Welcome to episode 267 (“Stealing Your Cookies”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 17, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a variety of ways to use another computer or tablet as a second monitor, rumors for Apple’s September 7th iPhone 14 event, and “The Trouble with Zooming Forever.” Hacker exploits of multi-factor authentication by “stealing your cookies,” our present era of “notification hell,” and a John Deere tractor hack highlighting “right to repair” issues were also discussed. Additional topics included an improved background blur coming for Google Meet videoconferences, the outcry for more computer science classes in schools, podcast guests paying big bucks to creators, and spotify’s addition of podcast creation tools to their app. Geeks of the Week included Free Email Etiquette Posters and a warning (for teachers and parents) about Influencer Andrew Tate. 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 265 (“Starlink Mobile Connectivity”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 20, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the FCC’s authorization of Starlink’s system to be used in moving vehicles, along with other connectivity related articles. Hoopla around the TikTok “blackout challenge,” calls for TikTok to preserve war crimes videos in Ukraine, advertisements on Netflix, and declining Netflix subscriptions were also highlighted articles and topics. Geeks of the Week included the upcoming Adobe Digital Summit and “the (Mis)Information Game, a social-media simulation.” Check out our shownotes for links to all the articles we discussed, and subscribe to our Substack to receive all the links we discussed and also didn’t have time to talk about in this week’s show in your email inbox! 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 258 (“Facebook Kills Podcasts”) of the EdTech Situation Room from May 4, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google news, Microsoft news, privacy issues, the end of Facebook / Meta’s podcasting platform, Wordle’s impact on New York Times subscription rates, TMobile’s tempting home connectivity offer, and more! Geeks of the Week included “How to view your internal Chrome OS engagement metrics,” a podcast audio recording of Wes’ recent ATLIS presentation, “Teaching About Conspiracy Theories And Media Literacy,” and Google’s Teachable Machine. Check out our shownotes for links to all the articles we discussed, and subscribe to our Substack to receive all the links we discussed and also didn’t have time to talk about in this week’s show in your email inbox! 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 256 (“Library Chromebook Connectivity”) of the EdTech Situation Room from April 13, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed libraries, Chromebooks and Internet hotspots, privacy and the information you’re likely agreeing to share with faceless data brokers when you file taxes electronically, and the digital faces of the ongoing Russian-instigated war in Ukraine. New features of Adobe CC Express on Chromebooks were also highlighted, along with the New York Times’ new guidelines for journalists on Twitter use. Geeks of the Week included “Canva Design Skills for Students” and a tutorial video on using Google Jamboard with Google Classroom. Check out our shownotes for links to all the articles we discussed, and subscribe to our Substack to receive all the links we discussed and also didn’t have time to talk about in this week’s show in your email inbox! 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 255 (“Facebook Hates TikTok”) of the EdTech Situation Room from April 6, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Twitter news, BigTech / the “Technology Correction,” Microsoft news, Google news, some “tales from family IT support,” and what we might learn from Flat Earther conspiracy theorists. Geeks of the Week included web-based alternatives to popular software applications and a tutorial video on creating print-on-demand paperback books from BookCreator.com eBooks. Check out our shownotes for links to all the articles we discussed, and subscribe to our Substack to receive all the links we discussed and also didn’t have time to talk about in this week’s show in your email inbox! 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 240 (“Holiday Geek Gifts”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 1, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Eric Langhorst (@elanghorst) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) shared “geek gift” ideas in advance of the 2021 holiday season. From charging devices to tracking tiles, from home office upgrades to security tools, we’ve got your holiday shopping needs for the geeks in your life covered! Check out our podcast shownotes for links to all referenced products and gift ideas. 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, and have a VERY happy holiday season!
Eric’s Geek of the Week: Clip to Comic App – create cartoon like versions of your photos, good for sharing class photos if you don’t have permission to post student faces
Welcome to episode 237 (“Fixing Social Media”) of the EdTech Situation Room from November 3, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed an amazing Wall Street Journal article featuring 12 Internet and cultural visionaries on “How to Fix Social Media.” Other articles on the social media / “tech correction” topic included “Facebook’s Lost Generation,” Facebook’s name change to “Meta,” the impact of Zuckerberg’s dream to transform the web into a “Ready Player One” VR playground. The financial impact of Apple’s iPhone privacy changes, Google’s policy to remove under-18 photos from search results, the debut of MacOS Monterey, and reasons you do NOT need the new MacBook Pro were also topics of discussion. The long awaited (for Jason) arrival of MacOS M1 processor native Google Drive for Desktop, the death of iMovie Theater, Google’s facilitation of work/life separation on Android devices, and Google Calendar’s option to schedule “Focus Time” were also highlighted. The arrival of Adobe PhotoShop on the web for Chromebook users, powerful, web-based image editing tools, and Geeks of the Week including a new NASA astronaut bio video, a “Parent University” slideshow about online influencers, and the “Mindful Schools” website as “geeks of the week” rounded out this weeks’ 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. Stay savvy and safe!
Welcome to episode 236 (“Shame on Canon”) of the EdTech Situation Room from October 20, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the biggest announcements from Apple’s Monday “Unleashed” event, The Apple Music Voice plan, Google’s Pixel 6 Event announcements, and the forthcoming launch of Chrome OS 94 with better human sounding voices. Other topics included MacOS’ forthcoming update to “Monterey” on October 25th, the Google Assistant’s updated code to stand up to profane users, and Canon’s distasteful choice to disable all-in-one scanning features for users when they run out of ink. A counter-point to last week’s article about a former Pentagon official declaring the US has already lost the AI race with China, the mental and physical health costs of TikTok, and Facebook’s concerns about Instagram losing youth marketshare were also discussed. Possibilities for “an effective social media regulator,” Facebook’s secret blacklist of prohibited people, organizations and topics, Donald Trump’s announced “Truth Social” platform, and some miscellaneous articles about drones saving dogs from volcanoes, Russian space snafus and the confused Missouri governor who thinks “view HTML source” is criminal hacking were final article topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included SortMyList.com, a podcast about Charles Babbage by Steven B. Johnson, a whimsical videoconferencing platform in beta (ooo for web) and the New York Times’ new invite-only audio app experiment. 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 233 (“Privacy Protection Prescriptions”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 29, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple updates to its productivity software suite, iPhone 13 stress tests and reviews, and strategies to avoid a Facebook hack. An important new guide to “resetting privacy controls” on your devices from the Washington Post, the NSA and CIA’s behavioral endorsement of ad blockers in our “dangerous” advertising environment, and the inability of anyone to “escape Facebook tracking” today were also discussed. Lithuania’s extreme request to people to throw away Huawei (Chinese made) smartphones, the EFF’s positive announcement that secure website connections (https) have finally been normalized in all popular web browsers, and a questionable password security website were highlighted topics. Jason’s recommendation of the Darknet Diaries podcast, the a data breach in Canada by a vaccine verification app (Portpass), EU warnings to Russia over possible election cyberattacks in Germany, the new Amazon device announcements, and the power of teen influencers on TikTok to disrupt scientific research were articles rounding out this week’s show. Geeks of the Week included former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s recent interview on “How AI Shapes Our Human Future” (aka “Misinformation Is About to Get So Much Worse”) and the power of “pocket notebooks” (like Field Notes) to boost personal productivity. 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!
