Technology

Uber will pay millions in damages following a decision by a Phoenix jury that deems the company liable for rape and violence perpetrated by drivers against passengers.

The case sets a legal precedent for more than 3,000 pending sexual assault and sexual misconduct lawsuits against the ride share company, the New York Times reports, following a California court decision that found Uber wasn't liable for a rider's assault. Instead, the Phoenix jury found that Uber can still be held to account for the misconduct of drivers even if they pass background checks and safety benchmarks.

SEE ALSO: What is Lockdown Mode on iPhone and how do you enable it?

The suit was brought by passenger Jaylynn Dean, who first reported her Uber driver had isolated and raped her in Nov. 2023, and accused Uber of failing to implement safety provisions that could have prevented the assault. Her team presented internal documents that showed Uber flagged the potential for a "serious safety incident" before she was picked up, but she did not receive a warning from the app.

Despite agreeing to liability, the jury didn't find that the company's actions were “outrageous, oppressive, or intolerable” or "created substantial risk or significant harm," reducing the requested $144 million in damages to $8.5 million. The driver was previously banned from the app, but isn't facing criminal charges.

"This verdict affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety. We will continue to put safety at the heart of everything we do," said Uber spokesperson Matt Kallman. The company says it plans to appeal the decision.

Previously sealed court documents, submitted as part of several lawsuits leveled against Uber in recent history, show a pattern of safety failures and a rise of sexual assault reports between 2017 and 2022. A recent investigation found that drivers with violent felony convictions were allowed on the platform in at least 22 states. In response, Uber has added additional safety tools, including gender-specific ride matching. A cohort of male drivers later sued the company for alleged discrimination.

"I’m doing this for other women who thought the same thing I did, that they were making the safe and smart choice — but that, you know, there are risks of being assaulted," Dean said on the witness stand.

Dark scenes being too dark is a common frustration of avid TV watchers. The ironic point of contention famously sent Game of Thrones fans into a spiral when the 2019 episode, literally titled "The Long Night," was borderline indecipherable. The cinematographer said it back then, and it's worth reiterating now: The cinematic content isn't always too dark. Your TV just isn't tuned properly.

It's the same reason why Skinamarink didn't hit as hard for me when other people were mesmerized by it. That was partly my decrepit 2019 4K Roku TV's fault for being basic — from a technical standpoint, the best 4K TVs you can buy can simply render dark scenes better than cheap TVs. I witnessed it firsthand when I ditched that old LED TV for the mid-range TCL QM6K mini LED TV.

But if you'd prefer to just work with the TV you have right now, there are ways to toggle your current TV settings to optimize dark content.

SEE ALSO: 4 coolest TVs at CES 2026 are from Samsung, LG, and TCL and feature wildly different tech

If you're a serious film person doing a lot of movie watching in the dark, your best bet is to upgrade to OLED at some point soon. But whether you're waiting for TVs to go on sale or are convinced that your current TV has potential to improve, there's no harm in tinkering — your TV's default or AI-enhanced settings could actually be doing you dirty. And in most cases, the changes don't even require a nitty-gritty understanding of TV specs.

Select viewing modes vary by brand, and some newer models may let you get more granular than older models. (Samsung's Shadow Detail bar, for example.) But there are a handful of universal tweaks that can be made to most TVs to make dark scenes look better:

Turn off any light sensors

Before anything else, make sure the room you're watching TV in is as dark as possible. We've all seen how distracting glare from a lamp or a window can be. Plus, limited external light gives blacks and grays the best shot at being, well, contrasted.

Still, some TVs try to correct their own displays by assessing the lighting in the room and adjusting their brightness, shadows, and highlights accordingly. Many folks find that ambient light sensors in their TVs actually wind up overcompensating for dim environments, brightening the screen so much that the picture becomes inaccurate (and, physically, a headache to look at). Reddit sees several queries about how to optimally handle a TV's auto-dimming setting or light sensors, to which many Reddit users have a short, sweet solution: Just turn it off.

