Welcome to episode 204 (“Forecasts for 2021”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 12, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) shared some predictions for educational technology in 2021, as well as a few technology news headlines from the past two weeks. 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.
Distance learning will continue to grow as a viable option for students that want or need that model after the pandemic.
Intel will continue to lose market share to ARM-based processors and AMD processors. A whole new generation of devices will appear, prioritizing long battery life and speedy, responsive interfaces.
The Technology Correction will continue, but, without the guidance of regulation. Trump’s ban on most social media platforms will push some conversations ahead.
The pandemic will diminish its impact, but, video conferencing and doing some personal and professional connections will continue with technology.
Using the Internet for information will become more complicated, as more and more alternative platforms develop. The information landscape requires persistent information education in schools.
Wes’ Predictions for 2021
US / China Relations and Technology: Deployment of 5G networks and infrastructure will exacerbate technology interoperability issues and force nations to choose Chinese or US/European network infrastructure solutions. Response of Biden administration to Chinese security threats will reveal the validity / sincerity of security threats
The Tech Correction: A constituency and agenda will coalesce further around regulation and limitations of social media companies, increasing liability and extending mandated collaboration standards and requirements for content moderation / censorship (like the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism – GIFCT)
Media Literacy: Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories will continue to be weaponized to subvert democratic governments, teachers will be asked to address these issues through civics education. COVID Vaccination efforts worldwide will be significantly impeded by anti-vax misinformation
Security: Hacks, identify theft, ransomware and password breaches will continue to increase in frequency and magnitude: Password security, MFA and password managers will continue to grow in importance
Welcome to episode 203 (“Adios 2020”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 30, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the amazing Apple M1 chips, neuromorphic computing, “the case for edtech minimalism,” and some of the amazing milestone in space exploration during 2020. “Public domain riches from 1925,” the vast scope of Amazon’s role in our economy and society, the possible end of privacy as we know it, and security concerns for Google Chrome extensions and the Google Play Store were also discussed. The continuing challenges of conspiracy theories in the age of COVID, changes to the landscape of drones for 2021, and Amazon’s acquisition of Wondery to compete with Spotify for podcasting dominance were topics rounding out this week’s show. Wes’ Geek of the Week was his newly created website, “Fryer & Ward Family Recipes” (food.wesfryer.com) and Jason’s was The Internet Archive (archive.org). 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.
Welcome to episode 202 (“Google Down”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 16, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google news including Wednesday’s temporary service outage, acquisition of Neverware, the death of Cloud Print, and the controversial firing of AI researcher and ethicist watchdog Timnit Gebru. Updates to Firefox and Microsoft Office for native MacOS M1 processor support, and developer-mandated revelations about the jaw-dropping ways Facebook’s iOS app tracks user behavior and collects private data. Facebook’s new PR ad campaign “advocating for small businesses” (ok, whatever…), YouTube’s streaming music dominance over all other players, the huge popularity of gaming videos on streaming networks, and disinformation commentary from Roger McNamee as well as Facebook’s oversight board’s initially selected cases were topics rounding out this week’s show. Geeks of the Week included T-Mobile’s first 5G hotspot and dataplan, DownDetector.com, and Troy Hunt’s spectacularly helpful “Compromised Password Checker.” 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.
Welcome to episode 201 (“Facebook’s Reckoning Approaches”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 9, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed new lawsuits brought against Facebook by the FTC and 48 state attorneys general. Apple’s new privacy disclosure requirements for developers, the last update for Adobe Flash, and a critical expose of the website PornHub were also highlighted. A recent nation-state hack of the top tier cybersecurity company FireEye, the sufficiency of Windows Defender for security protection of WindowsOS systems, Google and password manager audit tools, and the Apple / Cloudflare initiative to secure DNS via new protocols were discussed. Ways to protect privacy with a smart speaker in your house, the vulnerability of both passwords and SMS-based two factor authentication, and the website HaveIBeenPwned.com were topics rounding out this week’s show. Geeks of the Week included the recent #digiURI Media Club meetup discussing the TED Radio Hour Episode, “IRL Online,” Kevin MacLeod’s websites for free music downloads, and the GoSund Smart Plugs. 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.
Welcome to episode 200 (“A Bicentennial Conversation”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 2, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), special guest Eric Langhorst (@ELanghorst) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed technology news influenced by the upcoming U.S. Presidential transition, the imminent death of Google Cloud Print, and forthcoming services and products from Apple including Apple Fitness and a possible 16 inch MacBook Pro. Amazon’s expanding efforts to completely erode all remaining consumer privacy, Amazon’s new effort to open up your network to security vulnerabilities via its ‘creepy’ new service called “sidewalk,” and the ongoing, common poor password practices of MANY people today were also discussion topics. Microsoft365’s new workplace surveillance tools for administrators, the vital role of WordPress in powering most 2020 U.S. election campaign websites, and five reasons you should DELETE Telegram from your smartphone were articles rounding out this 200th episode. Geeks of the Week included products from Anker, China’s new lunar robotic mission, and a holiday light drone show. 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.
