A powerful law firms acquiescence to President Donald Trump has sent shockwaves through the legal community, prompted prominent lawyers and former associates to deride the firm, and astounded even its harshest critics.In response to an executive order from the White House targeting Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the firms chair, Brad Karp, cut a deal with Trump to provide $40 million in free legal support and conduct an audit of the firms DEI employment and hiring protocols. Following the deal, Trump reversed his order, which would have stripped Paul Weiss of its security clearance, terminated its federal contracts, and limited its attorneys access to federal buildings. A day after announcing the agreement with Paul Weiss, the White Housedirected federal law enforcementto punish other lawyers whochallenge Trumps initiativesin court.Until last week, Paul Weiss was best known for its pro bono work for liberal causes, fundraising for Democrats, and standing up to Trump during his first term. Trumpsorderessentially took revenge on the firm for bringing a pro bono lawsuit against January 6 Capitol rioters and for its ties to Mark Pomerantz, the attorney who pursued criminal charges against Trump in the Manhattan District Attorneys office.But the prestigious global firmwhich represents ExxonMobil against lawsuits claiming the oil giant deceived the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuelsalso has a history of defending corporate giants accused of harming the public.As David Moore at Sludgereported, Paul Weiss has worked to defend a range of corporate clients from liability. The firm led legal defense for the Sackler family against lawsuits for their role in the nations opioid crisis. It fought the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of tobacco giant Phillip Morris when it was sued for covering up and undermining the link between smoking and cancer. Its recent work has included successfully defending Amazon executives against antitrust claims and shielding JP Morgan Chase and its directors from allegations involving Jeffrey Epsteins criminal activity.Today, Paul Weiss serves as Exxons lead representation in climate deception cases brought against the oil giant by state and local governments. The company is often represented in court by Kannon Shanmugam, a top litigator at the firm who led preparations for a legal challenge against Trump in case Paul Weiss couldnt make a deal with the president, The New York Timesreported.The firm had a choice to fight backinstead, theyve chosen to give in, which suggests that they think their profits are better served by being in Trumps pocket than by appearing objective, said Haley Czarnek, national director of programs and operations at Law Students for Climate Accountability, a group that advocates for the legal industry to reckon with its role in the climate crisis.In itslatest climate scorecard, Czarneks group calculated that Paul Weisswhich scored an F grade for its work involving climate changetopped all other Vault 100 firms in the number of cases in which it represented fossil fuel companies between 2019 and 2023.Still, Czarnek said she was shocked by the deal Paul Weiss made with Trump. To completely and totally capitulate to the whims of a political figure and to turn themselves into another arm of the administration is obscene, she said.Law Students for Climate Accountability was founded as a result of law student protests atHarvard,Yale,NYU, andthe University of Michiganin 2020 urging Paul Weiss to drop Exxon as a client. The group wants to send the message that firms cannot be neutral when it comes to the climate, because fossil fuel corporations have big money to throw around and the communities harmed by the climate crisis do not, said Czarnek. (Oil interests donatedmore than $75 millionto Trumps presidential campaign.)At the time those protests began, the firm had just defeated a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general accusing Exxon of misleading investors about the risks of climate change to its business. While arguing to dismiss that case, Paul Weiss attorneyscited a meeting memothat federal prosecutors say was illegally obtained in a hacking-for-hire scheme targeted at supporters of the lawsuits, which hassince been linked back to Exxonby a middleman who pleaded guilty to participating in the hacking.The firm also defended Exxon against a lawsuit brought by Indonesian villagers who said soldiers the company hired to guard its natural gas facility committed murder and torture. The casewas settledin 2023, after a former Paul Weiss attorney representing Exxon was admonished by a judge forlitigation misconductthat later cost her a job at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Paul Weiss helped offset that controversial work with its large pro bono practice,touting itsunwavering commitment to providing pro bono legal assistance to the most vulnerable members of our society and in support of the public interest. Now part of that practice will be dedicated to issues championed by Trumpthough the firms chairman, Karp,promisedits staff that the president would not be dictating which of those issues the firm chose.It makes really transparent what pro bono has always been aboutwhich is doing good work for the firm, not for the public, said Czarnek, who said that firms will typically only take on pro bono work that doesnt conflict with the interests of their corporate clients. The pro bono arm of any firm is a PR operation that exists to bolster the reputation of the firm, she said.Another law firm for major fossil fuel companies, Gibson Dunn, has used pro bono work in a similar way. During the first Trump administration, Gibson Dunn partner Ted Boutrous, who regularly argues on behalf of Chevron,offeredfree representation to those targeted by the president in violation of the First Amendmentand the firm represented CNN journalist Jim Acostawho had his press pass to the White House revokedamong others.Gibson Dunn represents Chevron against climate deception lawsuits, and just won a nearly $670 millionverdictfor Energy Transfer in its lawsuit against Greenpeace for assisting protests against the Dakota Access Pipelineone of several casesthe firm has pursued that legal experts say are intended to chill the free speech of its clients opponents.The scales may continue to tip against communities and advocates also targeted by the Trump administration, whosay theyve been unable to obtain legal representationas law firms fearing retribution yield to Trumps threats. But Exxon, at least, will still have its lawyers.This piece was originally published onExxonKnews, a project with the Center for Climate Integrity.

