In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • Facebook anonymously launched an app in China
  • SpaceX launches experiments, ice cream to space station
  • Music service Pandora names Dish streaming exec Lynch as CEO
  • Netflix wins ‘Scandal’ creator Rhimes in blow to Disney, ABC
  • British cybersecurity expert pleads not guilty to US charges

The details:

  • Facebook anonymously launched an app in China

Facebook anonymously launched a new photo-sharing app in China in a new effort to make inroads in the world’s most populous country.

China’s ruling Communist Party controls internet traffic across the country’s borders and tries to keep the public from seeing thousands of websites including Facebook.

The app, called Colorful Balloons, was launched in China earlier this year and does not carry Facebook’s name. Facebook confirmed Saturday that it launched the app.

The social media company’s connection to the app was first reported Friday by The New York Times, which said it was released in China through a separate local company called Youge Internet Technology.

The launch of the app comes as China is cracking down on technology that allows web surfers to evade Beijing’s online censorship.

Last month, users of Facebook’s What’sApp messaging service, which normally operates freely in China, were no longer able to send images without using a virtual private network. That came amid official efforts to suppress mention of the death of Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Nobel Peace laureate.

China’s biggest internet service provider, China Telecom Ltd., sent a letter to corporate customers last month saying that VPNs, which create encrypted links between computers and can be used to see sites blocked by Beijing’s web filters, would be permitted only to connect to a company’s headquarters abroad. The move could block access to news, social media or business services that are obscured by China’s “Great Firewall.”

  • SpaceX launches experiments, ice cream to space station

A SpaceX capsule rocketed to the International Space Station on Monday, carrying tons of science research, plus ice cream.

As has become customary on these cargo flights, SpaceX landed its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral shortly after liftoff, a key to its long-term effort to recycle rockets and reduce costs.

“Gorgeous day, spectacular launch,” said Dan Hartman, NASA’s deputy manager of the space station program.

[VIDEO: Watch a replay of the Dragon launch and landing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LeQepvdrbc ]

Experiments make up most of the 6,400 pounds of cargo, which should reach the orbiting lab Wednesday. That includes 20 mice that will return alive inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule in about a month.

The Dragon is also doubling as an ice cream truck this time.

There was extra freezer space, so NASA packed little cups of vanilla, chocolate and birthday cake ice cream, as well as ice cream candy bars. Those treats should be especially welcomed by U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, in orbit since November. She’s due back at the beginning of September. Newly arrived U.S. spaceman Randolph Bresnik turns 50 next month.

The space station was zooming 250 miles above the Atlantic, just off Nova Scotia, when the Falcon took flight.

It was the 14th successful booster landing for SpaceX and the sixth on the giant X at the company’s touchdown spot at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just a few miles from its NASA-leased pad at Kennedy Space Center.

  • Music service Pandora names Dish streaming exec Lynch as CEO

Music service Pandora named a new CEO on Monday as it wrestles with competition from Spotify and other newer streaming apps.

Roger Lynch, the head of Dish’s streaming video service, will take over the helm of the Oakland, California, company Sept. 18.

Pandora said Lynch is the right leader because he has worked with media companies on new distribution models. He is the founding CEO of Dish’s Sling TV, which was launched in 2015 as one of the first apps to bundle live TV for the internet.

Pandora Media Inc. was founded 17 years ago and has primarily been a free internet radio service making money from ads. But its user base has stagnated and its financial losses deepened as new competitors have gained steam.

It has launched new subscription products over the past year, including one that copies Spotify, Apple Music and other apps by letting users pick the songs they want to listen to.

Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren left the company in late June after a 15-month stint as CEO. He departed a few weeks after satellite radio company Sirius XM bought a 19 percent stake in a strategic investment, gaining three board seats.

  • Netflix wins ‘Scandal’ creator Rhimes in blow to Disney, ABC

Netflix has lured Shonda Rhimes, the well-regarded creator of TV series “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” from ABC, its latest big get as media companies old and new fight for viewers’ attention.

The streaming service’s announcement late Sunday comes just days after ABC owner Disney laid out plans to pull programming from Netflix.

Netflix said Rhimes’ Shondaland production company is moving to Netflix for a multi-year deal. New ideas and projects from Rhimes and her producing partner, Betsy Beers, will be available on the streaming service.

“Starting today, we are thrilled to begin creating new Shondaland stories with Netflix,” Rhimes wrote.

But her existing, well-known shows — “Grey’s Anatomy,” ”Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” — will remain on the network. Upcoming Shondaland projects already in the works, like the drama “For the People” and a “Grey’s” spinoff, will also still stay with ABC. Rhimes has had exclusive deals with ABC Studios for nearly 15 years.

ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said “fans can rest assured” that the network’s Thursday night lineup of Rhimes-produced shows “remains intact and will be as buzzed about as ever.” Rhimes’ shows have been among ABC’s top-rated series.

  • British cybersecurity expert pleads not guilty to US charges

A British cybersecurity researcher credited with helping curb a recent worldwide ransomware attack pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges accusing him of creating malicious software to steal banking information three years ago.

Marcus Hutchins entered his plea in Wisconsin federal court, where prosecutors charged him and an unnamed co-defendant with conspiring to commit computer fraud in the state and elsewhere. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old man on Aug. 2 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, where he was going to board a flight to his home in Ilfracombe, England. He had been in Las Vegas for a cybersecurity convention.

Hutchins’ attorney, Marcia Hofmann, said after Monday’s brief hearing that Hutchins will fight the charges and that “when the evidence comes to light, we are confident he will be fully vindicated.”

“Marcus Hutchins is a brilliant young man and a hero,” Hofmann said.

Hutchins left afterward in a white SUV with tinted windows and did not talk to reporters. During the hearing, he only spoke to say “I do,” when Magistrate Judge William E. Duffin asked him if he understood his rights.

Hutchins is free on $30,000 bail, but with strict conditions.