Twitter tweeted Tuesday that it is indeed working on a way for users to edit their 280-character messages, although it says the project has nothing to do with the fact that edit-function fan Elon Musk was just revealed as the company’s largest shareholder and now sits on its board.

Twitter said it will test the feature in its paid service, Twitter Blue, in the coming months. It said the test would help it “learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.” So it may be a while before most Twitter users get to use it, if they ever do. Twitter spokesperson Catherine Hill declined to say whether an edit feature might be rolled out for all users.

Many Twitter users — among them, Kim Kardashian, Ice T, Katy Perry and McDonald’s corporate account — have long begged for an edit button. The company itself recently teased users with an April Fool’s Day tweet saying “we are working on an edit button.” The official Twitter account said Tuesday that the April 1 tweet wasn’t a joke and that it has been working on it since last year.

Twitter also said it didn’t get the idea from a Twitter poll launched by Tesla CEO Musk Monday evening. Musk, himself a Twitter power user, asked followers if they wanted an edit button, cheekily misspelling “yes” as “yse” and “no” as “on.” More than 4 million people had voted as of Tuesday evening.

Musk also tweeted that he is looking forward to making “significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”

Twitter’s vice president of consumer product, Jay Sullivan, tweeted Tuesday that an edit function has for years been Twitter’s most requested new feature, noting that people want to fix mistakes, typos, and “hot takes.”

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had said that Twitter had considered an edit button, but in a January 2020 Q&A maintained that “we’ll probably never do it.” He noted that Twitter’s current setup keeps the spirit of its text-message origins — texts can’t be edited — and the confusion that could result from users making changes to a tweet that has already been heavily circulated by others. Dorsey stepped down as CEO in November 2021.

People who study Twitter also say adding an edit button would likely change the nature of Twitter, making it less valuable as a historical warehouse that stores official statements by politicians and other high-profile people. Twitter, for better or worse, “has become the de facto news wire,” said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University communications professor and an expert on social media who researches propaganda.

Tweets are often embedded in news stories, which could cause problems if the users edit important or controversial tweets without leaving evidence of the original statement. Grygiel suggested instead giving Twitter users a window of time to edit their tweets before they publish them.

Letting powerful Twitter users edit their tweets means they would not be historical statements anymore, Grygiel said. “We need to think about what the implications are, what these tweets are, who has power.”

The company acknowledged those concerns Tuesday evening when Sullivan tweeted: “Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation. Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work.”

Musk, too, had said that a proposal for a post-publication edit window of a few minutes “ sounds reasonable.”

Musk is someone who could seemingly use an edit button. His tweet about taking Tesla private at $420 per share, when funding was not secured, led to a $40 million SEC settlement and a requirement that Musk’s tweets be approved by a corporate lawyer. Musk is still embroiled in a fight over that settlement.

Twitter had earlier seemed to be taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to Musk’s poll. Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, retweeted the poll with a seeming reference to an earlier tweet by Musk, saying “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.” Musk had used the same language in a March tweet describing another of his polls that asked whether Twitter adheres to free speech principles.

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The latest innovation is a joint venture with Hearts Home Gardens. It has a long history of social and entertainment events over the years, so this is a totally new venture for their organization.

Males explains, “The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt experience is going to take place on Sunday, September 12th, starting at 5 o’clock and should end around nine or whenever everyone decides to leave. A sumptuous meal will be served with either tri-tip or chicken riesling as entrees, with garlic mashed potatoes, honey & herb baby carrots and tossed salad & dressing. It will be like dining out at an elegant restaurant for dinner.”

The whole purpose is to raise money for veterans, including college scholarships.

The commander continues, “Coming out of service, many of them need to pick up where their education was interrupted, as it was during World War II with the advent of the G.I. Bill of rights that educated a generation of vets.”

What is the cost of such a spread?

“$60.00 a plate. That may seem a bit high, but included are a lot of extras, including three drinks of your choice – either alcoholic or sodas. Coffee, iced tea and lemonade drinks will be unlimited throughout the evening.”

What is the seating capacity?

“There will be seating for 300 outdoors in a garden atmosphere which is ideal for this time of year. Especially for what has been going on in our society during the past year. We will have 3500 lights in the garden with dancing and socializing. It will be a welcome event for people who have been pretty much cooped up during the past year due to COVID and the lock-downs; an opportunity for folks to get out and enjoy themselves in an open atmosphere.”

The American Legion Post 53 of Hemet is co-hosting the event with Hearts Home Gardens with the profits being shared between the two organizations.

Is this a single event?

