The Fed just released its latest Beige Book on the state of the Greater Boston economy.

It makes for a pretty interesting read.

Right now tourism, consulting and manufacturing (as in high-tech stuff, not widgets) are what’s hot.

Commercial real estate? Well, not really. And residential real estate? Definitely not.

Of note:

Tourism on fire: Travel and tourism saw sales and revenue jump by as much as 8 percent in 2011. Based on advanced bookings, 2012 looks to be a “robust” year as well, industry officials say. Local hotels are projecting a 10 to 12 percent increase in room revenue, while restaurant sales could jump 3 percent this year, doubling the modest 1.5 percent gain in 2011.

A manufacturing bright spot: Of 13 local manufacturers contacted by the Fed, nine reported higher sales, two said revenue was flat and two reported a dip. Of the two that saw sales declined, both were involved in the volatile semi-conductor market. Concerns about the Euro Zone crisis and its impact on demand remain, but firms are hiring, albeit slowly and in small numbers

Marketing makes a comeback? Marketing and ad firms saw 8 to 9 percent growth in 2011, with business particularly picking up in the last three months of the year. Here’s a telling, and encouraging, excerpt from the Fed report.

Contacts note that many clients have a lot of cash and are becoming more confident that - despite risks - the U.S. economy will “muddle through” and thus are willing to spend. In addition, consulting firms have seen a shift in demand towards services that can be directly tied to the bottom line such as sales and process efficiency rather than strategy and management.

It’s not just cities like Boston and Cambridge that compete for hot new biotech companies or prestigious financial services firms.

The competition is getting pretty intense out in the suburbs along 128 as well.

With an envious eye on Waltham, Burlington is giving its blessing to a dramatic revamp of sprawling Northwest Park, with hopes of bringing in a bevy of restaurants to round out plans for a new Wegmans.

It is part of an increasing focus by Burlington on bringing in the amenities, from restaurants to entertainment, which companies want when looking at office space.

Where there are shops, restaurants and the other comforts of life, the big name tenants will follow, or so appears to be Burlington’s thinking.

The Waltham office market is still king in the suburbs – and is likely to remain so given its location at the intersection of 128 and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

But the Watch City’s weak spot is its dearth of readily available dining and shopping options.

And Burlington’s new lifestyle strategy might just give Waltham a run for its money.

In fact, the rent gap between the two 128 office locations is already narrowing, closing to within $5 a square foot.

The Bruins under owner Jeremy Jacobs finally broke a nearly three-decade long Stanley Cup drought last season.

But it’s not clear when Jacobs and his Delaware North Cos., which owns the Bruins and the Garden, will break a now decade-and-a-half long development drought in front of the Garden itself.

In the early 1990s, Delaware North, as it was nailing down final city approvals to build the new Garden, had also talked up plans for a giant residential, shopping and office complex around the arena.

There were to be as many as three towers, each as high as 400 feet, and 2.3 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

Delaware North wound up building the arena – with some change to spare thanks to a multimillion-dollar city tax break – but has yet to follow through on those grand building plans.

The last idea floated for the empty parking lot in front of the arena was a supermarket. Now downtown Boston could use another supermarket, but really, after 15 years has it come to this?

OK, NStar and National Grid didn’t exactly endear themselves to the hundreds of thousands of their customers across Massachusetts who went without power for days this fall, not once but twice.

Now a bill that would streamline the process under which towns and cities can start their own electric utilities may have just gotten a badly needed boost.

In his montlhy radio appearance on WTKK, Patrick indicated he would back a bill that would let local communities get into the power business.

Interest by local officials in going it alone soared after Irene and the freak October snow storm. In the aftermath of the two storms, it became clear that the handful of towns that currently control and repair their own electric grids managed to get the lights back on in their communities in a matter of hours.

But before other towns can join the muni power club, state lawmakers will have to revise creaky regulations dating back to the 1920s – an effort that has stalled on Beacon Hill for the past decade amid fierce lobbying by the major power companies.

“I love the idea of local and community-based utilities, and if that requires an update in the legislation, I cannot imagine not supporting it,” Patrick said on the radio show.

Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adelson and Gary Loveman are three of the biggest casino tycoons Las Vegas has ever seen. And all have been interested, at one point or another, in opening up casinos in the Bay State.

Now that Gov. Deval Patrick has signed casino legislation into law, they may finally get their chance.

But all three had best hope that no one gets around to asking them of their views of the 2012 presidential race.

Let’s just say all three are pretty conservative.

Adelson, who grew up in penniless in Dorchester and is now a multi-billionaire, has pumped millions into conservative causes, including Freedom Watch. He doesn’t have a horse this race yet, but it’s still early.

Wynn is a staunch Republican as well, having backed McCain in 2008 and President George W. Bush before that. He’s been hot on the idea of opening a casino on Boston’s waterfront.

And what of Loveman, the former Harvard Business School professor who now runs Caesars Entertainment, the big backer of casino plans at Boston’s Suffolk Downs? Well Jon Huntsman, the Republican presidential contender, recently named Loveman to his business advisory council.

And let’s not forget Joe O’Donnell, the Boston area businessman holding down the fort locally for the emerging Suffolk Downs casino proposal. He’s a long-time friend of former President George W. Bush.

