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The best Amazon Prime offers: Amazon Prime Free for 30 days Get Deal Prime for Young Adults $7.49/month (free trial available) Get Deal Prime Visa Card $150 gift card at sign-up (earn 5% back at Amazon) Learn More

The countdown to Black Friday is on, with sales reaching their peak on Nov. 27 in 2026. If you're planning on shopping at Amazon during the biggest sale of the season and want to take advantage of the many benefits of a Prime membership, now's a great time to sign up.

While you don't technically need to be a Prime member to shop Amazon's Black Friday sale, it will certainly make shopping more enjoyable. And there's a good chance you may qualify for a 30-day trial, so you can enjoy all the perks at no cost.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Prime Claim 30-day free trial (normally $14.99/month) Shop Now at Amazon

Keep scrolling to learn about all the benefits included in the free Amazon Prime 30-day trial. We'll dive into all the info you need to know to glide seamlessly through Amazon's Black Friday shopping event.

How to qualify for the Amazon Prime free trial

If you're not currently a Prime member, there's a good chance you qualify for the free 30-day trial period. New members automatically qualify, while returning members who haven't had a Prime membership (or utilized the free trial) in the last year will also qualify. While the general rule-of-thumb is 12 months of inactivity, users have reported free trial offers as soon as three months after cancelling. Just look out for a message that says, "We're giving you a free 30-day trial of Prime" or a button that reads, "Start your free 30-day trial." To sign up, visit amazon.com/prime.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon How much does Prime cost?

Prime normally costs $14.99 per month, but young adults and college students qualify for a 50% discount. You can also save by opting for an annual plan instead of a monthly plan. Here's a pricing breakdown:

• 30-day free trial

• $14.99 per month after the trial ends or $139 per year (save $40.88)

• 18-24 year-olds and students pay $7.49 in the Prime for Young Adults membership

What are the perks of a Prime membership in 2026?

The most famous benefits of Amazon Prime include free 2-day delivery and free returns. Many products are even available with 1-day or same-day shipping in select areas. But your $14.99/month membership includes a whole lot more than that — some perks you're probably not even aware of.

Other benefits included in the membership (and 30-day free trial) include:

• Access to Prime Video (plus exclusive discounts on video rentals and add-on subscriptions)

• Free Same-Day Delivery on $25+ grocery orders in selected areas

• Access to Amazon Music

• Access to Amazon Photos (unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage)

• Access to Alexa+

• Free Grubhub+ membership (including $0 delivery fees, lower service fees, and exclusive savings)

• Amazon Prime Fuel Savings (save 10 cents per gallon at more than 7,500 gas stations)

• Free monthly e-books on Kindle

• Prescription savings at over 60,000 pharmacies

• Exclusive access to offers on Amazon services and sales events like Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days

What is the Amazon Prime Visa card?

Amazon also offers a Prime Visa card for qualifying Prime members, which is a physical credit card that boasts exclusive rewards. You can apply for the Prime Visa card at Amazon.

Here's a breakdown of some of the Prime Visa card perks:

• $150 gift card at sign-up

• Earn unlimited 5% back on Amazon purchases

• Earn unlimited 5% back at Whole Foods (online or in-store)

• Earn 10% back or more on select deals with Prime Card bonus

• Earn 5% back on Chase Travel purchases

• Earn 2% back on dining and transit

• Shop with points at Amazon

When is Amazon's Black Friday Sale 2026?

Amazon hasn't officially announced its Black Friday sale for 2026, but it will likely kick off in the week before Black Friday proper on Nov. 27, then switch over to Cyber Monday over the weekend. Stay tuned for an official announcement.

Do you need to be a Prime member to shop the Amazon Black Friday sale?

Unlike Amazon's Prime Day sales, you don't actually need a Prime membership to shop on Amazon for Black Friday. However, some of the best deals will likely be Prime exclusives. Not to mention, a Prime membership will guarantee you'll receive your packages swiftly. Prime members will also be able to sign up for streaming services (in the form of Prime Video add-ons) at big discounts throughout the season. Grab your free 30-day trial to ensure you float through the holiday shopping season with ease.

Search APIs are good at telling you where information lives. They're less helpful when you need the information itself. If you've built anything that depends on web data, such as a research tool, a price tracker, or an AI agent that answers questions, you'll know a list of links is only the starting point. Something still has to fetch each page, strip out the navigation and ads, and pull out the parts you care about.