“Oh, no. On October 15th, we will have the Stevie Nicks Illusions/Fleetwood Mac tribute, and on November 7th comes the Bonnie Kilroe Country Queens show. Folks in Hemet will remember Bonnie because she has appeared at the Legion Hall in downtown Hemet several times, always appearing to sell-out crowds.”

Bonnie Kilroe is an amazing woman with more mimics than Lon Chaney had faces. “If all goes well, next year the events might event end up monthly. In any event, there will be more than one if these are successful.”

As long as there is a profit providing funds for veteran causes, you can bet they will continue. So shake the dust and moths out of your party duds, kick up your heels and get with it.

Hearts Home Gardens is located at 32643 Highway 74, Hemet, CA. The site can be viewed at:

www.heartshome.com. For additional information and tickets, go to: info@alpost53.com or call (951) 6a58-2436. The new Post bar will have a grand opening on September 25th and it has the atmosphere of a cozy nightspot – a place to get away from it all Just sayin’. rustystrait@gmail.com

Rusty Strait | Senior Reporter

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LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators are opening an in-depth investigation of Facebook’s plan to buy Kustomer over concerns that the deal would stifle competition for customer relationship management software.

The EU Commission said Monday it’s also investigating the acquisition because of worries that Facebook would get more data for personalized ads, handing it even more of an advantage in the online advertising market.

The social network announced the deal in November as it seeks to make more money from its WhatsApp and Messenger chat services, which have thrived during the pandemic, by adding ways for businesses to interact with customers. Kustomer provides software that help companies manage online conversations with customers over various channels by putting them into a single dashboard.

“Our investigation aims to ensure that the transaction will not harm businesses or consumers, and that any data that Facebook gets access to does not distort competition,” EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s top competition watchdog, said in a press statement.

Facebook pledged to fully cooperate with the European Commission, and said the transaction is “pro-competitive” and will result in more innovation.

“More people will benefit from customer service that is faster, richer and available whenever and however they need it,” Facebook said.

The U.K. competition watchdog began looking into the deal last week over concerns it would result in a “substantial lessening” of competition.

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“South and North Koreans gather here, smile and talk to each other. They ask each other about their pasts. Some (South Koreans) say their parents also originally came from North Korea,” said Ko Jeong Hee, 60, a defector who teaches accordion at the Inter-Korean Cultural Integration Center. “The atmosphere is really good here.”

The center, which opened last year, is South Korea’s first government-run facility to bring together North Korean defectors and local residents to get to know each other through cultural activities and fun. It’s meant to support defectors’ often difficult resettlement in the South, but also aims at studying the possible blending of the rivals’ cultures should they unify.

Unification is a cherished part of the political rhetoric of both Koreas, but the difficulties of creating a single Korea comprised of the fantastically rich and successful South and the poor, authoritarian North make the reality of such a plan deeply complicated.

A Korean unification in the near future seems highly unlikely. The North, despite decades of poverty and mistrust of the outside world, is not politically unstable, and there have been no meaningful recent talks on unification between the Koreas.

Exchange programs between the Koreas — singers, art troupes and basketball matches — are frozen in the midst of a dispute ver North Korea’s continued accumulation of nuclear weapons. There are also questions over just how useful the center will be, and whether many defectors, suffering economic hardship, will join in events that offer no chance of profit.

About 34,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea after fleeing poverty and political oppression at home, mostly in the last 20 years or so. That’s about 0.06% of South Korea’s 52 million people. Upon their arrival in South Korea, defectors are given citizenship, apartments, resettlement money, three months of social orientation courses and other benefits.

But they come from an extremely repressive, nominally socialist country whose estimated nominal gross domestic product was only one-54th of South Korea’s in 2019. Many are often discriminated against in the South and struggle to adjust to their new brutally competitive, capitalistic lives.

Last year, official data showed defectors’ monthly average wage was about 80% of South Koreans’. They stuck with a job for 31.6 months on average, less than half the time spent by South Koreans; and their school dropout rate was nearly three times higher. A 2019 survey showed only 9.4% of South Korean respondents would accept defectors marrying into their families.

The plight of defectors in the South raises questions about what would happen if South Korea had to handle a sudden influx of North Korea’s 26 million people in the event of a unification on South Korean terms.

“This country has been unable to embrace those who voluntarily flee North Korea, but many are shouting for an integration of South and North Koreans and a unification,” said defector Son Jung Hoon, who worked as a human rights activist in South Korea for years. “That’s hypocrisy.”

Even the center’s establishment has been contentious. Its opening was delayed for several years because of protests by local residents, who worried it would tarnish their neighborhood’s image and lower housing prices. Center officials say there are no such complaints any longer.

Churches and civic groups have previously offered activities involving defectors, often enticing them with cash. They included a chorus, camping trips and soccer games with South Korea-born residents. But Kang Woo-jun, a university profession who is in charge some programs at the government center, said that facility doesn’t offer money but is pushing to give defectors high-quality classes.

“Cultural integration is much more difficult and requires a longer time than a political and institutional unification,” Unification Minister Lee In-young said recently. “Even though South and North Korea, living separated for about 70 years, becoming one is a long, treacherous journey, we must not stop it. It’s a journey that we have to go on together. That’s the reason why the Inter-Korean Cultural Integration Center exists.”

Built in a quiet residential neighborhood in western Seoul, the center isn’t well-known to the general public. COVID 19-related restrictions have largely forced it to offer more than half of its programs online and limit the number of in-person participants to less than 10. On Monday, its in-person programs were suspended or switched online amid a viral resurgence in Seoul.

During a recent visit to the center by Associated Press journalists, four female defectors and a South Korean man, all wearing masks, played the accordion, with Ko, the instructor, helping them.

Yu Hwa-suk, 57, fled to the South in 2015, and said she wants to achieve her childhood dream of becoming an accordionist.

“(South Korean) participants have a huge interest in North Koreans so we felt an intimacy with them,” Yu said, adding that she and others often dine out after their class. In a craft class, four defectors and three South Koreans, all women, appeared a bit uncomfortable with each other, saying they haven’t had any meaningful conversations.

Song Hyo Eun, a 39-year-old South Korean, said she wouldn’t ask defectors about their lives in North Korea because it might involve a sore subject like their relatives left behind. Two defectors in their 70s said they worry South Koreans might have negative views about defectors.

Authorities should use various local facilities to integrate defectors living around South Korea, rather than establishing one big center in a certain area, said Kim Whasoon, who works at a research institute at Seoul’s Sungkonghoe University. Many defectors eke out a living and have been paid for attending cultural events in the past, said Kim Jong Kun, a professor at Seoul’s Kunkuk University.

Because of this, Kim said, “I don’t think they want to gather with South Koreans just to learn calligraphy and musical instruments or sing a song.”

Some defectors and South Koreans also view unification differently.

Park Seong Hee, 50, a South Korean instructor in the craft class, said she hopes for a gradual process. “If we are unified, I think North Koreans would all come down to South Korea and disrupt the order that we’ve established,” she said.

Yu, the defector, wept as she spoke of unification as a way to rejoin her relatives and teach them what she’s learned in South Korea.

“Frankly speaking, I sometimes want to go back home,” Yu said. “When I lived in North Korea, I thought I would be happy if I was well-off. But after coming here, I’ve realized that being happy means being with the people I miss.”

HYUNG-JIN KIM | AP NEWS

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices for U.S. consumers jumped in June by the most in 13 years, evidence that a swift rebound in spending has run up against widespread supply shortages that have escalated the costs of many goods and services.

Tuesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices in June rose 0.9% from May and 5.4% over the past year — the sharpest 12-month inflation spike since August 2008. Excluding volatile oil and gas prices, so-called core inflation rose 4.5% in the past year, the largest increase since November 1991.

The pickup in inflation, which has coincided with the economy’s rapid recovery from the pandemic recession, will likely intensify a debate at the Federal Reserve and between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans about how persistent the accelerating price increases will prove to be.

The Fed and the White House have made clear their belief that the current bout of inflation will prove temporary. As supply chain bottlenecks are resolved and the economy returns to normal, they suggest, the price spikes for such items as used cars, hotel rooms and clothing will fade. Some economists, along with Wall Street investors, have indicated that they agree.

“The headline inflation numbers have been eye-popping in recent months, but underlying inflation remains under control,” said Gus Faucher, an economist at PNC Financial Services. “Once again a few categories — used vehicles, airfares, rental cars, hotels — are experiencing huge price gains because of the recovery from the pandemic.”

Still, continued higher inflation does raise the prospect that the Fed could decide to act earlier than expected to pull back on its ultra-low interest rate policies, which have been intended to support more borrowing and spending. If so, that would risk weakening the economy and potentially derailing the recovery.

For now, price increases are running ahead of the wage gains that have kicked in this year, which means the financial burdens on millions of households have grown more difficult. Average hourly earnings increased 3.6% in June compared with a year earlier, normally a solid gain, but far less than current inflation.

Lower-income workers are also hardest hit by rising food prices, which rose 0.8% in June, and gas costs, which rose 2.5% last month and 45% from a year ago.