Now we could all say let’s just let bygones be bygones and forget about all those inconvenient political allegiances.

But guess who appoints the chair of the Bay State’s soon to be formed casino commission? Well none other than Gov. Patrick, who, as well all know, just happens to be a good friend of President Obama.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, that’s for sure.

With rents rising, investors are snapping up distressed properties and turning them into rentals, according to a new national survey.

Investors accounted for 22.3 percent of all home sales, up from 19.6 percent in July, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Low home prices and rising rents have made buying distressed properties and converting them into rentals a profitable play, according to the survey.

The average price for a foreclosed house with some damage hit a two-year low in October and is now down to $101,100.

Campbells estimates that more than 61 percent of the distressed homes and condos snapped up this October by investors will be rented out, with the remainder flipped.

We all know how hard hit the construction market here is in the Bay State.

The end of the Big Dig and the Great Recession has sent jobless rates soaring in the industry.

But the casino bill making its way through the State House could provide a badly needed boost, supporters say.

The construction of three casinos and a slot parlor could put as many as 10,000 hard hats back to work, according to various estimates.

State lawmakers are expected to hammer out a final version of their casino proposal this month, after which Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to sign it.

And New Hampshire may get into the casino game as well – potentially creating hundreds of additional casino jobs.

Spurred by Massachusetts, a key New Hampshire legislative committee is expected to vote this Thursday – 10/27 – on a bill that would legalize a pair of casinos.

One of the top locations under consideration is Rockingham Park in Salem, right on the Massachusetts border and a 45 minute drive from Boston.

The demise of Friendly’s may seem like just another case of an old favorite felled by changing times.

But the chain’s slide into bankruptcy is rather amazing given all the built-in advantages and generational loyalty the struggling burger and ice cream chain has enjoyed in New England over the years.

Just check out all the heartbroken comments from the Friendly’s faithful across the region. I grew up with a raft of fond Friendly’s memories, from being treated to a fribble and ice cream by my mother to taking a date out for ice cream after a play.

Like many parents, I tried to pass on my affection for Friendly’s to my young children, only to be repeatedly let down.

This is a case not where the customers bailed, but where management blew it big time.

In fact, I’ve inadvertently hit upon one of the key problems. I earlier described Friendly’s as a “burger and ice cream chain,” but that ceased to be accurate years ago.

In fact, it’s hard to describe the current menu, other than it’s the latest in a series of corporate revisions that has created a bland mishmash that offers lots of choices but few really tasty treats worth coming back for.

But if the food had slipped, the service was worse. While hardly a scientific survey, my occasional visits to Boston-area Friendly’s over the past decade almost invariably ended in frustration.

There were long and puzzling waits to be seated, then to order, and then finally, to have whatever ordered arrive at the table. Maybe it was staffing, though it often seemed more to do with the nonchalant attitude of the waitstaff, which seemed to get younger and less experienced with each passing year.

Simply put, Friendly’s decline began when it started trying to be something else and stopped trying to live up to its name.

Let’s hope so – for it’s the only sector that’s on fire right now.

The high-tech industry growth rate is four times faster than the national average, according to a new report by Jones Lang LaSalle.

And the high-tech services sector is expanding by a smoking 5.9 percent, which should help drive new office space demand.

Not surprisingly, Boston is listed as top high-tech growth center – the expansion can be seen from Kendall Square out to the Route 128 corridor.

Here are some highlights, lifted directly from the report:

• The high-tech growth cycle appears to be in the early stages with plenty of running room ahead for more hiring. Data indicates that this cycle is markedly different from the tech boom of the late 1990s.
• Of the more than 500,000 office-using jobs created nationally since February 2010, 127,000 jobs or 25 percent were in high-tech services illustrating the high-tech sector’s rapid growth rate.
• High-tech has accounted for 50 percent of total venture capital funding over the past four quarters.  Biotechnology and medical devises combined comprise 25 percent.
• A national office market recovery is underway with established high-tech clusters substantially outperforming other areas of the office sector by recording strong rent growth, the highest net absorption levels and diminished space availabilities.

No, I am not talking about the half-demolished Filene’s project.

Rather, Vornado is poised to score big across town over at Suffolk Downs, where it is a key investor behind plans to convert the old racetrack into a gambling and entertainment palace.

Backed by Caesars Entertainment, one of the world’s largest casino companies, Suffolk Downs owners are poised to hit the jackpot as an expanded gambling bill sails through the State House.

The Senate is expected to debate the casino bill next week, with final passage and a signing by Gov. Deval Patrick likely next month.

Meanwhile, Suffolk’s ownership group, which includes Vornado as well as a high-powered group of Hub and Big Apple businessmen, has positioned itself as a leading contender for one of the trio of casino licenses that would be auctioned off once gambling legislation passes.

Is is any wonder now that Vornado is now playing along with City Hall as new development czar Peter Meade tries to resurrect long-dormant plans to redevelop Filene’s?

After all, the happy talk between the two sides of late is a big change from the blistering war of words we saw just last year between an irate Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Vornado’s outspoken chief, Steve Roth.

Yes, Mr. BRA director, anything you want sir, is the only thing Roth should be saying right now with a casino windfall at stake over in East Boston.