Technologies

Google Maps Lets You Blur Your Home. Here’s Why You Should

Protect your family’s privacy by blurring your home on Google Maps.

If you’ve ever used the Street View feature in Google Maps, you know that you can enter pretty much any address and check out a recent image of that location, whether it’s a business, government building or residence. It’s useful for knowing what building or landmark to look for when you arrive, but Street View also makes it easier for stalkers or criminals to plan their way inside your home.

Street View gives anyone a free ticket to examine your home over the internet — maybe they want to look for any cameras or even find a side window to pry open. And sure, anyone can walk or drive by your home and do this in person, but Google Maps makes this process much simpler. Anyone with a phone or computer can do it.

Fortunately, there is an easy way to blur your home on Google Maps and help prevent others from seeing too many details of where you live. Here’s how to do it.

For more, here are seven essential Google Maps tips for the holidays and how Google Maps can help you figure out dinner.

How to blur your home on Google Maps

You’ll need to do this on your computer, as the blurring feature isn’t available in the Google Maps application on iOS or Android, and while it is accessible through the web browser on your mobile device, it’s rather difficult to use, so use a trusted web browser on your Mac or PC instead.

At maps.google.com, enter your home address in the search bar at the top-right, hit return, then click the photo of your home that appears.

Next, you’ll see the Street View of your location. Click Report a Problem at the bottom-right. The text is super tiny, but it’s there.

Now, it’s up to you to choose what you want Google to blur. Using your mouse, adjust the view of the image so that your home and anything else you want to blur is all contained within the red and black box. Use your cursor to move around and the plus and minus buttons to zoom in and out, respectively.

Once you’re finished adjusting the image, choose what you’re requesting to blur underneath:

A face
Your home
Your car/license plate
A different object

You’ll be asked to give a bit more detail as to what exactly you want blurred, in case the image is busy with several cars, people and other objects.

Also, be completely sure that what you select is exactly what you want blurred. Google mentions that once you blur something on Street View, it’s blurred permanently.

Finally, enter your email (this is required), verify the captcha (if needed) and click Submit.

You should then receive an email from Google that says it’ll review your report and get back to you once the request is either denied or approved. You may receive more emails from Google asking for more information regarding your request. Google doesn’t offer any information on how long your request will take to process, so just keep an eye out for any further emails.

For more, here’s how Google Maps can help you avoid crowded public transit.

Technologies

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 14, #795

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 795 for Thursday, Aug. 14.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has some fun categories. Been to any weddings this summer? If so, you might ace the blue group. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Rear end.

Green group hint: Give it a whack.

Blue group hint: Here comes the bride.

Purple group hint: Doubled up words.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Derriere.

Green group: Used to hit a ball in sports.

Blue group: Component’s of a bride’s ensemble.

Purple group: Rhyming compound words.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is derriere. The four answers are backside, caboose, seat and tail.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is used to hit a ball in sports. The four answers are bat, mallet, racket and stick.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is component’s of a bride’s ensemble. The four answers are bouquet, bustle, train and veil.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is rhyming compound words. The four answers are backpack, cookbook, hubbub and nitwit.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 14 #529

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 529 for Thursday, Aug. 14.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be a stumper. Some of the answers are quite long and tough to unscramble, though all of them match the theme very well. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Honest-to-goodness.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Not fake or phony.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

TONE, GONE, BONE, LONE, LOAM, HALO, HALOS, THAN, RITE, TIRE, DIRE, DIRT, TREE, MATT, CALF

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: