Technologies

This Google Maps Feature Takes Your Street Back in Time

Street View lets you take a look at your home and other places, as far back as 2007.

Google’s fleet of Street View vehicles have been zooming around cities and neighborhoods for over 15 years now, snapping photos of restaurants, apartment buildings and pretty much everything else you can see from the street. Over that time, as technology has advanced, Google has retraced its steps, capturing higher quality images to enhance Google Maps.

In fact, if you go into Google Maps right now and use the Street View feature on your home, for example, you should see a pretty recent image, probably from the last year or so. However, that’s not the only image that exists of where you live. 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.

Older Street View options in Google Maps — The renamed Crypto Arena in 2022 (middle) and then Staples Center in 2008.

Nelson Aguilar/CNET

The 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.

Street View in Google Maps on desktop — The Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008.

Nelson Aguilar/CNET

Done? 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

Apple to Build the Mac Mini in the United States for the First Time

Apple will begin manufacturing the wee desktop computer in Houston later this year.

Houston, we have some production. Apple announced Tuesday that it will be making its Mac Mini desktop computer in the US for the first time, shifting some manufacturing from its Asian plants, and will also increase AI server production at its existing Houston facility.

The California-based tech giant also said it will open the Advanced Manufacturing Center, a 20,000-square-foot facility where students, supplier employees and businesses will receive hands-on training in making Apple products, in the same city.

In its statement, Apple said the new Mac Mini production and increased AI server production will create thousands of jobs.

The Mac Mini will be manufactured at a 220,000-square-foot facility in North Houston. The other main building at that site is where Apple makes AI servers. The new Advanced Manufacturing Center will also be built at that location. The buildings are owned by Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing giant that Apple initially partnered with in 2000 to produce the iMac.

Sabih Khan, Apple’s chief operating officer, said there will still be Mac Mini production in Asia after the Houston plant is up and running, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

By beginning Mac Mini production in the US, Apple is furthering its pledge to invest $600 billion in the US over four years. That promise, made last August, was in response to pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration to increase manufacturing in the US and to avoid Trump-imposed tariffs.

Apple also said it is sourcing more than 20 billion chips from 24 US factories, and that, by the end of 2026, every new iPhone and Apple Watch will have cover glass made at Corning’s facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

CEO Tim Cook said his company is «deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing,» with production of the Mac Mini marking one step toward that commitment.

The Mac Mini, which initially went on sale in 2005 — CNET was there from the beginning — is the cheapest of the Apple desktops ($599 at the Apple store). It’s known as a BYODKM, an acronym coined by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that stands for «Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, Mouse.» In other words, the Mac Mini — only 5 inches long and 5 inches wide — comes without those peripherals, making it cheaper for those who already have them.

«The Mini can fit in your hand and be everything from an everyday home office computer to a full-on professional content-creation machine,» CNET’s Joshua Goldman wrote in his review of the latest model in 2024.

Goldman also said the Mac Mini is a «perfect pairing» with Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI system that is integrated with iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Market research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates that the Mini accounts for less than 5% of its global Mac sales, according to the WSJ report.

Apple will also ramp up production of its AI servers. The company said manufacturing is ahead of schedule, months after beginning production in October. The servers are used in Apple data centers around the US.

Technologies

Waymo’s Autonomous Ride Service Expands to 4 New Cities

The company has doubled its operating area for robotaxi services over the past several months.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 25, #990

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 25 #990.

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 is kind of tough. That purple category, once again, expects you to spot hidden words that are related to each other within four of the grid words. It’s fun once you see the answer, but tough to figure out on your own. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times 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 the 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: What a parent should do for a child.

Green group hint: «____ my dear Watson.»

Blue group hint: Some go by Jim.

Purple group hint: Look for hidden words.