Sometimes there are places you know, even if you don’t know them.

Like even if you’ve never been to the top of the Empire State Building — I haven’t — you could probably see an image and recognize it. There have been so many scenes in movies and TV shows set there that you’d almost have to have some idea of what it looks like.

If you’ve been on the internet for a while, then this video on Twitter from @Ballymoran will take you somewhere very recognizable. It’s a brilliant bit of Google Maps fun. Ominous music plays as you get closer, closer, closer. You’re expecting something spooky or weird. The ultimate destination, well, just watch.

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You’re damn right that was a rickroll in the year 2022. Why the hell not?

Old internet jokes aside, it is neat to see the real world location where the classic Rick Astley video for his 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” was shot. For years we’ve all been staring unwittingly at those brick arches. Now we know they’re at 150 Freston Road in London.

That’s the curious magic of Google Maps. The Google Earth and Street View lets you, in an instant, drop in on any place in the world. Unsuspecting, it’s all there, frozen in time. It’s a feat of ubiquity from the tech giant that we can now get rickrolled by a map.

Save $53: In the market for a home air purifier? Walmart’s got you covered with a discount on Mashable’s top pick: the Coway Mighty Air Purifier. This aesthetically pleasing choice is on sale for just $196.69 in black, $53 off its usual cost, as of Jan. 14.

Adding an air purifier to your home can help reduce dust, odors, dander, smoke, mold, bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants. And Mashable’s no. 1 pick happens to be on sale as of Jan. 14. The aesthetically pleasing Coway Mighty Air Purifier (in black) is discounted to $196.69, which is $53 off its usual cost.

Equipped with a HEPA efficiency rating of 99.97 percent and a four-way filtration system that captures particles as small as 0.3 microns in rooms up to 361 square feet, this air purifier has earned its “mighty” title. We particularly love that it comes with an energy-saving “Eco Mode,” which turns its fan off automatically when it detects 30 minutes of no pollutants. When it senses any air pollution, it cuts back on and starts cleaning again.

If you’re wondering if this mighty purifier can protect you from COVID-19, the answer is … it’s complicated. The best way to protect yourself is still to follow the CDC’s guidelines and wash your hands often, wear a mask in public settings, maintain social distance, and get vaccinated. An air purifier can help reduce airborne contaminants, like viruses, in confined spaces, but like the EPA says, it’s “not enough to protect people from COVID-19.”

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• 7 of the best air purifiers to deal with pets, pollen, and pollution

• Breathe easy: These are 9 of the best humidifiers for a healthier home

• Best outdoor heaters for keeping summer going all winter long

For nearly two-thirds of American high schoolers Naviance software is an integral and nearly unavoidable part of the college research and application process. For colleges and universities, it’s also a targeted advertising platform with a captive audience of millions of students looking to make one of the largest financial investments of their lives.

The Markup examined the Naviance accounts of several students who granted us access and reviewed contracts between 10 universities and Intersect, a sister company to Naviance responsible for selling advertising campaigns on the platform. We uncovered how Naviance gathers data through its college guidance software and then allows colleges and universities to target students with paid advertisements encouraging them to enroll. 

The platform allows admissions officials to select what kinds of students will see their recruiting messages based on the students’ location, academic “ability,” the majors they’re interested in, and even their race. In one instance, The Markup found a university that deliberately advertised only to White students through Naviance. Several other schools used the platform to target students of all races in some states but only White students in others.

The software has become ubiquitous in the college search process. More than 10 million students use it to submit their college applications, request teacher recommendations, and submit transcripts. They research colleges and universities using Naviance’s SuperMatch feature, which calculates a “fit score” designed to show students how well aligned they are with a particular school. 

They use the software’s scattergram feature to compare their test scores and GPAs to previously admitted students from their own high school. And they receive messages through Naviance about schools that might be good matches for them.

Some of those messages, The Markup found, are actually paid advertisements from the schools. 

“There’s some social engineering at play that feels really concerning,” said Ceceilia Parnther, a St. John’s University professor who studies higher education leadership. “I see it being an electronic form of gatekeeping.”

