• Amazon is taking control of the James Bond franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.
• The exit of the franchise's longtime producers marks a major shift in direction.
• Bond expert John Cork says casting the right 007 is crucial to maintaining the franchise's legacy.

James Bond is in a tight spot, and no witty one-liner or fancy gadget is going to help him out this time.

The news that Jeff Bezos' Amazon has taken control of the Bond franchise from its longtime producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, marks the end of an era and raises questions about the franchise's future.

With no actor signed on yet to play Bond — 2021's "No Time to Die" marked the final installment for the most recent 007, Daniel Craig — Amazon has a chance to reboot the franchise and take it in any direction it chooses.

But will it take a risk on casting an unconventional 007, focus on spinoffs, or play it safe?

John Cork, a filmmaker and author who has produced, written, and directed more than 30 documentaries for MGM's James Bond releases, shared his insight with Business Insider, offering up some ideas for what Bezos and Amazon can do to continue the legacy of one of film's most iconic characters.

Broccoli and Wilson's influence on Bond goes back decades, giving them the instant credibility Amazon lacks

A full reboot of the franchise hasn't been on the table since the early 1990s, when Broccoli and Wilson stepped in, casting Pierce Brosnan as the new Bond and releasing "GoldenEye" in 1995. The movie went on to became a box office sensation, proving that Bond was still relevant in the post-Cold War era.

As the daughter and stepson of producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who originated the Bond franchise, half-siblings Broccoli and Wilson had deep ties the legacy of 007. Wilson had written the previous five Bond movies before producing "GoldenEye" and came up with the thrilling opening sequences for 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me" and 1979's "Moonraker." Broccoli was the franchise's "beating heart," as Cork put it; she'd cement her own legacy decades later when she cast Daniel Craig.

"The history of commercial businesses is littered with ventures that have failed because the children of moguls have attempted to fill their parents' shoes," Cork told BI. "Barbara and Michael did it with spectacular success and grace."

Like Dave Filoni with "Star Wars" and Kevin Feige with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Broccoli and Wilson were the gatekeepers of Bond who didn't just know its history chapter and verse but had a proven track record of pulling off the gargantuan task of producing a Bond movie for the big screen.

With Amazon soon at the helm, they'll have to get acquainted with the franchise's long and storied history and deep fan base — fast.

"You have an audience drumming its fingers going, 'Okay Amazon, prove to me you know how to not screw this up,'" Cork said.

Casting the right James Bond will be Amazon's biggest test

Beyond creating stories filled with thrilling action set in breathtaking locales, the best way for Amazon to silence the doubters is to choose the right James Bond.

"Audiences are very forgiving to a wide variety of interpretations, but every line and every movement needs to feel like something that James Bond would do," Cork said.

Nailing the Bond casting — not focusing on any potential spinoffs — should be the name of the game, Cork added.

"It's very hard to do a James Bond movie or series without James Bond," he said of potential spinoffs in the Bond universe. "The thing that differentiates a James Bond film from every other film out there is the character of James Bond."

But who should play Bond, and is it time to cast someone other than a white British man?

"I don't know, because I haven't seen it tried the other way," Cork said. "All I can say is if I was spending the kind of money that Amazon has spent to gain control of James Bond, do I wish to take the riskiest path and risk the value of the entire franchise off of making a deeply unconventional casting choice?"

Whatever Amazon ultimately decides, Cork said he'll be first in line to see what adventures 007 takes on next.

"There are things that go on here that are invisible to anyone just watching the finished product," he said. "But there are many paths to paradise."

A man was shot twice outside Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday morning, the Chicago Police Department said.

President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran will never accept negotiations with the U.S. unless they are "based on mutual respect."

Queen Camilla wrote a letter of support to Pelicot after being "tremendously affected by the Madame Pelicot case in France."

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Upgrade your bed for less

When Megan traveled to the English countryside for a chance to start fresh, she wasn't thinking she'd come back home with a boyfriend

Greenland's voters have chosen a slow approach to independence from Denmark after the opposition Demokraatit party won Tuesday's parliamentary election.