Welcome to episode 199 (“Fake Selfies Everywhere”) of the EdTech Situation Room from November 25, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Black Friday technological temptations, China’s robotic rocket launch this week to bring back moon rocks to earth, and a remarkable New York Times multimedia article on fake photo generation websites and services for hire. Google Meet’s new support for up to 100 breakout rooms in a single call, promising updates for native webpage (non-app) Chromebook annotation, and the best Chromebooks of 2020 were also discussed. Chromebook manufacturers following Apple’s lead and ditching Intel, surprisingly positive youth perceptions of YouTube videos as educational / instructive, and home networking troubleshooting tips were highlighted. Geeks of the Week included a new and fairly simple method to “clean up” shared YouTube video links for students, and a technique to “play thousands of retro arcade games on an Amazon Fire Stick.” 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.
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Welcome to episode 198 (“We Loved Thee, Google Expeditions””) of the EdTech Situation Room from November 18, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed FCC changes to United States bandwidth spectrum affecting WiFi and automotive emergency communication, faster Google Chromebook chips and Google Product Black Friday specials, and the benefits of YouTube Premium. The depressing demise of both Google Expeditions and Google Tour Creator in Summer 2021, Google Pay’s impressive upgrade, GitHub’s decision to support fair use, and favorable reviews of Apple’s new M1 chip powered laptops which are convincing Jason to return to the Apple user fold were also highlighted. An alarming revelation about the poorly perceived reach of Facebook’s economic surveillance methods was also discussed. Geeks of the Week included Wes’ preview video for the December #digiURI Media Club meeting (discussing the March 2020 TED Radio Hour, “IRL Online” and the case for remote learning at home with TWO monitors. 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.
Welcome to episode 197 (“Bring Forth Thy M1 Chip””) of the EdTech Situation Room from November 11, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed ongoing information pollution relating to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, the new Apple M1 chip and other announcements from the November 10th Apple Event. Educator concerns about remote test monitoring during COVID-19, Google announcements about the end of free, unlimited Photo and Cloud document storage, and Roku’s support for Apple HomeKit and AirPlay2 were also highlighted. Geeks of the Week included three recommended YouTube videos from Wes and a free Stadia gaming bundle for U.S. and U.K. YouTube Premium Subscribers from Jason. 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.
Welcome to episode 196 (“Election Disinformation Brewin””) of the EdTech Situation Room from October 28, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed election disinformation and countermeasures, deepfake threats, amplification of divisive issues by foreign and domestic actors, battles over WikiPedia facts, privacy and podcast tracking, and more. Adversarial interoperability, The Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure efforts to reimagine and rearchitect the Internet, smoking’s lesson for social media regulation, forthcoming updates to Internet Explorer, and Apple’s apparent foray into Internet search. Geeks of the Week included MS Edge on a Chromebook, Tour Creator by Google, a web-based teleprompter that listens to your voice and keeps pace with the speaker, and a new start engine startup (Neeva.) 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. NOTE WE WILL NOT HAVE A SHOW NEXT WEEK ON NOVEMBER 4TH.
Welcome to episode 195 (“Search History Overreach'”) of the EdTech Situation Room from October 21, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed privacy-violating subpoenas Google is now complying with, which provide identifying information about ALL people in a certain context who are searching for particular terms online. Historically, accessing knowledge (like checking out or reading particular library books) has not been something to which law enforcement officials in the United States have NOT had ready access. Our conversations touched on privacy issues involving VPNs, the TOR browser, how TCP/IP header packets include identifying MAC address information for the device(s) people use to access the Internet, and more. Additional topics discussed included surveillance capitalism, revelations that antivirus company AVAST secretly sold user data, Cory Doctorow’s decision to write less dystopian SciFi, and a new competitor to Zoom in the academic videoconferencing market: Engageli. On the Google / ChromeOS front, Google’s decision to extend the supported life of ChromeOS on many Chromebooks (to 9-10 years), Acer’s forthcoming Chromebook with Snapdragon chips, and the overall arc of computer processors to use smartphone chips were discussed. The U.S. Department of Justice’s newly announced anti-trust case against Google for alleged monopolistic behavior in maintaining its global dominance in Internet search, as well as an outstanding Renee DiResta (@noupside) article in the Atlantic about the rise and continued influence of QAnon and conspiracy groups to push conspiracy theories into mainstream media was also highlighted. Geeks of the Week included a YouTube Creators’ tutorial about editing videos in the YouTube Studio interface, an outstanding Sway podcast interview with Elon Musk, and the cellular alternative provider, Visible. 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.