Naviance and Intersect are owned by PowerSchool and are key parts of an ed tech empire—largely owned by the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners—that is exerting significant influence over students from kindergarten through college graduation. 

PowerSchool declined to answer many of The Markup’s questions for this story, but in a brief email, Darron Flagg, the company’s chief compliance and privacy officer, wrote that the feature that allows colleges to target students with advertisements based on their race was phased out in 2019—two years before PowerSchool acquired the companies. 

There’s some social engineering at play that feels really concerning.”

“The Intersect product does not allow matching criteria that excludes under-represented student groups,” Flagg wrote in an email.

That statement is directly contradicted by documents The Markup obtained through public records requests.

Students The Markup spoke to for this story said they felt misled and had often been confused about why they were receiving messages through Naviance from schools in which they had expressed no interest.

“I thought the results I was getting were really weird,” said Alexandra Raphling, a senior at Santa Monica High School, in California. “They weren’t consistent with my grades, they weren’t consistent with what I put in [as search criteria].… It kind of just shows that Naviance doesn’t have the best interest of students using the software at heart.”

Race-based advertisements

In August 2021, the University of California San Diego purchased an advertising campaign through Intersect that allowed it to send targeted messages through Naviance to students who had used the platform to research competitor institutions—as designated by UC San Diego—and to “racial or ethnic minorities,” according to a contract obtained by The Markup.

The $142,000 contract includes a campaign that specifically targets “racial or ethnic minorities” in California who used Naviance to research the University of Southern California, Arizona State University, or UC Irvine.(See the documents here.)

UC San Diego declined to comment.

The contract is set to run until 2023. It was signed five months after PowerSchool acquired Naviance and two years after the race-based targeting feature was supposedly phased out.

The Markup obtained contracts showing targeted advertising campaigns from nine other universities.

In addition to their contracts, City Colleges of Chicago and Northern Illinois University provided user manuals, copyrighted 2020, that explain how school officials can pick from “diversity filters” when selecting which students will see their recruiting ads. City Colleges of Chicago also provided an Intersect demonstration video that shows a narrator selecting from a list of racial identities and unclicking a box labeled “American Indian or Alaska Native”—meaning students who identify as members of those groups would not receive recruiting messages from the school.

The Intersect website currently states that clients can use the service to “find students who fit specific demographic variables (race, ethnicity, geography, class year, attendance at an under-represented school) and present messages about your institution to students who possess those characteristics.”

When The Markup presented its findings to PowerSchool and asked about Flagg’s earlier comments, spokesperson Madeline Willman wrote in an email, “PowerSchool stands by what has been provided as factual.”

Contracts from the University of Kansas show how the targeted advertising service the companies market as a means to increase student body diversity can actually be used to do the opposite.

In 2015, for example, the university paid for a year-long Naviance advertising campaign that targeted only White students in Kansas, Texas, and Minnesota. 

That purchase occurred before PowerSchool acquired Naviance, but the University of Kansas continued to use Naviance-targeted ads through at least June 2021. The later contracts do not specify whether the school targeted students based on race, and the University of Kansas did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2016, the University of Maine purchased a Naviance campaign that targeted White, Black, and Hispanic students in Massachusetts. But its ad campaigns in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont targeted only White students, according to contracts obtained through public records requests. The university did not respond to requests for comment.

The same year, the University of Massachusetts Boston purchased Naviance advertising aimed at both White and “other” students in New Jersey and New York. But in Connecticut and New Hampshire, it targeted only White students. 

“UMass Boston uses many recruiting strategies … to reach interested high-school-aged students with an aim toward growing diversity in our student body,” DeWayne Lehman, a spokesperson for the university, wrote in an email. He did not answer questions about why the university would target only White students in certain states.

“You can pretty much not escape”

Many colleges and universities have traditionally directed their advertisements using lists of prospective student names purchased from the ACT and from the College Board, which administers the SAT. But fewer high school students are taking those standardized tests.

