Compared with those action-packed scenarios, a group of intelligence agents meeting in a virtual conference room seems rather tame, says Gartner Research's Carol Rozwell, an analyst focused on the use of virtual worlds in business.

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In recent months, the group has played weekly to packed clubs in Manhattan and across the river in the latest hipster hangouts of Williamsburg.

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Leslie Feist's own group, bearing her last name, has had a year packed with touring, network TV appearances and magazine shoots.

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In Acapulco, the blue water of the bay gives way to a skyline dotted with closely packed tall white hotels operated by major hospitality companies such as InterContinental Hotel Group, Starwood Hotels, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, and Global Hospitality Investments.

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The workers, who molded and packed plastic containers in a plant owned by Pactiv, a subsidiary of Reynolds Group Holdings, based in Lincolnshire, Ill.

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On one typical tour, Islam leads the group through the chawkbazaar, a 400-year-old bewildering maze of street market stalls, packed with everything from electronic goods to sweets.

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