Docker has empowered millions of users to build their own homelabs and ditch many of their pricey subscription services. But just because it's one of the easiest ways to deploy self-hosted apps doesn't mean it's equally efficient at managing them. By default, Docker won't automatically back up your app data, keep your containers updated, or alert you when a service goes down. That's why I make it a point to install these five apps alongside Docker to address these glaring shortcomings and get the most out of my self-hosting setup.

Samsung's Privacy Display, launched early this year with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, was well received by users, and it felt like true innovation from the company. The feature enables users to keep whatever's on their display near-invisible to anyone looking from the side.

However, Privacy Display comes with some downsides; most noticeably, image quality and brightness degrades significantly, especially on maximum privacy settings.

SEE ALSO: The latest Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra rumors and leaks: Everything we know so far

Samsung's upcoming flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro and S27 Ultra, might alleviate this issue. According to 9to5Google, these phones will come with a Privacy Display with "enhanced display brightness."

While this is pretty vague, if true, it should make Privacy Display a lot more usable, especially for folks who often use their phones in social settings and need enhanced privacy for longer stretches of time.

Featured Video For You Samsung’s 2027 Galaxy Z lineup: Rolls, TriFolds, and three Folds

The bad news is that only the Galaxy S27 Pro and S27 Ultra will come with Privacy Display. The Samsung Galaxy S27 and S27 Plus will not have the feature.

The Samsung Galaxy S27 series of phones is expected to arrive early next year; typically, Samsung launches its flagships in either January or February, but there's no official date set for the launch yet.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters or get Mashable push alerts.

The dating app Hinge is testing a new feature and a cheaper subscription tier, its parent company Match Group stated during its Q3 earnings call yesterday.

Match Group has three categories of apps: Tinder, Hinge, and everything else (literally called Everyone Everywhere, and includes apps like OkCupid and the marriage-focused Upward). The 2026 Q3 earnings call focused on Tinder's financial turnaround, with some metrics still declining, but with smaller dips than in previous quarters. For example, daily active users were down one percent year over year in Q3, and monthly active users were down 5.5 percent, which is a one-point improvement from Q2, Match's supplemental materials state.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best hookup apps of 2026: I swiped until my thumb hurt

Tinder's direct revenue in Q3 was $480 million, down two percent year over year. And while Hinge brought in less than half of that revenue in Q3 — $221 million — that's a 19 percent increase from this time last year. This is the other big story of Match's Q3 earnings: That Hinge continues to grow. Monthly active users are up 12 percent year over year, and paying users are up 23 percent too.

Hinge has introduced several features this year, including the Signals heart to indicate "good dating behavior," Date Ideas to help plan something IRL, and Friend's Take, testimonials from loved ones on a dater's profile. In keeping with the IRL and connections themes, Hinge is testing In Your Orbit, which is "designed to help users discover people they naturally cross paths with in more contexts, including in real life ('IRL'), adding a signal of relevance beyond the profile and in-app experience itself."

Match also reiterated that Tinder is testing a Missed Connections feature and has launched its Events tab, signaling that the companies are trying to capitalize on app fatigue themselves and facilitate more IRL dating.

Additionally, Hinge is testing a lower-priced subscription tier, according to Match's Q3 earnings material, which is "designed to give users more choice and control through features like additional filters and custom location boundaries." Testing has apparently been resonating with women users. The app plans on launching the tier by the end of 2026.

Plenty of cars and aftermarket head units from the last decade support Android Auto, but many of them require a USB connection to work. There are commercial wireless adapters, but they start at around $30; some cost significantly more.

TL;DR: Live stream Shakhtar vs. Sporting in the Champions League for free on Virgin Media Player. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The Champions League is back this week with more interesting fixtures involving Europe's best, including Shakhtar vs. Sporting. The visitors have six points from three games and could move into the top eight with victory at Stamford Bridge. Shakhtar are only two points back, so we're expecting a close game between two talented teams.

If you want to watch Shakhtar vs. Sporting in the Champions League from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Shakhtar vs. Sporting?

Shakhtar vs. Sporting in the Champions League kicks off at 12:45 p.m. ET on Nov. 3. This fixture takes place at Stamford Bridge.

How to watch Shakhtar vs. Sporting for free

Shakhtar vs. Sporting is available to live stream for free on Virgin Media Player.