In many places, the tests were canceled because of COVID-19. And even before the pandemic, universities were adopting test-optional application policies that did not require students to submit test scores. As a result, schools have been searching for new sources of data to fuel their marketing. 

EAB—which is owned by Vista Equity Partners, the same firm that holds a significant stake in Naviance’s parent company, PowerSchool—is currently the exclusive reseller of Intersect’s targeted advertising service. In its marketing material, EAB has presented its access to students through Naviance as a way for colleges and universities to find valuable advertising leads and make up for the loss of data from the ACT and SAT. “Unrivaled Reach: Influence and Engage Top Prospects via Naviance,” reads one recent EAB marketing presentation.

Naviance says that more than 10 million students spread across 40 percent of U.S. high schools use its services. That’s about two thirds of the 15.3 million students who were enrolled in high school in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Education data.

Some districts, like Pittsburgh Public Schools, have made Naviance the mandatory cornerstone of their college and career readiness programs. 

Beginning in third grade, Pittsburgh students must complete at least two lessons or surveys tied to their Naviance account each year, according to a curriculum plan obtained through a public records request. In high school, Pittsburgh students are required to use Naviance’s SuperMatch college search feature, request materials from schools through the platform, and add at least one school to their “Colleges I’m Applying to” list, according to the document.

Pittsburgh Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.

The surveys ask students to respond to prompts like “It is very important to me that other people see me as a successful person” and “I like to lead and persuade people and sell things and ideas.” In some cases, students take the surveys once in middle school and are not allowed to change their answers at any point in the future. In its user manuals for students, Naviance encourages students to use the survey results to determine their career goals and course plans.

Some districts, like Ann Arbor Public Schools, also use Naviance to administer their own custom surveys about students’ post-high-school plans. They ask students to answer questions like “How are you planning on paying for college?”—information that would be valuable to schools considering which prospective recruits to focus their recruiting efforts on.

The Markup did not find any evidence that Naviance was using students’ survey answers to help target advertisements. 

In order to graduate, you can pretty much not escape the use of Naviance.”

Kids and parents in several districts told The Markup that their schools required students to use Naviance to take career aptitude surveys, request teacher recommendations, submit applications, and research colleges, even if they had already identified the schools they intended to apply to.

“In order to graduate, you can pretty much not escape the use of Naviance,” said Cassie Creswell, a Chicago parent.

That level of reach has made the platform highly attractive for schools like New Jersey City University, one of the institutions that pays Intersect for advertising services, that are competing for a shrinking number of potential students.

Jose Balda, NJCU’s director of admissions, said that 382 freshmen—more than a third of the school’s incoming class in 2020—connected with NJCU through Naviance (although that may not have been the only way they discovered the university).

“This is essentially giving students the opportunity to add us to their shopping list,” Balda said.

A former Naviance account executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his current job, put it a different way: “It’s a pay to play kind of idea, and I don’t think parents know that, but all the universities knew that.”

Empowering students

The former employee said that, despite the disguised advertising, he believes Naviance provides a valuable service to many students, especially those who have fewer resources or less familial experience with the college search process.

PowerSchool says Naviance empowers students with data that helps them make informed decisions about their post-high-school plans and tools to follow through on those plans.

Research into students’ use of Naviance suggests that increased use of the software correlates with increases in college application rates, but its ultimate effects are complicated.

In 2020, Christine Mulhern, then a Harvard University education researcher, investigated the scattergram charts that Naviance displays to students as they research colleges. The charts show students how their GPA and test scores compare to peers from their school who were accepted by a particular college.

Mulhern found that students were 20 percent more likely to apply to a college if they first saw a Naviance scattergram depicting the grades and test scores of previously admitted students. Other research has also shown that increased use of Naviance correlates with higher college application rates.

Viewing scattergrams had a particular impact on students of color, correlating with increased four-year-college enrollment rates for students who are Black, Hispanic, or received free or reduced lunch, Mulhern found. But the study also showed that those students who viewed Naviance scattergrams were “less likely to apply to reach colleges and more likely to attend a safety school” and that “it is probably not optimal for students to respond so strongly to admissions signals” like the GPA and test scores that the scattergrams show. 

