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What is the formula for the ideal New York City movie? For starters, the movie should be filmed in New York City. That sounds obvious, but you would be surprised to learn how many movies use other cities as a stand-in for NYC. Not every scene has to be filmed in New York City, considering many interior scenes are shot on a sound stage. At the very least, there should be some action captured in the busy streets of the Big Apple.

SAVE $599.68: As of Jan. 29, the Hisense 65-inch U8 Mini LED ULED 4K TV is on sale for $898.32 at Amazon. That's 40% off its list price and a new best price ever.

Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 65-inch U8 Mini LED ULED 4K TV $898.32 at Amazon
$1,498 Save $599.68   Get Deal

It's officially one of the best times to upgrade your TV, y'all. Not only is it a huge season for sports, with the NFL postseason wrapping up and the 2026 Winter Olympics just a week away. But it's also one of the best times to score a major discount on a 2025 TV.

As of Jan. 29, the Hisense 65-inch U8 Mini LED ULED 4K TV is on sale for only $898.32 at Amazon. That's 40% or nearly $600 off its list price of $1,498 and a new best price on record. This discount actually beats its Cyber Week price by nearly $100.

The 2025 Hisense U8 TV is remarkably vibrant and colorful, making it a great choice for watching sports, gaming, or immersing yourself in movies and TV shows. CNET (Mashable's sister site, also owned by Ziff Davis) reviewer Ty Pendlebury called it the brightest TV he's ever reviewed, but noted that "it complements that brightness with excellent contrast and well-saturated colors." Specs-wise, it boasts 5000 nits peak brightness, up to 5,600 local dimming zones, a 165Hz native refresh rate, and support for HDR in Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG.

The Google TV smart platform provides a streamlined interface to navigate every major streaming service, offers Google Cast (by default) as well as Apple AirPlay, and features built-in Google Assistant for hands-free TV and smart home device control. You can ask it to search for content, recommend your next watch, set alarms, check your doorbell camera, and more.

The Hisense U8 is typically a little pricey at nearly $1,500, but with a 40% discount, it's a total steal. If you're due for an upgrade, now's the time.

Gmail is one of Google’s oldest apps, and it might be the most widely used. Tons of features have been added over the years. The good news is that many of these things can be turned off—if you can find them in the messy settings.

Got a shiny new Android phone? Take some time to make these nine quick changes—they'll let you hit the ground running with a smooth, reliable Android experience.

SAVE $225: As of Jan. 29, get the Citizen Eco-Drive Star Wars Darth Vader Chronograph Watch for $225 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $450. That's a discount of 50% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Citizen Eco-Drive Star Wars Darth Vader Chronograph Watch $225 at Amazon
$450 Save $225   Get Deal

If you're interested in buying a watch but aren't interested in the "smart" side of it, there are some very stylish timepieces out there. In fact, we've found one that not only looks great for everyday wear, but it'll attract Star Wars fans everywhere. And you can get it right now for the lowest price we've seen, which is a huge plus.

As of Jan. 29, get the Citizen Eco-Drive Star Wars Darth Vader Chronograph Watch for $225 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $450. That's $225 off and a discount of 50%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is now $250 off on Amazon. That's $50 better than its Black Friday deal.

This 44mm chronograph watch is all about Darth Vader, with the iconic character's helmet, a TIE fighter, and additional fun Star Wars details adorning the screen and sub-dials. Plus, its luminous crimson hour markers give you a familiar Sith glow like Vader's lightsaber.

But the coolest part is that this watch is powered by Citizen's Eco-Drive tech, so you'll never need a battery for it. It'll run and run, so you can wear it to your heart's delight without having to pay for one. Coupled with 100M water resistance and a fun black case that also features Darth Vader and you've got yourself an extremely stylish gift for any Star Wars fan.

If you're ready to pick one up, be sure to get it while it's on sale, because it likely won't stick around at this price.

SAVE $86.01: The Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station is on sale at Amazon for $112.99, down from the list price of $199. That's a 43% discount and a new record-low price at Amazon.

Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station $112.99 at Amazon
$199 Save $86.01   See It at Amazon

There's a unique heart-sinking feel we get these days when our phones go dead. Try as we might to avoid hitting a dreaded zero-battery phone, it can happen when the power goes out or if we're off the grid for an extended period of time like summer camping trips. Instead of experiencing this pain, upgrading to a portable power station ensures you always have extra power on hand, and there's an ultra portable model on sale today.

As of Jan. 29, the Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station is on sale for just $112.99 at Amazon in both black and meadow green, marked down from the usual price of $199. Today's sale means you can save $86.01 on the mini portable power station. That's a 43% discount and a new record-low price at Amazon.

The Bluetti Elite 10 is a tiny portable power station that offers 128Wh of battery. In normal terms, that means you'll be able to recharge a phone about six times or a laptop twice. While that's not a huge amount of power, it'll be perfect to keep on your nightstand during a power outage to have your phone recharging and the bedside lamp on.

SEE ALSO: Last chance to score the DJI Power 1000 V2 portable power station for under $430

Another major bonus of being mini is that the Bluetti Elite 10 weighs just four pounds. That means it's super easy to carry around the house should the power go out. It's also a practical option to bringing along to the campground to keep phones charged.

While it's small in size, it packs in two USB-C ports, two USB-A, and one AC port. Recharging options include standard wall charging or solar with a 100W max panel. It'll take about 70 minutes to recharge with wall charging or about 90 minutes with a 100W solar panel.

Ensure all your small gadgets stay charged up during the next power outage or on the next camping trip thanks to the Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station. It's on sale for the lowest price we've ever spotted at Amazon, so this is a great time to make the upgrade.

I’ve had a smartwatch on my wrist for over a decade. That's why I’ve been very skeptical of smart rings, but I recently decided to give one a fair shot. My opinion has changed, though maybe not how you’d expect.

There's nothing worse than having to dig around the couch cushions or delay your Netflix binge session because you can't find the remote. It's a common problem we're all familiar with, which is why I absolutely love the hands-free voice controls on my 85-inch TCL with Google TV. Well, when the voice controls actually work.

We're only days away from the Full Moon now, so when we look up there is plenty to see.

Keep reading to find out exactly what's on display.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, Jan. 29, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. According to NASA's Daily Moon Guide, 85% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.

You don't need visual aids to see anything on the Moon's surface tonight, in fact, with just your naked eye you should be able to spot the Mare Imbrium, Copernicus Crater, and the Mare Fecunditatis. With binoculars, you'll also be able to see the Gassendi Crater, Apennine Mountains, and Posidonius Crater. With a telescope, enjoy glimpses of the Linne Crater, Descartes Highlands, and the Schiller Crater.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will be on Feb. 1. The last full moon was on Jan. 3.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the lunar cycle lasts around 29.5 days. This is how long the Moon takes to travel once around Earth. Over that period, it passes through eight recognised phases. While the same side of the Moon always faces our planet, the portion that appears lit changes as the Moon moves along its orbit. The varying amount of sunlight reaching the Moon is what makes it appear full, partially illuminated, or almost invisible at different points in the cycle. The eight lunar phases are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

Excel's XLOOKUP is great for finding a needle in a haystack, but what if you want all the needles? While XLOOKUP stops at the first match, the FILTER function is built for the dynamic array era, allowing you to pull entire lists of data with a single, elegant formula.

Not all SSDs are the same. And depending on the brand, this might even be true for different SSD units sold on the same retail listing.

Wearable cameras have become a practical option for creators capturing daily life, travel moments, and POV footage without holding a phone or carrying a full-size camera. When filming is part of the experience rather than the focus, hands-free recording can make content feel more natural and less staged.

Wearable cameras have become a practical option for creators capturing daily life, travel moments, and POV footage without holding a phone or carrying a full-size camera. When filming is part of the experience rather than the focus, hands-free recording can make content feel more natural and less staged.

