Skip to main content

Visa, Uber offering rides in an Olympics-themed car in 6 cities, but only on Friday

uk uber loses driver case
Kampee Patisena/123RF
Friday is the opening day of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, and to celebrate Visa is teaming up with Uber to offer Olympics-themed rides — whether you’re in Brazil or not.

RioPool is a one-day partnership between the ridesharing service and the payment provider, and it only applies if you’re in one of the following cities: New York City, San Francisco, Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Mexico City; Santiago, Chile; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Throughout August 5, if you’re about to order an Uber, type in the promo code “VisaPool,” then select the Visa RioPool option.

You’ may be greeted with a car decked out for the Olympics — it depends if the car is close. Inside, you’ll find tablets that let you take pictures with Rio Olympics-themed “filters and features like animated soccer balls, 3D faces donning swimming googles, and more.”

visa uber
Image used with permission by copyright holder

You’ll also get $5 off your ride if you pay with a Visa credit or debit card, and on top of that, you will get a chance to win certain prizes, such as tickets to an Olympic event, Rio Olympics swag, and even a ride from a former Olympian or Team Visa athlete.

The partnership between Uber and Visa lasts for one day, but if you’re in Rio at the Olympics, you’ll be able to get picked up by an Olympics-themed car until August 8.

This is hardly Visa’s first Olympic-related announcement this year — the company has three different contactless payment solutions, and they have all been offered to Team Visa athletes. More announcements like these, geared at consumers, are on the way throughout the 2016 Olympics.

Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
AT&T just made it a lot easier to upgrade your phone
AT&T Storefront with logo.

Do you want to upgrade your phone more than once a year? What about three times a year? Are you on AT&T? If you answered yes to those questions, then AT&T’s new “Next Up Anytime” early upgrade program is made for you. With this add-on, you’ll be able to upgrade your phone three times a year for just $10 extra every month. It will be available starting July 16.

Currently, AT&T has its “Next Up” add-on, which has been available for the past several years. This program costs $6 extra per month and lets you upgrade by trading in your existing phone after at least half of it is paid off. But the new Next Up Anytime option gives you some more flexibility.

Read more
Motorola is selling unlocked smartphones for just $150 today
Someone holding the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024).

Have you been looking for phone deals but don’t want to spend a ton of money on flagship devices from Apple and Samsung? Have you ever considered investing in an unlocked Motorola? For a limited time, the company is offering a $100 markdown on the Motorola Moto G 5G. It can be yours for just $150, and your days and nights of phone-shopping will finally be over!

Why you should buy the Motorola Moto G 5G
Powered by the Snapdragon 480+ 5G CPU and 4GB of RAM, the Moto G delivers exceptional performance across the board. From UI navigation to apps, games, and camera functions, you can expect fast load times, next to no buffering, and smooth animations. You’ll also get up to 128GB of internal storage that you’ll be able to use for photos, videos, music, and any other mobile content you can store locally. 

Read more
The Nokia 3210 is the worst phone I’ve used in 2024
A person holding the Nokia 3210, showing the screen.

Where do I even start with the Nokia 3210? Not the original, which was one of the coolest phones to own back in a time when Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace wasn’t even a thing, but the latest 2024 reissue that has come along to save us all from digital overload, the horror of social media, and the endless distraction that is the modern smartphone.

Except behind this facade of marketing-friendly do-goodery hides a weapon of torture, a device so foul that I’d rather sit through multiple showings of Jar Jar Binks and the gang hopelessly trying to bring back the magic of A New Hope than use it.
The Nokia 3210 really is that bad

Read more