By far, out of all seven of last week’s challenges, the cold shower challenge caused the most debate, garnered the most comments, if you ask Darius, it was the most challenging; and if you ask his girlfriend/videographer, it was by far the most FUN (to film, anyway).  

I have to be honest: I tried it this morning after my workout and failed miserably. Lasting all but 30 seconds, I switched to hot water until just before getting out. Rather than cold, though, I was a big baby and opted for cool water. I did my best and I’m looking to try this challenge out again when it’s a little warmer out.

Darius! You’re my hero!

So did any of you try the cold shower challenge? Were you the superstar Do Gooder like D or did you do what you could at the time, like me? What did you think of this extreme challenge, and please tell us: would you like to see more?

It’s release day and the team is stoked about the new features that have gone live today. It’s been a very busy and productive 11 days since our Beta 1.2 release so I hope you’re all enjoying the new release. In case you haven’t spotted all the new tidbits around the site, this post will give you an overview of exactly what we worked on as well as what’s to come. As always, we need your feedback to keep improving, so don’t be afraid to hit that big blue Comments link at the bottom of the post!

Get the full scoop after the jump!

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Our sincerest apologies, Do Gooders! This morning each of us opened our email boxes and were absolutely horrified to find this morning’s challenge email reminder was sent out FIVE times! Please believe us that this was unintentional.

What happened? Well, from our initial investigation it seems that our hosting company was doing server maintenance last night. For some reason, the process we use to send the daily emails out to you was multiplied… not once, twice, but five times! We regret this unfortunate incident and our Chief Architect, Luciano, is on the phone right now to make certain this does not happen again.

We hope this unpleasant circumstance has not tainted your experience with Daily Challenge and that you will continue to do your one good, daily, with us. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Genuinely,

The Daily Challenge Team

You are the Daily Challenge life blood. So we want your opinion on an idea that we’ve been throwing around. How would you like to know ahead of time the type of challenge you can expect on each day of the week?

This is the category schedule we’re considering:

Sunday: Home. The weekend is perfect to do things around the house. We figured Sundays might work well for challenges that help improve you and your home to reflect more eco-friendly and self-sustainable living.

Monday: Work. Gearing up for the work week ahead, why not take on a challenge that might enhance your work life and workplace?

Tuesday: Health. With last weekend firmly behind you and a four days before the next one rolls around, we thought Tuesdays would be fabulous for health-related challenges. This way you have some time to heal before you have your fun again.

Wednesday: Environment. Hump days are usually a drag and so we thought we’d make these our green challenge days to help brighten up your mid-week blues. Nature and taking care of her always cheers us up.

Thursday: Relationships. The weekend is nearing and what better time to solidify your relationships than Thursdays? I mean, you’ll be getting in touch with them anyway to make plans, why not spread a little kindness at the same time?

Friday: Extreme Challenge Day. Ok, this one has got to be our favourite! Fridays are the days to let loose steam from the pressure cooker you were during the week. Let it loose with an extreme challenge! These are crazy challenges for those who are ready to make a BIG difference in one shot. For an example, check out this video of Darius taking a cold shower.

Saturday: Community. The first day of the weekend, Saturdays you’re usually still buzzing from the week. Having loads of energy to expend, we thought these are perfect days for challenges that encourage us all to get out into our communities and do what we can to make them better for everyone.

So what do you think, Do Gooders? Let us know and leave a comment below!

This was due to the fact that we have never gotten so much slack for a challenge before. Yes we realize it is the middle of November and this challenge was probably much better suited for August, but Do Gooders are a bit crazy anyways and can have fun doing any challenge.

Hope you enjoy the video!

P.S. This is obviously not a professional production so my apologize for the poor quality.

It’s been a while since Daily Challenge has been up and running, and as time goes on we keep adding more and more features to the site. So, as we continue to grow, we thought it would be a good idea to release some screencasts (or video tutorials) to help you get acquainted with how things work. The screencasts also aim to help new Do Gooders find their way around - a 2 minute Daily Challenge crash course, if you will.

I’ll try to release a few of these periodically, but for now, here are two new screencasts that cover some of the basic activities you can expect to be engaged in on Daily Challenge.

Your feedback is welcome! These are the first two screencasts I’ve ever done, so be kind.

Enjoy!

How to become a Do Gooder

How to accept, complete and submit challenges

PS - Sorry for the quality of the videos! I assure you they looked a lot crisper before YouTube’s compression.

The world’s largest blog solely focused on social networks, Mashable.com, presents the 2nd annual Open Web Awards. And guess who’s been nominated!? Whoo Hoo!

The Open Web Awards is “the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories. This year, we’re partnering with over 100 blog partners, Poll Daddy for extra security and ease of voting and extending the nominations period and voting rounds for greater participation.”

You can nominate your favourite website until this Sunday, November 16th 2008. The sites with the most nominations will make it to the second round and will be featured on Mashable’s homepage.

If you love Daily Challenge, please take 30 seconds to nominate us here:

http://www.dailychallenge.org/openwebawards.php

Just type in your email address, check your email and click on the link to confirm your nomination. That’s it!

Thanks to all who have already nominated Daily Challenge - and to all those who will!

Last week KillerStartups.com surprised us all by randomly finding Daily Challenge and posting a review of the site. We’re proud to announce that it was a positive appraisal, especially considering it was for our first, unsolicited review!

Here’s my favourite part:

“I realized that if you want to add a drop of loving kindness to the world, this site is exactly what you need. It doesn’t matter if it is just a tiny drop - sometimes, a little is more than enough.”

KillerStartups.com readers are encouraged to vote on their favourite sites (Daily Challenge has 24 votes so far). The website describes itself as, “a user driven internet startups community. Entrepreneurs, investors, and bloggers are staying informed on up-and-coming internet startups using our blog platform, where internet entrepreneurs submit their startup to see what others think about it.”

Why not visit KillerStartups.com and check out their review for yourself?

http://www.killerstartups.com/Social-Networking/dailychallenge-org-walking-on-sunshine

While you’re there, and if you’re feelin’ the love, let the website know how you feel and vote for Daily Challenge!

Google is giving away $2M each to 5 world-changing ideas in their Project 10 to the 100th contest. We think Daily Challenge has the potential to positively impact the world so it made sense to enter!

Here is our 30 second video submission

If it inspires you:

• Pass it on to your friends!
• Go to YouTube and comment on it (let’s get Google’s attention!)
• Become a Do Gooder, sign up for free - Start Now!

So you want to join Daily Challenge but you’re unsure of the reaction you’ll get when you try do something nice for someone. Will they even believe you when you say you don’t want anything in return?

For this reason, we went undercover to film one of our members performing a Daily Challenge. Here’s a 2 minute video of Jon Carlo completing the challenge, “Buy the person behind you in line their coffee”:

To find out more about Daily Challenge:

• Read About Us
• Learn How to Use the Site
• Become a Do Gooder, sign up for free!