They just don’t make them how they used to. Older phones had microSD card slots, removable batteries, and were actually designed to fit in a human hand. Even as companies started to do away with all of that, phones were still exciting. They were innovating, and it wasn’t yet settled how smartphones would end up. Yet no matter how fondly we think back to some of our favorite phones from yesterday—they were not as good as we tell ourselves.

Consider it impeccable timing: just days after Alex Honnold pulled off another completely unhinged free-solo climbing feat, a video game arrives for anyone who watched that and thought, "I want to do that too, but preferably without the risk of death." That game is Cairn, and instead of a skyscraper, it gives you a mountain.

Cairn is the latest release from French developer The Game Bakers, and it may be the first survival climbing game of its kind. Rather than treating climbing as a fun co-op game or a quick gimmick, Cairn commits fully to the act itself, presenting a simulation-style ascent of the fictional Mount Kami, a peak no climber has ever successfully summited. That distinction doesn’t deter the game’s protagonist Aava, an experienced and well-known climber who takes on the mountain while also running from unresolved problems in her life.

If you’ve played Peak, the recent co-op climbing game built around chaotic teamwork and shared problem-solving, Cairn feels like its solitary opposite. Where Peak turns climbing into a social exercise defined by coordination, communication, and the occasional disastrous misstep, Cairn strips all of that away, leaving you alone with the rock, your stamina, and the consequences of every decision. It’s a quieter, more deliberate take on climbing.

For now, the narrative framing is secondary. What matters is the climb, and Cairn delivers one of the most compelling gameplay experiences I’ve had this year. Yes, it’s still January, but the highs I hit while playing Cairn on PlayStation 5 will be difficult to top in the months ahead.

To the top Credit: The Game Bakers

As mentioned at the beginning, Cairn is a survival climbing game where players control Aava one limb at a time as she ascends various cliff faces and rock walls on her way to the summit of Mount Kami. The mountain carries a grim reputation, littered with the remains of dead climbers and haunted by a mysterious population of mountain folk who were forced to abandon their homes and pursue life on the ground, or as they call it, the "horizontal world."

Beyond the meticulous climbing mechanics, Cairn also asks players to manage Aava’s basic survival needs, including thirst, hunger, and warmth. This means cooking and eating meals cobbled together from materials found on the mountain, sometimes scavenged from the gear left behind by less fortunate climbers, and drinking water sourced from springs, caves, and other pockets scattered across a centuries-old peak. This is the survival side of Cairn’s survival climbing, and it weaves directly into the climb itself.

While climbing is the clear focus, Cairn does have a story, albeit a sparse one. Aava spends most of the game alone, accompanied only by a climbing robot she’s had since childhood and stubbornly refuses to name. Along the way, she encounters a handful of other characters, the most notable being Marco, a younger and often mouthy climber who clearly idolizes Aava, a well-known figure in the climbing world.

Climbing Mount Kami is no small feat, and the game allows players to approach it in two primary ways. The first is free solo climbing, while the second is a more assisted method that makes use of ropes, pitons, and bolts. For the most part, you’ll end up using a mix of both approaches, largely because you have a limited number of pitons available for you to jam into cracks to create a secure handhold as you climb each face.

Credit: The Game Bakers

Players can climb almost anything, but the game subtly guides you through the cracks, crevices, and narrow ledges etched into the rock. You can place Aava’s hands and feet almost anywhere along a wall, but those cracks and small outcroppings offer the most reliable grip. A stamina system governs how long she can hold a position, as shown by the visible shaking of her arms and legs when she’s placed in a poor grip or an awkward body position. At the press of a button, Aava can take a brief rest to recover stamina, but you’re limited to doing this only twice per climb. Let any of her limbs tremble for too long and she’ll lose her grip and fall.