SEE ALSO: Review: I can't stop playing my Switch 2, a fabulous follow-up to an all-time legend Turn off HDR

HDR, or high dynamic range, is a technology that can "translate" color and contrast data from the original source (what was originally seen through the camera lens) that a more basic technology, like SDR (standard dynamic range), can't fully interpret. The biggest advantage here is that certain content can get brighter and more contrasted. That's awesome for scenes that are supposed to be vivid, or watching a football game where the field is green and the jerseys are saturated.

But because it relies on your TV to output high nits of brightness, HDR isn't one-size-fits-all magic. For dark scenes, HDR is often a disadvantage. The reliance on backlight and hyper-fixation on differentiating black and white hues often have low-light settings end up looking... gray. It's tricky when a show or movie you're watching flows back and forth between colorful and shadowy, so some calibration might be required to make the TV look better. PCMag's guide on how to calibrate your TV is super straightforward, though many people just have a professional come do it for them. (Mashable and PCMag are owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.)

SEE ALSO: Everything coming to Apple TV in 2026

But at the end of the day, there's something so freeing about simply watching stuff in SDR. Standard dynamic range doesn't require such steep peak brightness, making it a much more comfortable situation for many low-to-mid-range TVs or dark scenes. Remember, 4K SDR is absolutely a thing. You can enjoy the resolution-related benefits of 4K upscaling without the risk of HDR creating overly-pixelated shadows in non-HDR content.

Not all streaming services even support HDR

It sounds obvious, but ensure that the content you're watching or playing actually supports HDR. This could even come down to the streaming service you're watching on. For instance, only Netflix's Premium tier offers HDR content, and Hulu doesn't have much content with the HDR badge outside of some Hulu originals. If you've been sitting through some borderline unwatchable stuff lately, it's quite possible that your newer TV is trying to force HDR on content that literally doesn't support it — a prime example of HDR makes things worse instead of better.

Experiment with Filmmaker Mode

When being viewed in the right environment, Filmmaker Mode gets dark scenes as close as possible to how awesome they'd look in a theater.

Like HDR, other modern picture processing features don't always do content justice. So, at its core, Filmmaker Mode is kind of exactly what it sounds like: There aren't any noise reduction or motion smoothing effects happening on the set of the movie IRL, so Filmmaker Mode essentially strips back those after-the-fact enhancement settings (that go too hard sometimes) to show the viewer what the filmmaker originally wanted to capture. Most TVs do allow settings like color and tone mapping to be tweaked, even if Filmmaker Mode is on, which can balance out some of the lacking vibrancy from automatic enhancements.

SEE ALSO: Sony hands TV business to TCL. What it means for you.

If you're pro movie theater — and pro pitch black living room when movie nights do take place at home — try turning on Filmmaker Mode. And, if Filmmaker Mode has ever made your screen a little too dark, consider the lighting situation of that room. Even the glow of a dim vibey lamp can muddy dark scenes in Filmmaker Mode.

What TVs have the best dark scene performance?

OLED TVs are unanimously recommended for watching in any environment that's not broad daylight. Unlike QLED TVs, which are characterized by a layer of nanocrystals that reflect the light coming from behind them, OLED TVs don't use a backlight at all. OLED screens are made up of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, or self-lit pixels that can completely turn themselves off when the scene calls for shadows. This allows for deeper blacks and more contrasted dark scenes than what a QLED TV can achieve.

There aren't as many OLED TV options to choose from as there are QLED TVs, but the purchase decision is still a big one — OLED TVs are generally the most expensive type of TV. There are a handful of OLED models that consistently show up as "the best OLED TV" on Google, and they align with the few OLED TVs that people in r/hometheater on Reddit are always hyping up.

