Google opens its DNC home base. A Charlotte company is behind the design

Google's home for the Democratic Convention is located at the corner of Tryon and Third streets in uptown Charlotte. Photos by Sergio Tovar

By Sergio Tovar and Corey Inscoe

There was a lot of speculation when shipping crates started to go up on the parking lot on the corner of Third and Tryon streets in uptown Charlotte last week. Because of the familiar color scheme, Google was quickly speculated to be behind the structure.

Google ended the mystery Monday, when it opened the doors to its home during the Democratic National Convention. The facility offers free wifi to the public as well as plenty of sofas and chairs to sit and relax. The air-conditioned tent offers much-needed relief from Charlotte's heat and humidity. Google Bytes, a refreshment bar at the site, features soft drinks, iced coffee and other beverages.

A local company was behind the structure. Boxman Studios, started in Charlotte in 2008 by David Campbell, specializes in recycling shipping containers for hospitality, housing, mobile classrooms and other uses.

Boxman Studios built a structure for Google at the TED Conference in Long Beach, Calif., this spring. Campbell said he started talking with Google about creating a structure for the Democratic National Convention soon after.

Conversations continued through the summer and Boxman Studios finally got the green light to build the structure about a month before the DNC.

"It was a great opportunity for us to partner with them again," said Campbell. "They chose us to help them create the environment they were looking for."

Boxman Studios worked with production company MKG to design the structure, which Campbell said was one of the largest the company has done. The structure was then fabricated Boxman Studios' Charlotte warehouse.

"We always try to push ourselves and try to do something unique," he said.

Campbell said the company had to keep the project a secret for the last month and was happy to reveal it to the public Monday.

"With a partner like Google, you just hope that we can help make this week special for Charlotte and Google," said Campbell. "I think it's going to be an iconic place for people to gather." 

There were also several interactive displays at Google's tent as well as televisions showing coverage of the convention and a studio.

Google set up charging stations, but only for Android phones. Sorry, iPhone fans.

And you can also get a chance to see one of Google's self-driving cars outside the tent.

Google's uptown home will be open Monday until 6 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Google Bytes operates from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. It will open Thursday at 10 a.m.

After the convention, Boxman Studios will break down the structure and take it back to its warehouse in Charlotte to be repurposed for future projects.

Charlotte's Top 10 Google searches for 2011

Well, we hate to blow our own company's horn, but Google's annual year-end list of most searched-for terms is out and the Charlotte-specific Top Ten shows "Charlotte Observer" is the most searched-for term for 2011. After several brutal years filled with budget and staffing cuts, unpaid furloughs and the like, it's nice news to get. Just a little nugget of validation that, even though we've got a long haul ahead in transitioning from the old paper-only business model, our online platform is not only keeping us relevant, it's got a little digital swagger going on.

Hats off to all the reporters, editors, photographers and producers who make the magic happen every day!

P.S.: This blog has been dark for a while as I transitioned from reporting on social media to becoming an assistant city editor in charge of crime news and coverage of philanthropy and the environment. It's a lot of work, and leaves little time for writing (and none for reporting), but I'll keep trying to update this blog with interesting social media tidbits that cross my desk from time to time.

Note to Google: Here's what I think about you

For the past couple of days, phone researchers from Ipsos have been calling me. They want to know if I'll do a 20-minute phone survey in which they'll gather my thoughts and impressions about Google. Something about them wanting to survey "leading opinion formers." Calls the accuracy of their research into question, since I've been pretty busy in the past month or so writing more about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools than online and digital stuff. I was so busy that, both times the Ipsos researchers called, I had to put them off because I was busy with a story. I've probably missed my chance to tell Google honchos what I think of them. So, I'll just tell you what I would have told them.

• I'm liking Google+, but who has time for another social network? Keep integrating it with Gmail and search, and you might worm your way deeper into my digital life.


• Yes, your search rocks. (But you already know that). A colleague cleaning up her desk the other day went, "Hey, I still have a phone book." I actually laughed. Now I look over at the least-used corner of my desk and see I still have one too -- from 2002.


• The +1 button, your answer to Facebook's "like" button, isn't necessarily wowing me, especially when it comes to search. I'm so used to typing a search out and expecting the magic Google algorithm to produce the best results that I don't look to see if any of my friends are agreeing with the algorithm by +1-ing pages. Maybe +1 will gain more clout as Google+ pulls more socialization throughout Google's digital ecology.


• Whatever happened with Google Hotpot, the Yelp-style business review project that was supposed to target some 40,000 Charlotte small businesses? Several business owners called me after this story saying they hadn't been able to get in touch with Google for follow-up. I've seen few Hotpot stickers in the windows of local businesses. Was this a success and you guys are just keeping it low-key, or did it flop?


• And lastly, don't forget your own motto: "Don't Be Evil." It's hard for people not to fear the ambitions of a company whose market capitalization of nearly $200 billion dwarfs the gross domestic product of your average third-world nation. No matter how kind or humanitarian or noble you guys think you are, the rest of us will always have one eyebrow cocked, suspecting you secretly lust for world domination. (Might this sudden interest in what we think have anything to do with the growing interest of government regulators in your dominance of the search market?). Accept the fact that you don't get to be the quirky "good guys" anymore. Overcompensate. Give tons to charity. Launch a massive college scholarship program to train the next generation of digital engineers. Steer clear of anything that even remotely hints at privacy violations or unfairly stomping smaller competitors. And just realize even all that still won't be enough to ward off every attack. As Wilt Chamberlain so aptly put it: "Nobody roots for Goliath."

That's what I think, for what it's worth. What are you thinking of Google these days?

