EdTech Situation Room Episode 103

Welcome to episode 103 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 15, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed universities deploying smart assistants in student dorms to answer questions, the privacy concerns of smart assistants in educational contexts, and the shortcomings of the latest MacBook Pro laptops relative to Windows-based competitors. Rumors of dual-booting Chromebooks (also booting to Windows), whether or not social media platforms are “publishers,” and strategies to stop or avoid “stalking ads” on social media were also addressed. Social media / fake news controversies over the temporary (7 day) banning of Alex Jones / InfoWars on Twitter, hacker threats to home routers (VPNfilter) and IoT devices, the advent of Fortnite on ALL Android devices (but not via the Google Play Store), and Google’s location tracking of users who turn off location services rounded out the news articles addressed in this show. Geeks of the Week included the Timer Tab app (ad-free), an incredible photo of our sun during a “Coronal Mass Ejection” with the earth shown to scale, and the recent PBS documentary, “Documenting Hate: Charlottesville.” Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC.

Shownotes:

  1. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  2. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter!
  3. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  4. Video version on YouTube
  5. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  6. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
  8. A University Is Putting 2,300 Echo Dots in Student Living Spaces and What Could Go Wrong? (Gizmodo, 15 Aug 2018)
  9. Resources on Privacy Issues for Smart Assistants in the Classroom: Common Sense Media Privacy (@cs_privacy) Bill Fitzgerald (@funnymonkey) and Susan Bearden (@s_bearden)
  10. 2018 MacBook Pro Owners Experiencing Crackling Audio (PC Magazine; 10 August 2018)
  11. HP, Dell, Microsoft Stay A Step Ahead Of The MacBook Pro: Three Metrics (Forbes, 12 Aug 2018)
  12. Chromebooks May Include Dual Boot Feature to Load Windows 10 (PC Magazine; 13 August 2018)
  13. Platforms Are Not Publishers (Jeff Jarvis, The Atlantic; 10 August 2018)
  14. Twitter suspends Alex Jones for urging people to keep “battle rifles” ready (ARStechnica, 15 Aug 2018)
  15. Are Targeted Ads Stalking You? Here’s How to Make Them Stop. (NYTimes, 15 Aug 2018)
  16. Free FoxIt Reader software (for PDFs)
  17. Inside Twitter’s Struggle Over What Gets Banned (New York Times; 10 August 2018)
  18. Hackers could hijack devices using a laptop’s USB-C charger (TechRadar; 9 August 2018)
  19. Russian Military Spy Software is on Hundreds of Thousands of Home Routers (DefenseOne, 13 Aug 2018)
  20. Hackers account for 90% of login attempts at online retailers (Quartz, 18 July 2018)
  21. Your smart air conditioner could help bring down the power grid (CNET, 14 Aug 2018)
  22. How to Install Fortnite on Android (PC Magazine; 14 August 2018)
  23. Google tracks your movements, like it or not (AP, 13 Aug 2018)
  24. Jason’s Geek of the Week: Timer Tab
  25. Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Documenting Hate: Charlottesville (PBS) and This Photo Of A Solar Coronal Mass Ejection Is Beyond Comprehension (Digg, 13 Aug 2018)

EdTech Situation Room Episode 78

Welcome to episode 78 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 20, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) revived a Neiffer classroom holiday tradition: the “Airing of Grievances” (#edtech focused) inspired by “The Holiday of Festivus” and the 1997 Seinfeld episode, “The Strike.” In addition to sharing technology grievances, Jason and Wes discussed the remarkable backstory to the Mirai botnet attacks revealed in an Alaska courtroom last week. Other security related topics included the U.S. government’s fingering of North Korea for the WannaCry ransomware attack, China’s livestreaming servers for public surveillance cameras, and DARPA’s “unhackable” computer currently under development at the University of Michigan. Apple related topics included recent reports that the iPhone is designed to slow down with age, tips on how to increase iPhone performance, and a predication that Apple will allow developers to create universal apps in 2018 which run on both iOS and MacOS devices. Google articles included the expected launch in February of Google Chrome’s built-in ad blocker and the updated function of Google Sites (the new version) to permit embedding and Javascript. Tears were shed for the death of AOL’s instant messenger platform. Geeks of the week included the “Broadcast Voice Messages” feature of Google Home, the 2017 documentary “Unacknowledged” by Dr. Steven Greer (@DrStevenGreer), and the 6 year anniversary price ($1) for the Nova Launcher for Android. Note next week’s “2017 EdTech Year in Review” show will start an hour earlier for east coast guests and livestream fans. Please join us, and follow @edtechSR on Twitter for updates.

Shownotes:

  1. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  2. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter!
  3. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  4. Video version on YouTube
  5. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  6. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
  8. Holiday of Festivus (English WikiPedia)
  9. The Strike, from Seinfeld (1997) – Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/watch/807635
  10. Thanks Eric Curts for the podcast shoutout!
  11. How a Dorm Room Minecraft Scam Brought Down the Internet (Wired, 13 Dec 2017)
  12. Mirai (malware) – English WikiPedia
  13. Trump administration blames North Korea for WannaCry ransomware attack (Denver Post, 19 Dec 2017)
  14. Words Of Praise But No Forgiveness For Hacker Who Stopped North Korean Cyberattack (BuzzFeed News, 19 Dec 2017)
  15. China surveillance streaming platform shut down amid privacy concerns (Reuters, 20 Dec 2017)
  16. Unhackable computer under development with $3.6M DARPA grant (University of Michigan News, 19 Dec 2017)
  17. iPhones start slowing down after a year of use, and that’s way too soon ( The Verge; 20 December 2017)
  18. How to: Check iPhone battery health, DIY replace, and speed up performance (9 to 5 Mac, 20 December 2017)
  19. Apple might combine iOS and Mac apps next year (The Verge, 20 December 2017)
  20. Google Chrome’s built-in ad blocker targeting disruptive experiences launching February 15th (9 to 5 Google, 19 December 2017)
  21. Embed HTML and JavaScript in the new Google Sites (GSuite Updates from Google, 5 Dec 2017)
  22. Google Teacher Tribe Podcast
  23. GSFE Admins Google+ Community and Podcast
  24. uBlock Origin for Chrome (block ads)
  25. YouTube Tips and Tricks (Nov 2017)
  26. YouTube TV delays Apple TV and Roku apps until early 2018 (The Verge, 19 December 2017)
  27. So long, AIM, we’ll miss you (The Verge, 15 December 2017)
  28. Wes’ Geek of the Week #1 – Google Home feature: Broadcast Voice Messages
  29. Wes’ Geek of the Week #2 – Documentary Movie “Unacknowledged” by Dr. Steven Greer (@DrStevenGreer) – Wes’ most retweeted post of 2017 Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program (NYTimes, 16 Dec 2017)
  30. Jason’s Geek of the Week: Nova Launcher turns 6 years old, drops Prime to just 99¢ to celebrate