One reason why year-over-year inflation readings are now so high is that the most recent prices are being measured against the sharp price declines that followed the eruption of the pandemic in March of last year. That statistical distortion began to fade in June and will no longer be a factor when July’s year-over-year inflation figures are released next month.

Looking past those distortions, prices are rising faster than they did before the pandemic but not as much as the recent monthly numbers suggest. Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, noted that compared with June 2019, inflation has risen at about a 3% annual pace over the past two years. That is up from a 2.6% annual inflation pace from May 2019 to May 2021.

In addition, some ongoing price spikes could fade soon. Hotel room prices surged 7% in June alone and 15.1% in the past year, the most on records dating to the 1950s. But that surge has merely returned hotel prices to pre-pandemic levels and so may not persist.

Airline fares, which jumped 2.7% last month, have skyrocketed nearly 25% compared with a year ago. Yet airline ticket prices are still below pre-COVID levels.

Prices for used cars are far above where they were before the pandemic and soared 10.5% last month alone — the largest such monthly increase on record. That spike accounted for about one-third of the monthly increase in consumer prices for a third straight month.

Used cars have become vastly more expensive largely because semiconductor shortages have cut production of new cars, thereby leading more buyers to the used car lots. And many rental car companies sold portions of their fleets during the pandemic to raise cash and are now desperately buying up used cars to replenish their supply.

The shortage of rental cars combined with greater demand has elevated vehicle rental prices by an astounding 90% in the past year.

The surge in used car prices, though, isn’t likely to last. Prices are starting to drop at wholesale auctions where dealers buy vehicles, and used vehicle demand may be slowing.

David Kelleher, who runs a Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler) dealership in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, has observed that fewer of his customers are seeking used vehicles.

“I think the word got out that it was a tough time to buy a used car,” Kelleher said.

Kelleher, who has now cut prices on the roughly 150 used vehicles he has in stock, says other dealers are reporting the same conditions, and he expects customers to return once the price declines take full effect. Still, supplies of new vehicles remain tight and prices high, a trend that could sustain customer demand for used vehicles.

More broadly, other trends are keeping consumer prices high: Restaurant prices rose 0.7% last month and 4.2% over the past year, a sign that many companies are raising prices to offset higher labor costs.

The cost of household furniture increased 0.7% from May to June and 8.6% compared with a year ago, as more Americans have upgraded their homes after spending more time there during the pandemic. Mohawk Industries, which makes carpets and tiles, has said it will raise prices 6% to 10% — its third price hike of the year — to cover higher costs for raw material, labor and shipping.

The spice maker McCormick & Co. said it plans to raise prices to offset higher raw materials costs. Likewise, Conagra has said inflationary pressures have reduced its profits. The company, which makes everything from Duncan Hines to Pam cooking spray, has said it will raise prices to offset some of those costs. PepsiCo, too, said it will likely raise prices for its drinks and Frito-Lay snacks after Labor Day.

So far, investors have largely accepted the Fed’s belief that higher inflation will be short-lived, with bond yields signaling that inflation concerns on Wall Street are fading. Bond investors now expect inflation to average 2.4% over the next five years, down from 2.7% in mid-May.

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Additionally, 53% of sellers expect that they’ll at least get their asking price once they put a home on the market, according to a recent survey by Realtor.com. Why do prices continue to rise, and how much longer will this trend last? These three key points tell the story:

1. Pending home sales have surged. According to a report from the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose by 8% from April to May. Economists had previously projected a 1% decrease.

The chief economist at the NAR, Lawrence Yun, had this to say: “May’s strong increase in transactions—following April’s decline, as well as a sudden erosion in home affordability—was indeed a surprise. The housing market is attracting buyers due to the decline in mortgage rates, which fell below 3%, and from an uptick in listings.” The uptick in pending sales could be sustained by the strong stock market and rising home prices.

Yun also predicted that more homes will be listed in the second half of 2021, which would help quell the rapid surge in home prices. Even with an uptick in inventory, the market may continue at its breakneck pace because…

2. More homes were listed in June, but prices still hit all-time highs. We saw a needed influx of inventory over the past month. New listings increased by 10.9% in June, and they’re up by 5.5% for the year. Even though this jump is significant, the overall number of homes for sale is still down 43.1% year over year.

Since we have far fewer homes for sale compared to last year, prices have seen a boost. The median list price is up 12.7% over the past year and now sits at $385,000. Realtor.com Senior Economist George Ratiu calls it a “shift away from an overheated market to a new normal.”

