Welcome to Episode 303 (“Happy Birthday Google!”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 30, 2023, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com/after) discussed a range of technology topics, analyizing the latest news at the intersection of education and technology. They covered the 25th Birthday of Google, developments in artificial intelligence, including Google’s new image generation tool in Google Slides, a watermarking technique from Google to help track AI-generated images, and Ideogram, a powerful new free AI image generation tool Neiffer discovered. Fryer shared insights on military AI, highlighting the US Air Force’s plans to use autonomous drone “wingmen” alongside human pilots. The hosts also talked about upcoming Apple announcements, anticipating the likely release of the iPhone 15. They weighed the potential benefits of switching to USB-C charging and the need for schools to adapt. Social media topics included Facebook’s staff cuts impacting content moderation, lawsuits against tech companies related to student mental health, and the risks of election misinformation with weakened oversight. In other news, hosts highlighted the new US Cybersecurity Trustmark for IoT devices and Google’s plans to integrate AI writing assistance across Chromebooks. For their “Geeks of the Week,” Fryer shared a tutorial on using Voice Memos for student oral history projects, and Neiffer highlighted a deal on the MacBook Air M1, praising its speed and value. The show was live-streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as Facebook Live via StreamYard.com. Please follow @edtechSR on Twitter and @edtechsr@mastodon.education on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All shownotes are available on edtechSR.com/links. AI Disclosure: An initial draft of this episode summary was generated using youtubetranscript.com and claude.ai, as well as options for our show title!
Shownotes
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- Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: mastodon.cloud/@neif – Twitter: @techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
- Wes Fryer (Mastodon: mastodon.cloud/@wfryer Twitter: @wfryer) – wesfryer.com/after
- OMG APPLE EVENT
- Google is 25 Years Old!!! (Android Police; 8 August 2023)
- AI images are getting harder to spot. Google thinks it has a solution (The Washington Post; 29 August 2032)🎁Link
- Guy Puts Artist Back Into AI System After He Begs to Be Removed (Futurism , 2 Aug 2023)
- Stephen Wolfram on Computational Thinking (Wes’ blog post from 7 Aug 2023)
- A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat (NY Times, 27 Aug 2023) 🎁Link
- AI Image Generation in Google Slides is Here (Flipped Classroom via YouTube)
- Google’s “Help Me Write” AI is coming to Chromebooks on a system-wide level (Chrome Unboxed; 25 August 2023)
- Following Elon Musk’s lead, Big Tech is surrendering to disinformation (Washington Post, 25 Aug 2023) 🎁Link
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education sues social media companies over mental health impacts (25 Aug 2023)
- The ‘US Cyber Trust Mark’ finally gives device makers a reason to spend big on security (TechCrunch, 23 Aug 2023)
- Jason’s Geek of the Week: MacBook Air M1 on Sale!
- Wes’ Geek of the Week: [VIDEO] Sharing Voice Memos (Family Oral History Project) – full lesson