Live-action remake has been subject to controversy over matters including race, politics and the inclusion of the seven dwarfs

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Liverpool topped the Champions League’s new group phase with statement wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid but that counted for nothing as they exited at Anfield

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Struggling electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt says it has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.

Donald Trump Jr. is endorsing Rep. Byron Donalds for Florida governor, following in his father's footsteps and cementing Donalds as the frontrunner over possible contender Casey DeSantis, the state's first lady.

Why it matters: The move by Trump Jr. — a key player in MAGA media — comes after a presidential race in which Donalds was a constant pro-Trump presence on the campaign trail.

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• Florida's 2026 race is loaded with potential intrigue: It's likely to be a show of the Trump machine's power in Florida, where DeSantis's husband, Ron, is the term-limited governor who briefly was Donald Trump's rival in the 2024 GOP primary.

Zoom in: Trump Jr., 47, hosts an influential podcast, "Triggered," a GenX pillar of MAGA's media universe. He's a trusted political adviser to his dad.

• President Trump pre-endorsed Donalds five days before the congressman's Feb. 25 announcement on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News.
• Donalds' campaign is run by Trump campaign vets: Tony Fabrizio (pollster for both Trump and Donalds), senior adviser Chris LaCivita (2024 Trump campaign co-manager) and Danielle Alvarez (senior adviser for both campaigns).

By the numbers: A recent Fabrizio poll of likely GOP primary voters in Florida showed Donalds with a small lead over Casey DeSantis, 34%-30%.

• After they were told the governor would endorse his wife, she marginally led Donalds. But the Trump effect was bigger: When respondents were told about Trump's endorsement, Donalds' lead over DeSantis grew to 45%-23%.

The bottom line: Donalds led Casey DeSantis 38%-28% when voters were informed of both endorsements — an indication that Trump's endorsement had more sway that Ron DeSantis'.

• The poll also showed that Vice President Vance would beat Ron DeSantis in a hypothetical 2028 presidential primary by 14 percentage points.
• And as Axios first reported, the same poll indicated former Rep. Matt Gaetz would have a big lead in a hypothetical matchup against Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, Gov. DeSantis' former chief of staff.

The big picture: During the past week, the Donalds campaign strategically leaked the poll results to send a message: Florida is Trump Country, and the DeSantis stewardship in Tallahassee has a 2026 expiration date.

• Registered Republicans vastly outnumber registered Democrats in Florida, so the victors in statewide GOP primaries are heavy favorites to win office.

What they're saying: "My friend Byron Donalds is a great patriot and has my full endorsement to serve as Florida's next governor," Trump Jr. said in a statement provided first to Axios.

• "Byron is a fighter and a true champion for our America First movement. He will be a great leader for Florida and he will fight alongside my father to make America greater than ever before!"

Flashback: President Trump and Ron DeSantis had a falling out after the governor decided to run against him for president in 2024.

• DeSantis quickly made amends after he was walloped in Iowa, but his annoyance with Donalds (who endorsed Trump early on over the governor) erupted the day before Donalds announced his bid for governor.
• "You got a guy like Byron, he just hasn't been a part of any of the victories that we've had here over the left over these last years. He's just not been a part of it," DeSantis said at press conference.
• Said a DeSantis confidant: "If Byron thinks all this will scare Casey out of the race, it's not going to work. It might have the opposite effect."

Trump calls DeSantis for advice on occasion and likes golfing with the governor.

• To try to keep Trump on the sidelines in the governor's race, Ron and Casey DeSantis golfed with Trump two weekends ago at the president's West Palm Beach course.
• It's unclear what promises, if any, Trump made.

Finlayson performed in more than 100 films but was best known for being the "third man" to Laurel and Hardy.

The actor may not have known his wife was dead inside the home he was living in because of the disease.

This year's hottest new consumer tech product isn't a personal robot or a self-driving car — it's a crib.