Depending on how you routed the ascent, that fall might stop at a piton with Aava dangling from a rope, or send her all the way back down to where you started, which can easily mean death. If you don't want to belay, safely securing Avaa to a piton with rope, stamina can be regained by situating her in chill, optimal positions and then waiting for her to calm back down. This is where I want to credit the sound design of the game, as you can tell when Avaa is better rested by the lack of deep breathes she takes before taking a deep sigh to signify she's ready to go again.

I fell 18 times in this one spot. Credit: The Game Bakers

When planning a route, you can press L1 on PlayStation 5 or Tab on PC to bring up a climb overview, giving you a sense of the potential paths upward. Pitons can be placed directly into the rock through a quick-time event that feels similar to hitting a perfect reload in Gears of War. Time it perfectly and the piton locks in securely. Miss the mark and it can break outright. Land somewhere in between and it becomes twisted in the rock. I didn’t see the full consequences of a poorly placed piton too often, but given how frequently you’ll fall, it’s clear you want those anchors as solid as possible.

This system creates a straightforward risk-reward equation: how much of the route can you realistically free solo before burning a piton. Early on, playing it safe feels like the obvious choice, but the higher you climb, the more apparent it becomes that the pitons you brought with you are all you’re getting. After completing climbs, Aava’s robot companion can recover pitons for reuse, but only if you’ve managed your route well enough to survive the ascent in the first place. Broken pitons recovered by the climbing bot can be used to create a new one — it's two broken pitons for one new piton, so it isn't a lose one, get one back situation. You start the game with six; after my eight hours in the game, I had four to use.

There are also some rock faces that are too dense to insert a piton, and for that, you need to use Troglodyte pitons, which are indestructible and can be planted on any rock. After placing a piton you can belay off them, which you can do to recover stamina, rope down to certain points, or even access your backpack if you need a quick bite or drink.

Resting up Dinner time. Credit: The Game Bakers

Cairn also features a day-and-night cycle, along with harsh weather conditions that can dramatically affect a climb. Heavy winds can knock Aava off balance mid-ascent, while rain reduces grip and makes even familiar routes more dangerous. These effects can be mitigated through food and drink that temporarily fortify Aava, preventing her meters from depleting, or by using chalk to improve hand grip. Chalk is thankfully abundant, as it can be replenished by recycling trash generated from consumed items or found scattered across the mountain. You hand that trash to Aava’s climbing robot, and after a short amount of in-game time, the chalk is ready to use.

After a long climb, resting becomes essential. Players can pitch a tent at designated save points scattered throughout the mountain. These camps let you cook food, craft new pitons, organize your backpack, and, most importantly, heal Aava’s fingers. Finger condition plays a crucial role in maintaining grip, and as you progress, her fingers will develop cracks and cuts that need to be bandaged individually.

Healing is a surprisingly mundane process, requiring you to slowly wrap each finger one at a time by rotating the right stick on your PlayStation controller. It’s tedious, sometimes frustratingly so, but it aligns with the game’s broader themes of sacrifice and endurance. Healing items are scarce, forcing hard choices. You can fully bandage every finger, or focus only on the worst injuries and push forward. It’s a neat system, even if it occasionally feels unnecessary.

Credit: The Game Bakers

Cooking, by contrast, is simple and intuitive. Aava uses a small pot, which first needs to be filled with water and heated before ingredients can be added. Flowers can be brewed into teas that provide various fortifications, while fish and other ingredients can be cooked into full meals. Each option restores thirst or hunger respectively, with the exception of soups which do both. Any water not stored in your flask can be carried in bottles in your backpack, which can be found throughout the map. Both bottles and flasks can be refilled at springs, ponds, and fountains scattered across the mountain as you work your way toward the summit.

When everything is set, you can continue to climb or take a break, which will fast-forward time to whenever you feel comfortable going again. I try my absolute best not to climb at night unless necessary, as it's hard to see, even with Avaa's staff light, and sleeping helps Avaa recover. If none of this appeals to you, though, there's a casual mode that makes the survival elements an afterthought. This mode turns off Cairn's survival elements such as hunger, gives Aava infinite climbing gear, and lets you rewind and try again after falling.

