Google has removed three popular apps that were aimed at children from its Android Play Store. It came after researchers found that Princess Salon​, Number Coloring and ​Cats & Cosplay violated data collection rules.

Researchers at the International Digital Accountability Council (IDAC), a nonprofit watchdog based out of Boston, found that a trio of popular and seemingly innocent-looking apps aimed at younger users were recently found to be violating Google’s data collection policies, potentially accessing users’ Android ID and AAID (Android Advertising ID) numbers, with the data leakage potentially connected to the apps being built using SDKs from Unity, Umeng and Appodeal. Collectively, the apps had more than 20 million downloads between them.

It emerged earlier this week that Peanuts holiday specials, as wells as Snoopy in Space, will be exclusive to Apple TV+. NBC News reported that some fans of the comic strip and shows are not happy with the special being off traditional TV for the first time.

The popularity of the beloved characters — such as Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty — have spanned generations in large part due to the annual specials. But despite the limited free access to the content, many fans took to social media and shared their distaste for the move, with some noting that many families do not have access to streaming. Others felt the move ended a beloved, shared American tradition. “The point of having them on network TV is the country coming together and watching at the same time. That’s being taken from us,” one Twitter user wrote. “The Peanuts specials are one of the very FEW things that brings US together.”

In its early days, Google famously touted its ‘don’t be evil’ policy. Now, it’s being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ed Hardy at Cult of Mac thinks Apple should adopt its own version of that policy, to avoid ending up in similar legal and political difficulties.

When deciding how to handle something, Apple must ask itself, “Even if this will make us money, will it also make us look like jerks?” That doesn’t mean it can’t remain a very profitable enterprise. But it seems like many of the changes that would polish Apple’s image wouldn’t cost that much, relative to current profits. And they’d help head off government oversight. The Department of Justice and Congress, along with the E.U. Commissioner for Competition, are watching Cupertino closely. Apple doesn’t want any of these governmental bodies forcing major changes on its business.

There’s lots of excitement about 5G here on Earth. However, Cult of Mac reported that there may soon be 4G on the moon.

Rather than going with something exotic, NASA picked Nokia to build a wireless communication system based on LTE. This is the same standard used by today’s iPhones and other handsets. Nokia points out that LTE has proven to be reliable over years of use on Earth, and it’s scalable and easily deployable. “The system could support lunar surface communications at greater distances, increased speeds, and provide more reliability than current standards,” NASA wrote when approving the plan.= Cell towers on the moon will be integrated into the lunar lander built by Intuitive Machines. “The solution has been specially designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the launch and lunar landing, and to operate in the extreme conditions of space,” Nokia said in a statement. “The fully integrated cellular network meets very stringent size, weight and power constraints of space payloads in an extremely compact form factor.”

Washington D.C. has launched its COVID-19 tracking system. As AppleInsider noted, it does not use a standalone app but exposure notifications built into iOS from iOS 13.7

The Washington DC system functions similarly to others seen in the past, including Pennsylvania’s COVID alert PA. When someone tests positive for COVID-19, they are given an anonymized code via the health department. The code, when entered into DC CAN, will send alerts to anyone who has met the minimum threshold for exposure. Currently, the minimum threshold for exposure is met when someone is within six feet or less of an infected person for a minimum of 15 minutes. Android users can download the app from the Google Play store. Apple iPhone users just need to opt into the exposure notification system, and turn on notification alerts for the Washington, DC region in their iPhone’s settings.

AT&T boss John Stankey has said that tech giants, including Apple, hold too much power over streaming. He made the comments, reported by the Daily Mail at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event.

Where the bottlenecks are sometimes occurring are in these commercial agreements,’ Stankey said during the Wall Street Journal’s annual Tech Live event Monday that was hosted online due to the pandemic.’ We should ask ourselves, is that friction somebody really feeling their oats and maybe having market power above and beyond what’s reasonable for innovation?’ he added. HBO max launched in late May as a new video app, similar to Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Disney+ seeking to profit of the demand for online TV, and offers series like Friends, The Big Bang Theory and HBO’s library of original TV series.   AT&T is trying to grow their HBO Max subscriber base and convince existing viewers to switch to the Max app. This provides AT&T with better profits than the meek HBO line-up offered through cable partners like Comcast.’Our focus probably needs to be on equity of rules and engagement,’ Stanke said Monday.

Microsoft updated its Xbox app to allow iPhone and iPad users to stream games. However, Sky News reported Apple still won’t allow Microsoft’s xCloud or Google’s equivalent cloud gaming platform, Stadia, into the App Store. It means iPhone users can still only stream games that are playing on their own console.

Apple currently does not allow users to use their devices to play games using cloud computing – having the games run on hardware the phones are connecting to remotely – which would give gamers the ability to play higher-quality games on their mobile devices. Microsoft has criticised Apple for not allowing its users access to the xCloud games streaming platform, as well as Google’s cloud gaming service Stadia. Microsoft said Apple “stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass”. “[Apple] consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content,” Microsoft added.

The U.S. government on Tuesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, Reuters reported. It alleges that the search giant used its market power to repel advances by rivals.

More lawsuits could be in the offing since probes by state attorneys general into Google’s broader businesses are under way, as well as an investigation of its broader digital advertising businesses. A group of attorneys general led by Texas is expected to file a separate lawsuit focused on digital advertising as soon as November, while a group led by Colorado is contemplating a more expansive lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit comes more than a year after the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission began antitrust investigations into four big tech companies: Amazon.com Inc , Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Google. Seven years ago, the FTC settled an antitrust probe into Google over alleged bias in its search function to favor its products, among other issues. The settlement came over the objections of some FTC staff attorneys. Google has faced similar legal challenges overseas.