The $800 Elvie Rise, which debuted in January at the annual CES tech trade show, is an app-controlled bouncer that automatically repeats a baby's unique preferences and can transform into a bassinet after an infant falls asleep. Why exactly should you shell out for a "smart bouncer" when other products do basically the same job for hundreds of dollars less? Elvie says it comes down to infant safety: In a company survey of American parents, a majority of respondents with newborns said they were using products that didn't meet some federal safe-sleep guidelines. Elvie's claims implicitly suggest that dropping nearly a grand on a product that's meant to be used for only six months of a child's life isn't only sensible but also the responsible thing to do.

Elvie is far from the only company cashing in on parental anxiety. Baby-product peddlers have learned that it pays to remind new parents of the myriad dangers that lurk around every corner and threaten their helpless bundles of joy. If they play their cards right, companies can position their wares as the answer to a parent's darkest fears.

Savvy entrepreneurs are also taking advantage of the growing overlap between evergreen parental anxieties and the distinctly modern impulse to always be optimizing through gadgets and apps. CES launched its annual BabyTech Summit in 2016, where the now legendary Snoo smart bassinet debuted the following year with a $1,200 price tag. Since then, the baby-tech market has boomed with products such as the Owlet Dream Sock (an app-linked "smart sock" that lets parents track their baby's vital metrics) and the Nanit Plus smart baby monitor (whose night-vision-equipped video camera can track an infant's breathing), as well as a slew of WiFi-enabled breast pumps (including a nearly $400 model from Elvie). Between 2018 and 2019, submissions to CES's Best of Baby Tech Awards increased by 88%. And in 2024, EMARKETER found that products for babies and children had the fastest-growing digital ad spend of any market category. These days, it's hard to avoid the tens of thousands of moms who have taken to TikTok to show off their favorite devices.

As more millennial and Gen Z "digital natives" become parents, it's no surprise that devices providing real-time data on a baby's squirms, temperature shifts, and even bowel movements are hot commodities. But while this information is reassuring to some parents, it can exacerbate anxiety in others — particularly those already struggling during the fraught, sleep-deprived months of early parenthood. Instead of fueling connection, some of the products might even make parents less attuned to their kids and to themselves.

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From the very beginning, the baby-tech industry has been sown in the threat of worst-case scenarios. The first commercial baby monitor — a simple radio-based device — landed in American nurseries in 1938, a mere six years after the nation was rocked by the kidnapping and murder of the aviator Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son. In the 1980s and '90s, the devices became commonplace as fear spread about cases of sudden infant death syndrome in babies' cribs. By the early 2000s, baby monitors were getting regular tech upgrades, from cameras and two-way communication to heart-rate and temperature monitoring and even REM sleep cycle detection. Though these updates weren't necessarily filling a void in what parents needed, they quickly found a market.

Becca Susong, a Chattanooga, Tennessee, pediatrician and perinatal care consultant, says fear of SIDS continues to be a major driver behind parents' interest in purchasing the WiFi-connected, app-paired baby monitors that emerged after the rise of smartphones. Some parents — especially those with neonatal intensive care unit experiences or past health scares — say they feel reassured by features like oxygen and heart-rate tracking. But there's no clear evidence linking baby monitors to a decrease in cases of SIDS, so the American Academy of Pediatrics actually cautions against monitoring for it at home.

"I tend not to recommend getting the high-tech kind," Susong says about baby monitors, citing their high costs and unnecessary bells and whistles. Instead, she redirects the discussion to sleep safety like using a firm mattress with nothing else in the crib and putting the baby on their back to sleep — tangible, science-backed methods for averting SIDS.

"I think they give people a sense of control over something that feels very uncertain," says Emily Guarnotta, a Long Island clinical psychologist who specializes in perinatal mental health. "SIDS is terrifying because it's so unpredictable."

Eventually, baby-tech merchants got a little carried away by the market possibilities. A $3,000 self-driving AI stroller? Yours for the taking, courtesy of the Canadian startup Glüxkind.

Guarnotta says she's observed that type A, control-seeking parents are particularly prone to look for reassurance from baby-monitoring devices. "There are many times when fear of something happening is already present, and then a product comes along or is recommended, and you think, 'This is going to help me. This will make me feel better and keep my baby safe,'" she says. "It can turn into a vicious cycle — you get some relief from using the product, but then the anxiety returns, and the cycle repeats."

