growing demand for its interactive health mobile and web applications

Seattle, WA, January 24, 2013 – With over half-a-million people having benefited from its interactive health applications, Mindbloom today announced that Travis McElfresh joins the company as chief technology officer (CTO) and vice president of product development and engineering. Following the growing demand for Mindbloom’s applications, including Life Game, which focuses on making life improvement fun, Bloom, which uses images and music to inspire productivity, and the new personal energy tracking app JUICE, McElfresh will help Mindbloom continue to inspire people to live healthier lives by bringing new products to market, rapidly expand its interactive health gaming platform and scaling engineering operations with innovative technology and processes.

“Mindbloom has discovered the secret ingredient for making the process of getting healthier fun, helping every day consumers facilitate positive behavior changes and Travis is going to help us get to the next level,” said Chris Hewett, Mindbloom’s founder and executive producer. “As we continue to push ourselves to integrate technology, art and behavioral science in innovative ways, Travis’s expertise in driving the strategy and execution for product development, engineering and IT operations will give us an even stronger edge in advancing how consumers use Mindbloom to enhance their own health and wellness.”

Hewett, a former executive producer for Monolith Productions who developed blockbuster hits such as No One Lives Forever, Tron 2.0, and F.E.A.R. and Brent Poole, an early member of the Amazon team, co-founded Mindbloom in 2008 and have bootstrapped the company ever since. On the heels of its recent iOS JUICE app launch as the ‘World’s Funnest Energy Tracker’ and increasing popularity of all its apps,  McElfresh’s background will help drive Mindbloom’s product execution and go-to-market strategy creating a highly successful series of innovative multi-platform mobile health applications that engage consumers to live healthier lives and reach their personal goals.

Prior to joining Mindbloom, McElfresh was the CTO and head of new products and business groups for InfoSpace, where he was responsible for product incubation, technical strategy, and revitalizing the company’s product and technology organizations, platforms and IT strategy. While at InfoSpace, McElfresh also co-founded SitterScout.com, which offers a mobile solution for parents to find babysitters through their online social networks as well as book baby sitters more efficiently. From 2003 to 2008, McElfresh served as the vice president of technology for msnbc.com during the pivotal joint venture between NBC and Microsoft where he led the technology direction that supported 100 million unique users per month, 1.3 billion pages per month and reached $120 million in revenues in 2008.  Before joining msnbc.com, McElfresh was a lead program manager and group manager at Xbox, where he directed the Xbox.com platform and helped Microsoft beat PlayStation and Nintendo to market with the first web-to-console user account integration by integrating Xbox.com and Xbox Live services user profiles. McElfresh also served as CTO and vice president of product and engineering for 1Cast.com, a mobile news video content platform, where he led the product and engineering efforts to deliver the 1Cast platform experience to mobile, TV and desktop clients including iPhone, Android, Yahoo! TV, Boxee, Blackberry, Mac and PC.  McElfresh has his MBA from University of Washington and BA from Whitman College.

“Mindbloom is on the cutting edge of helping a very large, and rapidly growing, segment of Gen X and Y consumers who have grown up with games as entertainment, and are now embracing technology to further develop their health, relationships, careers, and finances,” said McElfresh. “It’s an amazing time to join the company and I look forward to helping the team find even more innovative ways to leverage the power of technology, social networks, and the science of games to create powerful and engaging products that facilitate people’s desire to improve all aspects of their whole life.”

# # #

About Mindbloom:
Mindbloom is a Seattle-based interactive media company that’s out to make life improvement accessible to everyone. By harnessing next-generation engagement techniques and focusing users on personal growth, Mindbloom has created a fun, simple, and effective way for people to improve the quality of their lives.  To start living a healthier and more balanced life, visit: www.mindbloom.com. You can also find Mindbloom on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mindbloom or on Twitter at @mindbloom.

Mindbloom and their respective logos are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Mindbloom. Other products and company names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:
Michele Mehl
Buzz Builders for Mindbloom
425-205-9444
michele@buzzbuilders.net

6 Apps You Must Download for Better Health in 2013

January 14, 2013
Diets In Review.com | Samantha Bandasack

…Juice is a fun app to help you connect the dots between your daily habits and personal energy levels. Use Juice for seven days, record daily energy levels, then start making connections between sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Juice gives a personalized assessment with tips for feeling more energized. The more you use the app the more you learn about yourself and become more familiar with your body. You can also record other daily habits by adding categories like stress, life balance, and mood. Ditch the energy drinks and download Juice instead! Cost: Free… Read this article. 

Forbes Pronounces 2013 The Year of Digital Health

January 2, 2013
Forbes | John Nosta

“…The value of the digital health revolution to healthcare and wellness is almost immeasurable. Currently, innovations outpace applications and the future seems almost redefined on a daily basis. But out of this creative chaos will emerge a profound transformation of healthcare that will make the vision of Star Trek and Fantastic Voyage seem almost mundane.” Read this article.

Mindbloom Is a Fun, Inspiring Game to Help You Work Towards Your Goals and Change Your Life

December 31, 2012
About.com | Melanie Pinola

There are lots of great apps for setting and tracking your goals or managing your tasks. If you want a more holistic view of the changes you want to see across all areas of your life, give the Mindbloom Life Game a try.

It’s a fun and free web “game” to “grow the life you want” across your career, health, relationships, finances, creativity, and spirituality. All it takes is a few minutes to set up the areas of your life you want to focus on and grow that metaphorical tree of your life with suggested actions. Read this article.

 

Download the latest in health apps

December 29, 2012
StarTribune (originating from Washington Post)

Several smartphone applications aim to track your behaviors, encourage better habits and generally improve well-being…

Juice: The self-proclaimed “World’s Funnest Energy Tracker” really is fun. The cartoony interface helps keep tabs on your sleep, exercise and nutrition. Were you an “awful” eater today? Tap the plate of junk food. Daily tips aim to boost results over time (free, for the iPhone)….Read this article.

5 apps for shaping up your health habits in the new year

December 26, 2012
GigaOm | Ki Mae Heussner

It’s easier said than done to stick to New Year’s resolutions for getting more sleep, exercising regularly or undertaking any other health-related routine. But a growing set of apps help people improve habits through activity tracking, design and networking with communities of peers or experts. Read this article featuring Mindbloom’s Juice and bloom*!