A few of the best OLED TVs to buy in 2026 Best budget OLED LG 65-inch B4 OLED 4K TV $1,299.99 Shop Now Best OLED TV for most people LG 65-inch C5 OLED 4K TV $1,599.99 Shop Now Best OLED TV for bright rooms Samsung 65-inch S95F QD-OLED 4K TV $2,799.99 Shop Now LG 65-inch G5 OLED 4K TV $1,999.99 at Best Buy Shop Now

Excel's conditional formatting data bars seem easy to use, but they can cause more problems than they solve, creating a "rule rot" mess and causing a massive lag in large worksheets. Switching to the REPT function keeps your file size small and your performance snappy.

SAVE $700: As of Feb. 6, get the Sony 85-inch Bravia 3 TV for $899.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,599.99. That's a discount of 44% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Sony 85-inch Bravia 3 TV $899.99 at Amazon
$1,599.99 Save $700   Get Deal

There are just a couple of days left before the big game, and if you need a new, larger TV, STAT, you're in luck. You can score a massive TV upgrade that should still arrive for the biggest sports event of the year if you head over to Amazon right now, and save some serious cash while doing so.

As of Feb. 6, get the Sony 85-inch Bravia 3 TV for $899.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,599.99. That's $700 off and a discount of 44%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: Save up to $6,000 on Samsung's best TVs before the big game

This massive 85-inch TV is a media powerhouse. Not only does it offer excellent picture quality with deep dark hues and plenty of different shades of color, but it also supports Triluminos Pro to make it all a bit sharper. It also features Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode, so it has presets ready to go for watching sports or whatever else you happen to be into. It also rocks powerful audio that you can enhance with a soundbar if needed.

If you're into streaming movies and TV shows, it's useful for that as well. It has built-in Google Assistant support, which lets you summon things like apps (Netflix, Prime Video, you name it) via voice and without needing a separate streaming device. And if you prefer to play your own sports or other titles as a gamer, there are tons of preset supports for it as well.

Save big on this TV and and go ham for the big game before it starts, and you'll be in one very popular household.

SAVE 17%: As of Feb. 6, the 55-inch Samsung "The Terrace" outdoor Smart TV (QN55LST7DAFXZA, 2024 model) is on sale for $2,891.96, down from $3,497.99, at Amazon. That's a 17% discount or $606.03 savings.

55-inch Samsung "The Terrace" outdoor Smart TV (QN55LST7DAFXZA, 2024 model) $2,891.96 at Amazon
$3,497.99 Save $606.03   Get Deal at Amazon

If you've been dreaming of a movie setup for your patio, the "off-season" is the smartest time to buy. While everyone else waits for the first warm day of spring (when prices are high), Amazon is quietly clearing out premium outdoor tech.

SEE ALSO: Save up to $6,000 on Samsung's best TVs before the big game

Right now, you can get the 55-inch Samsung "The Terrace" outdoor Smart TV (QN55LST7DAFXZA, 2024 model) on sale for $2,891.96, down from $3,497.99, at Amazon. That's a 17% discount or $606.03 savings.

Unlike a regular TV that you have to panic-drag inside when it starts to sprinkle, this screen is built to handle the elements. It carries an IP56 rating for water and dust resistance, and the "Partial Sun" model uses a Neo QLED 4K panel to boost brightness so you can watch clearly in daylight. It also features anti-reflection technology to reduce glare and a 120Hz refresh rate, which is ideal for watching sports.

Just remember: This model is designed for shaded areas, like a covered deck or pergola, rather than direct sunlight. If you're planning on placing it in direct sunlight, be sure to choose the "Full Sun TV" option.

Plezy is a third-party Plex client for Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile platforms with a sleek design and a few unique features. If you're annoyed with the official Plex apps, you should give Plezy a spin—especially after the most recent update.

SAVE $100: As of Feb. 6, the Bose Ultra Open earbuds are on sale for $199 at Amazon. That's $100 or 33% off their list price and the best price on record in most colors.

Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Bose Ultra Open earbuds $199 at Amazon
$299 Save $100   Get Deal

If you're curious about open-ear earbuds, but don't want to sacrifice sound quality, the Bose Ultra Open earbuds are the best option. And now that they're $100 off, they're an incredible value.

