Co-founder Alex Eberts ( @AlexEberts ) and CFO Mark McLeod ( @startupcfo ) are both in Austin, Texas this weekend for SxSW 2010 to promote the launch of the new Akoha.

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a huge event combining three components - interactive, film and music. Known foremost for the music festival portion, it has grown over the years and attracts numerous attendees to each portion of the event. Twitter launched at SxSW Interactive in 2007.

We have a set of SxSW-specific missions that you can play in order to meet new people, discover new things to do in Austin, and have fun.

Sign up today on http://akoha.com to get your set of SxSW2010 missions, and enjoy the event!

We’ll be announcing new updates, missions and features on Twitter, so make sure to follow @Akoha

New missions released today:

• “Morning Fuel” : What gets you going in the morning? Share your favorite breakfast food.
• “Colors of the Rainbow” : Take the picture of a rainbow
• “It’s a Rainy Day” : Go out and sing in the rain!

Also, look out for new gifts appearing shortly

Have fun!

ps. Co-founder Alex Eberts will be making a TV appearance tonight on Webnation with MacArthur ( @ambermac ) on CP24.

We’ve received amazing feedback since the release of the new Akoha - thank you for taking the time to reach out!

I’d like to take the time to clarify some of the changes we have made.

REDESIGNED AND IMPROVED

Easier playing of missions : The move to smart phones and away from the physical cards reflects the fact that so many people now have smart phones. The old code & card system was based much more on a lowest common denominator (SMS & Codes) approach – but the cards were a friction point that made it harder to share Akoha with friends.

A platform for people to discover fun and meaning: our previous mission system was entirely based on the pay it forward model, which we learned created a sense of obligation at times on recipients. We always wanted to create Akoha as a means of sharing opportunities for fun & meaning - not create obligation. The changes to the mission system reflect an improvement on that.

HAVING MORE FUN

We wanted to make sure our players and mission content reflected our own sense of fun, discovery and play. Being happy, having fun and getting out from behind your computer into the real world to have experiences with your friends and city didn’t come through enough with the focus on just the “doing good” missions.

Thus, we introduced such missions as:

• “A Way with Words” : Photograph the word “LOVE”
• “Teach Me” : Write four adjectives about the teacher who inspired you
• “Lost in the Dessert” : Treat a friend to the most decadent dessert
• “Patron of the Arts” : Find creative ways to support your local artists

Although not necessarily confined to only good social actions, the Akoha missions now give you an excuse to try new experiences, to explore and discover the world around you, and to have fun with friends. We believe that people doing fun, meaningful & playful things on a regular basis will make their lives happier.

STAYING ON COURSE

The original mission of the company remains the same, how can we make millions of peoples lives more meaningful and fun. How we are accomplishing that mission is and will continue to be a process of evolution.

We hope you give the new Akoha a try. Let us know what you think!

Dear Akoha friends,

We have important news to announce. We’re finally ready to wrap up our open beta testing phase. Since our launch at Techcrunch50 in September 2008, thousands of missions have been played in over 67 countries. From helping a neighbor who had lost their house to a fire, to making a lifetime-lasting friendship from a simple coffee shop invitation, these missions have touched many more thousands around the world.
These missions were a source of inspiration for our team, and your feedback has been invaluable in shaping the future of Akoha. On behalf of the team, we would like to offer you my most heartfelt gratitude.

The New Website
We’re happy to announce a new phase at Akoha. Based on lessons learned during our beta, we redesigned and improved the player experience.

The new Akoha is a fantastic way to add a little more awesome to your life. Our new direction is based on the idea that it’s the special little moments that make life awesome. From the smile of a stranger to a surprise gift, Akoha can turn an ordinary moment into something awesome. The new Akoha will make it easier to have fun, to be spontaneous and to discover new and interesting things to do.

Although we will be officially launching the new Akoha to coincide with SxSW in Austin, Texas, we’ve decided to rollout the website ahead of schedule to give you a chance to try out the improved Akoha experience firsthand. We’re excited to get your feedback!

Going Mobile
A huge component of the new Akoha experience lies in the mobile space. Along with the new website, we are simultaneously launching the Akoha iPhone application. Using your mobile phone, you can now easily capture the moment when completing real-world missions. This vastly improves real-world playability and makes it a breeze to record missions.

Although our initial launch focuses on the iPhone, we are looking into expanding to other mobile environments in the near future.

What happens to my current account?
As of March 9th, 2010, we will reserve all user login information in the new Akoha. You’ll be able to log onto the new website using your same username and password. The current Akoha as you know it will be transferred over to http://historical.akoha.com for a period of three months before being shutdown.

We understand that this may feel like the end of something. Many of you have put a lot of time and effort into your missions. We hope you have felt rewarded by the joy and happiness you have spread, and by the positive reactions from the recipients of your missions. Our intention was never to replace real-world interactions, but to encourage people to go out and play, and you’ve done so admirably. We hope you continue with us on this new stage of the Akoha journey.

SxSW
Co-founder Alex Eberts will be at SXSW starting March 12 to promote the new Akoha - we encourage you to spread the word!


Thank you for your time.
Gratefully,
The Akoha Team

Dear Akoha players,

Thank you for making the past year a wonderful journey. From our beta launch at TechCrunch50 to our visit to TED2009, we’ve been inspired by your stories of playing-it-forward.

We’ve witnessed missions spanning 65 countries including:

Greece, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Chile, Netherlands, Canada, Malta, South Africa, Norway, Ireland, Indonesia, Senegal, United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Romania, India, Turkey, Japan.

From missions confirmed in America to Asia, we’ve been humbled by the dedication demonstrated by you and other players who took the idea of “playing-it-forward” to heart and have spread the gift of kindness.

Thank you.

A Look into The Future

Akoha was founded with the goal of making it fun for people to change the world, one small act at a time. Since we launched the beta site at Techcrunch in September 2008 we’ve learned many invaluable lessons through several months of testing with our beta community. There’s no doubt that we have many more lessons to learn in the months ahead but we feel that we’ve made great progress from where we started and everyday we’re a step closer to our goal.

As the new year approaches, there is a renewed sense of excitement at the Akoha offices and we can’t wait to be able to share some amazing new features with you in 2010. With that in mind, we have a major announcement today:

Akoha play is going virtual. After listening to the community for the past year, we’ve come to the conclusion that physical cards make playing Akoha more difficult than necessary. From the cards being forgotten at home, lost in the bottom of a backpack or eaten by the dog, your feedback to us is that mission cards interfere with the primary goal of Akoha: to use the power of play to make the world a better place. While the mission of Akoha will stay the same we are hard at work exploring new ways to make Akoha faster, easier, and more fun to play.

What does this mean to you, the player? You will no longer need to buy a deck in order to play. In fact, we are discontinuing deck sales as of Dec. 3rd. If you have cards on hand, you will still be able to play them; however, we will no longer be accepting orders at the Akoha store after Dec. 3rd. For new players and new missions in beta, you’ll be able to skip the purchase process and simply print out mission cards (or use the Mission ID) to play.

Akoha beta is now open to the public. We hope that by making Akoha open to everyone it will encourage more people to jump in and give it a try resulting in many more acts of kindness around the world. The goal of Akoha has always been to make it fun to have a positive impact on the world, and we believe that this takes us a step in the right direction.

Akoha is evolving. In parallel with Akoha play going completely virtual, we are cranking up the development gears again. Based on your valuable feedback, we are actively working to improve the player experience to make it easier for you to complete missions, create positive experiences with friends, and to share your experience with the rest of your network. Stay tuned as we release some exciting new features in 2010!

What do I do if I bought cards and have not played them yet? For those who have purchased decks, we would like to thank you for your support during our beta phase. We continue to support all physical cards actually in distribution.

This Holiday Season

Finally, if you had planned on gifting Akoha decks this holiday season, our team offers these suggestions for the holiday season:

1. Donate children’s books (http://roomtoread.org)

2. Donate a tree (http://www.treesforlife.org/)

3. Make a micro-loan (http://kiva.org)

4. Endow a scholarship (http://educationgeneration.org/)