Google Street View all over Charlotte

4 Jul 08 at 1:03 am
By Jason Keath | Posted in City, Technology, Transportation |

Google Street View Charlotte

Trade and Tryon, looking at the BOA tower

This entry was cross-posted at Design Charlotte.

On June 10th, Charlotte, NC was added to Street View, the interactive, panoramic photos that Google Maps has been implementing since May of last year. Charlotte is thoroughly covered by Google, with every conceivable part of town and suburb getting some type of showing, covering almost everything within 485.

As soon as Google Street View launched, bloggers all over the country started showcasing the weird and intriguing things that got caught in the moment by the Google cameras driving by. Good or bad, we look forward to the candid finds that await Charlotte now that we have joined the fray.
Read More »

CLT ranks high for wealth-building

30 Jun 08 at 7:33 pm
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in City, Economy, Quick Links |

“Charlotte ranks 15th among 69 U.S. cities as a place to build wealth, according to a survey from Salary.com. (…)

In compiling its survey, Salary.com took into account local salaries, the cost of living and unemployment rates. It also considered diversity of industry, the education level of each city’s population, proximity to post-secondary institutions, the percentage of residents below the poverty level and median travel time to work.”

Read more at Charlotte Business Journal and The Observer.

UNC Charlotte’s new front entrance opens 2

26 Jun 08 at 2:00 am
By Justin Ritchie | Posted in Transportation, UNCC |

UNC Charlotte’s new front entrance will open today, Thursday, June 26th, providing a much-needed change to the university area. The additional traffic light will slow down cars on University City Blvd., creating a friendlier environment for pedestrians.

I received this notification confirming the new traffic pattern:

“The construction of the new Main Entrance on Route 49 (University City Blvd) is near completion. As a result, the new Main Entrance will be open to incoming and outgoing traffic on Thursday, June 26. A traffic signal has been installed at the new entrance and will be fully operational when the new entrance opens. The old entrance will no longer be accessible after the new entrance opens. Please inform campus visitors of the change and use caution while adjusting to the new traffic patterns.”

The old sign had been long overdue for an upgrade - an upgrade that will finally give an appropriate entrance to one of the largest universities in the state.

The old sign, below,

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper971/stills/3d9c6e2e33e46-84-1.jpg

will soon look more like this:

Heroes come to Charlotte

23 Jun 08 at 11:40 pm
By Matthew Tyndall | Posted in Art, City, Entertainment, Events |

Heroes Convention

It’s the time of year to when people break out the Superman outfit and head to the Charlotte Convention Center for the 16th Annual Heroes Convention, presented by Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find. The convention took place Friday though Sunday.

Heroes Con has a ton of stuff to do whether you are a comic book fanatic or not. There was a great showcase of artists who have done amazing work also do custom commissioned work. I was able to get some great art when I was there last year, and all the works available are originals. One of my favorite artists there is Andy Lee . There is a wide range of artists at the convention, so there should be one who fits your style.

If you are a comic book fan or a fan of any of the recent comic book-based movies, this was the place to be last weekend.

If you missed it this year there are some photos after the break of the convention and some great cosplay.
Read More »

Decisions, decisions!

20 Jun 08 at 5:12 pm
By Bethany Waggoner | Posted in Entertainment, Events, Music, Nightlife, Performance, Uptown |

If you dig the likes of Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, and the Roots, you might want to swing by Loft 1523 this Friday night for Infusion.

image credit: Carsten Keßler

Grammy nominated producer/DJ/singer/songwriter (he’s a Renaissance Man, to be sure!) Vikter Duplaix will be spinning afro-beat, latin, soulful house, hip hop, and rhythmic soul music all night, from 9:00pm until 2:00am. It’s going to be crowded, so come early. Admission is $10 before 11:30pm, and you’ll need proof that you were born on or before June 20th, 1987 (i.e. if you aren’t 21, you aren’t getting in…sorry). Dress is to be sexy, chic, and seductive, with the hosts reserving the right to be selective. So go all out. We want to see you dressed to the nines!

For those of you more into the house/techno party vibe, the massively talented San Francisco uber-DJ Mark Farina will be wrecking up the DJ booth at HOM. Party specs are similar: doors open at 9:00pm, and you must be 21+. It’s $12 in advance and probably $14-15 at the door if there are still tickets. A bit of advice: this party is destined to attract loads of Charlotte’s finest, so I’d say pop for the advance tickets and show up really early to avoid getting shut out or waiting for an hour to get in.
Read More »

CATS route changes

19 Jun 08 at 12:30 pm
By Sarah-Katherine Wells | Posted in City, Transportation |

Effective early this month, many of the CATS routes have adjusted their schedules to allow for easier connections with the Lynx Blue Line and at the Charlotte Transportation Center.

Please visit the CATS website to see if your route has been affected.

On a personal note: The CATS group is very good about alerting their riders to upcoming changes, usually by hanging bilingual fliers on the buses. I remember reading one of those around this time last year, and noted that most of the route changes were due to “low ridership.” This time around, most were for better connections and to accomodate the “increased ridership.” So, whether this is due to the rising gas prices, or the planners at CATS have gotten more insightful - I can’t say. I just know I’m thrilled to see public transit take hold in Charlotte.

CLT-based Yap Inc. lands $6.5m in funding

17 Jun 08 at 7:17 pm
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in Business, Quick Links, Technology |

A quick shout-out to one of Charlotte’s most famous startups:

Charlotte technology company Yap Inc. has secured $6.5 million in financing from SunBridge Partners, Harbert Venture Partners, Pittco Capital Partners and individual investors. (…)

Yap is a developer of a platform that converts speech into text. (…)

Last year, Yap was among several companies honored in the N.C. Technology Association’s annual NCTA 21 Awards. Yap won as early-stage company in the Stage of Development Awards category.

Read more at the Charlotte Business Journal, or see their full press release here.

International Art Market at Area 15

14 Jun 08 at 1:28 pm
By Ben Ullman | Posted in Art |

Come out to Area 15 today, Saturday, and check out the very first International Art Market event! Resident artists, neighbors, friends, and others will be out in force.

date: Saturday, June 14
time: 10am – 6pm

In case you don’t know, Area 15 is a warehouse space at 15th and North Davidson Streets. It is a creative and cultural crossroads, a housing studio space for artists, interior designers, and photographers, and an office space for the Junior Chamber of Commerce and various spiritual outreach groups. They even have five “resident” homeless artists for whom they provide space and materials.
Read More »

Chocolate euphoria to start your Friday evening 1

12 Jun 08 at 3:08 pm
By Cherie Braden | Posted in City, Events, Food |

image credit: [gimmethefonk*]

No need to suffer the perils of Wonka Vision to immerse yourself in a chocolate universe this Friday night: Charlotte’s International House is hosting The World of Chocolate—a tasting event that promises to give us a good chocolate fix with fine chocolates from around the world.

price: $10-15
date: Friday, June 13
time: 7-9:30 pm

Chocolatiers, both local and international, will be on hand serving up sensual pleasure (that’s right…it’s still legal to eat chocolate in public). In case you taste something you really like, chocolate will also be available for purchase.
Read More »

Best ice cream in Charlotte

11 Jun 08 at 4:15 pm
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in City, Food, Quick Links |

Tricia Childress over at Creative Loafing does a quick survey of the best ice cream in Charlotte.