Another study, conducted by University of California Irvine professor Roderic Crooks, examined how students in a Los Angeles high school that was 94 percent Latino and 6 percent Black responded to the introduction of Naviance and a school mandate that they use the platform to apply to at least four colleges.

He found that students rebelled against software-enabled surveillance of the application process, in some cases uploading fake applications to Naviance in order to meet their quotas and avoid expulsion.

“At the level of the school, at the level of the user, I think the benefits are quite limited,” Crooks said in an interview. “The benefits accumulate elsewhere.… Naviance wound up with this mountain of data through its activities that then became a saleable, actionable asset. Once these channels for aggregating data are created, then you start to see the companies pivot and start to be about something else.”

This article was originally published on The Markup and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? If you want to, feast your eyes upon this truly enormous Lodge Cast Iron skillet making its way down I59.

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He’s beauty and he’s grace, he’s mister United States. At 18 feet from handle to handle, and 14,360 pounds, Lodge says he’s the “world’s largest cast iron skillet.” I want to cook the world’s largest steak in him.

Lodge is opening a new museum at its South Pittsburgh, Tennessee headquarters to tell the history of cast iron. Mr. Big Stuff will proudly anchor the museum. A sight to behold!

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While the people who got to witness big skillet making its way down the highway are lucky in the utmost, Lodge shared a clip from the trip that really made the twitterverse flip.

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Lodge, purveyors of fine cookwear since 1896, got in on the fun with classic cast iron skillet puns.

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Some spoke heresy and threatened our high-heat ruler with violence.

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I’m just happy to live in a world where the world’s largest cast iron skillet exists. Long live big skillet. Forever may he reign.

Save $176.02: It’s powerful, it’s portable, and it’s on sale. As of Jan. 13, you can grab the Alienware m15 R4 gaming laptop for $1,999.98 at Amazon — the best price we’ve seen to date on this 2021 model.

Get a gaming boost with the Alienware m15 R4 15.6-inch gaming laptop, which on sale for a new low price of $1,998.98. Rest assured it has the specs you need for a smooth gaming experience, along with plenty of storage space for your next Steam shopping spree.

The primary engine of the Alienware m15 R4 is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6 graphics card, which offers enough power to handle the latest releases (like Halo Infinite). It also includes a 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10870H 8-core processor and 16GB of RAM for increased performance. And with a 1TB PCle solid-state drive for storage, you’ll have plenty of space.

All that power is packed into a lean profile: This laptop is 20.5mm thick when closed and weighs around 4.65 pounds. While its 15.6-inch Full HD display might not sound as impressive as some 4K gaming PCs, Alienware boasts a lightning-fast 3000Hz refresh rate.

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If you missed playing Fortnite on the iPhone, there’s good news: Nvidia is working on a way to bring the game back to iOS. 

The company will offer Fortnite on iOS through Nvidia’s game streaming service GeForce Now, which can operate via the Safari browser. “Starting next week, Fortnite on GeForce Now will launch in a limited-time closed beta for mobile,” Nvidia announced in a Thursday blog post.

In 2020, Apple pulled Fortnite from the iOS App Store after its developer, Epic Games, broke the rules by adding a direct payment option inside the multiplayer title. The kerfuffle sparked an antitrust battle in the courts, which has thus far largely ruled in favor for Apple, although the case is still going through the appeals process.  

In the meantime, Apple has denied an Epic Games’s attempt to reinstate Fortnite in the App Store. As a result, users who previously had Fortnite installed on their iPhones have been unable to receive game updates for the past 16 months. 

However, it seems Epic Games has now found another a way to bring back the multiplayer title to iOS through GeForce Now, which uses the cloud to stream games to iOS’ Safari browser.

The Fornite version available to play on iOS will also include touch controls. Interested GeForce Now users can apply for the closed beta through a waitlist. “Members will be admitted to the beta in batches over the coming weeks,” the company added. 

