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Google Earth now lets you step back in time at street level, thanks to the launch of historical Street View imagery. The feature arrives for the platform’s 20th anniversary and brings new AI-powered tools for professional users (like urban planners) in the U.S.

Explore the Past in Google Earth

Google Earth has always helped everyone see the world from above. Now, it lets you see how streets and neighborhoods have changed over the years. With the new update, you can slide through older Street View images right inside Google Earth. Want to revisit your childhood block or watch a city skyline grow? Just move the timeline slider and see how places looked in the past.

Until now, historical Street View was only available in Google Maps and the Earth Pro desktop app. This update brings it to the main Google Earth app on the web and mobile, making it easier for everyone to use.

Historical street view imagery in Google Earth follows from its popularity in Google Maps. The #somewhereonGoogleMaps trend captured our nostalgia for places past and present. Google Earth’s 20th anniversary is as good a time as any to catch up with its milestones.

A Digital Time Machine for Us

The new historical Street View feature turns Google Earth into more than just a virtual globe. Now, it’s a visual time machine. You can trace your history or see how your favorite places have evolved. It’s fascinating to watch a vacant lot become a playground, or a quiet street transform into a busy neighborhood.

For a long time, I have enjoyed watching a satellite view of my own house with Google Earth.

Now, we can satisfy our curiosity about old places by heading to places with extensive historical records. For instance, New York, London, and Paris, etc. Here are some of my favorites, which I checked out:

Freedom Tower (One World Trade Center) in Lower Manhattan, New York City: You can watch a part of modern American history as this symbolic structure rose from the rebuilding efforts at Ground Zero.

The Berlin Wall in Germany is one of the most historically significant timelapses. Watch the fall of the Berlin Wall, along with the massive urban transformation that followed German reunification.

Kennedy Space Center in Florida provides comprehensive historical imagery of NASA’s launch facilities and the evolution of the space program infrastructure. As a space buff, I head to the SpaceX Starbase in Texas, too, to watch the company’s meteoric rise.

Pompeii, Italy, and its many ancient Roman attractions like the Rectangle Theater, the Theater of Pompeii, the Temple of Apollo, the Arch of Tiberius, and the Public Square.

The World Islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are artificial islands constructed to resemble a world map.

Also: Smarter Maps for Real-World Problems

It’s not about casual nostalgia and fun alone. Along with the time-travel feature, Google is adding powerful new tools for U.S. professionals. Soon, planners and researchers will see overlays that show tree canopy coverage and land surface temperatures. These AI-powered insights can help cities plan for more green spaces or tackle “urban heat islands” where temperatures rise due to a lack of trees and too much concrete.

For decision makers, knowing where trees are missing or where temperatures spike can guide smart choices. They might plant more trees in the hottest areas or design new parks where they’re needed most. These upgrades can make cities cooler, greener, and more comfortable for everyone.

For the longest time, I thought the dark web was an impenetrable, tangled mass of secret websites frequented only by hackers and criminals. I certainly didn’t know that there are several ways you can actually search the dark web for specific websites and types of content—but that’s now changed.

How to Search the Dark Web

You can’t just fire up Google and type in "dark web sites"—at least, not if you want to actually find them. The dark web runs on a different network, and its websites use a special domain suffix: .onion. These sites aren’t indexed by standard search engines, which is why you need specialized tools to search them.

You need two things to search the dark web: the right browser and the right search engines. Regular browsers like Chrome or Edge won’t work here. Instead, you’ll need a browser that lets you access onion websites, the most popular of which is Tor Browser.

Once you’re on Tor, you need a search engine designed for .onion content. Two of the most widely used are Ahmia and Torch, each offers a different level of access and safety.

Ahmia is a good place to start. It filters out illegal content and works both inside and outside of Tor. You can visit it from a regular browser at ahmia.fi, but clicking .onion links still requires Tor. Torch is more unfiltered. It returns a broader range of results, including content that Ahmia deliberately avoids.