Virgin Media Player is geo-restricted to Ireland, but anyone can access it for free with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Ireland, meaning you can unblock Virgin Media Player to stream the Champions League for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Shakhtar vs. Sporting for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend 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 Ireland

4. Visit Virgin Media Player

5. Watch Shakhtar vs. Sporting for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the Champions League without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Shakhtar vs. Sporting (plus more Champions League fixtures) before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for Virgin Media Player?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on Virgin Media Player, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries, including Ireland

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices, including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and usually offers a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99.

Live stream Shakhtar vs. Sporting in the Champions League for free with ExpressVPN.

Bambu Lab just unveiled its most impressive 3D printer yet with the H3C, and I’ve spent the last month testing it. This is Bambu Lab’s latest flagship, and it brings some all-new features to the table, like the Swaptek 9-nozzle system with individual filament tubes for each print head and an all-new AMS 3H system that can print while drying. Here’s everything you need to know about the H3C—and why this printer completely changed the game for me on multicolor and multi-material prints.

I've been buying or reviewing flagship Samsung Galaxy phones for over 14 years, and along the way, I've tried everything from Nexus, Pixel, LG (R.I.P.), HTC, Motorola, OnePlus, and more. In the end, I always go back to my Galaxy. And while One UI is a huge part of that, it's far from the only reason.

An advertiser paid for editorial consideration of this deal. Our editorial experts vetted the deal based on our independent expertise. Because we determined that the deal will save money for our readers, we wrote the content.

TL;DR: New customers can lock in Mint Mobile's Unlimited plan for just $15 per month (down from $30) across three, six, or 12-month terms. Plans start at $45 upfront.

Opens in a new window Credit: Mint Mobile deal Mint Mobile   Get Deal at Mint Mobile

Most holiday phone promotions come with a catch: trade in your current device, agree to credit checks, and lock yourself into a bloated 36-month carrier contract just to save a few bucks. Mint Mobile is taking the opposite route for Black Friday.

Right now, the carrier has dropped every single plan in its roster down to $15 per month. All plans are on sale, but the Unlimited tier is the main event: you get half off the usual $30 price tag, and you don't even have to trade in a phone.

Even better, Mint isn’t capping this promo at a standard 90-day trial. You can lock in the $15 monthly rate for three, six, or 12 months.

What does Unlimited get you?

Every Mint Unlimited plan includes unlimited talk and text nationwide, and your data stays on with zero hidden fees. You get 50GB of full high-speed data each billing cycle. If you manage to blow past 50GB in per month, you won't get cut off — your speeds may just slow down temporarily in crowded areas when the network gets busy.

Besides that, the Unlimited tier includes 20GB of dedicated mobile hotspot data each month, making it easy to tether your laptop or tablet on the go without hogging up your primary phone data.

The pricing

Mint operates on an upfront bulk-pricing model. Instead of dealing with unexpected monthly invoices, you pay for your selected term at checkout:

• 3-Month Plan — $45 upfront ($15/month)

• 6-Month Plan — $90 upfront ($15/month)

• 12-Month Plan — $180 upfront ($15/month)

If you commit to the 12-month tier, you are essentially getting an entire year of unlimited wireless service for $180 before local taxes.

How to claim this Black Friday offer

Here are the simple steps you need to take to claim:

1. Head over to Mint Mobile.

2. Choose the Unlimited plan and pick your duration (three, six, or 12 months).

3. Check your device compatibility, choose between an instant digital eSIM or a physical SIM kit in the mail, and complete checkout before the promotion ends on Feb. 4.

The fine print

You'll pay for your chosen plan duration upfront, with taxes and fees added at checkout. This offer is available exclusively to new customers for their initial plan term; after that term ends, standard full-price plan options will become available. Video streaming on the Unlimited plan runs in standard definition (SD).

If you're looking to slash your monthly phone bill without sacrificing uncapped data, this is as cheap as it gets. Head over to Mint Mobile to lock in your Unlimited plan today.

TL;DR: DoorDash is taking over your holiday chores. You can now get Christmas trees delivered for 20% off, score up to 50% off Black Friday deals, order party catering for up to 150 people, and have a Dasher pick up unboxed retail returns from your porch for a flat $7.99 fee.

Somewhere between mapping out the gift list, planning the family dinner, and hunting for parking at the mall, holiday errands quickly turn into a marathon. This season, DoorDash wants to do the legwork for you. The app is expanding way beyond takeout with Christmas tree delivery, party catering for 150+, sub-one-hour Black Friday deals, and doorstep retail returns.

Here's a look at every major holiday feature rolling out on DoorDash, along with the fine print you need to know before checking out.