“More homeowners are deciding to put their homes on the market, encouraged by vaccines, a stronger economy, and low mortgage rates,” says Ratiu. “What this means is buyers will have more choices at more affordable prices.” These numbers are all encouraging for homeowners, but some are still hesitant to enter the market since…

3. Sellers need a moving plan from the start. While a home is going to sell pretty quickly in today’s market, you’re going to need a plan for buying. Stephanie Ruhle, NBC News senior business correspondent, said “It is very possible that your home will sell quickly, and you don’t want to be crashing in a hotel while you compete for a new place.”

Some sellers are negotiating rent-back agreements with buyers that allow them extra time for their home search. Others are finding temporary housing or moving in with relatives during the buying process. Every situation is different, but just know that you do have options to help lessen your success as a seller.

What does all of this mean for you? As long as demand remains high and inventory stays relatively low, homeowners are in a great position to sell. Quick sales with multiple offers continue to be more of the norm than the exception.

While mortgage rates remain low for now, there’s a good chance that we’ll see an uptick in the coming months. Leonard Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac, expects these historically low rates to stay at least through the summer.

If you’ve even been entertaining the idea of selling your home this year, I invite you to instantly calculate your home’s value in today’s market based on recent SoCal sales:

Enter your address at the link below to find out what your home is currently worth https://www.teamforss.com/home-valuation/ If you have any questions about potentially selling your home, feel free to give me a call at 951-760-6027. I’m talking to both buyers and sellers around SoCal every day, and I can help you make the right decision for whatever you decide to do.

Team Forrs Realty Group • Contributed

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NEW YORK (AP) — Last year, companies around the U.S. scrambled to figure out how to shut down their offices and set up their employees for remote work as the COVID-19 virus suddenly bore down on the world.

Now, in a mirror image, they are scrambling to figure out how to bring many of those employees back.

Most companies are proceeding cautiously, trying to navigate declining COVID-19 infections against a potential backlash by workers who are not ready to return.

Tensions have spilled into the public at a few companies where some staff have organized petitions or even walkouts to protest being recalled to the office. Many workers in high demand fields, such as tech or customer service, have options amid a rise in job postings promising “remote work” — an alluring prospect for people who moved during the pandemic to be closer to family or in search of more affordable cities.

“A lot of people have relocated and don’t want to come back, ” said Chris Riccobono, the CEO of Untuckit LLC, a casual men’s clothing company. “There’s a lot of crazy stuff that is a big day-to-day pain point.”

Riccobono said he can’t wait to get his 100 corporate staffers back to the office in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood because he believes that productivity and morale are higher that way. Starting in September, the company will require those employees to report to the office Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on the hope that the flexibility of a “hybrid” schedule will keep everyone happy.

Many others are similarly introducing a gradual return. Companies like Amazon and automakers Ford and General Motors have promised to adopt a hybrid approach permanently for their office staff, responding to internal and public surveys showing an overwhelming preference for work-from-home options.

But implementing a hybrid workplace can be a headache, from identifying which roles are most conducive to remote work to deciding which days of the week employees need to be in the office. There are client meetings to consider. And some business leaders argue newer employees need more face-time as they begin their careers or start new at at company.

“Thursday is the new Monday,” according to Salesforce, a San Francisco-based technology firm, which found that Thursday was the most popular day for employees to report to the office when the company reopened its Sydney offices back in August.

Riccobono, on the other hand, insists employees show up on Mondays to get organized and set the tone for the week. Like many employers, however, he acknowledges he is still figuring things out as he navigates uncharted territory.

“We will revisit in January, ” he said. “We will see how it works.”

Across the country, office buildings in the top 10 U.S. cities had an average occupancy rate of about 32% in late June, according to estimates from Kastle Systems a security company that monitors access-card wipes at some 2,600 buildings. In Manhattan, just 12% of office employees had returned as of late May, according to the latest survey by the Partnership for New York City, a non-profit organization of major business leaders and employers.

Romina Rugova, an executive at fashion brand Mansur Gavriel, enjoyed the tranquility as she sat on a riverside bench in lower Manhattan after a rare day back at the office for a meet-and-greet with the company’s newly hired head of e-commerce.

A mother of two, Rugova had mixed feelings about returning to the office. Seeing colleagues in person after so long was invigorating, and she did not always enjoy blurring her family and professional life.

“The challenge is you have to be three people at the same time. You have to be a professional, you have to be a cook, you have to be a cleaner, you have to be a mom,” Rugova said. “Being in the office after a while was so nice and refreshing. It’s completely different experience, you don’t realize it.”

But she doesn’t want to completely give up the three hours of extra time she saves without the commute. Many of her colleagues feel the same way, so Mansur Gavriel will likely implement a flexible policy when most of its 40 employees return to the office after Labor Day.

“We are still figuring it out,” Rugova said.