As of Feb. 6, the Bose Ultra Open earbuds are down to just $199 at Amazon in every color. That's 33% off their list price of $299 and their best price ever in most color options.

The Ultra Open buds curl around the edges of your ears like earring cuffs instead of going directly into your ear canal. This "open" design helps to keep you in touch with your surroundings while you listen to music, audiobooks, podcasts, etc., which makes them a particularly good pick for runners, cyclists, or commuters who need to stay aware and alert. Most open earbuds can sound muddied because of this design, but Mashable contributor RJ Andersen said that's not the case with the Bose earbuds.

"The sound was well-balanced, and even with my ear completely uncovered, I didn’t notice any issues with the audio sounding distant or muddy. Instead, the Ultra Open Earbuds sounded clear, natural, and pretty lush," Andersen noted in her review.

You'll get over seven hours of listening time and an extra 2.5 charges from the case — not the best, but decent. If you're not into AirPods-style earbuds and want to try something a little different, the Bose Ultra Open earbuds are real treat (especially when they're $100 cheaper than usual).

2026 is flying by, with January already behind us. If you haven't yet managed to fulfill your New Year's resolution to do more with Home Assistant, there are still plenty of projects to get your teeth into.

TL;DR: Live stream the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com. Alternatively, you can watch on a number of free streaming platforms including 9Now, CBC Gem, and BBC iPlayer.

We feel truly blessed by all the sport on the calendar this year. We're genuinely overrun with huge events, including the Winter Olympics. You could make the argument that this is the biggest event of 2026, but some people would point to the 2026 World Cup taking place this summer. Frankly, we don't care. We're just going to enjoy everything on offer.

The Winter Olympics doesn't actually begin with the opening ceremony. Curling, luge, snowboarding, skiing, and ice hockey started from Feb. 4, but the opening ceremony is still where things officially get going. Expect a stunning show from the San Siro Olympic Stadium plus extra events from other Olympic territories. The likes of Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Andrea Bocelli will perform.

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If you want to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony?

The opening ceremony for the 2026 Winter Olympics will take place from 2 p.m. ET on Feb. 6. The opening ceremony is expected to run for around three hours.

How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony for free

The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony is available to live stream for free on a number of services:

• Australia — 9Now

• Austria — ORF

• Canada — CBC Gem

• France — France TV

• Germany — ARD

• Ireland — RTÉ Player

• Italy — RAI

• Spain — RTVE

• UK — BBC iPlayer

These free live streams are geo-restricted, but anyone can bypass these restrictions with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in another location, meaning you can access free live streams of the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony from anywhere in the world.

Live stream the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in a location with free access

4. Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony for free from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the opening ceremony plus the rest of the 2026 Winter Olympics before recovering your investment.

SAVE $1,500: Amazon and Best Buy have the 98-inch TCL QM6K Mini LED TV on sale for just $1,499.99 as of Feb. 6. That's 50% off its $2,999 MSRP, which is its biggest discount ever. Delivery times vary by retailer.

Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 98-inch QM6K Mini LED QLED 4K TV (98QM6K) $1,499.99 at Amazon
$2,999.99 Save $1,500.00   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 98-inch QM6K Mini LED QLED 4K TV (98QM6K) $1,499.99 at Best Buy
$2,999.99 Save $1,500.00   Get Deal

February is one of the best times to buy a new TV because retailers love tying promos to the Big Game. Big-screen QLEDs are especially easy to find on sale right now because they're primo for watching sports, according to Mashable's Leah Stodart. "The vibrant lighting supplied by a QLED panel is ideal for following small details like a ball or tiny score box," she writes.

