Welcome to episode 110 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 10, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Jun Kim (@mpstechnology) 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 the alleged hack of computer hardware by Chinese authorities affecting major tech companies including Apple and Amazon, which is very controversial and has been firmly denied by technology companies as well as government agencies. The dangers of connecting to open WiFi in public spaces, ways to avoid phishing scams in email, and the benefits of using password managers as well as a VPN or cell phone access point / phone tethering were also discussed. Robocalls on the rise, Google’s changes to third party data access for Gmail, the prospect of Google enforcing restrictive limitations on data sharing around the world because of country-specific laws, and Google’s Certification program for IT professionals were also discussed by Jun and Wes. Briefly highlighted articles at the end of the show included the Google Pixel 3 and it’s touted capability to screen phone calls using an AI voice agent and Facebook’s challenges in moderating content worldwide. Geeks of the week included the COSN toolkit on protecting student data and FlowCrypt for sending encrypted email within Gmail. 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:
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- Jun Kim (@mpstechnology) – Moore Public Schools, Oklahoma
- Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
- China Used a Tiny Chip in a Hack That Infiltrated U.S. Companies (Bloomberg, 4 Oct 2018)
- Risky Business Feature: Named source in “The Big Hack” has doubts about the story (Risky Biz Podcast, 9 Oct 2018)
- A U.S. telecommunications company finds fresh evidence of China hacking of tech hardware (Bloomberg, 9 Oct 2018)
- Sniffers and Snoopers and Hackers, Oh My! Protecting Yourself from the Risks of Public Wi-Fi (Ferpa Sherpa – Susan Bearden (@s_bearden), 20 Sept 2018)
- Firesheep should get your ATTENTION: Open Public Wifi Dangers are REAL (Wes Fryer, November 2010)
- How to Protect Yourself From a Phishing Attack by Hackers (Atlantic, 12 Sept 2018)
- LastPass Password Manager
- How robo-callers outwitted the government and completely wrecked the Do Not Call list (Washington Post, 11 Jan 2018)
- “All my friends are robocalls” episode of “Today Explained” podcast (on Twitter)
- Don’t force Google to Export Other Countries’ Laws (NYTimes, 10 Sept 2018)
- Google is shutting down Google+ after it exposed user data and neglected to tell anyone (8 Oct 2018)
- Google limits third-party access to Gmail and other account data (Engadget, 8 Oct 2018)
- Have I Been Pwned (good website to check your email addresses for security breaches)
- The Google IT Support Professional Certificate
- GSFE Admins – Google+ Community (@gsfeadmins)
- Beware of Phishing Cell Phone Calls: Don’t Share Personal Info with Strangers (Wes Fryer, 3 Oct 2018)
- Hiya: Caller ID, Call Blocker & Protection for a Better Phone Experience (via @pgeorge)
- TWIT Specials 326 Made by Google (4 Oct 2018)
- Google Assistant will screen spam calls on the Pixel 3 (Verge, 9 Oct 2018)
- Common Sense Media Privacy Evaluation Initiative (@cs_privacy)
- Ex-Facebook moderator sues Facebook over exposure to disturbing images (ARStechnia, 26 Sept 2018)
- Soldiers in Facebook’s War on Fake News Are Feeling Overrun (NYTimes, 9 Oct 2018)
- A dog lost part of her skull to cancer. So researchers printed her a 3D one (CNN, 25 Sept 2018)
- Jun’s Geek of the Week: COSN toolkit on protecting student data
- Wes’ Geek of the Week: FlowCrypt (encrypted email within Gmail)
