Welcome to episode 241 (“Twitter Upgrade Benefits”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 8, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the monetization of user location data (including minors) by Life360 and other companies, Twitter’s new “Twitter Blue” upgrade service, and Instagram’s forthcoming chronological feed feature. The latest chapter in the Apple vs. Epic legal battle,Microsoft’s new Office UI, and a surprising discouragement by MS Windows to users downloading the Chrome browser. The story of Chinese superstar Peng Shuai’s courageous accusations of sexual assault against a high ranking government official was discussed, and her subsequent disappearance as part of a government campaign to silence her voice as well as others speaking out for women’s rights in China. Google’s foray into 3D telepresence and a backstory update on the Missouri governor’s mystifying accusation of a journalist as a hacker for viewing public webpage source code were discussed. The release of ChromeOS 96 and the developing “shadow war in space” between the United States, Russia and China were final topics in this week’s show. Geeks of the week included a great Scribble Maps tutorial from Richard Byrne, and an excellent Ezra Klein Show podcast about “superforecasters.” 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. Stay savvy and safe!
Shownotes
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- Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
- Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – wesfryer.com/after
- Life360 reality tweet: “”You can watch where your kids are, and so can anyone who buys this information”
- The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users (The MarkUp, 6 Dec 2021)
- There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data (The MarkUp, 30 Sep 2021)
- Twitter will now let you pay to undo tweets and read ad-free news in the US (The Verge, 9 Nov 2021)
- Instagram says it’s working a new chronological feed option, could launch in early 2022 (9to5Mac, 8 Dec 2021)
- Epic v. Apple ruling put on hold after appeals court grants a stay (The Verge, 8 Dec 2021)
- Microsoft’s new Office UI is now rolling out to everyone (The Verge, 2 Dec 2021)
- Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome (The Verge, 2 Dec 2021)
- Why Peng Shuai Has China’s Leaders Spooked (NY Times, 2 Dec 2021)
- Beijing Silenced Peng Shuai in 20 Minutes, Then Spent Weeks on Damage Control (NY Times, 8 Dec 2021)
- Here’s how Google’s experimental 3D telepresence booth works (The Verge, 2 Dec 2021)
- Video: Gavin’s Holographic teleconference with Bighead – Silicon Valley (Beware of NSFW language)
- Emails show what happened before Missouri gov. falsely called journalist a “hacker” (ArsTechnica, 3 Dec 2021)
- Microsoft Makes Breakthrough in the Quest to Use DNA as Data Storage (Gizmodo, 2 Dec 2021)
- Chrome OS 96 rolling out: Camera tweaks, Nearby Share in Android apps, more (9to5Google, 20 Nov 2021)
- Opinion: A shadow war in space is heating up fast (Washington Post, 30 Nov 2021)
- Jason’s Geek of the Week: Scribble Maps – Draw on Google Maps and More Without an Account (Richard Byrne, 19 Nov 2021)
- Wes’ Geek of the Week: Predicting the Future Is Possible. ‘Superforecasters’ Know How (Ezra Klein Show on NY Times, 3 Dec 2021