While most employers will accelerate their return-to-office plans over the summer, nearly 40% of office employees will still be working remotely in September, according to the Partnership for New York City’s survey.

The trend has raised concerns about an unequal economic recovery, given that working remotely is an option available to a privileged few. Only about 15% of workers teleworked because of the pandemic in June, according the U.S. Department of Labor’s monthly jobs report. Most work jobs at restaurants, schools, hospitals, factories and other places that require them to show up in person.

Some of large investment banks, which are top employers and office space tenants in New York City, are leading the push to bring employees back, taking a hardline approach in comparison with tech giants that have rolled out generous remote work policies.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said at a conference earlier this month that he would “be very disappointed if people haven’t found their way into the office” by Labor Day.

“If you can go a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office,” Gorman said, though he acknowledged that there should be flexibility for parents still struggling with childcare logistics that fell apart during the pandemic.

Gorman also made clear that he was not open to the “work from anywhere” mentality that some companies have adopted, saying employees who want to earn New York City salaries should work in the city. The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have made similar comments, sparking furious debate about whether they would push employees out the door.

It remains to be seen how deeply remote work policies will influence recruitment and retention. But professionals looking for flexibility are finding they have options.

Brecia Young, a data analytics scientist and mother of a 1-year-old child, had choices when she was looking to switch jobs from a small Chicago firm. She accepted an offer from Seattle-based real estate company Zillow in part because the company allowed her to work from home and stay in Chicago, where she and her husband have relatives to help with child care.

“Moving to the West Coast was on the table but it would have been a real hardship,” said Young, adding that her husband also would have had to look for a new job. “I love the time savings just in terms of the commute. It’s like 90 minutes of saved time that I can repurpose.”

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The coronavirus already changed the way we work. Now it’s changing the physical space, too.

Many companies are making adjustments to their offices to help employees feel safer as they return to in-person work, like improving air circulation systems or moving desks further apart. Others are ditching desks and building more conference rooms to accommodate employees who still work remotely but come in for meetings.

Architects and designers say this is a time of experimentation and reflection for employers. Steelcase, an office furniture company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, says its research indicates half of global companies plan major redesigns to their office space this year.

“This year caused you to think, maybe even more fundamentally than you ever have before, ‘Hey, why do we go to an office?’” said Natalie Engels, a San Jose, California-based design principal at Gensler, an architecture firm.

Not every company is making changes, and Engels stresses that they don’t have to. She tells clients to remember what worked well — and what didn’t — before the pandemic.

But designers say many companies are looking for new ways to make employees feel safe and invigorated at the office, especially as a labor crunch makes hiring more difficult.

That’s what drove food and pharmaceutical company Ajinomoto to overhaul the design of its new North American headquarters outside Chicago last year.

Ajinomoto’s employees returned to in-person work in May to a building with wider hallways and glass panels between cubicles, to give them more space and try to make them feel more secure. To improve mental health, the company transformed a planned work area into a spa-like “relaxation room” with reclining chairs and soft music. A test kitchen is wired for virtual presentations in case clients don’t want to travel. And a cleaning crew comes through twice a day, leaving Post-it notes to show what’s been disinfected.

“Maybe it’s over the top, but maybe it provides comfort to those that have sensitivities to returning to an in-person work environment,” said Ryan Smith, the executive vice president of Ajinomoto North America. Smith estimates 40% of the new headquarters design changed due to COVID.

Shobha Surya, an associate manager of projects and sales at Ajinomoto, is energized by the space.

“The office gives you a balance of work and home life,” she said. “You are more focused here and don’t have any distractions.”

Surya said she’s also thrilled to be working alongside her co-workers again.

She’s not alone. Surveys show the thing employees miss most about office work is socializing and collaborating with colleagues, said Lise Newman, workplace practice director at architecture firm SmithGroup. Companies are trying to encourage that rapport by building more social hubs for employees. Some mimic coffee houses, with wood floors, booth seating and pendant lamps.

“Companies are trying to create the sense that this is a cool club that people want to come into,” Newman said.

Steelcase has divided one of its lobbies into cozy meeting spaces of varying sizes, separated by plant-filled partitions. Mobile video monitors can be wheeled in so that people working remotely can be included in discussions.

But after a year of working from home, some employees crave privacy, so Steelcase added more glassed-in booths for private calls and cocoon-like cubicles with small sliding doors.

Mark Bryan, a senior interior designer with Columbus, Ohio-based M+A Architects, expects a more fluid office culture in the future, with different places to work on any given day. Introverts might choose a small, private room; extroverts, a table in the office café.