The beta hopes to test Nvidia’s server capacity, graphics delivery, along with the game’s touch controls. Participating GeForce Now members will also be able to stream the game on Android devices. But unlike iOS, Fortnite is still available on Android through app side-loading.  

In the future, Nvidia plans on enabling other touch control-friendly games through GeForce Now, which has mainly been targeting laptop and desktop users. 

“While PC games in the GeForce Now library are best experienced on mobile with a gamepad, the introduction of touch controls built by the GeForce Now team offers more options for players, starting with Fortnite,” Nvidia said. 

GeForce Now has a free membership, but the experience caps your cloud gaming sessions to one hour before you have to sign off and rejoin a server. A paid membership, which starts at $9.99 a month, gives you longer gameplay sessions and better graphics quality. An internet speed of at least 15Mbps is also required to run GeForce Now.

Over 80 fact-checking organisations have come together to list four simple ways YouTube could combat the rampant spread of misinformation on their platform, if it felt so inclined.

In an open letter to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, The International Fact-Checking Network’s called out YouTube as “one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide,” and proposed it partner with them to implement policies for combating misinformation.

“YouTube is allowing its platform to be weaponized by unscrupulous actors to manipulate and exploit others, and to organize and fundraise themselves,” the letter stated. Signed by dozens of fact-checking organisations from across the globe, U.S. signatories include FactCheck.org, MediaWise, PolitiFact, and The Washington Post Fact Checker.

“Your company platform has so far framed discussions about disinformation as a false dichotomy of deleting or not deleting content,” the letter continued. “By doing this, YouTube is avoiding the possibility of doing what has been proven to work: our experience as fact-checkers together with academic evidence tells us that surfacing fact-checked information is more effective than deleting content [original emphasis].” 

While COVID-19 misinformation is the most immediately obvious issue, The International Fact-Checking Network noted YouTube has hosted medical misinformation such as false cancer cures for years. Political misinformation and hate speech are also significant concerns, with the letter claiming their damaging impact has been seen in multiple countries including Germany, Brazil, Taiwan, and, of course, the U.S.

“The examples are too many to count,” The International Fact-Checking Network wrote. “We are glad that the company has made some moves to try to address this problem lately, but based on what we see daily on the platform, we think these efforts are not working — nor has YouTube produced any quality data to prove their effectiveness.”

Last September, YouTube announced an update to its medical misinformation policy that would ban dangerous anti-vaccination content.

YouTube declined to comment on whether it would be taking up The International Fact-Checking Network’s invitation to collaborate, but said in a statement to Mashable that it considers the situation to have “more nuance” than simply requiring more fact checking.

“Fact checking is a crucial tool to help viewers make their own informed decisions, but it’s one piece of a much larger puzzle to address the spread of misinformation,” YouTube spokesperson Elena Hernandez said in a statement to Mashable.

Hoping to staunch the tide of misinformation, The International Fact-Checking Network’s letter offered YouTube four simple suggestions on how it could stop facilitating the spread of misinformation. These are:

1. Commit to “meaningful transparency” on misinformation by supporting independent research, and publishing its full misinformation moderation policy — including the data powering its moderation algorithm.

2. Investing in independent fact-checking, while prominently debunking misinformation and providing context either superimposed on misleading videos or as extra video content.

3. Prevent YouTube’s algorithm from recommending videos by creators whose content is repeatedly flagged as disinformation (particularly where they monetise their content).

4. Expand its efforts to combat misinformation in languages other than English, and provide country-specific data. The International Fact-Checking Network noted that misinformation on YouTube flew under the radar particularly in non-English speaking countries.

YouTube told Mashable it currently works with international publishers to add third-party context in information panels under some videos in some countries, and is looking to expand this further. The company also noted it already has policies against COVID-19 misinformation that “poses a serious risk of egregious harm,” hate speech, harassment, and election misinformation, and claims its systems “raise authoritative content and reduce recommendations of borderline misinformation in all countries [in which they] operate.” The Google News Initiative (Google owns YouTube) gave the International Fact-Checking Network $1 million “to bolster fact checking and verification efforts across the world,” Hernandez said.