Google plots popularity of favored Carolinas terms

If you haven't tried the Google Ngram Viewer, you're missing out on a word-geek treat. Its a database of all the words in five million books published since the 16th century. You can plug words or phrases in and get a chart showing how popularity of the word waxes and wanes over the centuries. I plugged in a bunch of Carolinas words just to see what happens. Here's what I found:

• Piedmont -- Except for one surge around 1670 (the year English settlers landed at Charleston), the word was virtually invisible until the 1880s. Usage reached its highest level in the 1940s, and has fallen since then.
• Carolina -- Usage surged briefly around 1670, but began rising dramatically around the time of the Civil War. After about 1940, it trended generally downward until the 1980s, when it rose moderately again.
• Moonshine -- Perhaps not surprisingly, usage zips upward around 1919, when the Prohibition era began.
• Fish camp -- Not used much until the 20th century. Usage spiked around 2000.
• Tarheel -- First came into print in the late 19th century; usage increased dramatically after 1920.
• Barbecue -- First crept into print around 1750, but didn't gather steady momentum until about a century later. Usage gradually increased until the 1980s, when it skyrocketed.

Why do you think these words took off in print when they did? Got any other good Carolina words you'd want to plug in?

Charlotte's hottest Google searches of 2010

Google this morning released its list of top Google searches for the year in various cities around the country. Charlotte's "Google Zeitgeist" list came out looking a lot like our national reputation -- all business.

Here's what was on Charlotte Google searchers' minds in 2010:

• UNCC moodle
• UNCC email
• Parent assist
• CPCC email
• CATS bus schedule
• Charlotte restaurant week
• Charlotte half off
• Showmars menu
• CMCU.org
• Charmeck.org

So, Charlotte's Googlers were education-minded folks who ride the bus, do a lot of business at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Credit Union and love to eat -- especially at Showmars. (The "moodle," by the way, is an online classwork management system UNCC professors can use to deliver quizzes and assignments. "Parent assist" is the school system's online system where parents can track their kids' grades).

This isn't a completely reliable reading of what locals are seeking on the Internet. Local folks probably go to Facebook more often than any of these sites, but most wouldn't do a Google search to get there.

What do you think? What was your most-used search term of the year?

Identity thieves target Charlotte woman

My friend and co-worker, Marion Paynter, had the misfortune recently of becoming the target of one of the most vexing crimes of the digital age: identity theft. More specifically, the old I'm-stuck-in-Europe-please-wire-money trick the scammers love. Marion learned back in July that her G-mail account had been hacked, and this message had been sent out to all her contacts:

Hi,

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my family and I came down here to North England, United Kingdom for a short vacation. unfortunately,we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash and credit card were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

We've been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in few hours from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. Well I really need your financially assistance..Please, let me know if you can help us out?

Am freaked out at the moment!!

Marion Paynter…

One of her friends responded to the hacker, and he asked her to wire $1,600 to a specific account. But she, like Marion's other friends, didn't fall for it. (Interestingly, she notes, the hacker sent that message from a separate Yahoo account he'd set up in Marion's name). He'd also changed her G-mail account's password, her secret question and her secondary e-mail account she'd used to set up the account. So, she couldn't get into the account, and it took her days of work to get Google to recognize she was indeed Marion Paynter and not a hacker herself.

Almost four weeks after the hacker attacked, Google finally sent her an alert saying "suspicious activity" had been noticed on her account. Google said the attack originated in Nigeria. To this day, she says, she still doesn't know how the hacker got into her account. Her advice: change your password regularly and make sure it's secure. (Click here to get a Google engineer's advice on dealing with this common scam).

What about you? Have you had any close encounters with identity thieves? Any tips to share about how to stay safe?

Androids on the March -- Can they overtake the iPhone?

I've been reading for weeks now the breathless news reports about how Android phone sales are outpacing the iPhone, but I haven't had a chance to see up-close what all the Android fuss is about. Now I have. For the past few days, I've been test-driving the HTC Incredible, one of the newer models in a growing stable of Androids. Bottom line: I'm impressed. (But then again, I own a Blackberry Curve 8330, so hey...). Still, the Incredible is a seriously nice device. Light (4.59 ounces), fits in the pocket nicely, and the resolution of its 3.7-inch HD touchscreen makes my poor little hard-working dinosaur of a Blackberry look like yesterday's news -- in grainy sepia tones. As someone who types for a living, I tend to want physical keyboards, but the Incredible's HTC Sense touchscreen is perhaps the first phone that makes that a non-issue for me. The Web browser also has one of the most helpful predictive typing features I've seen.

The battery life left much to be desired, though. Running simultaneous apps is great, but the downside apparently comes when your battery can barely make it through a day. (My Blackberry can go two days easily uncharged). Still, that doesn't seem to be hurting sales. Verizon's Web site says customers trying to buy it now online can't expect shipment until July 16. And that's all before the next big Android, the Droid X, is expected to be unveiled during a press event on June 23 -- the day before the iPhone 4 hits stores. The X appears to be drawing even better first-look reviews than the Incredible -- at least from the supergeeks at Engadget.

Apple, the king of digital media, is finally getting a run for its iPhone money -- and is responding like a champ. The iPhone 4, coming out June 24, boasts so many nice tweaks (videoconferencing capability doesn't hurt) that people are almost literally beating down the Apple Store doors to get in line for them. So many pre-orders have gone in that Charlotteans who have reservations to buy one aren't sure they'll be honored come D-Day. Some say they're prepared to camp out in front of SouthPark Mall if necessary to get in the Apple Store early.

The Apple vs. Android war is officially on. And you need only take a look at this wireless industry chart to see that we're talking about the kind of upward-spiraling revenue stream any corporation would fight to the death to dominate. So, we'll see what happens.

Who do you think will end up on top?