The White Textured Ceramic Bowl and Greenery Set is a timeless yet modern accent piece. It is inspired by the whitewashed elegance of Santorini, especially with its subtly textured surface. This ceramic bowl can easily form a centerpiece for your coffee table, dining table, or countertop.Included in this set is six ultra-realistic moss balls, which bring a refreshing pop of natural green without the upkeep. You can style it in a minimalist modern home, a cozy farmhouse kitchen, or a luxurious contemporary space. Thats how versatile this bowl is!If you like to switch things up, you can swap out the moss for other items you love. For example, decorative beads, seasonal ornaments, or even wooden chain links. Its as stylish as you make it.This bowl is made of high-quality ceramic, and can be found in white and black finishes (both relatively matte). It has a rustic, imperfect finish, adding a unique and incredibly luxurious touch to your interior.Beyond its aesthetic appeal, this piece is designed for convenience. Theres no watering, no fading, and its so easy to clean. It arrives beautifully packaged, and also makes for an impressive housewarming or wedding gift.Available now on Amazon.

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MacworldApple offers pretty good prices on the standard configurations of its Macs. $599 for a M4 Mac mini? $999 for a new M4 MacBook Air? $1,299 for a new M4 iMac? Those are attractively priced. But those prices involve a few sacrifices, most notably the starting storage of just 256GB. A quarter of a terabyte might sound like a lot, but much of what we do on the Mac involves large fileshigh-resolution pictures, videos, games (literally the biggest culprit), and a lot more. 256GB runs out quickly.Apple does give customers the option to upgrade storage at the point of purchase, of course, but their prices are steep. Upgrading from 256GB to 512GB (the minimum amount we recommend) is an extra $200/200, and jumping to a terabyte is another $200, turning an attractive entry-level offering into a pricey one.But if you dont want to plunk down the extra money, you can still expand your Macs storage without paying Apples exorbitant prices. The alternatives here are mostly external storage solutionsin other words, youll need to carry and plug in an extra devicebut the compromise can help you meet your budget.External SSDs and hard drivesFoundryProsBest price/capacity ratioLarge range of capacities availableConsOne more thing to carry or clutter your deskFaster performance usually means higher pricesAn external storage device offers the best combination of price and capacity. For example, you can get a 1TB LaCie Mobile Drive for about $80/56 on Amazon that connects to your Mac via USB-C. LaCie sells that same drive with 5TB of storage for less than $170/115still lower than the upgrade to 512GB of internal storage on a Mac.With external drives, you can opt for a hard drive or a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs (which are used internally on the Mac) are faster and higher-priced than hard drives. You can also choose between desktop drives that have a larger design and require you to plug it into a power outlet, or portable drives that are small enough to fit in a bag or pocket and are powered through the Macs Thunderbolt or USB port.External drives use either USB-C or Thunderbolt to connect to the Mac. Thunderbolt drives are more expensive but faster, while cheaper USB-C-only drives often support slower data transfer rates. Learn more about the differences between Thunderbolt and USB.Macworld has guides to the best external SSDs and the best external hard drives to help you find the best device for you.USB flash drivesUnsplashProsSmall and portableCheapConsDurability issuesAwkwardly protrudes from the USB portOften called thumb drives or memory sticks, a USB flash drive is essentially a stick of flash memory that plugs into a USB port. Theyre small and easy to stash in a bag or pocket. They are available in capacities as high as 2TB, but 128GB and 256GB capacities are most commonly found, often for less than $30, such as this Samsung flash drive.USB flash drives vary in price based on capacity and speed. Some have additional features such as a USB-A plug on one end and a USB-C plug on the other, or built-in encryption.You can leave a USB flash drive plugged in, but if you are going to frequently read and write to the drive, youll want to opt for a portable or desktop drive instead. USB flash drives are more prone to wearing out than a full-fledged drive because flash memory has limited durability and USB flash drives dont have the measures in place to maintain proper health. Also, they tend to use lower-quality parts so they can be cheap and treated as commodities (for example, the corner near my home sells USB flash drives).While you dont want to rely on USB flash drives are primary storage, theyre handy for, say, storing