Welcome to episode 128 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 27, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed how amazing Garageband software continues to be, this past week’s Apple Event announcements, implications of Article 13’s passage in the EU for user created content, freedom of expression, and the potential of a further fractured global Internet. Additional topics included MacBook keyboard reliability issues, Google’s Stadia announcement for streaming games, Microsoft’s imminent end of Windows7 support, the popularity of Google Docs among teens for chat at school, and the importance of China’s long term strategy to dominate the global digital economy via Huawei and governmental policies. Geeks of the week were plentiful, including AirBnB versus Hilton comparisons, AirBnB superhosts, ScreenCloud digital signage, responses and protection against email phishing, Google home WiFi, the most amazing video (on storytelling and storytellers) from Apple’s Event, and FloorPlanner.com. 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.
Welcome to episode 127 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 6, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google’s new Chromebook App Hub website, OpenAI’s decision to NOT share a new AI text generator, and Microsoft’s forthcoming “Windows Lite” operating system. Dipayan Ghosh & Ben Scott’s advocacy to promote intelligent regulation of Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies enabling “precision propaganda” was also highlighted, along with ways outrage over common threats can hijack parents’ common sense. Facebook’s declining US user base, Facebook’s announcement to emphasize point-to-point “ephemeral” messaging, and SpaceX’s recent success launching its Dragon crew module were also discussed. The future of “the technology correction” and our prospects for changing the “Surveillance Capitalism” model of many Silicon Valley companies, implications of the Huawei CFO extradition controversy, and the importance of media literacy in our age of fake news were additional topics. Updates to the PocketCasts app for Android, the addictive math-focused multiplayer app Prodigy, the gloomy prospects for BotNet death in the near future, the importance of unlimited data plans in the forthcoming 5G data environment, and the importance of carefully using “freemium” software platforms at school rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included an 18,000 mAh battery powered Android phone from Energizer, a fantastic video from Linda Yollis (@lindayollis) on improving student blogging quality, and Wes’ planned ATLIS 2019 bootcamp workshop “Filtering the ExoFlood”. 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.
Welcome to episode 126 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 28, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on assignment at the NCCE Conference in Seattle. In this episode, Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and Beth Holland (@brholland) discussed baby duck syndrome, resources by PBS Learning Media including “The Cat in the Hat” online, and what’s revealed about student perceptions when they “draw a scientist.” Additional topics included the upcoming April 14-17, 2019 ATLIS Conference in Dallas, danah boyd’s book, “It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens,” and the work of Lisa Gurnsey (@lisaguernsey) on the important roles of “media mentors.” Beth also shared a shout out for Yong Zhao’s book, “What Works May Hurt―Side Effects in Education.” Geeks of the week included the websites Pexels and Unsplash for copyright-free images, and the COSN Digital Equity Project. 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.
Welcome to episode 125 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 13, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the death of NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover, cybersecurity incidents in K12 schools, weak U.S. government enforcement of privacy laws, and criticism of both Apple and Google for allowing Saudi men to use apps to track and oppress women. Controversy over developer use of iOS screen recording capabilities, the unlimited powers of Israeli officials to surveil and utilize personal information of citizens without judicial oversight, and Cisco’s push for privacy regulation were also addressed. The upcoming March 25th Apple event, Amazon’s purchase of mesh router company Eero, and Flickr’s extension for users to upgrade to Pro accounts or face image library deletion were other article headlines mentioned in the show. More analysis of Spotify’s podcast company purchases and the implications that could have for openly syndicated podcasts and a variety of ChromeOS updates from Jason (including forthcoming “virtual desks,” new themes and native PDF annotation rounded out the show. Wes’ Geeks of the Week were the Great Questions list / website from Storycorps and a new Google Phishing Quiz, great to share with your colleagues, students and family members. Jason’s Geek of the Week was “The Wirecutter.” 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.
Welcome to episode 124 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 6, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed YouTube’s most recent letter to Creators, Google’s Jigsaw project which uses AI to help human moderators identify toxic posts which violate community standards, and the Japanese government’s plans to hack into citizen’s IoT devices to update firmware. Additional topics included Spotify’s recent acquisitions of Gimlet Media and Anchor, predictions for podcasting in 2019, and the woes of crypto currency investors when the only person with the controlling password dies unexpectedly. The Google Chrome extension “Password Checkup,” ChromeOS instant tethering, impressive digital revenue for the New York Times, and an interview with Ray Kurzweil about our evolutionary trajectory as humans to merge with our computers rounded out the show’s articles. Wes’ Geek of the Week was the PBS video, “What a Smell Looks Like.” Jason’s Geek of the Week was “Hot Pod News.” 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.
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.
Welcome to episode 122 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 23, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed highlights from the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and a series of articles further highlighting our ongoing “Technology Correction.” These included a new fine for Google because of GDPR, and an excellent podcast interview with Shoshana Zuboff (@shoshanazuboff) about her new book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.” Controversy at the University of Oklahoma over a student-created racist video, the precipitous stock value crash of Apple over the past quarter, and Chinese School use of AI-powered facial recognition to take attendance in classes. Google’s recent purchase of Fossil’s smartwatch division, the possibility that Facebook’s recent ’10 Year Challenge’ is a clever way to build an even greater catalog of surveillance data about people worldwide, and several other articles touching on privacy issues and concerns rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included the 140 character math function visualization platform Dwitter, and the upcoming NCCE Digital Leadership Summit in Seattle. 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.
Welcome to episode 121 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 10, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the implications of Apple’s disappointing earnings projection for the first quarter of 2019, Baratunde Thurston’s Tech Manifesto addressing how we should protect data privacy, and the intense technological as well as economic struggles underway between the United States and China, specifically via the Chinese company Huawei. In addition, Jason highlighted a variety of technology announcements and developments from the 2019 Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Geeks of the week included Tiles and the MacOS program Amphetamine. 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.
Welcome to episode 120 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 3, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed 2018 “Tech Report Cards” from the Verge on Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. The proliferation of bots and fake content online, and the challenges this presents for online media metrics as well as media literacy, was highlighted. The release of thousands of works into the public domain in the United States, thanks to the non-renewal of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and an instance of ground-breaking brain surgery rounded out topics for the show. Geeks of the week included an article sharing tips for getting the most out of your Amazon Kindle eReader, and the open source software Burn for MacOS. 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.
Welcome to episode 119 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 26, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed copyright and intellectual property issues on the Teachers Pay Teachers (@tptdotcom) website, YouTube creator backlash amidst other “trust issues” with Google, and the challenges of radicalization and “outlier content” on YouTube based on its attention-maximizing algorithms. Continuing warnings from U.S. security officials to avoid Huawei smartphones and telecommunications gear because of the Chinese government’s hacking threat, the four variations of recommended 2 step verification for account security, and the promise of podcasting for the “slow democracy movement” were also highlighted and explored. Amazing recent space photos of the planet Jupiter, China’s ongoing space exploration milestones on the moon, disclosure challenges for Instagram creators for paid advertising, and the power of Fortnite as a social media hangout were other topics addressed in the show. The advent of autonomous / AI powered databases by Oracle and the upcoming release of HTML 5 compliant Scratch 3.0 software rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included a wonderful (and inexpensive) sketch journal from Michael’s (via Jason) and the printed photo book service of Motif for Apple Photos users (via Wes). 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.