David Lesner, a 39-year-old software engineer who lives in Israel, acknowledges that part of the initial appeal of a smart baby monitor was the gadgetry itself. Before his 11-month-old son was born, he spent countless hours descending into Reddit rabbit holes to figure out which models parents liked best. But Lesner says that even his final, meticulously considered pick — the Nanit Pro — is less than perfectly accurate. While he's never experienced one of the monitor's false alarms that his baby had stopped breathing or moving, he says he knows others who have. "It can be very terrifying," Lesner says. "Those three seconds that you are going from one room to another to see that your child is fine can be like an eternity."

Not even a few false alarms could deter Logan Blackburn-Issitt, a 41-year-old entrepreneur in the West Midlands, England, who used infant-movement-detection devices with all six of his children. The four older kids, now between 7 and 13, slept on an Angelcare sensor pad, which sounds an alarm if it doesn't detect movement for 20 seconds. The youngest, 3-year-old twins, wore Snuza Hero movement monitors clipped onto their diapers. If Blackburn-Issitt or his partner forgot to switch off the pad when they lifted their babies out of the crib, or if the Snuzas got jostled out of place, the devices would blare. But if anything, these occasional mishaps only fortified his peace of mind. "If the babies stopped breathing, we would be alerted quickly," he says.

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Eventually, baby-tech merchants got a little carried away by the market possibilities. A $3,000 self-driving AI stroller? Yours for the taking, courtesy of the Canadian startup Glüxkind, which launched its first of two smart-stroller systems in 2023. (But be warned: There's a waitlist for its anchor product, the Ella.) How about a Bluetooth-connected diaper sensor that spares caretakers from sniff-checking for number twos? Look no further than the Korean startup Monit, whose smart-baby-monitor system was the talk of the 2019 BabyTech Summit — though the high-tech poo detector proved a little too weird to gain market traction. Or what about an AI-powered changing pad? The startup Woddle is on a mission to bring fresh data insights to the changing table. But it's still to be determined whether there's a real market for a tech-infused mat for changing diapers.

Combining a gloss of scientific credibility with promises of safety and efficiency, the allure of baby-tech innovation outstrips its occasional silliness. The industry meets its target customers at the intersection of some of our most deeply entrenched habits. Millennials, who now make up the largest share of new parents, have entered their child-rearing years amid the proliferation of network-connected home appliances, wearable fitness-tracking devices, and urban infrastructure designed to make everyday tasks more efficient and convenient. In the past several years alone, the "Internet of Things" has evolved from a novel subcategory of consumer products to a term that encompasses so much of what we buy and use that it barely warrants distinction. Add a dose of standard-issue parental worry to this tech-propelled drive toward optimization, throw in a revolving cast of parenting experts and influencers, and you have a consumer base that's perfectly primed to seek solace in stuff.

In an ideal world, new parents would become more confident in reading and responding to their baby's cues without feeling the need to rely on gadgets and apps.

Of course, there are baby-product innovations that have seriously improved people's lives. Balance bikes, for instance, have been found to better prepare kids for riding a real bicycle than the training wheels most of us grew up with. And countless articles and testimonials have praised everything from the Snoo bassinet to the Doona car-seat-stroller combo as life-changing.

But optimizing everything doesn't always make life easier. Ellie Messinger-Adams, a Southern California mom of two in her mid-30s, used Wyze baby-monitoring cameras for both of her children, now 6 and 3, until about a year ago. While the cameras provided momentary reassurance that her kids were alive and well in the middle of the night, checking them wound up becoming something of a compulsion. "We don't have any of the cameras hooked up anymore, and it sort of feels like freedom," she says.

"If a mom is already feeling overwhelmed, distressed, or excessively worried, adding the responsibility of monitoring data and interpreting its meaning could make things worse, increasing hypervigilance and potentially worsening anxiety or postpartum OCD," Sogand Ghassemi, a perinatal psychiatrist who practices in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, says. In an ideal world, new parents would become more confident in reading and responding to their baby's cues without feeling the need to rely on gadgets and apps. And it's not only the parents whose emotional well-being stands to benefit from a more intuitive dynamic of communication and care. "Over time, this supports the baby's ability to develop self-soothing skills, which is important for resilience," Ghassemi tells me.