photos or videos from a shoot, file management when you want to keep files for a project separate from everything else, backups, and more.SD cardsDenise Jans/UnsplashProsSmallAffordableConsRequires a Mac with an SDXC card slot or a separate USB card readerDurability issuesSDXC cards are memory cards often used in cameras and other portable devices, but you can also use them on the Mac. Only two Macs (MacBook Pro and Mac Studio) have built-in SDXC Card slots, however. For every other Mac, you must buy an SD Card adapter, which is inexpensive at about $10/10. You can also find hubs and Thunderbolt docks with card slots if you plan to buy one anyway. SDXC cards are good for uses similar to USB flash drives: file transfers, specifically storing files for projects, backups, and more. They have similar issues regarding the memory chips wearing out; they are more reliable because they use higher-quality memory, but they arent ideal as a drive that is always connected, and you are frequently reading and writing files to.If you plan to use an SDXC card as a method of transferring files between Macs or other devices, consider buying another card as a backup. Ive had instances where the metal contacts for the card get worn out or damaged from frequent insertions into devices. These cards did have several years of mileage on them but understand that theyre delicate relative to other storage devices mentioned here.Cards are available in capacities between 32GB and 2TB and are available at different speeds. The higher capacity/faster cards can be more expensive than an external SSD drive of the same capacity, as youre paying a premium for the extremely small size.Network-attached storageBilly Freeman/UnsplashProsConveniently accessible storage for many devicesConsSpeeds restricted by the networkSetup isnt simpleIf youre not familiar with network-attached storage (NAS), think of it as cloud storage, but specifically for your home. A NAS device connects to your home network, and your Macs, iPhones, iPads, and even Windows PCs and Android devices can access it whenever necessary. A NAS device is a good way to store files that need to be accessed by several devices or users, or it can be a way for individual users to move files from a device to free up space.Because the NAS device connects to a network, the setup isnt as simple as plug-and-play, but its not too difficult. Once its up and running, you can access it either through the Network menu in the Finder, or through an app, browser, or both. Some NAS devices can provide access when youre away from home, but this may require using a paid service from the devices company.NAS devices range from ones with fixed hard drives starting at 2TB for $150/150 to drives with multiple removable hard drives with capacities over 8TB and other features for several hundreds of dollars. Check out our picks for the best NAS drive for Mac if youre interested.Cloud storageScreenshotFoundryProsAccessible anywhere there is internet accessMost services are not platform-specificConsFee-based serviceInternet access requiredSpeeds affected by internet connectionCloud storage is provided by a service online for a fee, usually a subscription. Apple offers iCloud, which includes iCloud Drive along with other services. Other popular cloud storage providers include Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Box. Learn more about the best cloud storage services for the Mac.Whats great about cloud storage is that it is accessible by almost any device that has an internet connection. But because your ability to access it is reliant on the internet, cloud storage shouldnt be used as primary storage. Its good for storing files you want to access but not ones you use frequently, things like backups, photo and video storage, and file transfers. But its a great way to free up space on your Macs drive.Also, since you have to pay a recurring fee, youll need to figure out how the cost benefits you. Many services have a free tier with a small allocation of storage; for example, iCloud Drive offers 5GB free. That limits what you can do.Mac mini and Mac Studio SSD upgradesPolysoftProsInternal storage optionConsComplicated installationMay void the Mac warrantyThe M4 Mac mini and the Mac Studio have internal SSDs that are installed in slots, which makes them upgradeable but Apple doesnt officially support upgrades after purchase by the company, a third party, or by do-it-yourselfers. Some small companies have released SSD upgrade kits, such as Expand Mac mini and PolySoft Services with video instructions on their websites.The installations for these kits arent trivial but if your mechanical aptitude is limited, you should be able to do this. There is a risk of damaging your Mac and this installation could void your warranty, especially if there is obvious evidence of your work.If you have an M2 Mac mini there are other ways to upgrade its memory. Learn more.