Some office changes reflect a new commitment to hybrid work. Valiant Technologies, which provides tech support and other services to businesses, is letting its employees work primarily at home but has them reserve a desk for the days they want to come to the office. The New York company has removed rows of desks and put more space between the remaining ones. Employees leave their keyboard, mouse and headsets in lockers.

Megan Quick, a sales associate with Valiant, said she appreciated the company allowing her to ease back into office life this month.

“It will take a lot of time for us to readjust,” she said. “Valiant letting us set our pace for returning makes me feel safe.”

Not every design change will stick. Last summer, when Steelcase started bringing back some workers, they pushed tables in the cafeteria far apart from each other and only allowed one person per table. It made the space so depressing that no one wanted to sit there, Steelcase CEO Jim Keane said.

“An important lesson is that, yes, it has to be safe, but also has to be inspiring,” he said. “People are actually going to expect more from offices in the future.”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Online shopping giant Amazon is buying MGM, the movie and TV studio behind James Bond, “Legally Blonde” and “Shark Tank,” with the hopes of filling its video streaming service with more stuff to watch.

Amazon is paying $8.45 billion for MGM, making it the company’s second-largest acquisition after it bought grocer Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion in 2017.

The deal is the latest in the media industry that’s aimed at boosting streaming services to compete against Netflix and Disney+. AT&T and Discovery announced last week that they would combine media companies, creating a powerhouse that includes HGTV, CNN, Food Network and HBO.

Amazon doesn’t say how many people watch its Prime Video streaming service, but more than 200 million people have access to it because they pay for Prime membership, which gives them faster shipping and other perks.

Amazon said Wednesday that it would use MGM’s vast library, which includes famous characters such as Rocky, RoboCop and Pink Panther, to create new movies and shows.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun work,” said Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, during the company’s shareholder meeting on Wednesday. “People who love stories are going to be the big beneficiaries.”

Sucharita Kodali, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research Inc., said streaming companies need shows people can’t watch elsewhere in order to stand out and be competitive.

“There is an arms race to get what you can while the window is open,” she said. Plus, the price tag is just a tiny fraction of Amazon’s valuation, which is nearing $2 trillion.

Known for its roaring lion logo, MGM is one of the oldest studios in Hollywood, founded in 1924 when films were still silent. But its shine has faded considerably over the years. In the mid-1980s, it sold much of its pre-1948 catalog, including “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind,” which is now owned by Warner Bros. And its sprawling California lot was bought by Sony.

For much of the past decade, MGM juggled bankruptcy and a revolving door of owners while its new releases dwindled. Long up for sale, MGM’s desirability was lessened, not just because of its partially auctioned-off library, but because its prized property — James Bond — isn’t owned outright. MGM splits ownership of it with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who have ultimate control over the franchise. The release of the latest James Bond entry, “No Time to Die,” has been on hold through the pandemic, with a fall release now planned.

Its other upcoming movies include Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film, “Soggy Bottom,” starring Bradley Cooper; Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” with Lady Gaga and Adam Driver; and the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect,” with Jennifer Hudson. Its library still includes more than 4,000 movies, including “Silence of the Lambs” and “Thelma & Louise,” and 17,000 TV shows, such as reality TV staples “Shark Tank” and “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Amazon will also get cable channel Epix out of the deal.

Amazon already has its own studio, but has had mixed results. Two of its shows, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag,” won best comedy series Emmys. Although it has won several Oscars, including most recently for “Sound of Metal,” many of its films have failed to click with audiences at the box office. Recently, Amazon has been spending on sports and splashy shows. It will stream “Thursday Night Football” next year and is producing a “Lord of the Rings” show, which reportedly cost $450 million for its first season alone.

Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to say when it expects the deal to be finalized. But when it does, it will make Amazon, already one of the most powerful and valuable companies in the world, even bigger. Regulators around the world are scrutinizing Amazon’s business practices, specifically the way it looks at information from businesses that sell goods on its site and uses it to create its own Amazon-branded products.

A report by the House Judiciary Committee in October called for a possible breakup of Amazon and others, making it harder for them to buy other businesses and imposing new rules to safeguard competition. And the deal came a day after the company was hit with an antitrust lawsuit by the District of Columbia, accusing Amazon of creating policies that makes its sellers unable to offer lower prices for their products outside of Amazon.com, pushing up prices for consumers.

On Wednesday, some lawmakers urged regulators to scrutinize the MGM deal closely.

“This is a major acquisition that has the potential to impact millions of consumers,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota. “The Department of Justice must conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that this deal won’t risk harming competition.”

Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican from Colorado, said in a tweet that he is deeply concerned with the deal and that mergers and acquisitions involving monopolies need a greater level of scrutiny.

Amazon, founded in 1995 as an online bookstore, has become a $1.6 trillion behemoth that does a little bit of everything. It has a delivery business network that gets orders to people in two days or sooner; sells inhalers and insulin; has a cloud-computing business that powers the apps of Netflix and McDonald’s; and it has plans to send more than 3,200 satellites into space to beam internet service to Earth.

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SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — The judge who will decide a case challenging Apple’s stranglehold on its iPhone app store indicated on Monday she would like to promote more competition but without dismantling a commission system that reaps billions of dollars for the technology powerhouse.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers isn’t likely to issue a decision until this summer. But she opened a window into her thoughts during a three-hour session with lawyers for Apple and its adversary, Epic Games, during the final day of a three-week trial in Oakland, California.

Gonzalez Rogers’ line of questioning suggested she sides with much of the defense that Apple has mounted to justify the 15% to 30% commissions it collects for in-app transactions on the iPhone to help pay for the technology powering its devices.

Epic Games, the maker of the popular videogame Fortnite, has been trying to prove the fees are the price-gouging tool of a monopoly hatched within the “walled garden” Apple has built around the iPhone, the app store, its software and other devices such as the iPad and iPod.

To loosen Apple’s tight-fisted control, Epic wants Gonzalez Rogers to issue an order that would require Apple to open the iPhone and its other mobile products to rival app stores. Those alternatives would include Epic’s still-unprofitable app store, which charges a commission of just 12%.

Apple’s app store, in contrast, has become far more profitable than its late co-founder, Steve Jobs, ever envisioned when he opened it 13 years ago. Precisely how profitable wasn’t revealed in the trial, although an Apple executive conceded the company had brought in at least $20 billion as of June 2017.

Gonzalez Rogers doesn’t seem to believe the fees are unreasonable, let alone illegal. That’s in part because because Apple’s commissions mirror those charged on in-app commissions by the app store feeding about 3 billion devices powered by Google’s Android software, as well as those imposed by major video game consoles — Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft ’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Switch.

The judge also seemed to support Apple’s right to maintain a rigidly controlled ecosystem of products that has won over consumers around the world, including many who pay more than $1,000 to buy an iPhone.

“Your formulation seems to ignore the reality that customers choose an ecosystem,” Gonzalez Rogers told Epic lawyer Gary Bornstein. “It is Apple’s business strategy to create a particular type of ecosystem that is incredibly attractive to purchasers, to its consumers. So if those consumers choose to enter into an ecosystem … that’s what you know you’re buying into.”

Bornstein countered that most consumers don’t understand the extent they will be locked into Apple’s ecosystem and often pay scant attention to the costs of in-app purchases that are tiny compared to the price of an iPhone.

That still didn’t seem to convince Gonzalez Rogers that Apple is running on monopoly, but other statements made it clear she still might find the company is engaging in anticompetitive behavior. During some points in the trial, she has seemed trouble by a provision in Apple stores that forbids in-app notices that purchases can also be made through web browsers and other means that evade Apple’s commissions.

Apple contends allowing in-app links to other payment options besides its own would expose iPhones and other mobile devices to security and privacy threats. When facing some tough questioning from Gonzalez Rogers during his four-hour appearance on the witness stand Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook also conceded that allowing links within apps to other payment options would undercut the company’s profits.

The judge revisited the issue during Monday’s session. At one point, she wondered aloud whether Apple could just allow apps to insert a notice reminding consumers that payments can made in web browsers, without posting a direct link to the checkout stand. That sort of notice, she mused, wouldn’t be much different than a merchant’s display of the different credit cards — Visa, Mastercard, America Express or Discover — that has long been a staple at cash registers.

During the course of their closing arguments, the lawyers for Epic and Apple each made dramatic pitches in an attempt to get Gonzalez Rogers to see things their respective ways.

Bornstein repeatedly asserted that Apple is trying to paint itself as a “benevolent overlord” acting in the best interests of consumers and the developers of the 1.8 million apps now in the store, up from just 500 in 2008. “But it’s not enough to say, ‘We’re a great company, we’re doing well, and we’re a nice guy,’” Bornstein argued.

Apple lawyer Richard Doren reminded the judge that opening the iPhone to other app stores would weaken a security system that protects consumers and developers alike. Epic “wants Apple to drop its gloves, stand in the middle of the arena and take malware attacks through unreviewed apps,” Doren argued.

Gonzalez Rogers said last week that she hoped to issue her decision by Aug. 13. But on Monday warned she may need even more time to review thousands of pages of information submitted during the case.

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