Welcome to episode 232 (“Instagram = Teen Poison”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 22, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed exciting features in the new iOS 15, The Wall Street Journal’s new series harshly criticizing the behavior and culture of Facebook, “The Facebook Files,” and a New York Times article explaining Facebook’s new PR effort to avoid apologies and promote positive articles about itself via the Facebook newsfeed algorithm. The toxicity of both Facebook and Instagram to teenage girls, Facebook’s claim it hasn’t known about fixable flaws in its algorithm, and a new social media law in Texas aimed and preventing censorship and de-platforming (which is likely to be struck down) were also highlighted topics in the show. An outstanding episode on “The Past and Future of Big Tech” by the No Jargon Podcast, a new lawsuit in Turkey criticizing Google for favoring its own review sites in search results, a CNET article summarizing new Surface device announcements from Microsoft were articles rounding out this week’s show, and a thought provoking article explaining why everyone should have a PERSONAL laptop to sandbox projects away from employers / enterprise organizations were articles rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included “Affinity Suite” creative software (an alternative to Adobe’s offerings) and the U.S. Department of Education’s new “Digital Literacy Accelerator” program. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 231 (“Epic Apple Show”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 16, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed virtually every aspect of the September 14th Apple Event. (Seriously, this is our most egregious Apple fanboi episode to date…) New iPads, new iPad Minis, new iPhones, new Apple Watches and other updates were all highlighted and analyzed. The introductory video to Apple’s September 14th event really is stunning and amazing, so if nothing else be share to check that out. Overall the cinematography of these events (this one had more drone shots / footage than ever before) is pretty spectacular. Apple’s announcement of an “emergency security update” was discussed on the security front. In addition to the Apple Event, other topics addressed included the court ruling last Friday on the Epic versus Apple lawsuit, which included mixed results that promise to be positive for consumers. In Microsoft news, what to expect from their upcoming September 22nd event was highlighted, along with Microsoft’s announcement that users can now go “passwordless” using their second authentication factor exclusively for authentication. The limitations of Spotify as a podcast “podcatcher app” for power users was also explored. Geeks of the Week included “Track My Subs” from Peggy in our chat room, a Media Literacy certification opportunity from PBS, Wes’ video and resources for a recent presentation on “Why Care About Privacy and Surveillance Capitalism,” and Jason’s recommendation to “Download Your Twitter Data.” Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 230 (“Don’t Shame WikiPedians”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 9, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google’s new ChromeOS notetaking web app, Cursive, Microsoft’s addition of “Reading” to MS Teams, and Windows 11 CPU requirements for older computers. Apple’s upcoming September 14th iPhone event and Twitter powered notification service, a call to stop “source shaming” the use of WikiPedia in academic research, and the regulatory effort in Germany to required 7 years of smartphone operating system updates were highlighted. Also on the Google front, an op-ed advocating for a ‘fix’ to auto-installs on new Chromebooks, a UK study highlighting the high frequency of extremist views among students in schools, and a report revealing continued problems with AI-powered facial recognition for black men were discussed. Additional topics included the start of “Super Follower Subscriptions” on Twitter, the expected dramatic reduction in price for Starlink Internet connectivity, Starlink’s projected expansion of production, and Logitech’s new technology to improve security for wireless computer peripherals. Geeks of the Week included the recent Angry Planet podcast episode, “Space: Final Frontier or Billionaires Playground,” the web advertising and data harvesting demo site how-i-experience-web-today.com, and the subscription-based iOS / WatchOS app, SleepWatch. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 229 (“Podcast Platform Agnostics”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 25, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed back-to-school technology smart buys, tips for Windows 11 users wanting to do a clean install or switch default browsers, and Microsoft’s push to Office web apps over Android apps for ChromeOS users. On the Google front, we highlighted the upcoming requirement for 2FA for monetizing YouTube creators, Google Meets new mic echo warning feature, the rather incredible income of YouTube creators over the past 3 years ($30 billion), and the superb recent video from Derek Muller (@veritasium) “Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective.” On the Apple front, the launch of the “#MadeOniPad” challenges campaign, and a ridiculously expensive Steve Jobs signed Apple II manual were discussed. The demise of Joe Rogan’s podcasting influence (relatively speaking) since he went exclusive on the Spotify platform, the threat of “SIM swaps” on TMobile due to the recently released hack, more on what TMobile customers can and likely should do in response to the hack (including signing up for TMobile’s free “Account Takeover Protection Service”) were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included a clever YouTube video about Section 230 protections for the tech platforms (mainly Facebook), free streaming of “The Social Dilemma” documentary on YouTube through the end of September, and Common Sense Media Education. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
