Welcome to episode 139 of the EdTech Situation Room from June 19, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed tips for both attendees and virtual learners during the 2019 International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) Conference in Philadelphia next week. Additional topics included updates from Google Education, hopeful news on Google reversing its proposal to end support of ad blockers in Chrome, and the imminent release of Google Stadia and streamed gaming to any device (including smartphones and Chromebooks.) Techniques used by Hong Kong protesters to organize using secure communication apps and masks to avoid facial surveillance technologies, another critical warning for users of older Microsoft Windows operating systems, and signs the U.S. electrical grid control systems have been compromised by hackers were also discussed. Geeks of the Week included the XDA Developer’s website for Android early adopters and a recent TWiT Triangulation podcast interview with Brian Hofer on Facial Recognition and Surveillance Technology. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 138 of the EdTech Situation Room from June 12, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple’s June 2019 event announcements, more rumblings of forthcoming tech giant regulations, Microsoft’s official pronouncement that “mandatory password changing is “ancient and obsolete,” and much more. Geeks of the Week included the Good eReader Blog and a recent War College podcast episode about the US Navy’s revised policy on UFO reporting. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 137 of the EdTech Situation Room from June 6, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was out on assignment, so Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) welcomed special guest Dave Quinn (@EduQuinn) to break down some of the technology headlines from recent weeks. Topics addressed included YouTube’s important policy change regarding censorship of hate speech, the “SIFT Approach” (Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace) for media literacy by Mike Caufield, and Mike’s recent post on the “Curation/Search Radicalization Spiral.” The 30 year anniversary of Tiananmen Square, Tiananmen’s “Tank Man” image (perhaps the most heavily censored photo on our planet today), and a few updates from Apple’s WWDC 2019 conference this week were also highlighted. Geeks of the Week included Doug Belshaw’s (@dajbelshaw) “Thought Shrapnel” website, a good spirited video by Boeing about AirBus, a new Google report on emerging education trends, and the free K-2 reading / eBook site Rivet. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 136 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 29, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed school cybersecurity, a shocking iPhone security vulnerability for WhatsApp, NASA’s free media library, and copyright issues in Houston ISD as well as for YouTube Creators. Distorted political videos about Nancy Pelosi, Google’s disappointing move to disable ‘modern browser ad blocking extensions,’ and the new iPod Touch from Apple were also discussed. The availability of “Adobe Premiere Rush” for Android, Chromebook support expiration dates, and projected price increases for cheap Chromebooks were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included a Google Home podcast mystery, the killer robot documentary, “Slaughterbots,” and the “Against the Rules” podcast, from Michael Lewis. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 135 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 22, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the threat posed by cyberattacks in the airline industry, a recent ransomware attack on Oklahoma City Public Schools (@okcps), and revelations of Google storing passwords as plaintext for over a decade. Wes discussed some of his takeaways from a recent Oklahoma education cybersecurity workshop, the importance of cybersecurity jobs, continued troubles with Microsoft Windows10 updates, and the security value of adding a recovery phone number to your Google account. The announced ban of Chinese telecommunications technologies from the US Government this week affecting Huawei (among other companies), the US Supreme Court ruling against Apple involving their App Store monopoly lawsuit, ChromeOS news from Adobe, and some eye opening statistics about eSports and the earnings of young gamers rounded out the show topics. Geeks of the Week included SuperHosts from AirBnB, TextExpander for Chrome, and a great video from Derek Muller (@veritasium) explaining big changes to the YouTube algorithm affecting creators, viewers, and the overall quality of YouTube video content. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 134 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 15, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a touching video about Google Lens and literacy from Google I/O and the winners of the NPR student podcasting challenge. Jason provided a review of his new Google Pixel 3A smartphone, and the surprise announced end of “branded accounts” within GSuite for Education was highlighted. Other discussed topics included Facebook’s fight to protect EU elections, post-Christchurch shooting efforts to curtail terrorist content online, and San Francisco ordinances shining light on facial recognition technology use by local police forces. The FCC’s proposed rule change for carriers to block cellular network robocalls, a new website hack compromising eCommerce web forms, and the security threat of IoT devices were subjects rounding out the show. Geeks of the week included the app and website Hopper for travel deal shopping, the “Better Angels” organization seeking to politically depolarize the United States, and ISTE’s new certification program for educators. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 133 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 8, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed lots of news from this week’s Google I/O Conference. Topics included Google’s renewed focus on user privacy, shift in focus from search and answers to productivity, improved digital well-being tools, the mid-range price Pixel 3A smartphone, and the amazing “Google Lens” text to speech as well as translation capabilities. On the Microsoft front, the return of “PowerToys” to Windows10 and forthcoming support for Linux were discussed. Additional topics included NASA’s robotic detection of an earthquake on Mars, the election of a well known comedian (with no prior political experience) to the presidency in Ukraine thanks in part to social media, and the productivity drag of business communication apps like Slack. The failure of Energizer’s 18K mAh smartphone was also highlighted. Geeks of the week included a two part episode on the Chinese Surveillance State from the New York Times “The Daily” podcast, freely licensed photos from Wes and many other photographers on UnSplash, and the personal finance automation service, “Trim.” 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 132 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 24, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed recent headlines highlighting the dangers of USB-borne malware as well as “USB Killer” devices maliciously used on a college campus to destroy computers. The recent, courageous talk shared by Carole Cadwalladr on the TED stage calling for Facebook and Google executives to account for their platforms’ breaking of liberal democracy, pending FTC fines of Facebook and exciting commercial robots from Boston Dynamics were also discussed. On the Google front, enhancements to Google Sheets, an expended free tier for Google Play Music, and the arrival of a more robust YouTube app on the Amazon Fire Stick were highlighted. In Chrome news, HP’s 15 inch Chromebook and an exciting lineup of ChromeOS sessions at Google I/O in about a week were discussed. The ongoing controversy over mandatory cursive handwriting instruction in schools, changes to the Windows10 update process including further crippling of third party antivirus software, and exciting news in the world of podcasting were also addressed in the show. A lawsuit against Apple involving facial recognition gone bad in Apple Stores was also mentioned. Geeks of the Week included a great tip for recording audio in noisy classrooms, promising new software from an Apple developer (Agenda) for project management and personal notetaking, Google Chrome’s free remote desktop software options. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 131 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 17, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed proposed changes to the way Twitter is designed and works, the challenges of online discussion / dialog, buzz around the release of the Samsung Fold Android smartphone, and the continuing DNS hacks on core Internet infrastructure. Inexpensive facial recognition machines, Google location data in the hands of law enforcement, and harassment on WikiPedia rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included the free textbook “Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers,” Wes’ Mastondon profile address (mastodon.cloud/@wfryer) and the hilarious episode 140 of the Reply All podcast titled, “The Roman Mars Mazda Virus.” 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
Welcome to episode 130 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 10, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed YouTube’s challenges moderating objectionable content, the human costs of that content moderation, and the incredibly hostile digital infrastructure which is now online amplifying that content for apparently malicious purposes. HUD’s new lawsuit against Facebook for illegally targeted housing advertisements, and privacy and security challenges posted by pre-installed apps on Android were also discussed. Exciting recent Google announcements were highlighted including native editing of MS Office documents via Google Docs, forthcoming 3rd party add-ons to GSuite, and improvements to Hangouts Chat now integrated with Gmail were also discussed. From Chromebook land, the exciting announcement of a new #MadeByGoogle Chromebook, and Apple’s expected “reinvention” of MagSafe power adapters for USB-C devices were explored. Microsoft’s announced closure of its eBook store, the futuristic and arguably dystopian U.S. Army version of Microsoft’s Hololens platform, an intriguing SxSW musical performance utilizing sensorware, and the “Share No Evil” Chrome extension created in response to the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the week included resources for Wes’ upcoming ATLIS workshop “Filtering the ExoFlood,” the free eBook “Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers,” Gobo.social, and the 2019 Webby’s. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