When it came to raising her own two children, Guarnotta, the Long Island psychologist, was firmly "anti-baby monitor," she says. It's a matter of personal preference, she tells me. Seeing other parents obsess over surveilling their babies was enough to convince her she was better off going the old-fashioned route: listening for cries and responding to them. A fancy, camera-equipped monitor wouldn't be able to tell her anything she couldn't hear for herself.

"I'm already an anxious person," Guarnotta says. "I didn't really want any part of that."

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Kelli María Korducki is a journalist whose work focuses on work, tech, and culture. She's based in New York City.

• A millennial tax attorney braved Alaska's cold for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Project.
• The VITA program helps low-income, disabled, and limited English-speaking Alaskans with tax filing.
• Karen Lapekas faced frozen pipes and frostbite risks while assisting remote communities.

Filing and preparing taxes can be stressful. Now imagine doing it in -25-degree weather.

Karen Lapekas, a tax attorney from Miami, did just that. From the end of February through early March, she traveled to three remote towns in Alaska as part of the Alaska Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Project.

Launched this year, the program is a collaboration between the Alaska Business Development Center and the American Bar Association. It offers free tax help to residents who earn $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance preparing their taxes. The two organizations have worked in previous years to help other taxpayers in the state prepare and file returns.

Lapekas spent 11 days helping to file around 85 tax returns. She said that the biggest challenge wasn't locating a stray W-2, it was working in subzero temperatures.

"The farther we got north, the more extreme the conditions got," said Lapekas. "There was one building we worked at that didn't have working bathrooms because the pipes had frozen."

Subzero temperatures presented challenges

Lapekas, 42, was formerly a senior attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel before she left to start her own private tax litigation business. She's been representing clients against the IRS for over a decade.

After landing in Anchorage, Lapekas and her team of three underwent a final day of in-person training before they were flown out to villages in northern regions of the state. They volunteered in Kotzebue, Point Hope, and Point Lay — the last village had less than 300 people and temperatures reached -56 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Weather Channel.

"If you have any bit of skin showing after just a few minutes, you can get frostbite," Lapekas said. "One of the villagers did get frostbite walking to the center where we were preparing tax returns, and they lived maybe three blocks away."

Lapekas said she and her colleagues slept on the floor of a community center and schools in villages without hotels. They ate dehydrated food because it was easy to store and fresh food was scarce, Lapekas said.

Remote villagers faced hurdles filing returns

For members of these communities, the VITA program was an opportunity to get assistance filing their taxes electronically, Lapekas said. She added that villagers have had trouble filing their taxes by mail.

"When we were in Point Hope, for example, we found out that their post office was essentially closed," Lapekas said of the village that's home to 850 people.

Before the Alaska VITA program, Lapekas said villagers had to fly to Anchorage and pay accountants to prepare their taxes. The costs for villagers between flights, hotels, and accounting fees could reach $2,000 a year, Lapekas was told by Alaskans.

"This is an exorbitant amount, especially considering the simplicity of their return and their modest income," she said.

Lapekas and her colleagues worked long shifts during their 11-day stay. She said on one day they started at 9 a.m. and prepared returns until after midnight without taking a break. Many of Lapekas' clients worked in schools or support services for their communities, while others were part of subsistence communities that relied on whaling, hunting, and other natural resources.

"It's almost entirely indigenous cultures," Lapekas said. Indigenous Alaskans make up about 70% of Kotzebue's population, 88% of Point Lay's and also 89% of Point Hope's.

"What made filing taxes for Alaskans in native communities unique, was that most individuals, including children, had income," she said, adding that many clients received money through the Alaska Permanent Fund and the Alaska Native Regional Corporation.

The rewards of work

It was Lapekas's first time volunteering for this particular pro-bono initiative, and she hopes that she can return next year.

"There's something about pro bono work and volunteering that just revived me," Lapekas said. "It just gives my work purpose."

When Lapekas returned home to sunny Miami, she said she was most excited to see her two children, who are two and five years old.