If you're looking to upgrade your TV to a nice QLED model before the Seahawks take on the Patriots this Sunday, and you've got a large wall to fill, allow me to present the best "go big or go home" deal I could scrounge up. As of Feb. 6, the 98-inch TCL QM6K Mini LED QLED 4K TV is on sale for just $1,499.99 at Amazon and Best Buy — that's half off its usual retail price of $2,999.99 and a new all-time low. (Ignore Amazon's deflated list price of $2,299.99. The TCL website says it's a $3,000 value.)

According to data on camelcamelcamel, an Amazon price-tracking site, this exact TV has never been on sale for less than $1,599.99 prior to today.

Here's the 55-inch TCL QM6K up on my colleague's wall. The LED light strip illuminating its edges is not included. Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

Amazon was listing a delivery range of Feb. 12 to 16 for me at the time of writing, so if you need the 98-inch TCL QM6K sooner, go through Best Buy. It was offering free delivery as soon as Feb. 7 (tomorrow) the last time I checked — though if I needed someone to help me install it, I'd have to wait until Feb. 11 at the earliest. Enter your zip code on the Best Buy website to see what delivery times look like at your local stores.

Stodart is fresh off reviewing the 55-inch version of the QM6K, which she rated a 4.5/5 and deemed a Mashable Choice Award winner for its nice brightness, deep blacks, detailed shadows, and exceptional value.

"The TCL QM6K is an excellent budget mini LED TV for casual home theater purposes," Stodart said. "It's palpably brighter than a regular LED TV in broad daylight. In dark rooms, the deep black levels handle dark scenes way better than you'd expect for the price." Yes, it even makes Games of Thrones' "The Long Night" episode watchable. Read Stodart's full review here.

Valentine’s Day is officially next weekend, which means we are in the final stretch of gifting panic. Right on cue, Dr. Squatch and Trojan have teamed up again to bring back their viral collaboration.

SEE ALSO: 30+ unique Valentine's Day gifts for men: Smart, cute, and practical ideas he'll be psyched about

Yes, the name is ridiculous — it’s called "Bricc'd Up," a pun I definitely don't need to explain to you. But people legitimately go crazy for this stuff; I’ve even seen bars from last year’s drop being resold on eBay. If you can look past the aggressive "Alpha" marketing, this is a solid buy (I keep Dr. Squatch in my own shower rotation).

I usually swear by the brand's heavy grit bars for exfoliation, but this specific limited-edition block is a "Zero Grit" formula designed for a much smoother lather using silk peptides and horny goat weed. It's also comically huge: The Magnum Bricc weighs nearly 14 ounces, which is roughly three times the size of a standard bar.

But the real reason we're talking about this is the deal. We love a freebie, and right now, you can score the massive Magnum Bricc (plus the free box of Trojan Magnum XL condoms) for just $15. Or, if you want to stock up, the 3-Pack Bundle of standard bars is down to $24. Honestly, for a gift that’s funny, genuinely useful, and saves you an awkward trip to the drugstore later, that's money well spent.

Opens in a new window Credit: Dr. Squatch Magnum Bricc + FREE Condoms $15 at Dr. Squatch
$21.50 Save $6.50   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Dr. Squatch Bricc'd Up 3-Pack + FREE Condoms $24 at Dr. Squatch
$30.50 Save $6.50   Get Deal

I discovered Linux in high school and fell in love with the OS in college. I dreamed of getting a job writing about free software and making others aware of the amazing things they can do with their computer. But despite this dream coming true, I’m no longer the open source purist I once was. Now I prefer not really having to think of software at all.

Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market took a shellacking on Thursday, with prices dropping to their lowest levels since before the boom that occurred after Donald Trump's election. The hit that Bitcoin and the biggest altcoins took was the worst since the crypto crash of 2022.

As of Friday, however, Bitcoin has started to bounce back. As of the publication of this piece, Bitcoin is trading above $68,000.

Bitcoin dropped as low as $60,000 yesterday as institutional investors sold their holdings. But, Bitcoin was able to hold on to that $60k range, which was a key level according to some crypto analysts.