Of course, The International Fact-Checking Network’s point is that YouTube’s current policies historically haven’t appeared terribly effective, and that more needs to be done. It also probably shouldn’t be recommending “borderline misinformation” at all.

“Over the years, we’ve invested heavily in policies and products in all countries we operate to connect people to authoritative content, reduce the spread of borderline misinformation, and remove violative videos,” said Hernandez. “We’ve seen important progress, with keeping consumption of recommended borderline misinformation significantly below 1% of all views on YouTube, and only about 0.11% of all views are of violative content that we later remove. We’re always looking for meaningful ways to improve and will continue to strengthen our work with the fact checking community.”

However, these seemingly small percentages add up to a lot when you consider that YouTube has over 2 billion monthly logged-in users.

“And every day, people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views,” YouTube boasts.

That means videos with misinformation get tens of millions of views every day, no matter how YouTube tries to spin it.

Where oh where is Tesla’s Cybertruck? Or, more to the point, when?

The electric carmaker’s website dedicated to all things about the cyber-punk electric pickup keeps getting more and more vague about the EV’s production schedule.

Back in October Tesla wiped the Cybertruck site of all pricing and model information, but kept a crucial detail: a production start time in 2022.

Now if you go to the same order page, you’ll notice that where it once said, “You will be able to complete your configuration as production nears in 2022” it only states, “You will be able to complete your configuration as production nears.”

The Cybertruck website as it looks today.
Credit: Screenshot / Tesla

The change has some reservation holders worried about an even further delayed production schedule, as auto site Edmunds noted. The truck was first announced in 2019.

The 2022 deletion appears to have happened right before Christmas, based on a search using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine tool. The Cybertruck is supposed to be built at Tesla’s newest gigafactory in Austin, Texas. But the factory is still prepping for car production with tools and equipment still coming in as recently as this week.

We reached out to Tesla about Cybertruck production plans, but the company no longer has a communications team. Neither CEO Elon Musk nor the official Tesla account have tweeted any updates about the electric truck.

The stars of Wolf Like Me go head-to-head to see who knows more about romantic dramedies.

UPDATE: Jan. 12, 2022, 3:50 p.m. EST This story has been updated to reflect current pricing, including on a 75-inch Vizio TV that has dropped below $800.

• The Samsung 75-inch QN84A Neo QLED TV is a massive masterpiece if you want to go all out on a home theater, and it comes with $600 in Best Buy gift cards — $2,649.99 $2,799.99 (save $150)

• The LG 65-inch C1 Series OLED 4K TV has dazzling picture that can keep up with high-stakes gaming — $1,896.99 $2,499.99 (save $603)

• The TCL 50-inch 5 Series QLED TV is an affordable way to get QLED into your living room — $449.99 $599.99 (save $150)

Large 4K TVs no longer have to cost an exorbitant amount of money. Rather, these high-quality TVs featuring punchy colors, decipherable shadows, and smooth transitions are actually affordable for regular consumers. And to make them even more budget-friendly, we’ve gathered up the best deals on 4K and QLED TVs from top brands like Samsung, LG, Sony, and more.

Samsung TV deals

Why we love it

A pre-holiday 2021 survey by Adobe found that more time spent at home has movie theater stans eager for the big-screen experience at home. Go all out on your setup with this massive Neo QLED TV from Samsung. Bold contrast, eye-catching brightness, and deep blacks keep every auto-adjusted scene at peak performance.

The $150 discount on this premium TV is made even sweeter by two Best Buy gift cards ($100 and $500), which are included with your purchase. They can’t be used toward the TV, but they indirectly save you $600 extra.

