Technologies

You Should Really Think About Blurring Your Home on Google Maps

It’s mostly to protect your privacy.

The Street View feature allows you to enter nearly any address, like that of a restaurant or public park, into Google Maps and check out a recent image of that location, captured by one of the Google Street View cars. The feature is useful for knowing what building or landmark to look for when you arrive, in case the entrance is hard to find or you want to know where to park in advance, 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’s 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.

Address in Google Maps — Click on the photo of your home, right above your address, on the top-left part of the page.

Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

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.

Street View of a location in Google Maps — This is the Street View of your location.

Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

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.

Blur options for Google Maps — If you want to blur more than what’s in the black/red box, use the + button to zoom in.

Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

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.

Submit option for blurring in Google Maps — You’re required to provide additional information about what you want to blur, so be thorough.

Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

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

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Aug. 1

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 1.

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

I love it when the Mini Crossword is playful. The 4-Across and 5-Across clues are a lot of fun, and the clue for 1-Across is just plain adorable. It brought a little extra sparkle to my crossword experience. Looking for a hand with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Arm-y greeting
Answer: HUG

4A clue: Undiluted … or a country with its vowels swapped
Answer: PURE

5A clue: Ballroom dance … or a country with its vowels swapped
Answer: TANGO

6A clue: Played a role
Answer: ACTED

7A clue: Eisenberg of «The Social Network»
Answer: JESSE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Ketchup brand
Answer: HUNTS

2D clue: Eggs on
Answer: URGES

3D clue: Crystal-lined rock
Answer: GEODE

4D clue: Marathoner’s concern
Answer: PACE

5D clue: ___ Mahal
Answer: TAJ

Technologies

High Noon Recalls Alcoholic Drinks Mislabeled as Celsius. What to Do if You Were Impacted

This packaging label mishap could lead to unintentional alcohol consumption. Here’s how to check if you bought these cans.

High Noon has issued a recall on two of its Beach Variety packs because of the presence of alcohol in the wrong type of cans. Within these 12-packs of High Noon Beach Variety packs there may be some Celsius-labelled cans — which should contain an energy drink — that were shipped out with High Noon vodka seltzer inside them.

Cans that are filled with High Noon’s vodka seltzer are mislabeled as Celsius Astro Vibe Energy Drink, Sparkling Blue Razz Edition, and have a silver top instead of a black top. High Noon discovered the error after receiving a shipment of empty Celsius cans instead of empty High Noon cans, according to a statement.

Distributors shipped these drinks to Florida, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin between July 21 and July 23.

Here’s which lot codes were impacted and what to do if you bought these cans.

What to do if you were impacted by High Noon’s drink recall

High Noon advises people who bought the following codes of Celsius Astro Vibe Energy Drink, Sparkling Blue Razz Edition not to consume it and to discard it. The lot codes are L CCB 02JL25 2:55 to L CCB 02JL25 3:11. Other High Noon variety packs should not be affected.

High Noon reported that no illnesses or events occurred as a part of the mislabeling. If you’ve purchased the impacted drinks, contact High Noon Consumer Relations at consumerrelations@highnoonvodka.com for next steps and refunds. The recall is being conducted with the US Food and Drug Administration and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

CNET reached out to High Noon for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Technologies

How to Join the Battlefield 6 Open Beta: Early Access Sign Up and Weekend Dates

The next Battlefield game is getting a public beta next weekend. Tune into your favorite streamer to get into it.

EA’s DICE studio has blown the lid off the multiplayer for its upcoming military shooter Battlefield 6, and players will soon get to join the fray themselves. A Battlefield 6 public beta is coming on two consecutive weekends starting Aug. 9 — and if you’re lucky enough to get in Early Access, to play starting Aug. 7 — and here’s how to join.

The Battlefield 6 open betas will be the first chances for players to get to experience the game’s multiplayer before its full release Oct. 10. The first open beta weekend will start at 1 a.m. PT Aug. 9 through Aug. 10 and the second will kick off at 1 a.m. PT Aug. 14 and run through Aug. 16. Fans can visit Battlefield’s website to get info for the open beta, which just requires linking your EA account to your platform account.

Note that publisher EA hasn’t provided a specific sign-up for the beta just yet but it will be open to all players. We’ll update this post if or when EA provides specific instructions for signing up but we do know the open beta can be pre-downloaded on respective platforms starting Aug. 4.

The beta will be playable on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

How to get Battlefield 6 open beta early access

There is one way to secure your spot in the open beta a couple days early on Aug. 7: Watch your favorite streamer playing Battlefield 6 today (July 31), as explained in an official post on X. You can watch on the official Battlefield Twitch or on a participating creator’s channel but you’ll have to do it fast as the event ends at 4:30 p.m. PT.

Here are the steps:

Sign into your Twitch account.
Make sure you have drops enabled and the Battlefield 6 Early Access Beta Key Drops selected from among the drops campaigns list.
Watch a single streamer participating in the Battlefield 6 Early Access Beta Key Drops for 60 minutes — if you’re having trouble finding one, search for «Battlefield 6» and look for streams that include «Beta Key Drops» or often just «Drops» in their titles.
Once earned, find your beta key access in your Drops Inventory.

Players who have participated in Battlefield Labs, studio DICE’s pre-release feedback program for the game, will be granted early access to play the beta starting Aug. 7.

Studio DICE didn’t detail which modes, weapons and other options will be playable in the open beta but it did confirm that «Closed Weapons» modes that restrict certain guns to certain classes will be available to try out. If the preview is anything to go by, players will be able to load up a handful of multiplayer modes, like Conquest, Squad Deathmatch and Breakthrough, on maps like Siege of Cairo, Empire State and Liberation Peak.

Battlefield 6 open beta dates

August 7-8: Early access, starting at 1 a.m. PT on Aug. 7
August 9-10: First open beta weekend available to all, starting at 1 a.m. PT on Aug. 9 and closing Aug. 11 at 1 a.m. PT.
August 14-16: Second open beta weekend available to all, starting at 1 a.m. PT on Aug. 14 and closing Aug. 17 at 1 a.m. PT.

PC specific notice for Battlefield 6 beta

A special note if you haven’t played a Battlefield game on PC recently: Studio DICE and EA recently started requiring players to set their computers to Secure Boot when playing Battlefield games to combat cheaters, and Battlefield 6 is no different. To even play the open beta, you’ll need to delve into your BIOS and switch your PC to Secure Boot — check EA’s guide for help.