Dark web search engines don’t work like Google. There’s no massive, automated crawling system indexing every .onion site in real time. Instead, these tools rely heavily on manual submissions, curated lists, and user reports.

That means their coverage is incomplete by design. Many .onion sites are temporary, private, or actively hidden. Others are taken down without notice or rotate through different addresses. Even when search engines list a site, it might already be offline or lead somewhere entirely different from what the title suggests.

Ahmia tries to filter out illegal and harmful content, which makes it feel more curated, but also limits what it can show. You’re less likely to stumble into something dangerous, and less likely to find niche or controversial communities. Torch, by contrast, prioritizes scale over safety. It indexes far more pages but includes duplicates, inactive links, and spammy or dangerous sites.

Spotting Legitimate Onion Sites vs. Scams

The dark web doesn’t have many of the trust signals you’re used to. There are no padlocks, no verified checkmarks, and no guarantees that the site you’re visiting is what it claims to be. Scams and impersonations are common, especially on marketplaces and forums.

So, how do you know which links are legit?

Start by checking where the link is coming from. On Ahmia, each result includes a brief description and sometimes a timestamp showing when the site was last seen online. If a site hasn’t appeared active in a long time, there’s a decent chance it’s dead, outdated, or has been replaced by something shady.

Also, check whether the .onion address is mentioned somewhere reputable. Some well-known organizations—like Facebook, the BBC, and ProPublica—list their official .onion links on their public websites or Wikipedia pages. That’s one of the most reliable ways to confirm a site’s identity. If the .onion URL you found through search matches the one listed by the organization itself, you’re good.

If you’re dealing with smaller or unofficial sites, consider cross-checking the URL in a known .onion directory like the Real World Onion Sites Github (available on the clear web), or looking it up in privacy forums. Reddit communities like r/onions or r/deepweb sometimes share verified links and warnings about scams, but again, use discretion. The so-called Hidden Wiki was once a popular starting point for newcomers to the dark web, but it’s no longer a trusted resource.

And finally, rely on your instincts. If a site pushes you to download something, asks for personal info up front, or looks completely different from what you expected, it’s safer to back out and look for alternatives.

If you do choose to open a link, expect a rough experience. Many .onion sites are barebones, slow, or only partially working. That doesn’t automatically mean they’re fake or dangerous—just that they weren’t built with user-friendliness in mind. Most dark web sites are simple on purpose; it helps to compensate for the Tor Network’s slower browsing speeds. However, if you do stumble upon something useful, save the link immediately. All .onion URLs are long, alphanumeric strings that aren’t easy to remember or rediscover. Without a bookmark or secure note, you may not be able to get back to it later.

Safety Essentials While Browsing

You don’t need to be an expert to browse the dark web safely, but you do need to stay alert.

Always use the Tor Browser, and make sure it’s up-to-date. Don’t open .onion links in regular browsers—they won’t load and could accidentally expose what you’re trying to access. It’s also a good idea to avoid copying links between browsers or apps where they could be logged, tracked, or leaked unintentionally.

Stay anonymous. Don’t log in with personal emails or usernames. If a site requires an account, use a throwaway identity and password you don’t use anywhere else.

Disable scripts in Tor’s settings. Many .onion sites work fine without them, and leaving them on increases your risk of tracking or malware.

Avoid downloads unless you fully trust the source. Even seemingly harmless files can carry risks.

Some people pair Tor with a VPN for added privacy, especially in restrictive regions. If you do, choose a trustworthy, no-logs VPN provider and understand that it may not always improve anonymity.

And finally, understand the legal line. In most countries, visiting the dark web isn’t illegal—but what you do there might be. Accessing banned content, buying illegal goods, or even just landing on the wrong kind of marketplace could land you in trouble depending on your local laws. Know what’s legal where you live.