"Thumbnails & Titles" – These are the keys to engagement on YouTube & social media generally. #MediaLit & #literacy teachers this @veritasium [VIDEO] is for you: "Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective" https://t.co/i1oQD1bKMN
Welcome to episode 228 (“NFT Rock Bargains”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 18, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Microsoft “PrintNightmare Ransomware,” T-Mobile’s confirmed (and large) customer data breach, and the differences between Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts. An amazing podcast interview with Eswar Prasad about “Why Crypto Matters,” a crazy article about free clipart of a cartoon rock becoming a $300K NFT, and Apple’s problematic blunders offering paid podcast subscriptions were also discussed. The Facebook Transparency Center’s Q2 2021 report, a Yale University research study showing “‘Likes’ and ‘shares’ teach people to express more outrage online,” a powerful podcast interview with Roger McNamee on “Holding Tech Accountable,” and the unfortunate amplification of anti-vax nurses were highlighted on the social media front. In Google news, Google’s forthcoming “hardware campus” and upgrades to Google Meet for multiple co-hosts were discussed. Free availability of Windows11 for download was highlighted. Lastly, Zoom’s new “focus mode” which hides classmate videos from each other during a videoconference was both highlighted and criticized. Geeks of the Week included the (free) Chromebook App Hub from Google, and a helpful article on using “your web browser’s ‘Readier Mode’ to minimize distractions.” Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 227 (“Facebook Bad Actor”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 11, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google’s new “Cursive” app for ChromeOS, Facebook’s shutdown of disinformation academic researchers, growing distrust of Facebook as a platform overall, and efforts by Facebook to re-engineer its advertisements to allegedly support more user privacy. The reality that purchased digital movies are really just leased, Microsoft Edge’s “Super Duper Secure Mode” (yes, that’s the actual title), and AT&T’s supply chain fiber woes were also discussed. A recent hack involving $600 million of cryptocurrency and a bipartisan bill targeting Apple and Google app store dominance were articles rounding out this week’s show. Geeks of the Week included Chirp Audio Books, a recent @veritasium video on “This is why we can’t have nice things,” and the free app EasyRes for MacOS. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 226 (“Big YouTube EDU Changes”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 4, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed news articles on Microsoft Office running on Chromebooks, PWAs (progressive web apps), emojis, cloud-based Windows 365 computers for rent, and the near-disaster on the International Space Station involving the new Nauka module from Russia. Problems with M1 MacBook displays, “The Day the Good Internet Died,” improvements to Google’s native office document editing, and substantial changes to the way YouTube can be used by students under 18 in schools were also highlighted. The security dangers of password autofill in browsers, the reliability of “Have I Been Pwned,” the influencer army hired by the White House to battle COVID disinformation, and the battle over remote work at large companies were also topics discussed in this week’s show. Several app options for “proving” your COVID vaccine status digitally were highlighted as well. Geeks of the Week included the online flight simulator Geo FS, Wes’ presentation for faculty at his school, “Google Classroom August 2021: Updates and Tips,” and Wes’ recent blog post, “More YouTube Restriction Options for Schools.” Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 225 (“Beware Video Embeds”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 28, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed media literacy, privacy, changing iOS app icons, Microsoft Edge’s latest version, Google news, social media updates from Clubhouse, Twitter and Facebook, and a cautionary tale from a defunct video sharing site. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 224 (“Stores Watch You”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 21, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the extent of retail facial recognition and why it matters, Automattic’s acquisition of PocketCasts, the recent FTC ruling supporting the “Right to Repair,” and ongoing proposals for “Big Tech Regulation” / “The Tech Correction.” Additional topics highlighted included useful iOS apps for sketchnoting, Chromebook advice, improvements in Zoom for ChromeOS, the increased national focus on vaccine disinformation and more. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
Welcome to episode 223 (“Windows 11 Underwhelms”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 14, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the plethora of proposed “big tech regulations” in the U.S. Congress (our ongoing “tech correction,”) the underwhelming and somewhat confusing release of Windows 11 by Microsoft, AI content filtering by TikTok, and some articles about educational technology lessons school leaders should heed after our experiences during COVID with remote and hybrid learning models. Google and ChromeOS news including the release of the desktop version of the Opera browser for Android (and now ChromeOS) in the Google Play Store, and the sad change in Audacity Software (an open source project) into the “surveillance capitalism” fold with user data tracking. Geeks of the Week included SimpleNote by Automattic and a great new video from Veritasium YouTuber (Derek Muller) titled, “The Biggest Myth in Education,” focusing on learning styles and the complete LACK of educational research support for this theory. Please see our shownotes for links to all these articles and resources! 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!
