EdTechSR Ep 219 Ransomware Threats Abound

Welcome to episode 219 (“Ransomware Threats Abound”) of the EdTech Situation Room from May 12, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the Emotet botnet takedown, ransomware evolution, and the importance of evolving your own MFA (multi-factor authentication) from SMS / text messaging to a more secure option. Microsoft’s abandonment of Windows 10X, rumors about next week’s Google I/O event, faster Google Docs on the way, and the death of Nuzzle (at the hands of Twitter, no less) were also highlighted topics. A bizarre social media story involving FaceApp and an older Japanese Twitter user, testimony in an Irish court about Facebook content moderator nightmares, Amy Klobachar’s new book to usher in the “Tech Correction,” and OneDrive’s overdue casting support were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included a recorded webinar for language teachers by Wes, and an NCCE Live session on amazing Minecraft lessons. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.

Shownotes

  1. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  2. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter!
  3. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  4. Video version on YouTube
  5. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  6. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – wesfryer.com/after
  8. Security Now 817: The Ransomware Task Force (@TWiT Podcast by Steve Gibson @sgGRC)
  9. Emotet malware nukes itself today from all infected computers worldwide (Bleeping Computer, 25 April 2021)
  10. Ransomware demands up by 43% so far in 2021, Coveware says (CyberScoop News, 27 April 2021)
  11. The Chromebook at 10: How this ‘browser in a box’ became the perfect pandemic laptop (CNET, 11 May 2021)
  12. Apple’s Ransomware Mess Is the Future of Online Extortion (wired, 23 April 2021)
  13. The Perfect Weapon Documentary on HBO by David Sanger (@SangerNYT)
  14. There’s a better way to protect yourself from hackers and identity thieves (ReCode; 6 May 2021)
  15. Google will soon switch on two-factor authentication by default (The Verge; 6 May 2011)
  16. Microsoft reportedly shelves Windows 10X, its Chrome OS competitor (The Next Web)
  17. What to expect from Google I/O 2021: Assistant, Android 12, and ‘Material NEXT’ (9 to 5 Google; 10 May 2021)
  18. Google Is Rolling Out A Big Update To Speed Up Google Docs Rendering For Everyone (Chrome Unboxed; 12 May 2021)
  19. Twitter is killing Nuzzel and it’s ok if you have no idea what that means (Android Police, 6 May 2021)
  20. A ‘beautiful’ female biker was actually a 50-year-old man using FaceApp. After he confessed, his followers liked him even more. (Washington Post, 11 May 2021)
  21. Facebook moderator: ‘Every day was a nightmare’ (BBC News; 12 May 2021)
  22. Why Amy Klobuchar just wrote 600 pages on antitrust (ArsTechnica, 9 May 2021)
  23. OneDrive is getting long overdue casting support (Android Police; 9 May 2021)
  24. Wes’ Geek of the Week: Lesson Ideas and Tips for Language Teachers using Scratch, Minecraft and more!
  25. Jason’s Geek of the Week: Amazing implementation of Minecraft: Good Trouble Lessons Live @ NCCE with Felisa Ford and Natasha Rachell

EdTech Situation Room Episode 108

Welcome to episode 108 of the EdTech Situation Room from September 26, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Co-host Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on special assignment. Topics highlighted in this week’s show included Microsoft’s MakeCode resources, the crooked path of a YouTube star to fan fame on new media platforms, and the emergence of “deep fake” videos. If we had a show title based on the show conversations, it would likely be Miguel’s comment, “The boy turned away from Linux, I thought he was doomed!” Miguel and Wes also discussed the importance of students learning how to effectively and responsibly create video today, the recent European Human Rights Court ruling finding the mass surveillance of Great Britain’s GHCQ intelligence organization illegal that was originally highlighted by Edward Snowden, and the prospect of worldwide surveillance through drone monitoring. The Australian government’s new anti-encryption legislation, an FBI alarm on student data privacy, the launch of FireFox’s “Privacy Monitor,” and the feared demise of Evernote as a notetaking cloud platform were also discussed. Miguel set a new global record for podcast “Geek of the Week” shares, including Paranoia Works for personal encryption of data, the book Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez, Glary Utilities for WindowsOS management, an Amazing 1Note Link from Microsoft, the TCEA TechNotes Blog, and Joplin Notes. Wes’ Geek of the Week was “Learning Creative Learning,” a Free online course by MIT Media Lab starting 9 Oct 2018. Check out edtechSR.com/links for all shownotes, including those listed below. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. Note we will be starting earlier than usual occasionally to accommodate guest schedules in upcoming weeks, so please check Twitter for those updates.

