Challenge16 – Ride the Bike, Drive the Change!

Arena365 and Plant A Tree, Denmark have launched a free biking campaign called Challenge16 – Ride the Bike, Drive the Change!

The campaign aims at making people and the world healthier by challenging people to use their bike instead of the car in everyday movements. Everybody can actively participate in the free campaign and help put pressure on politicians at COP16 in Mexico.

For every 16 new members who join challenge16.com or challenge16.dk, a new tree will be planted. Moreover, it’s  also possible to turn the cycled kilometres into trees, and all you have to do is to register the biked kilometres at the campaign site.

The more you bike, the more trees we plant!

Join Challenge16.com now and make a  difference for the environment!

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New features at Arena365.com

New features have arrived at Arena365.com and this time, we have especially given the arenas a boost. The following list gives you a quick overview over the latest development.

Links in arenas

It is now possible to make a ’link-list’ in the arenas. This feature makes it quick and easy to go to other websites that are related to the arena – for example, infosport, the weather forecast or maybe youtube. You can create links under ’Edit settings’ and they will be displayed in the arena overview page right under the description.

Files in arenas

Files and documents like summary of a match, game plans or driving directions can now be uploaded to the arena, so all the important information is gathered in one place. The files have their own tab in the arenas, where you can upload your files and see them displayed.

Optimizing events

• Time of meeting for events

The starting time of an event is not necessarily the same as the time of meeting for the teammates of an arena. Therefore, we have added time of meeting’ in connection with the creation of an event. The specific  time of meeting is shown in the event together with its other information.

• Repeated events

Now, it is even easier to set up repeated events like the weekly practice or training. For example, you can select specific weekdays, where an event takes place and the setting of an end date for a repeated event is much clearer.

• Deleting repeated events

If you have tried to create a repeated event, but forgotten to set a correct end date, then you would probably appreciate this optimization. Now, it is even easier to delete a repeated event. By few clicks you can choose to delete the whole series or just one of the repeated events.

New activity mail

As you probably have noticed, we have sent out an activity email every week. The email contains news from your network, so you are always up to date with what your friends and teammates have been up to. You can choose to receive a daily activity email or to not receive it at all. This option is right here: http://arena365.com/My/NotificationSettings

Error correction

We have also corrected small errors – for example, we made more useful error pages if you try to get access to a deleted item like an event or a blog post.

However, if you stumble upon more errors or peculiarities when you use Arena365.com, you are more than welcome to let us know, so we can fix it. Share your ideas, wishes or criticism at our Get-Satisfaction-service or via feedback@arena365.com.

Living by numbers

Having a healthy and active lifestyle is an important goal for an increasing number of persons. In spite of the good intentions, motivation is one of the biggest obstacles to stay fit or to get in shape and the reason why people never get started.

According to health authorities, adults should be active no less than 210 minutes a week, which correspond to 30 minutes of activity every day. However, a busy everyday-life is not easily combined with sport and fitness and therefore, the poor excuses often set the agenda.

Then, how do we boost the motivation?

One of the possibilities is to register physical activities and results and share them with you network. Be it miles ran, hours played or repetitions made it can all be transformed into data, that can be shared with peers, friends and teammates.

In the US, it is called “living by numbers”, in sociology it is called “observer’s effect” and in science it is referred to as “peer reviews”.

Showing results and achievements to likeminded or people who care for you is a tremendously strong motivator. Not just for you, but for everybody who sees it. Likewise, the network can help, inspire and support each other, when the physical data are visible.

At Arena365.com, our ambition is to motivate people to be more active. For that reason we have incorporated the “observer’s effect” not just in the core concept but also in many of the actual features. Luckily, at lot of the feedback we have received stresses that it does get easier to get going when you see other people being active.

In the July issue, Wired Magazine focused on the “living by numbers” effect. The issue is extremely interesting and can definitely be recommended. We are also keen on knowing how the “observer’s effect” affects you and how we can incorporate it even better into the platform.

Bearing this in mind, I will bike to work every day next week and register it at Arena365 –anybody joining?

Let’s go

The starting signal has sounded. We have launched Arena365.com today; we are online, live and ready to go!We would like to help you live a healthier and more active life and we want to make it easier and much more fun. That is one of our primary objectives. That is why we have created Arena365.com.

Arena365.com is all about sport and active living – it is actually the combination of a sporty toolbox and a social network. We provide features to handle some of the practical aspects an active life is facing. Aspects like planning, communicating and keeping track of all your sports activities. At the same time we would like to extend the relationship you have with your friends, family, training partners and teammates because we know that your network is one of the key factors to keep you motivated.

We have tried to make Arena365.com as easy, effective and holistic as possible. We represent more than 100 sports so you can use it whether you are into team oriented or individual sports. Likewise, it does not matter whether you are organized in clubs and associations or informally meeting up once in a while. And we have tried to bridge the gap between offline and online life and activities.

After more than a year of planning, developing, testing and optimizing, the launch of Arena365 today is a great victory for us. We are not nearly done yet, but we made it so far.

Anyway, we would love for you to try Arena365.com out and give us your feedback, comments and ideas. We are always looking for new and better ways to make Arena365.com and active living easier and more fun!