Ethereum, the second-most-popular cryptocurrency, plunged to $1,700 over the past 24 hours. It currently sits around $1,950 but has yet to make a recovery back into the $2,000 range.

Altcoins like Dogecoin and Solana also fell to lows that had not been experienced in years. Dogecoin fell to $0.08, which it last saw in September 2024. Solana dropped into the $70 range, a price point last seen in January 2024. 

The crypto market as a whole has been trending upward as of Friday morning; however, prices have yet to return to their pre-crash levels, and it's too soon to say if the latest trend will hold through the weekend.

SAVE $500.01: As of Feb. 6, get the Oupes Guardian 6000 power station for $1,698.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $2,199. That's a discount of 23% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Oupes Guardian 6000 $1,698.99 at Amazon
$2,199 Save $500.01   Get Deal

These days, there are tons of reasons to buy a power station. You might be going on a camping trip and want to have electricity. Or you might lose power in a storm and need to save precious food items. Whatever your reason for buying, getting one for a discount is always the best situation, and you can get a great one on offer at Amazon right now.

As of Feb. 6, get the Oupes Guardian 6000 power station for $1,698.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $2,199. That's $500.01 off and a discount of 23%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: The 5 best portable power stations to stay charged up at home and on the go

You can handle just about any emergency thanks to this power station's massive 4608 Wh LiFePO4 battery with 6000W of output, boosted to 7200W as well as its 120V/240V dual voltage, expandable to 41kWh. That means you've got electricity to power everything from your fridge to your phone a few times over to keep you going until the lights are back.

It has five AC outlets and a total of 11 output ports period, with space for everything you need and want to handle. When the battery's drained, it can go from zero juice to a complete charge in just 90 minutes as well, so you won't be left standing around waiting to get back on track.

Now's the time to grab yours before the weather changes and it starts getting nasty again. Dive in before the price goes up.

Buying a car always reminds me how strange the whole process is. I’ve done it several times now, and every trip to the dealership still manages to surprise me. Not because of the cars themselves, but because of how much effort goes into nudging buyers toward features they didn’t walk in asking for. Some of it is subtle, some of it is straight-up upsell, and a lot of it hides behind words like premium, smart, or advanced. By the time you’re sitting at the salesperson’s desk signing paperwork, it’s easy to lose track of what you actually wanted versus what sounded good in the moment.

De-Googling makes sense. We're all handing every bit of our personal data to huge companies, and the most common one is typically Google—and it wouldn't be weird of you to think that's weird or creepy.

Heated Rivalry fans have a new reason to keep refreshing their browsers.

Searching "Heated Rivalry" on Google now unlocks a delightful little Easter egg, one that lovingly calls fans out for being extremely normal about their favorite hockey rivals. The feature sparks a digital back-and-forth between Shane and Ilya, appearing under their text-message aliases, Jane and Lily. It offers just enough content to tide devotees over until the next season.

SEE ALSO: A new 'Heated Rivalry' book is on the way — preorder 'Unrivaled' by Rachel Reid now

Naturally, Ilya isn't letting Shane or the fans off easy. Underneath the search bar and above the results, you'll see this cheeky text exchange between the two scrolling from the right, reading:

Lily: "Still obsessed with us?"

Jane: "I'm not obsessed with anything!"

Lily: "How many times have you looked us up?"

And that's only part of their conversation. It's part love letter to the fandom, part online humiliation ritual.

Hockey fever is officially spilling off the ice and into the search bar, and Google is leaning into it.

Google reports that search interest in ice hockey is surging, especially during the 2026 Winter Olympics. Searches for "olympic hockey schedule" are trending alongside figure skating's perennial popularity, while curiosity around hockey rosters, goalie warm-ups, and even the basics of the sport has climbed to multi-year highs. Interest in "hockey players" is at a 10-year peak, and questions about representation — like "are there any gay hockey players" — are reaching all-time highs, signaling a fandom that's both deeply invested and increasingly hockey-curious.