As much as I really like Plex and depend on its features for my personal library, I don’t want to share more data than is necessary. It’s not a criticism of Plex, but I’ve changed these privacy settings, and you should too.

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Go Incognito With Your Profile Privacy Settings

I don’t care for the idea of people being able to see what I’m watching on Plex, not out of shame but because of the principles of the matter. I also don’t want my friends’ usernames exposed when someone sees my friends list, either. You can tweak these settings to be completely private:

1. In Plex, open Settings and choose Privacy on the left-hand side, near the top.
2. For ACCOUNT VISIBILITY & ACTIVITY SHARING, select Edit.
3. For maximum privacy, set everything to Private.

The only option that can’t be private is Account Visibility, so the next best option is Friends Only. Make sure to save, and you’re off to being a little more private.

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Unsubscribe to Those Pesky Marketing Emails

Watching marketing emails pile up in my inbox irks me, and it’s one of the defining reasons I have two email accounts (or a great reason to use an email alias!). One is used for signing up for services (taking the brunt of the problem), while the other is for personal use. Thankfully, if you have one email, you can at least unsubscribe from Plex’s marketing emails.

1. In Plex, go into Settings > Account.
2. Under Preferences, click the hyperlink there to access your email preferences.
3. In Email Preferences, uncheck every box for maximum privacy.

When you’re done with your email preferences, complete the process by selecting Update Preferences at the bottom.

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Prevent Plex From Selling Personal Data

While you can use Plex strictly for accessing your media library, it also has ad-supported content you can stream. It’s a nice way to expand on your options if your library is lacking, though there are cheap ways to expand your Plex library. However, it’s an avenue for more data collection, so let’s put a stop to that:

1. In Plex, open Settings > Privacy.
2. Click the hyperlink for Privacy Preferences to access how your personal data is used.
3. Uncheck If this box is checked, then Plex may sell your personal data as described in the Privacy Policy… and also check All No, then finish with Save Preferences.

Now, this will prevent Plex from selling and sharing certain information, but it won’t remove the ads, even if you opt for the Plex Pass.

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Disable Plex’s Collection of Playback Data

Having data on your playback performance can be used to improve Plex, but give a company an inch and they’ll take a mile. I’d rather disable it for good, just to be thorough.

1. Sign in on Plex’s site with your account and visit Plex’s privacy policy page.
2. Scroll down until you get to the "Your Plex Privacy Rights" section.
3. Click on You have the right to limit what activity data is sent from your Plex Media Server to reveal a checkbox.

Uncheck Send playback data to Plex and you’re golden. I’d give the page a refresh to double-check the new changes stuck.

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Opt Out of Plex’s Free Content

Since you can’t at all avoid the ads given to you by Plex, you can avoid the free content altogether; in fact, you can disable it from your homepage entirely and avoid the risk of accidentally watching Plex’s streaming library.

Whether from the Plex app or from a browser, open Settings and choose Online Media Sources. Under LIVE TV and MOVIES & SHOWS, click Edit and set them to Disabled. Now the only content you’ll see is what’s in your Plex library. Perhaps now is the time to turn Plex into a streaming hub!

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Request That Plex Deletes Your Data

Even if you were to use all these tips to boost your privacy on Plex, it doesn’t help the data that’s already been collected. While you can’t do anything about it, if you were to stop using Plex altogether, you can have your data deleted on the way out. Please note that this action will permanently delete your account and all associated content.

1. Firstly, you need to visit Plex’s Privacy Request Center site and pick your country and state.
2. Next, choose Start Deletion Request and provide your first and last name, email, and write out any comments.
3. Finish up by clicking Review Request.

Should you keep Plex around, and you get curious, you can also send access and transfer requests to see what kind of data of yours has been collected.

In my book, fewer services collecting, sending, and selling my data is a win. I may like what Plex offers in terms of features, but like most businesses, there’s no reason to horde my data like a dragon hoarding gold.