"I reminded myself that I want to be an example to my children," Lapekas said. "I want them to see that volunteering and helping others in any way we can is a lifelong mission."

• Three baby boomer homeowners told BI how they managed to downsize in retirement.
• These older homeowners benefited from soaring home values and low mortgage rates.
• They managed to find affordable homes with easy access to family and community.

Getting rid of a life's worth of stuff and shrinking your living quarters isn't most people's idea of a good time. But Holly Gates had fun saying goodbye to half of her things.

"I'm probably more of a minimalist than I ever wanted to admit to," the 75-year-old retiree told BI, "so downsizing was a lovely challenge for me."

Baby boomers have been getting some of the blame for the shortage of larger homes on the market. Many of them are resistant to downsizing — opting to age in place in homes that have exploded in value. And some who want to downsize are having a hard time finding accessible and affordable retirement housing.

But others have gotten lucky, managing to cash in on the booming housing market and trade in for a home that better suits their needs.

Two years ago, Gates and her husband sold their Oceanside, California, home and moved 40 miles south, where they bought a house for less than half the price and square footage. What convinced them to move wasn't just a desire to downsize. Not ready for assisted living, but eager for community, the couple wanted to live in a walkable, close-knit place full of active people their age.

That's just what they found at Laguna Woods, a 55-plus community of nearly 19,000 residents just south of Irvine. They have more than 200 clubs, including for music, astronomy, and Badminton, seven clubhouses for golf and bridge players to gather, several pools to pick from, and a bus system that ferries residents to medical appointments and shops. Gates recently celebrated her 75th birthday with 30 neighbors in a shared event space.

"We're all in this together, and we watch out for each other," she said. "The enormity of the pluses outweighs the small things, like an extra bedroom."

The couple sold their Oceanside home for $1.07 million and bought their current home for $525,000, all cash, according to documents viewed by BI. They have to pay a $1,200 monthly homeowners association fee, which covers their property taxes, water bill, and home maintenance, including recent plumbing repairs and a new roof, Gates said. The co-op model removes much of the burden and liability of homeownership.

Moving near family

Leaving Orange County, California, wasn't part of Bruce Levin's plan. But when he got sick and retired from his 20-year career as a chef for Amtrak, Levin realized he wasn't up to the task of maintaining his 1950s bungalow with a pool in Buena Park.

It was 2021 and the value of his home of about 35 years had ballooned. So he sold it for $730,000 without making any repairs and moved 200 miles north to Central California to live near his daughter and two grandchildren. Mortgage rates were still low, and Levin, a widower, managed to buy an accessible, single-story home for $335,000 in the small city of Exeter. These days, he rides his electric golf cart to a local senior community for lunch and sees his girlfriend who lives nearby.

Levin is healthier now and misses his old neighborhood and taking advantage of his Amtrak pass to hop trains around the state. But he doesn't think he can live his old, fully independent life anymore. "I'm not like I was, but I'm okay," he said. "I'm not pole vaulting, I'm not running a marathon. I walk with a cane."

He added, "LA has become a very young town."

Like Levin, Hedy Vahabzadeh, 72, and her husband moved to live near their daughters and grandchildren in retirement. The couple sold their home in Houston in 2017 and moved to the Florida panhandle. The couple managed to find an 11-acre piece of land in Freeport and built a new home. "The property was a steal. It was covered in trees. There was nothing around it," Vahabzadeh said. But her husband "had a vision."

Their Freeport home is one story with just a few steps on the front and back porches. "We built it to be comfortable in our old age," she said.

These days, the area is a sought-after vacation and retirement destination, and Vahabzadeh feels they got in just before demand for homes there exploded. "It's a comfortable life," she said. "We're not trying to keep up with the Joneses kind of people. And we've never been that. So we're just enjoying ourselves."

Gates, Vahabzadeh, and Levin all benefited from lucky timing. They bought real estate before the demand for — and prices of — homes skyrocketed amid the Covid pandemic. Levin and Gates managed to cash in on the booming market at a moment in their lives when less home was more.

"I'm thanking God that we did this stuff before all this inflation," Vahabzadeh said. "We were just fortunate."

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