The Apple Health app could offer AI-based coaching to users in a similar way to a real doctor, with food tracking also likely to be a big feature in a future app update.Apple Health iconThe Health app is used as a central store for a user's health metrics. Compiling together data collected from hardware like the Apple Watch and from its own sensors to give users an overall view of their fitness and health.While the current app can identify and notify on trends and other insights, a future version of the app could offer a lot more help. Thanks to the use of artificial intelligence. Rumor Score: Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

A new report backs up previous claims that an iPad Pro with an M5 processor will be released in the second half of 2025, and adds that it is already in testing.Apple's current M4 Pad ProPrevious rumors have claimed that the expected M5 iPad Pro will be released in late 2025 and be only a minor update. According to Bloomberg, however, this next iPad Pro could be earlier than expected, with the new estimate saying only that it will be released in the second half of 2025.The report specifically says that the M5 iPad Pro is currently in what it describes as advanced testing, ahead of manufacturing and mass production. Also describing it as late-stage testing, the report says that there will be four models, and they are codenamed J817, J818, J820, and J821. Rumor Score: Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Cheaper buildings are not good for the planet and theyre not good for our health, and actually we need to spend a little bit more but only a little bit and I think the next few years are about really proving that we can make buildings radically more human for only a little bit more money."There is a misunderstanding in construction. People say, 'Oh, its more expensive than ever to build buildings' and thats not actually true," Heatherwick added. "Relative to the money in society, buildings are cheaper than theyve ever been a bit like ultra-processed food [] We didnt have roads, cranes, lorries in the past; labour is more expensive now, but there are all these other factors."The designer goes on to mention his newXian Centre Culture Business District favorably in light of his now two-year-old Humanize campaign, which announced its first-ever academic partnership with Loughborough University in January.

Billy Tolley swings a Microsoft Kinect around an abandoned room in sudden, jittery movements. Whoa! he says. Dude, it was so creepy. On the display, we see an anomaly of arrows, spheres, and red lines that disappears almost as soon as it arrives. For Tolley and Zak Bagans, two members of the Ghost Adventures YouTube channel, this is enough to suggest they should leave the building. Because for this team and other similar enthusiasts, that seemingly innocuous blotter of white arrows means something more terrifying: a glimpse at specters and phantoms invisible to the human eye. Fifteen years after its release, just about the only people still buying the Microsoft Kinect are ghost hunters like Tolley and Bagans. Though the body-tracking camera, which was discontinued in 2017, started as a gaming peripheral, it also enjoyed a spirited afterlife outside of video games. But in 2025, its most notable application is helping paranormal investigators, like the Ghost Adventures team, in their attempts at documenting the afterlife.The Kinects ability to convert the data from its body-tracking sensors into an on-screen skeletal dummy delights these investigators, who allege the figures it shows in empty space are, in fact, skeletons of the spooky, scary variety. Looking at it in use the Kinect is particularly popular with ghost-hunting YouTubers its certainly producing results, showing human-like figures where there are none. The question is: why?With the help of ghost hunters and those familiar with how the Kinect actually works, The Verge set out to understand why the perhaps most misbegotten gaming peripheral has gained such a strong foothold in the search for the paranormal.Part of the reason is purely technical. The Kinects popularity as a depth camera for ghost hunting stems from its ability to detect depth and create stick-figure representations of humanoid shapes, making it easier to identify potential human-like forms, even if faint or translucent, says Sam Ashford, founder of ghost-hunting equipment store SpiritShack.This is made possible by the first-generation Kinects structured light system. By projecting a grid of infrared dots into an environment even a dark one and reading the resulting pattern, the Kinect can detect deformations in the projection and, through a machine-learning algorithm, discern human limbs within those deformations. The Kinect then converts that data into a visual representation of a stick figure, which, in its previous life, was pumped back into games like Dance Central and Kinect Sports.The Kinect isnt always seeing what it thinks it isWhen it was released in 2010, the first-gen Kinect was cutting-edge technology: a high-powered, robust, and lightweight depth camera that condensed what would usually retail upward of $6,000 into a $150 peripheral. Today, you can find a Kinect on eBay for around $20. Ghost hunters, however, typically mount it to a carry handle and a tablet and upsell it for around $400-600, rebranded as a structured light sensor (SLS) camera. The user will direct the camera to a certain point of the room where they believe activity to be present, says Andy Bailey, founder of a gear shop for ghost hunters called Infraready. The subject area will be absent of human beings. However, the camera will often calculate and display the presence of a skeletal image.Though this is often touted as proof were all bound for an eternity haunting aging hotels and abandoned prisons, Bailey urges caution, telling would-be ghost hunters that the cameras are best paired with other equipment to provide an additional layer of supporting evidence. For this, Ghost Hunters Equipment, the retail arm of haunted tour operator Ghost Augustine recommends that EMF readings, temperature, baseline readings, and all of that are essential when considering authentication of paranormal activity.Thats because the Kinect isnt always seeing what it thinks it is. But what is it actually seeing? Did Microsoft, while trying to break into a motion-control market monopolized by the Nintendo Wii, accidentally create a conduit through which we might glimpse the afterlife? Sadly, no.Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe Kinect is actually a straightforward piece of hardware. It is trained to recognize the human body, and assumes that its always looking at one because thats what its designed to do. Whatever you show it, whether human or humanoid or something entirely different, it will try and discern human anatomy. If the Kinect is not 100 percent sure of its position, it might even look like the figure it displays is moving. We may recognise the face of Jesus in a piece of toast or an elephant in a rock formation, says Jon Wood, a science performer who has a show devoted to examining ghost hunting equipment. Our brains are trying to make sense of the randomness. The Kinect does much the same, except it cannot overrule its hunches. That suits ghost hunters just fine, of course: the Kinects habit of finding human shapes where there are none is a crowd-pleaser. The Kinect, deployed in dark rooms bathed in infrared light from cameras and torches, wobbling in the hands of excitable ghost hunters as it tries to read a precise grid of infrared points, is almost guaranteed to show them what they want to see.Much of ghost hunting depends on ambiguity. If youre searching for proof of something, be it the afterlife or not, logic suggests youd want tools that can provide the clearest results, the better to cement the veracity of that proof. Ghost hunters, however, prefer technology that will produce results of any kind: murky recordings on 2000s voice recorders that might be mistaken for voices, low-resolution videos haunted by shadowy artifacts, and any cheap equipment that can call into question the existence of dust (sorry, spirit orbs) bonus points if battery life is temperamental.Ive watched ghost hunters use two different devices for measuring electromagnetic fields (EMF), Wood says. One would be an accurate and expensive Trifled TF2, that never moves unless it actually encounters an electrical field. The other would be a 15 [$18], no-brand, KII device with five lights that go berserk when someone so much as sneezes. Which one was more popular, do you think?Glitches arent tolerated theyre encouragedGiven the notoriously unreliable skeletal tracking of the Kinect most non-gaming applications bypass the Kinects default SDKs, preferring to process its raw data by other, less error-prone, means it would be stranger if it didnt see figures every time its deployed. But thats the point. Like so much technology ghost hunters use, the Kinects flaws arent bugs or glitches. Theyre not tolerated theyre encouraged.If a person pays good money to enjoy a ghost hunt, what are they after? Wood asks. They prime themselves for a spooky encounter and open up to the suggestion of anything being evidence of a ghost they want to find a ghost, so they make sure they do.If it were just the skeletal tracking that ghost hunters were after, better options are now possible with a simple color image. But improved methodology wouldnt return the false-positives that maintain belief, and so skeletal tracking from 2010 is preferred. None of this is likely to move the needle for those who believe towards something more skeptical. But we do know why the Kinect (or SLS) returns the results it does, and we know its not ghosts.That said, even if its results are erroneous, maybe the Kinects new lease on afterlife isnt a bad thing. Much as ghosts supposedly patrol the same paths over and over until interrupted by ghost hunters, perhaps its fitting that the Kinect will continue forevermore to track human bodies even if the bodies arent really there.See More: