Techmeme: Michigan now allows digital license plates, joining California and Arizona, but the plates, which are made by just one contractor, remain expensive at $499+ (Shannon Liao/The Verge)

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Sources: FTC commissioners met to discuss imposing a record-setting fine against Facebook for failing to safeguard user privacy, violating 2011 consent decree — U.S. regulators have met to discuss imposing a record-setting fine against Facebook for violating a legally binding agreement …

More: Engadget, Business Insider, Ars Technica, Axios, and CNBC

Tweets: @tonyromm, @cnbcnow, @ariezrawaldman, @lam_barrett, @tonyromm, @caseynewton, @kurtwagner8, and @tonyromm

Financial Times:

Sources: Spotify plans to launch a ~$100 voice-controlled in-car music player with preset buttons that correspond to Spotify playlists, later this year — Spotify has a new target as it makes a break for independence from devices made by Apple, Google and Amazon: the car dashboard.

More: Engadget, The Verge, iPhone Hacks, Voicebot, and Notes from Silicon Valley

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Dami Lee / The Verge:

Verizon says its spam and robocall protection service, previously available as a $3 add-on, will be free to all subscribers starting in March — Verizon announced this week that it will offer free spam and robocall protection to its subscribers starting in March.

More: Verizon Fios & Custom TV, ZDNet, and Ars Technica

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Max Schrems files GDPR complaints against Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, others for failing to provide required info about data they collect on users — European privacy campaigner Max Schrems has filed a fresh batch of strategic complaints at tech giants, including Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Spotify and YouTube.

More: Reuters, 9to5Mac, The Verge, PYMNTS.com, Dark Reading, MacRumors, and Cult of Mac

Tweets: @noybeu and @baekdal

Business Insider:

Satya Nadella says Cortana won't challenge Alexa and Google Assistant directly, instead Microsoft will focus on making it a skill on other voice platforms — - Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that it no longer sees its Cortana smart assistant as a competitor to Amazon's Alexa.

More: The Verge, SiliconANGLE, OnMSFT.com, 9to5Mac, GeekWire, Search Engine Land, TechCrunch, RAIN News, iPhone Hacks, Windows Central, Thurrott, BetaNews, Softpedia News, VentureBeat, Neowin, MSPoweruser, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Register, and bit-tech.net

Tweets: @manan, @gamoid, and @maryjofoley

Reuters:

Chinese drone maker DJI says it has discovered several cases of serious corruption at the company and expects 2018 losses of more than $150M as a result — SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, the world's largest maker of consumer drones, has discovered several cases …

More: TechCrunch. Tweets: @athertonkd

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Hands-on with Nike's $350 Bluetooth-enabled Adapt BB shoe with automated power-lacing, which will allow basketball players to change shoe tightness via an app — Nike's Adapt BB shoe has utility for pros, but is also a lens into a connected future — Why does the world need a self-lacing shoe?

More: Nike News, Six Colors, Wired, Socialnomics, Telecoms.com, and Yahoo! Finance

Tweets: @wired and @ctowerscbs

Theodore Schleifer / Recode:

John Lilly steps back from GP role at Greylock, the third high-profile departure in a year, and says he'll remain on the boards of portfolio companies — It's the third high-profile change at Greylock within the last year. — Yet another investor is stepping down at Greylock Partners …

More: John's Blog and PE Hub Blog

Tweets: @rohit_x_ and @pahlkadot

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

A postmortem of AR startup Meta, as the company's CEO says the unnamed investor who acquired its assets will continue to support Meta's existing products — “It's a pretty dramatic moment in my life.” — To say that Meron Gribetz, co-founder of the augmented-reality headset startup Meta …

More: TechCrunch, UploadVR, The Verge, and Engadget. Facebook: Robert Scoble. Thanks:@jank0

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook confirms it is testing LOL, a feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips pulled from News Feed posts by top meme Pages — How do you do fellow kids? After Facebook Watch, Lasso, and IGTV failed to become hits with teens, the company has been quietly developing another youthful video product.

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, and CNBC

Tweets: @taylorlorenz, @sophiakunthara, @genepark, @sapere_vivere, @fatrat, @caseynewton, @thestalwart, @mattnavarra, and @techcrunch

See also Mediagazer

Shannon Liao / The Verge:

Michigan now allows digital license plates, joining California and Arizona, but the plates, which are made by just one contractor, remain expensive at $499+ — But they cost a lot — Digital license plates are now allowed in Michigan thanks to a new state law.

More: PRWeb, Fortune, TechSpot, and SlashGear

Tweets: @padresj and @knieriemen

Julia Reda:

EU's copyright reform with “link tax” and “upload filters” suffers a setback as 11 member states vote against the proposal, making adoption in May less likely — Today, Council firmly rejected the negotiating mandate that was supposed to set out Member States' position ahead …

More: Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Verge, and Techdirt. Tweets: @ambermac

See also Mediagazer

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Facebook starts wide rollout of its redesigned Messenger app, which it first announced at F8 last May with limited availability in October — The update started its long rollout in October last year — Facebook Messenger's redesign, which was first announced at Facebook's F8 developer conference last May, is finally here.

More: Engadget, Android Authority, 9to5Mac, and iPhone Hacks

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Indonesian e-commerce startup Bukalapak, which was valued at $1B last year, raises $50M Series D — Chances are you may be familiar with Tokopedia, especially after it commanded a $7 billion valuation last November when it raised $1.1 billion from investors like Alibaba and SoftBank's Vision Fund.

More: NASDAQ.com, DealStreetAsia, Reuters, and Bloomberg

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Zipwhip, which provides a platform for businesses to interact with customers by text message, raises $51.5M Series D, bringing the total raised to $92.5M — A surge of audio services using AI are giving voice a boost in customer service, but when it comes to communications in the age of mobile …

More: SiliconANGLE, Business Wire, Zipwhip, GeekWire, VentureBeat, and PE Hub Blog

Sara Salinas / CNBC:

Netflix reports mixed Q4 earnings, with revenue of $4.19B vs. $4.21B est., says it added 8.8M global paid memberships, up from its estimate of 7.6M — - The company beat Wall Street estimates for earnings per share, but fell just below projections for revenue.

More: Netflix, Eurogamer.net, Digital Trends, Quartz, Reuters, MediaNama, SlashGear, KnowTechie, Tubefilter, TechSpot, CNN, Gamasutra, Neowin, Investor's Business Daily, PYMNTS.com, GameSpot, Light Reading, iPhone Hacks, IGN, Mashable, Forbes, USgamer.net, GeekWire, Polygon, BBC, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, and Digiday

Tweets: @peterrojas, @ranimolla, @sjeneris, @howardlindzon, @mattrosoff, @carnage4life, @xpangler, @genepark, @chartier, @hedgemind, @recode, and @pkafka

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