The climbing in Cairn is genuinely fun, a feeling that’s only amplified by how striking the game looks. Cairn’s art style sits somewhere between a graphic novel and a minimalist animated film. Characters and environments are rendered with clean lines, flattened shapes, and painterly textures, giving the world a hand-drawn, almost storybook quality. The color palette leans muted and earthy, with soft gradients and atmospheric lighting that emphasize altitude, cold, and isolation rather than raw spectacle.

The UI follows that same philosophy. Menus and overlays are deliberately stylized to feel tactile and diegetic, with rough-edged frames and sketched iconography that blend naturally into the world. Overall, the game’s visual identity reinforces its themes of solitude and endurance. The art never distracts from the climb; instead, it lends every moment a quiet, contemplative weight that builds as the journey continues.

Credit: The Game Bakers

That said, Cairn isn’t without technical rough edges, and some of its performance issues can pull you out of the experience, especially during climbs. There are moments where you fall into a genuine rhythm, carefully placing each limb and steadily working your way upward. The game automatically selects which of Aava’s four limbs to move, though you can override it manually. That system occasionally breaks immersion, with limbs awkwardly morphing through one another and creating strange, almost rubbery animations. As you get closer to the summit, things can get even messier, with environmental objects briefly glitching or wobbling in ways that feel unintentional. The game never crashed during my playthrough, but there were times it felt perilously close.

Beyond the main ascent, Cairn offers several side objectives discovered through letters and maps Aava finds along the way. These usually send you off to climb different sections of the mountain in search of toys, trinkets, or rare items, including specialized pitons. According to the developers, a typical run should take around 15 hours, closer to 18 if you’re aiming to see everything, and upwards of 30 hours if you tackle the hardcore free solo mode. I powered through the game in just over eight hours, which left me wondering what corners I may have cut to finish so much faster than intended.

There’s a subtle Metroidvania-like structure to how progression works. Instead of traditional upgrades or leveling systems, you unlock better gear organically as you climb, including indestructible pitons, expanded chalk capacity, and tools like a pinwheel that warns you of incoming wind. It’s a smart approach that makes progression feel earned through exploration rather than menu management, and it fits neatly into Cairn’s broader philosophy of learning the mountain as you ascend it.

Is Cairn worth it? Credit: The Game Bakers

The game’s title is a fitting reflection of its themes. A cairn, in the real world, is a stack of stones placed to mark a trail, commemorate the dead, or signal that someone has passed through before. In Cairn, the mountain is littered with similar reminders of those who attempted the climb and never returned, from abandoned gear to the stories left behind in notes and letters. Like a real cairn, these traces don’t offer comfort so much as context. They are quiet acknowledgments of effort, failure, and persistence, reinforcing the idea that every ascent is built on the attempts of those who came before, even if the summit remains unconquered.

Despite some rough edges, Cairn is absolutely worth playing if you’re drawn to games that value systems, atmosphere, and mechanical tension over constant spectacle. Its climbing mechanics are unlike anything else out right now, demanding patience, planning, and a willingness to accept failure as part of the experience. When everything clicks, Cairn delivers some of the most meditative and rewarding moments I’ve had in a game in years.

That said, this is not a game for everyone. The deliberate pacing, occasional technical hiccups, and hands-on survival mechanics will likely frustrate players looking for fast feedback loops or constant narrative momentum. The finger-bandaging, limited resources, and frequent falls can feel punishing, especially early on.

But for players willing to meet it on its own terms, Cairn offers a game that trusts you to learn through repetition and consequence, and one that finds beauty in exhaustion, solitude, and persistence. It’s imperfect, sometimes awkward, and occasionally janky, but it’s also thoughtful, ambitious, and deeply memorable.

Cairn is available today on PlayStation 5 and PC.

Excel handles numbers beautifully, but it's frustratingly picky about text. When you treat cells like a Word doc, like manually typing units or ignoring hidden spaces, you're onto a loser. Here's how to handle text in Excel without ruining your spreadsheet's logic.