Christmas tree delivery

Hauling a pine tree home strapped to the roof of a car is usually the least fun part of the holidays. From Nov. 15 to Dec. 7, DoorDash lets you order real and artificial trees directly in the app from major retailers such as The Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace Hardware, Michaels, and Kohl's. By applying promo code LITMAS at checkout, you will save 20% on any order of $60 or more that includes a tree, up to a maximum savings of $20.

Keep in mind that your cart must include a tree, and the $60 minimum applies strictly before taxes, service fees, or driver tips. The code only knocks off merchandise costs; you can only use it once, and it’s delivery-only — so pickup orders and carts bundled with alcohol won't qualify.

Dasher Returns

With Dasher Returns, DoorDash eliminates the prep work, so a courier will come directly to your home to collect eligible retail purchases and return them directly to the store for on-the-spot processing.

How to qualify:

1. Open the DoorDash app and check your eligible retail order history for the Dasher Returns option.

2. Select the items you want to send back and schedule a pickup window.

3. Hand the bare items directly to your Dasher when they arrive — no shipping boxes, tape, or printed labels required.

The service costs a flat fee of $7.99 per scheduled pickup, with Dashers able to arrive in as fast as 30 minutes. It applies strictly to eligible retail merchandise purchased through supported stores on DoorDash. The feature is available in select launch cities and continues to roll out nationwide through Nov. 2026.

Black Friday store and gift card deals

DoorDash is turning its retail catalog into a pocket-sized digital mall, offering on-demand delivery in under an hour from brands like Ulta Beauty, Lowe's, Best Buy, Macy's, Anthropologie, GAP, Urban Outfitters, and SKIMS.

From Nov. 23 through Nov. 30, shoppers can take advantage of Black Friday discounts of up to 50% off select items, including half-off cosmetics and stocking stuffers at Ulta Beauty, and up to 40% off tools and holiday decor at Lowe's. For gift givers, DoorDash is also discounting its own digital gift cards on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 27 only).

How to qualify:

1. Head to the Holiday Hub section in the DoorDash app between Nov. 23 and Nov. 30 to browse deals across featured retailers.

2. Add eligible sale items from stores like Best Buy, Ulta, or Macy's to your cart for same-day doorstep delivery.

3. On Nov. 27, visit the digital gift card portal in the app to claim your 10% or 20% discount.

The fine print: The Nov. 27 gift card promotion has a strict $25 discount cap and is limited to one redemption per customer. Sub-one-hour delivery relies on Express delivery estimates and may vary during peak holiday volume. Alcohol deliveries to stock the bar cart are strictly for 21+ and available only in select legal markets with valid ID verification.

DashPass Holiday Haul surprises

DashPass subscribers get their own digital advent calendar running from Dec. 1 through Dec. 6. Every morning, a new digital gift box unlocks in the app with an exclusive members-only perk or promo code. This promotion is strictly limited to active DashPass members. Daily deals cannot be banked or retroactively claimed after the 24-hour window closes.

Group catering and $12 meal boxes

DoorDash isn't just for solo takeout anymore — you can now order massive party spreads for 10 to 150+ people. Whether you're hosting Friendsgiving, an office hangout, or family dinner, you can order from chains like P.F. Chang's or local favorites like Zucker's Bagels.

Deliveries come with $0 delivery fees, an on-time guarantee, and your Dasher will even help set up the food. Plus, if you hate party math, the in-app "Ask DoorDash" tool will calculate portions and build the menu for you based on your headcount and dietary restrictions.

How to qualify:

1. Head to the Catering tab in the app or go to doordash.com/catering.

2. Pick your delivery date and time up to two weeks ahead.

3. Use Ask DoorDash to map out portions and build a cart of at least $200.

4. Drop in code TRYDDCATER50 at checkout to get 50% off (up to $150).

For a quick solo bite between stops, you can grab the $12 Meal Boxes — dishes like pasta, tacos, or grain bowls with $0 delivery and reduced fees in 20+ cities.

SEE ALSO: National Sandwich Day 2026 deals: Score free food from Subway, DoorDash, 7-Eleven, and more

The TRYDDCATER50 coupon is valid from Nov. 2 to Nov. 30, for first-time catering users only. Orders must meet a $200 minimum subtotal before taxes and fees, with maximum savings of $150 (excluding taxes, service fees, driver gratuity, and alcohol).

Consumer catering is currently available in select launch markets, and the on-time guarantee refund policy applies if your eligible catering delivery arrives 20 minutes or more past the confirmed window.

If your to-do list is already getting out of hand, hand it over to a Dasher and get back to enjoying the holidays.

You can actually do a lot with an ESP32 development board without ever writing a single line of code. From programming LED strips to creating smart home sensors or a network-connected speaker, these five no-code ESP32 projects work straight out of the box using a simple web flasher tool that anyone can use.

If you have a Windows-Linux dual-boot PC, you're probably familiar with the troubles that come with sharing files between the two partitions. You'd expect two operating systems with direct access to the same CPU, RAM, and storage to also be able to access each other's files. But unfortunately, that's not always the case. On Linux, you might've noticed that your Windows files are editable one day but locked in read-only mode or unmountable the next. Fortunately, all of these issues are relatively easy to resolve, and the whole process barely takes an hour.

What can you do with an ancient laptop? Well, in my case, most of them just sit in a drawer and collect dust. I'm not one to throw stuff away. For instance, I've used an old Windows 10 PC for a NAS, and I also routinely repurpose even the most useless-looking SSDs.

It's finally Election Day for the 2026 midterms and Seth Meyers has a wild recap of the final campaign weekend drama.

In his signature Late Night deep-dive segment "A Closer Look," the host examined happenings ahead of the midterms, from Donald Trump cancelling then uncancelling campaign stops in Kansas and Iowa to the tale of two Dan Sullivans on the ballot in Alaska. Meyers particularly focused on the latter, referring to a New York Times investigation that alleged "political operatives aligned with the Democratic Senate campaign of Mary Peltola recruited another candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, to run as a Republican in the Senate race and try to pull votes away from the incumbent Republican, Dan S. Sullivan."

"Wow, I am shocked. It pains me to say this, but I have to call balls and strikes: this is very fucking funny," said Meyers. "I mean, fuckin' A, they finally did it: the Democrats finally did something as dirty as the Republicans.

"I mean, it's not systematically lobbying state election officials to send alternate slates of electors to Congress as part of an illegal scheme to undermine a presidential election and then storming the Capitol, shitting in the rotunda and threatening to kill Mike Pence dirty, but it's still pretty dirty," he added.

SEE ALSO: Jon Stewart roasts Trump's pre-midterms Reflecting Pool speech

Meyers also unpacked Anderson Cooper's "Game of Thrones-style burn" to Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens during a viral CNN interview on Sunday, filled with awkward silences, especially around her controversial endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.

"That interview is so brutal I watched it through my fingers like a horror movie," said Meyers. "I think I heard her audibly gulp more than I heard her say actual words."

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A big name cast combines with family drama and a possible cult in the trailer for The Liberation, Guy Nattiv's 1980s-set thriller about a mother who leaves her family for the allure of something new.

Carrie Coon plays Rita, a Holocaust survivor who leaves her husband (Tracy Letts) and two daughters (Odessa Young and Bella Ramsey) to join an all-female commune led by an enigmatic spiritual leader (Lily James). But things take a tricky turn when her daughters show up looking for her, and Rita has to make a difficult choice.

The Liberation hits cinemas this winter.

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The usual AI productivity advice I come across boils down to a handful of low-stakes use cases: writing emails, writing resumes, planning meals, drafting cover letters, creating Ghibli-style art, writing essays — you get the picture. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but on the other end of the spectrum, you have power users claiming to use chatbots to "apparently" build million-dollar software businesses or land high-profile clients.

A while ago, I heard about wireless Android Auto users experiencing unusual battery drain. I was skeptical at first, as I’ve never experienced it with my phone. However, recently, I used a newer vehicle with built-in wireless Android Auto and a different Android phone. As soon as I did, I noticed the problem and decided to investigate.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been an ongoing saga during Donald Trump's presidency, so it's somewhat fitting that he chose to make what Jimmy Kimmel refers to as his "last stand" before the midterm elections there.

"Trump made his closing argument today. He chose to do that in front of his ill-fated Reflecting Pool, and where better to reassure the public that that they are in good hands than in front of a pool you've repeatedly botched to the tune of $16 million. Donald Trump, the man who famously promised to drain the swamp, made his last stand at the site of his own man-made swamp," says Kimmel in the clip above, before playing footage of Trump saying: "This is a massive piece of...er, piece of pool."

"It is indeed a massive piece of pool, when you look at the size," says Kimmel. "I don't know, maybe they'll give him a Nobel Piece of Pool Prize."

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Flock cameras have been in the news a lot in 2026, for all of the wrong reasons. This recently came to a head when the cameras were described as “indiscriminate mass surveillance” by a federal judge.