Snapchat Family Center shows parents their children’s friends list

Snapchat has launched a parental control portal that allows parents to keep an eye on who their young teenagers have been chatting with. The new in-app feature called Family Center shows parents their kids’ friends list, as well as who they’ve messaged in the last seven days. Take note that parents can only see who their teens have been talking to, but they won’t be able to read their chat history. Snap says the center was designed to “reflect the way… parents engage with their teens in the real world” in that they know (for the most part) who their kids have been hanging out with but don’t listen in on their conversations.

In addition, parents can confidentially report accounts they think might be violating Snap’s rules straight from the Family Center. Back in January, Snapchat changed its friend recommendation feature following calls for increased safety on the app by making it harder for adults to connect with teen users: In particular, it stopped showing accounts owned by 13-to-17-year-old users in Quick Add. Teens also can’t have public profiles and have to be mutual friends to be able to communicate with each other. Plus, their accounts will only show up in search results under certain circumstances, such as if the one searching has a mutual friend with them.

Snap promised to launch new parental controls and other features designed to protect underage users on its service last year. The company revealed its plans in a hearing wherein lawmakers put the pressure on social networks and apps that cater to teens, such as Snapchat and TikTok, to do more to protect children on their platforms. 

Family Center is completely voluntary, and teens can always leave the portal if they want — they’ll even be given the choice to accept or ignore a parent’s invitation to join. And since the feature was made for underage teens, users who turn 18 will automatically be removed from the tool.

The company plans to roll out more features for the Family Center on top of what it already has. It will allow parents to easily see the newest friends their teens have added in the coming weeks. And over the next months, Snap will add content controls for parents, as well as the ability for teens to notify their parents whenever they report an account or a piece of content.

Sennheiser promises 60 hours of listening with its new Momentum headphones

Sennheiser hasn’t refreshed its over-hear Momentum noise-canceling headphones since 2019, but that changes today. The company has announced the Momentum 4, a new take on its flagship headphones that includes an exterior redesign, new features and a who…

Firaxis delays Marvel’s Midnight Suns, maybe until 2023

Take-Two Interactive has once again pushed back the release of Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Following a delay late last year, the upcoming tactical RPG from XCOM developer Firaxis was scheduled to arrive on October 7th. The publisher now plans to release the game sometime within its fiscal 2023 year, which ends on March 31st, 2023. Additionally, Midnight Suns won’t arrive on all consoles simultaneously.

“We have made the decision to move back the launch timing of Marvel’s Midnight Suns to ensure the teams at Firaxis Games and 2K deliver the best possible experience for our fans,” Take-Two said in a statement. “The title will launch later this fiscal year on Windows PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. The Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch versions will follow at a later date.”

Marvel’s Midnight Suns was first announced at Gamescom 2021. Unlike XCOM, the game includes a deck-building component. Battles still unfold over the course of multiple turns, but instead of each superhero bringing the same set of abilities to every battle, you’ll draw cards to determine their capabilities. Some of the characters that will join your roster include Wolverine, Iron Man and Blade. You’ll also create your own superhero named The Hunter.

iOS 16 beta brings back the battery percentage icon

Earlier today, Apple released the fifth iOS 16 developer beta. It adds a handful of changes, but if you’ve spent any time on Twitter, you know there’s only one thing everyone wants to talk about: the return of the battery percentage indicator. For the first time since Apple removed the icon in 2017 to accommodate the iPhone X’s notch, it’s possible to see exactly how much battery your iPhone has left without pulling down the Control Center shade.

If you’re enrolled in the developer beta, you can add the indicator to your status bar by opening the Settings menu and navigating to the Battery section. Once there, you’ll see a new toggle labeled “Battery Percentage.” The resulting icon is slightly larger than the one you’re probably used to seeing. Additionally, if you plug your iPhone into a charger, the icon will turn green and display a lightning symbol next to the battery percentage. Conversely, it’s yellow when your iPhone is in low power mode.

The option to see battery percentage is not available on the iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 mini. We’ll also note it’s possible the feature may not make it into the final release of iOS 16. The next version of Apple’s mobile operating system will arrive later this year. Some of the more notable features Apple announced at WWDC 2022 include new lock screen customization options, the ability to edit and recall texts in iMessage and real-time notifications called Live Activities.

HBO Max finishes rolling out its much-needed app redesign

It took the better part of a year, but HBO Max’s app should (hopefully) be more pleasant to use. Warner Bros. Discovery has finished rolling out its redesigned app on desktop, Android and iOS, delivering a more intuitive interface, a performance boost and some arguably overdue features. It finally supports tablets in both portrait and vertical modes, for instance. You’ll also find a dedicated video download page, split-screen support, SharePlay (on Apple devices in the US) and a shuffle button on mobile.

The move ends a long and painful saga. In its haste to launch HBO Max, WarnerMedia based the original app on the same foundations as its aging Go and Now apps. The result was, frankly, a mess — it was buggy, sluggish and otherwise less polished than software from competing services. While the new app won’t persuade you to subscribe on its own, it could reduce any skittishness.

The timing is less than ideal. Warner Bros. just recently confirmed that it’s merging HBO Max and Discovery+ into one service next summer. The app you see today won’t last long. With that said, the redesign promises a better starting point for the new platform.

Rivian is field testing dual-motor versions of the R1T and R1S

Electric vehicle maker Rivian is testing dual-motor versions of its R1T pickup and R1S SUV in the wild. The automaker is currently putting those models through their paces in the New Zealand winter, according to a tweet from CEO RJ Scaringe that InsideEVs spotted.

The company announced in March it would offer R1T and R1S variants that use its dual-motor Enduro powertrain. It said these models would be less expensive than their four-motor counterparts, starting at $67,500 for the R1T and $72,500 for the R1S. Not accounting for the destination fee, the four-motor R1T starts at $79,500 and the R1S at $84,500.

Rivian developed Enduro’s motors in-house and the system is already in use — the electric van the company is making for Amazon has an Enduro drive unit. The company hopes the Enduro powertrain will help it to reduce costs and keep down the price of the R1S, R1T and upcoming R2 models. That’s an important consideration for Rivian, given that the Inflation Reduction Act the Senate just passed seeks to bring in new federal EV tax credit rules. Electric SUVs, trucks and vans priced $80,000 and over won’t be eligible for the $7,500 subsidy.

At the time Rivian announced the dual-motor R1T and R1S, it raised prices of the four-motor EVs by $12,000. After a backlash, it limited the price increases to new orders, though the automaker was swiftly slapped with a shareholder lawsuit over the issue.

Meanwhile, Rivian is attempting to increase production of the R1T and R1S. It expects to build around 25,000 vehicles this year, despite having a backlog of 71,000 as of early July. Late last month, it laid off six percent of its workforce in order to dedicate more resources to production.