Have you recently switched to Linux? Or are you one of the hardcore, anti-terminal users? I've seen plenty of loathing for the terminal these past few years, but I think it comes from a place of misunderstanding. New users view it as an insurmountable mountain of commands, but it's far simpler than that. If you're keen on moving forward, I have four key steps to guide you.

How often have you reacted to recent Windows feature updates with "who asked for this?" It seems like every time we learn about new and upcoming features for Windows, AI-based or not, that's a question we have to ask because it's far from obvious. It's something I've been thinking about recently, and I have some glimmer of a theory.

Privacy seems elusive in today's world, especially pertaining to our most sensitive information. If you watch porn, you probably want to shield yourself from prying eyes of advertisers, your internet service provider — or even your government.

As of November 2025, around half of the United States and several countries, including the UK and France, have enacted age-verification laws. Typically, these laws require visitors to sites containing explicit content to input personal data (like a government ID or facial scan) to access that material. To get around these laws, many people are using VPNs — if spikes in searches for them in areas that passed these laws are to be believed.

A VPN, or virtual private network,  masks your current location, and there are plenty available, free or paid, as apps or browser extensions. 

These networks are easy to use, but should you use a VPN to watch porn? The answer is complicated. 

SEE ALSO: The impact of age verification: VPN use doubles, porn traffic plummets

VPNs aren't "an anonymity cloak," said Yael Grauer, investigative tech reporter at Consumer Reports, despite what their marketing may say. The reality is, some scenarios are best suited for other web security tools — and it's actually possible that a VPN can weaken your safety.

How do VPNs work?

Rindala Alajaji, a legislative activist at the digital civil liberties nonprofit, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), compares VPNs to a P.O. box. If you send a letter and put a P.O. box as the returning address, the recipient won't know exactly where it came from. Similarly, if you visit a website using a VPN, that website won't know exactly where you are.

VPNs are a privacy and security tool that protects you in three key ways according to Haych Li, former vice president at ExpressVPN. 

One is that VPNs encrypt your internet traffic and data. When this information is unencrypted, anyone in the chain between you and the destination (say, a porn site) can potentially see it. An example is the owner of a WiFi hotspot you use at a coffee shop. With a VPN, however, your traffic can't be seen by that intermediary. 

Secondly, VPNs encrypt DNS (Domain Name System) requests. Li compared DNS to a phonebook. A DNS request is like looking up a number in the phonebook — you're asking your computer to find something, like a website.

SEE ALSO: Tech-savvy travelers will geek out over this VPN router

The third tactic is that VPNs mask your IP address, which is a unique number connected to your device and linked to your location. Computers need IP addresses in order to communicate with each other and know "where" to send information. When using a VPN, you replace your actual IP address with the VPN's address.

"A VPN concentrates on hiding your real IP address," explained Chris Hauk, consumer privacy champion at online privacy blog Pixel Privacy, "while also encrypting your internet connection so third-parties can't easily track you simply by monitoring your connection.”

Is VPN safe for private browsing?

Know that any VPN won't make you totally anonymous. Sites can track you in ways besides your IP address. For example, a site's cookies (a file on your computer that tracks your activity) or other trackers will still be there even if you use a VPN, said Jon Callas, former director of technology projects at EFF.

Further, some VPN companies have reported to log their user traffic, a cybersecurity expert focused on data privacy for high-profile executives told Mashable. This is typically done by "free" VPNs that generate revenue by selling traffic data to targeted media companies. "Most higher-end, paid VPNs are safe and have a 'no logging' policy, which is vetted by third parties in some cases," the expert said.

Browser fingerprinting is yet another way you can be followed online. This method logs data like your browser, operating system, screen resolution, and language. 

Further, your browsing history will still exist if you use a VPN, Callas explained. If you paid for anything, the site has your payment information as well.