Shownotes:

  1. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  2. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter!
  3. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  4. Video version on YouTube
  5. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  6. Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) – blog: www.mguhlin.org
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
  8. Microsoft MakeCode: Hands-On Computing
  9. MakeCode for MicroBit
  10. YouTube star Brandon Rogers tells the inside story of his rise to 4.5 million subscribers, from his big break to clueless execs and Facebook’s one hilarious request (Business Insider, 25 Sept 2018)
  11. Tracking Down Fake Videos (NPR, 25 Sept 2018)
  12. Rachel’s YouTube Channel and TEDx Talk: Tales from a Teen Minecraft YouTuber
  13. David Warlick (@dwarlick) Raw Materials for the Mind
  14. GCHQ data collection regime violated human rights, court rules (Guardian, 13 Sept 2018)
  15. UK mass surveillance ruled unlawful in landmark judgment (Big Brother Watch, 13 Sept 2018)
  16. Edward Snowden (@snowden) – Freedom Press
  17. Australian Government Ignores Experts in Advancing Its Anti-Encryption Bill (EFF, 24 Sept 2018)
  18. ISTE Standards for Students
  19. FBI Raises Alarm on Ed Tech and Student Data Privacy, Security (Education Week, 13 Sept 2018)
  20. Wes’ TEDx talk: Digital Citizenship in the Surveillance State (Dec 2016)
  21. Google Cloud’s new AI chief is on a task force for AI military uses and believes we could monitor ‘pretty much the whole world’ with drones (Business Insider, 12 Sept 2018)
  22. Mozilla launches Firefox Monitor, its ‘Have I Been Pwned’ clone (The Next Web, 25 Sept 2018)
  23. Apple’s Bud Tribble to Offer Support for ‘Comprehensive Federal Privacy Legislation’ at Senate Hearing on Wednesday (MacRumors, 25 Sept 2018)
  24. An Oral History of Apple’s Infinite Loop (Wired, 16 Sept 2018)
  25. Evernote isn’t looking too healthy these days (BoingBoing, 19 Sept 2018)
  26. Miguel’s Geeks of the Week: Paranoia WorksKill Decision by Daniel Suarez (@itsDanielSuarez), Glary Utilities, an Amazing 1Note Link from Microsoft: http://ly.tcea.org/mie2018TCEA TechNotes Blog, and Joplin Notes
  27. Wes’ Geek of the Week: Learning Creative Learning – Free online course by MIT Media Lab starting 9 Oct 2018 (60 second promo video)

EdTech Situation Room Episode 51

Welcome to episode 51 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 10, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit https://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple’s forthcoming (but rumored) “Today at Apple” retail sessions, and a TEDideas article suggesting we replace the term “digital natives” with the terms “digital orphans,” “digital exiles” and “digital heirs.” Additional subjects included the continued growth of the digital home assistant market and the new “Echo Show” product from Amazon, next-generation mesh-based home routers, and privacy articles highlighting surreptitious surveillance smartphone apps using “ultrasonic sounds” and new advice from NIST changing generally accepted safe password recommendations. Additionally, a new video promoting Microsoft’s Minecraft for Education’s Code Builder Tool and Google’s new tools to battle fake news in suggested search results were discussed. Geeks of the week included 5.11 Tactical Bags for Nerds from Jason and the TIDE Podcast (Today in Digital Education) by Dai Barnes (@daibarnes) and Doug Belshaw (@dajbelshaw) from Wes. Please follow us on Twitter (@edtechSR) to stay up to date on upcoming shows and infrequent show start time changes. Generally you can join us live at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific on Wednesday nights on YouTube Live! Please share feedback with us if you listen to the show, have ideas for future show topics, or have a suggestion for a guest on a future episode.

Shownotes:

  1. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  2. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter!
  3. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  4. Video version on YouTube
  5. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  6. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
  8. Apple to launch ‘Today at Apple’ retail sessions in late May (AppleInsider, 25 April 2017)
  9. Wes’ photos of the newly designed Apple Store in Oklahoma City (25 Nov 2016)
  10. Opinion: Forget “digital natives.” Here’s how kids are really using the Internet (Ideas.Ted, 4 May 2017)
  11. Amazon Echo still dominates as Google and Microsoft play catchup (CNet, 9 may 2017)
  12. Apple ‘finalizing’ design of Amazon Echo rival based on Siri (AppleInsider, 25 April 2017)
  13. Introducing Echo Show (Amazon, coming 28 June 2017)
  14. Your Home’s Next Must-Have Accessory Is a Ridiculously Fancy Router (Wired, 13 April 2017)
  15. The State of Security in the Connected Home (Luma on Medium, 4 Nov 2016)
  16. Hundreds of privacy-invading apps R using ultrasonic sounds to track you (ZDNet , 3 May 2017)
  17. New password guidelines say everything we thought about passwords is wrong by @slavagomzin (Venturebeat, 18 April 2017)
  18. Have one of these smartphones? Your bank details, passwords and photos could be stolen (Kim Komando, 10 May 2017)
  19. Google Search update puts the heat on fake news (SlashGear, 25 April 2017)
  20. Minecraft Education Edition is getting a Code Builder tool to help teach coding skills (@cgartenberg, 2 May 2017)
  21. Jason’s Geek of the Week: 5.11 Tactical Bags for Nerds and Amazon 5.11 Backpacks
  22. Wes’ Geek of the Week: TIDE Podcast with @daibarnes and @dajbelshaw