More Samsung TVs on sale

• Samsung 55-inch Q70A QLED TV — $899.99 $999.99 (save $100)

• Samsung 65-inch 8000 Series 4K TV — $679.99 $799.99 (save $120)

• Samsung 75-inch 7 Series 4K TV — $899.99 $1,099.99 (save $200)

• Samsung 75-inch Q70A Series QLED TV — $1,699.99 $2,099.99 (save $400)

• Samsung 75-inch A80A Series QLED TV — $1,799.99 $2,699.99 (save $900)

• Samsung 75-inch The Frame QLED TV — $2,699.99 $2,999.99 (save $300)

• Samsung 85-inch Q60A QLED TV — $2,197.99 $2,799.99 (save $602)

LG TV deals

Why we love it

The LG C1’s OLED display has more than 8 million pixels to bring you deep blacks and vibrant colors. Its 4K AI processor adjusts with the content to ensure everything you watch looks the best it can. Its zippy refresh rate keeps heavy-graphics gaming on point, too.

More LG TVs on sale

• LG 43-inch UP8000 Series 4K TV — $359.99 $479.99 (save $120)

• LG 48-inch C1 Series OLED 4K TV — $1,196.99 $1,599.99 (save $403)

• LG 55-inch NanoCell 80 4K TV — $646.99 $799.99 (save $153)

• LG 65-inch UP7000 4K TV — $499.99 $619.99 (save $120)

• LG 65-inch NanoCell 75 Series 4K TV — $749.99 $949.99 (save $200)

• LG 65-inch 90 Series QNED Mini LED 4K TV — $1,599.99 $1,999.99 (save $400)

• LG 65-inch G1 Series OLED TV — $2,399.99 $2,799.99 (save $400)

• LG 70-inch UP8070 4K TV — $799.99 $999.99 (save $200)

• LG 70-inch NanoCell 75 Series 4K TV — $899.99 $1,199.99 (save $300)

• LG 77-inch C1 Series OLED TV — $2,999.99 $3,299.99 (save $300)

Sony TV deals

Why we love it

Sony doesn’t often have the budget-friendly range that Samsung or LG do, so a mid-sizer for under $600 feels lucky. This X80J and the slightly more expensive X85J use different panels and offer different viewing experiences. If you care about wide viewing angles, this living room-sized X80J is the way to go.

More Sony TVs on sale

• Sony 55-inch X80J 4K TV — $649.99 $799.99 (save $150)

• Sony 55-inch X85J 4K TV — $899.99 $999.99 (save $100)

• Sony 65-inch X80J 4K TV — $799.99 $999.99 (save $200)

• Sony 75-inch X85J 4K TV — $1,399.99 $1,599.99 (save $200)

• Sony 75-inch X90J 4K TV — $1,699.99 $2,099.99 (save $400)

• Sony 77-inch X80J OLED 4K TV — $3,199.99 $3,499.99 (save $300)

• Sony 85-inch X95J Bravia XR TV — $3,999.99 $4,499.99 (save $500)

Other TV deals from TCL, Vizio, and more

Why we love it

Wondering if QLED is worth it? Try this mid-size, mid-range model. TCL’s 5 Series still utilizes quantum dots, which build a layer between LEDs and the screen to make hues pop and contrasts deepen. If you’ve never dabbled with HDR before, this brightness is game-changing — even if it’s not the pop provided by a high-end Samsung QLED.

More TVs from TCL, Vizio, and more

• Vizio 50-inch M7 Quantum Series 4K TV — $569.99 $699.99 (save $130)

• Amazon 55-inch 4 Series 4K Fire TV — $379.99 $519.99 (save $140)

• TCL 55-inch 6-Series Mini LED QLED TV — $699.99 $949.99 (save $250)

• Hisense 65-inch 65A6G 4K TV — $499.99 $599.99 (save $100)

• Vizio 65-inch V-Series 4K TV — $499.99 $599.99 (save $100)

• Amazon 65-inch Omni Series 4K Fire TV – $599.99 $829.99 (save $230)

• Vizio 75-inch V-Series 4K TV — $799.99 $899.99 (save $100)

• TCL 75-inch 6-Series Mini LED QLED TV — $1,299.99 $2,299.99 (save $1,000)

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• The best 4K TVs: For gamers, Netflix binge-watchers, and everyone else

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