Welcome to episode 123 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 30, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the advance of YouTube’s local video content, Google’s attempt to address conspiracy / outlier content on YouTube, and the new Gmail app for Android and iOS. The global decline in smartphone sales, the expectation smartphones are going to “get weird” to boost sales, Google’s efforts to address website validity confusion by consumers, and companies attempting to turn surveillance capitalism’s economic model upside down were also discussed. On the security front, recent comparison studies of paid versus free antivirus software suites, Facebook’s apps and campaigns to wiretap teenage behavior and pay teens for their data, and Apple’s privacy Facetime snafu were also explored. Companies (like Square) pushing Chromebooks across their enterprise as primary computers for employees (even designers!), the Pinebook Linux laptop, and an extraordinary claim from Israeli scientists that genomics will cure cancer worldwide within 12 months rounded up this week’s show topics. Geeks of the week included YouTube TV, Dell Command Update, video editing software ClipChamp, and Digi.me. 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.
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- Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
- Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
- Multi-channel YouTube network Defy Media left 50 creators out of $1.7 million after closing (9 to 5 Google; 29 January 2019)
- YouTube says it will stop recommending conspiracy videos that harmfully ‘misinform’ users (9to5Mac, 25 Jan 2019)
- Hands-on with the new Gmail for Android (and iOS) (ArsTechnica, 30 Jan 2019)
- 2018 Was the ‘Worst Year Ever’ for Smartphone Shipments (PC Magazine; 30 January 2019)
- Have Phones Become Boring? Well, They’re About To Get Weird (Wired; 23 January 2019)
- Google Takes Its First Steps Toward Killing the URL (Wired, 29 Jan 2019)
- Meet the data guardians taking on the tech giants (BBC, 29 Jan 2019)
- Facebook Moves to Block Ad Transparency Tools — Including Ours (ProPublica, 28 Jan 2019)
- Recent Antivirus Tests Are Bad News for Paid Security Suites (PC World, 30 Jan 2019)
- Facebook paid teens $20 a month to access their browsing history and DMs (CNet; 30 January 2019)
- Lawmakers are furious with Facebook: ‘wiretapping teens is not research’ (The Verge; 30 January 2019)
- Google’s data-gathering app may have also violated Apple’s policies (CNet; 30 January 2019)
- Apple’s FaceTime bug was discovered by a teen playing Fortnite (CNet; 29 January 2019)
- Apple Was Slow to Act on FaceTime Bug That Allows Spying on iPhones (29 January 2019)
- Square offering Pixelbooks to employees, trialing with designers as MacBook alternative (9 to 5 Google; 30 January 2019)
- The New Pinebook Pro Will Challenge Google Chromebooks For $199 (Forbes, 30 Jan 2019)
- Scientists say they’ll have complete cancer cure within a year (Local 10 News Miami, 29 Jan 2019)
- Jason’s Geek of the Week: YouTube TV
- Wes: Dell Command Update and ClipChamp and Digi.me