And then there's my personal favorite stat: search interest in "boy aquarium" is also at an all-time high. The tongue-in-cheek term refers to ice hockey rinks themselves, where fans gather behind the glass to watch and admire the male players skating past like handsome fish in a tank.

If I can't go to the cottage, then I'll take one ticket to the boy aquarium, please.

GET PEACOCK FOR FREE: You can score a free 30-day trial to Peacock Premium by signing up for a Walmart+ subscription. That gives you access to every moment of Sunday's Big Game — including the halftime show — on Feb. 8.

Opens in a new window Credit: Walmart Walmart+ subscription free 30-day trial (includes Peacock Premium), then $98/year Get Deal

Besides hefty price hikes, the most annoying trend in the streaming world is the removal of free trials. Fortunately, though, there are still ways to watch major events — like the Big Game on Sunday — without paying a cent. We've got you covered.

You can score a Peacock Premium subscription for free to watch the Seahawks take on the Patriots this weekend (and catch Bad Bunny's halftime show) by signing up for a Walmart+ subscription. Originally, a Walmart+ subscription gave you access to Paramount+, but as of Fall 2025, the retailer added Peacock to its perks as well. Now, members can select from either Peacock Premium or Paramount+ Essential every 90 days. The best part? When you sign up, you'll get a free 30-day trial. And yes, as noted on the Walmart+ sign-up page, trial members can access the streaming perks. TL;DR: you can easily watch the game on Sunday for free during your trial by selecting Peacock as your Video Streaming Benefit.

Credit: Walmart

A full Walmart+ membership will cost you $98 per year after a 30-day free trial, though you can cancel before you're charged. Since Peacock Premium typically costs $109.99 per year (or $10.99 per month), the $98 Walmart+ subscription is already a better deal. Plus, it comes with a ton of extra perks, like access to free shipping at Walmart.com with no order minimums, same-day delivery, fuel discounts, a Scan & Go checkout tool, and early access to deals during major shopping events. At the very least, if you choose to cancel before the month is up, you'll save $10.99.

One of the biggest advances in gadgets over the last decade has been water resistance. Nearly every phone now has a rating telling you that water is nothing to worry about. That’s not exactly true, though. “Waterproof” is a complicated concept when it comes to phones. Let’s demystify it.

Need a pick-me-up after Sunday's Big Game? Head to your local Starbucks: The coffee chain is giving out free drinks to its Starbucks Rewards members this Monday, Feb. 9.

Members of the loyalty program can score a free tall (12-ounce) iced or brewed coffee with the purchase of any other beverage, so bring a friend — or your very tired, possibly hungover self. Note that any customizations you make to the free drink might cost extra, per a press release.

Opens in a new window Credit: Starbucks Starbucks Rewards Join for free Learn More

Starbucks will be debuting special-edition green paper cups and launching a new 1971 Roast coffee blend the same day, according to the release. The cups will be available at participating U.S. Starbucks stores through February while supplies last.

This is the second year in a row that Starbucks has poured free coffee after the Big Game, marking what it's calling "Starbucks Monday."

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Last month, Starbucks announced that it was updating its Starbucks Rewards program with a new tiered membership structure — which isn't going over well with customers, judging by some Reddit threads. The changes won't go into effect until Tuesday, March 10.

How to sign up for Starbucks Rewards

If you're not a Starbucks Rewards member yet, you can join for free online or in the Starbucks app. Every purchase earns you "Stars" that you can redeem for free drinks, snacks, merch, and drink customizations. (Registering a gift card or preloading money on the app will earn you double the Stars per dollar.) Additionally, you'll get a free drink or food item on your birthday.

Some fine print: You have to be signed up for Starbucks Rewards before Monday in order to be eligible for your free tall coffee. You'll also need the Starbucks app on your phone. A coupon for the free coffee will appear in the "Offers" tab.

If you don't see the coupon, the company recommends ordering in-store and letting your barista know that you're a Starbucks Rewards member.