When choosing whether to use a VPN, ask yourself what you want to protect yourself from, said Grauer. This is to discern whether a VPN is actually the best option.

Here are two instances Grauer said they could be useful for porn viewing: 

• To bypass a firewall (say, on hotel WiFi that blocks porn sites)

• If you're worried about your ISP (internet service provider) seeing and potentially selling your data, as VPNs hide your info from your ISP

Grauer herself isn't concerned with the latter point. "There's a lot of people that look at porn," she said, "so personally, I don't feel the need to hide that I look at it…from my internet service provider."

What about snooping family or roommates? Clearing your browser history may be your best bet — or even investing in a screen filter so no one physically around you can see what you're browsing. Using an Incognito window, which doesn't log history, may help too, but keep in mind that sites can still track you.

If loved ones or your building management have access to your WiFi and are savvy enough, however, they can potentially access your data. In that case, a VPN could help, Li explained, as it reroutes your traffic. 

Callas agreed. "If the threat is 'I don't want my apartment building to know what porn I watch,' a VPN works," he said.

VPNs enable free speech in some areas as well, said Li. Should you live in a country where queer sex and thus queer porn is illegal, a VPN could mask your IP from the government. Grauer wouldn't rely on one in these severe instances, however, as VPNs can fail. She recommended people in these circumstances instead contact human rights organizations to figure out what security steps to take, as technology, laws, and government practices are ever-changing.

If the specific VPN you use doesn't have a "kill switch," which shuts off your internet connection if it's not working, then authorities — or whomever else — could potentially see your traffic. Check if your VPN has a kill switch either in the features rundown on the company's website, or in the VPN settings.

Is using a VPN illegal in the U.S.?

No, VPNs are legal in the U.S. and many other countries. This isn't the case everywhere, though. ExpressVPN has a list of countries where VPN use is illegal.

In Wisconsin and Michigan, however, bills have been introduced to ban VPNs. The children's commissioner for England said that VPNs were a "loophole" to the area's age-verification law that "needs closing."

In an EFF blog post about VPN bans, Alajaji wrote about Wisconsin's proposed demand to "block VPN users" from the state — and how that's technically impossible.

"The technology just doesn't work that way," she wrote. "Websites subject to this proposed law are left with this choice: either cease operation in Wisconsin, or block all VPN users, everywhere, just to avoid legal liability in the state."

Due to age-verification laws, Pornhub has ceased operation in 22 states as of this publication. Should VPNs become banned in Wisconsin or elsewhere, a similar domino effect could take place.

VPNs and age-verification laws

Different experts offer varying advice on whether to use VPNs when in a location with age-verification laws that require submitting personal data to view complying porn sites. (And none of this is legal advice.)

"As a cybersecurity professional, I will not help anyone, including a client, bypass the law," founder and CEO of Solace Truly Personal Cybersecurity, Paul Pioselli, told Mashable. "From a privacy perspective, however, I do encourage clients to understand the risks they face when visiting sensitive websites, including the trail of data that their Internet Service Provider, ad networks, and data brokers can collect about them."

"While using a VPN can help obscure an individual's location and improve privacy, no tool, including a VPN is a magic shield against the law," Pioselli continued. 

Data privacy expert and CEO of Privacy Bee, Harry Maugans, however, told Mashable that using a VPN is an option. In his view, the internet is supposed to be a free domain for people to go wherever they want and use it how they want to use it — and that these laws shouldn't exist.

"If people need to use a VPN to bypass a law that probably shouldn't be legal in the first place, I think more power to them," Maugans said. "They absolutely should."

Not all VPNs are made equal 

"Some [VPNs] are more trustworthy than others," said Grauer, who tested 16 VPNs along with her team in 2021. In its evaluation, Consumer Reports focused on characteristics like whether a VPN company conducted third-party security audits, and whether the company itself held customer information — as opposed to ease of use and cost. This takes into account what security experts look for in a platform.

