Technologies
Google Maps Has 15-Year-Old Pictures of Your Home (and You Can See Them)
Street View lets you go back as far as 2007.

Google’s fleet of Street View vehicles have been snapping images of restaurants, apartment buildings, parks and pretty much everything else you can see from a street for over 15 years now. Over that time, Google has retraced its steps many times, capturing higher quality images, all of which you can see in Google Maps.
In fact, if you go into Google Maps right now and use the Street View feature on your home, you’ll see a recent image, maybe from the last year or so. However, Google Maps stores every image taken of that location, dating back to 2007 — you just need to know how to find them.
Interested in seeing what your home looked like over a decade ago? We’ll show you how to use Google Map’s time-travel feature on your phone and desktop.
While you’re here, you should also check out how to use Google Maps even when you don’t have internet and why you may want to blur your home from Google Maps.
How to see older Street View images on your phone
In the Google Maps app on iOS or Android, enter an address or place a marker down on a location for which you want to see photos.
Next, tap the Street View preview that appears right above the information window, which will take you into full-screen Street View mode. Then just tap the large map.
You should now see a blue See more dates option appear in the white window at the bottom of Street View. If you tap it, you’ll see a carousel of images, each with a month and year describing when the photo was taken by Google. Swipe left and right to go through the various Street View images.


The renamed Crypto Arena in 2022 (middle) and Staples Center in 2008 (right)
Nelson Aguilar/CNETThe earlier the date, the lower the quality of the image you might see, but you should be able to see options as far back as 2007, with new images every few years or so. If you live in a major city, expect more Street View options.
Check out vintage Street View images on your computer
You can access the same Street View images from the past on your computer as well.
In the web browser of your choice, go to the Google Maps website and either enter an address or choose a point on the map. Once you have a location, click the photo that appears right above the address on the left side of Google Maps. If it’s a Street View image, you’ll be taken to Street View, but if it’s not, find and click Street View & 360° and the image that appears underneath.
In Street View mode, you should see a gray transparent window on the top-left corner of the map. Click the See more dates option and a carousel of Street View images, from the last 15 years or so, will appear at the bottom. Use your mouse to click and drag through the various vintage photos.


The Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008.
Nelson Aguilar/CNETDone? Check out three new Google Maps features you’ll definitely want to use and this Google Maps cheat sheet filled with all the most useful tricks.
Technologies
Google Discover Gains Follow Button and Expands Content Sources
Google’s personalized news feed will feature a wider variety of content in the coming weeks.

Google Discover, Google’s personalized news feed, has largely remained the same since its introduction in 2018, but it’s now receiving some new and helpful features.
On Wednesday, Google announced that Discover will soon expand the type of content found within the feed and allow you to follow publications and creators. You can find Google Discover in the Google app, and it will be built into the home screens of some Android phones.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Instead of just seeing a list of web pages to visit on your feed, you’ll soon see a mix of web articles, YouTube videos and social media posts from X and Instagram, effectively widening the net of content shown in Discover.
Along with expanding content from more sources, Google Discover is allowing users to follow specific publishers and content creators using a «follow» button at the top right of each content card.
Google says that tapping the publication’s or creator’s name will open a new page previewing the content that’s typically shared before you choose to follow the outlet. From our testing across multiple phones so far, it appears the feature is still rolling out.
Your Google Discover feed should now allow you to follow content creators. A more diversified mix of content will roll out over the coming weeks.
Technologies
New Bill Aims to Block Both Online Adult Content and VPNs: How Your VPN Could Be Affected
A proposed bill in Michigan has a broad reach that covers everything from adult AI content to manga and even depictions of transgender people. It includes a VPN ban to avoid workarounds.

If you live in Michigan, you might not be able to legally use a VPN soon if a new bill is passed into law. On Sept. 11, Michigan Republican representatives proposed far-reaching legislation banning adult internet content.
The bill, called the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act and advanced by six Republican representatives, would ban a wide variety of adult content online, ranging from ASMR and adult manga to AI content and any depiction of transgender people. It also seeks to ban all use of VPNs, foreign or US-produced.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are software suites often used as workarounds to avoid similar content bans that have passed in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the UK. VPNs can be purchased with subscriptions or downloaded and are also built into some browsers and Wi-Fi routers.
But Michigan’s bill would charge internet service providers with detecting and blocking VPN use, as well as banning the sale of VPNs in the state. Associated fines would be up to $500,000.
What the ban could mean for VPNs
Unlike some laws banning access to adult content, this Michigan bill is comprehensive. It applies to all residents of Michigan, adults or children, targets an extensive range of content and includes language that could ban not only VPNs but any method of bypassing internet filters or restrictions.
That could spell trouble for VPN owners and other internet users who leverage these tools to improve their privacy, protect their identities online, prevent ISPs from gathering data about them or increase their device safety when browsing on public Wi-Fi.
Read more: CNET Survey: 47% of Americans Use VPNs for Privacy. That Number Could Rise. Here’s Why
Bills like these could have unintended side effects. John Perrino, Senior Policy and Advocacy Expert for the nonprofit Internet Society, mentioned to CNET that adult content laws like this could interfere with what kind of music people can stream, the sexual health forums and articles they can access and even important news involving sexual topics that they may want to read.
«Additionally, state age verification laws are difficult for smaller services to comply with, hurting competition and an open internet,» Perrino said.
The Anticorruption of Public Morals Act has not passed the Michigan House of Representatives committee or been voted on by the Michigan Senate, and it’s not clear how much support the bill has beyond the six Republican representatives who have proposed it. As we’ve seen with state legislation in the past, sometimes bills like these can serve as templates for other representatives who may want to propose similar laws in their own states.
Could VPNs still get around bans like these?
Could VPNs still get around this type of ban? That’s a complex question that this bill doesn’t really address.
«From a technical standpoint, ISPs can attempt to distinguish VPN traffic using deep packet inspection, or they can block known VPN IP addresses,» said NordVPN privacy advocate Laura Tyrylyte. «However, deploying them effectively requires big investments and ongoing maintenance, making large-scale VPN blocking both costly and complex.»
Also, VPNs have ways around deep packet inspection and other methods.
«Some VPNs offer obfuscation — which tries to disguise VPN traffic as standard web traffic — using dedicated servers or custom VPN protocols, like NordVPN’s NordWhisper or Proton VPN’s Stealth,» said CNET senior editor Moe Long. «But note that obfuscation isn’t foolproof.»
There are also no-log features offered by many VPNs to guarantee they don’t keep a record of your activity, and no-log audits from third parties like Deloitte that — well, try to guarantee the guarantee. VPNs can even use server tricks, such as RAM-only servers that automatically reboot to erase data after every browsing session.
If you’re seriously concerned about your data privacy, you can look for features like these in a VPN and see if they are right for you. Changes like these, even on the state level, are one reason we pay close attention to how specific VPNs work during our testing, and recommend the right VPNs for the job, from speedy browsing to privacy while traveling.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 19 #565
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 19, No. 565.

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.
Do you drink your coffee black? If so, today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be a puzzler. 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: Pour it on.
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Wow, no cow.
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:
- NONE, CONE, RICER, SHEW, FAIR, FAIRY, DRAY, YARD, MILK, CASH, DONE, DRAM, MADAM
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:
- RICE, FLAX, ALMOND, CASHEW, COCONUT, MACADAMIA
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is NONDAIRYMILK. To find it, look for the N that’s four letters down on the far-left row, and wind across and down.
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