Spreading Holiday Cheers

Cheers, the world's happiest iPhone app, spreads holiday happiness

In early 2012, iPhone app developer Farhad Mohit — responsible for the well-known app Shopzilla — launched a new idea aimed at spreading cheer. Just in time for the holidays comes an update that makes holiday cheer inescapable.

Cheers, the iOS app that spares no subtlety in its title, is a space for users to share the small things that make them, well, cheerful. This is done by posting “cheers,” which can be anything, really — from appreciation for quirky Wes Anderson movies, which tend to make people cheerful in a bleak, understated sort of way, to a category titled “Kids Going Crazy Over Random Things,” which is self-explanatory.

Cheers aims to make people happy, and its addictive formula of browsing and sharing makes that nearly certain.

A recent holiday-timed update adds a new facet to the experience through a series of unique “Cheerful Missions.” These missions are a great way to share with others just how happy the holiday season makes you, and an even better place to find sources of cheerful inspiration when you’re feeling more like Charlie Brown before his friends fixed up his Christmas tree.

The newly added features really are a visual expression of the app’s mission to become “a fun way to express love and appreciation for anyone, anything, anywhere.” A quick perusal through its clean interface and simple design make that goal abundantly clear: Cheers aims to make people happy, and its addictive formula of browsing and sharing makes that nearly certain.

Cheers has been called “the world’s happiest iPhone app,” and even after brief use, that superlative is difficult to argue against. Unlike Instagram, which carries with it the bleak antiquity of sepia tone filters, or Twitter, which is filled with bitter and cynical comedians, the cheer found through Cheers is pretty undeniable. And really, who would argue with that?

If this holiday season finds you down, a sure way to pick up the spirits is to navigate to the iTunes Store and download a free copy of Cheers. Spend some time looking at pets with reindeer antlers and children freaking out over video games and remember what the holidays are all about, even in a virtual sense.

Happy holidays and, of course, cheers!

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Coworking News

New coworking space to open in Dallas' Oak Lawn neighborhood

Office Evolution

A coworking space is opening in Dallas in a central location: Office Evolution, a Louisville-based coworking chain, will open what a release says is a "state-of-the-art coworking space" at 3500 Oak Lawn Ave. #360 in Dallas at the southeast corner of Lemmon Avenue.

No details on what makes it state-of-the-art, but construction is ongoing and an opening is anticipated in mid-October.

Office Evolution was founded in 2003 as a shared workspace-coworking environment, cultivated on the principles of "Ohana," the Hawaiian tradition that references family working toward a common goal. (The founder was from Hawaii.)

The company started out in Boulder, Colorado, then relocated its headquarters to Louisville. It's an affiliated brand of United Franchise Group, and is part of The Vast Coworking Group, which specializes in franchising within the coworking industry. All of their locations are franchised.

The Dallas location is owned by franchisee Michael Pickering, a Dallas native who runs a family-owned indoor soccer facility in Dallas. (There are two other Office Evolution locations in the DFW area in McKinney and Southlake, owned by different franchisees.)

They're describing the Dallas location at 3500 Oak Lawn Ave. as "Turtle Creek," although its location at Oak Lawn and Lemmon really puts it at the epicenter of Oak Lawn. (To further complicate matters, the building previously and incorrectly described its address as "Uptown.")

It's a seven-story building in which the majority of tenants are doctor and medical offices.

Office Evolution rates include a coworking day pass for $25, plus "flex" office options starting at $200 a month for 20 hours, up to $550 a month for 80 hours.

Amenities of the building that are also accessible to Office Evolution customers include a front desk; a 1,000-square-foot fitness center; covered parking; and on-site security six days a week.

According to a spokesperson, Pickering and his team put $1.2 million into the renovation to transform the space, which occupies most of the fourth floor where it will span 9,240 square feet of space with 41 total offices — one of which is earmarked as an "on-demand office" for the professional on the go.

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