Grauer found that most VPN companies fell short in terms of exorbitant ad claims (like that they provide "military-grade encryption," which isn't a real term or standard of protection) and poor privacy practices such as selling user data. A few, however, had truthful marketing and better policies like security checks by outside companies: IVPN, Mozilla VPN, and Mullvad VPN.

Hauk doesn't recommend free VPNs as they sometimes sell data, or even insert their own tracking cookies into a user's browser settings. If your goal is to stop your ISP from seeing and selling your data, a free VPN could do exactly what you're trying to prevent.

Each VPN is different, so when looking for one, check if and how they collect user data. 

What should you not use a VPN for?

"VPNs can be used as a security tool, a privacy tool, or in some niche cases such as an investigative report, obfuscating digital signature," the anonymous cybersecurity expert explained.

Here are some examples where a VPN isn't necessary, according to the expert:

• If an employer has a corporate VPN for individual use, a secondary VPN isn't needed.

• In your own home. "Some experts might disagree with this, but if the home has a secure network with no unknown devices, the VPN has little use as a security tool," the expert said. "However, if there are privacy concerns regarding what websites can see your IP address and general location, then using a VPN has [a] benefit."

Helpful privacy measures besides VPN

A VPN isn't the end-all of security; other tools could better help with various issues. 

If you're worried about advertising trackers on porn sites following you throughout the web, Grauer recommends a tracker blocker like Privacy Badger, created by EFF, or uBlock Origin.

Should you be concerned about malware, try one of the many malware removal and protection services on the market.

Another tool is a privacy-focused browser. Brave is Hauk's favorite, as it blocks third-party tracking cookies and ads by default and randomizes your fingerprint, along with similar protections.

Additionally, Hauk singled out the latest versions of Apple's Safari as it offers privacy and anti-tracking features alongside the introduction of macOS Monterey, like tracker blocking.

Opera also has excellent protections, said Hauk, like its own VPN. "Users should keep in mind though that the Opera VPN only protects the user's in-browser activity," he noted. "The rest of your online activity, such as from apps like P2P torrenting apps, is still left out in the open."

Grauer mentioned Google Chrome, as Google has a robust security team, though you need to specifically opt out of Google tracking your data.

So, should you use a VPN to watch porn?

Are you concerned about your internet service provider, housemates, or building manager accessing your data? Then yes — a VPN would help. Furthermore, if you're in a hotel or somewhere that has a firewall up for porn sites, a VPN can also circumvent that.

Remember, however, that not all VPNs are the same. Take a look at their fine print to see if they're going to collect or sell your data. If a privacy policy doesn't explicitly state that the company won't sell your data, that could be a red flag.

Read specific porn sites' terms of service and privacy policies to see how exactly they'll track you, too, Grauer said. According to Pornhub's privacy policy, for example, the site tracks IP addresses and sets cookies, which have the potential to collect information about your site usage. If your VPN works properly, your IP address will be hidden — but you'll need another tool to take care of the cookies.

Ultimately, a VPN won't make you invisible to porn sites nor others. There are, however, additional services like tracker blockers that can make your experience that much more private.

The best VPNs for watching porn: Best for most people ExpressVPN $3.85 per month Shop Now Best for value CyberGhost VPN $2.50 per month Shop Now Best for power users NordVPN $3.58 per month Shop Now

Learn more about the best VPNs for staying anonymous on the web.

Update: This article was originally published in 2022 and updated in November, 2025, amid the enaction of age-verification laws in the U.S. and other countries. It contains interviews from 2022 as well as 2025.

Alexander Skarsgård is hosting SNL this week, and according to the skit above the cast and crew love having the Pillion star around for one specific reason.

"He tall," says Kam Patterson, after Skarsgård helps him retrieve a football from the top of a camera. While the rest of the cast are enjoying shoulder rides, the also-tall Ben Marshall comes in to the room to offer his assistance — but is met with a very different response.

"Get lost, beanstalk!" screams Jeremy Culhane from atop Skarsgård's shoulders.

Maybe it helps to be tall and Alexander Skarsgård.