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A $5 billion resort casino planned for the Las Vegas Strip will be able to be operate under the Plaza brand after a jury ruled that the developers could use that title despite the fact that another property in the city also goes by the Plaza name. The battle over the Plaza moniker is being waged by two foreign firms headquartered on the other side of the globe from the bright lights of The Strip. Israel-based El-Ad Group, which owns New York City’s Plaza Hotel and is looking to extend the Plaza brand to Las Vegas with the new resort…

Voice Commerce Group released a new identification system, using voice signatures. This will be of great benefit to the financial industry worldwide, ensuring more efficient security against fraud and across all platforms. London-based Voice Commerce Group has formed a strategic alliance with publicly traded Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance Communications to support the global roll-out of the system, called Voice Transact. Voice recognition was originally developed for the military. And now, it is believed by experts that Voice Signatures will transform the global payments and financial services industry. Everyone know why better security is needed. Identity theft is now a household term….

Concord, N.H. – based Applied Math Modeling Inc. has launched the latest improvements to CoolSim. The energy-efficiency software first launched 2006.CoolSim is an application that provides a three-dimensional view on a manager’s PC of a computer room’s thermal conditions, including airflow, temperature and pressure. CoolSim performs much like a Doppler radar system to let you view and measure the performance and plug in “what-if” scenarios.CoolSim 3.1 has added features to collect data for precision cooling and advanced heat removal. The major improvements to CoolSim include: Capabilities to model both raised floor data centers, in addition to non-raised floor data centers,…

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has acquired ECD Energy, a consultant focusing on the development of the Green Globes for The Green Building Initiative (GBI) and Go Green Interactive Software, for BOMA Canada. The staff at ECD Energy will join with the staff of Jones Lang LaSalle in their Toronto offices.Lauralee Martin, Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Jones Lang LaSalle told CPN, “Acquiring ECD has given us tools that simplify the task of establishing a sustainability baseline in existing buildings and portfolios, and allow us to suggest cost-effective ways to enhance energy and water efficiency and reduce the impact of…

Foundation Software, based in Cleveland, Ohio, has released an improvement to its flagship product, Foundations for Windows, an application used in the construction industry.The new feature, Executive Dashboard, lets users view and analyze key data for job expenses to facilitate financial accounting. Users will be able to view a summary on one screen, and then if they want to, they can choose to delve deeper into details. The Executive Dashboard is completely integrated multi-user environment in real–time, so that added pertinent information will be instantly accessible, making this a far more beneficial system for managers than traditional spreadsheets and printed…

Blacktop roads can be a source of solar power, according to reports from a team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., who have been developing a solar collector to turn patches of asphalt pavement into a new source for harnessing solar energy. If we already have “put up the parking lot”– and an asphalt pavement surface must be resurfaced every ten years or so — this study reasons, why not put in a new feature to simultaneously produce energy? President of Novotech Michael Hulen, whose background is in physics, and who initiated the project, told CPN “There…

Las-Vegas-based TRIRIGA, a provider of software solutions for the real estate industry, has announced the availability of its new system called TREES (TRIRIGA Real Estate Environmental Sustainability). TREES measures, manages and reduces energy consumption of buildings. TRIRIGA’s client base include one third of the Fortune 100 companies, including Nokia, GE, AIG, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, The Gap, and The Opus Construction Co. All of these clients served on an advisory board to help design and develop TREES. The new system, two years in development, is already installed and in use by Nokia. TREES provides operational processes, procedures, 24 metrics,…

Brown Harris Stevens SELECT, a new marketing division of Brown Harris Stevens has started immediate implementation of the new free product designed by Microsoft Live Labs. The product, Photosynth can be downloaded virtually by anyone, and appreciated by anyone who has a digital camera. Photosynth will be of exceptional interest to architects, builders, managers and buyers of real estate. With Photosynth you can fully explore and experience a space because it takes virtual panorama-viewing one step further. Photosynth allows the viewer to navigate and control their own immersive experience of a space, without having to be there in person, to manipulate…

Lower airline capacity, tighter credit markets and the general economic downturn now gripping the U.S. have taken a deep toll on casino hotels. A sector that was enjoying positive times as recently as 2007 is now experiencing some daunting problems in two gaming capitals, Las Vegas and Atlantic City.Atlantic City is grappling with a “triple whammy” of bad news, said Mark Capasso, managing director at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. In addition to the economic slowdown, competitors are snapping at Atlantic City’s heels, Capasso notes, in the form of increased competition from slot machines at Philadelphia Park racetrack; the Empire City…

The flagship of the United States office investment and leasing market, Manhattan is now also at the heart of the financial crisis. The stunning events of recent weeks point to a new era for the economy, but experts differ about how the changes will play out in Manhattan’s commercial real estate market during the next several quarters and beyond.Some industry veterans are offering a stark assessment. “In the last couple of weeks, it’s become obvious that the fundamentals are changing,” Eric Michael Anton, an executive managing director for Eastern Consolidated, the Manhattan-based investment advisory firm. he told CPN this afternoon….