EdTech Situation Room Episode 110

Welcome to episode 110 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 10, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Jun Kim (@mpstechnology) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Co-host Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on special assignment. Topics highlighted in this week’s show included the alleged hack of computer hardware by Chinese authorities affecting major tech companies including Apple and Amazon, which is very controversial and has been firmly denied by technology companies as well as government agencies. The dangers of connecting to open WiFi in public spaces, ways to avoid phishing scams in email, and the benefits of using password managers as well as a VPN or cell phone access point / phone tethering were also discussed. Robocalls on the rise, Google’s changes to third party data access for Gmail, the prospect of Google enforcing restrictive limitations on data sharing around the world because of country-specific laws, and Google’s Certification program for IT professionals were also discussed by Jun and Wes.  Briefly highlighted articles at the end of the show included the Google Pixel 3 and it’s touted capability to screen phone calls using an AI voice agent and Facebook’s challenges in moderating content worldwide. Geeks of the week included the COSN toolkit on protecting student data and FlowCrypt for sending encrypted email within Gmail. Check out edtechSR.com/links for all shownotes, including those listed below. 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. Note we will be starting earlier than usual occasionally to accommodate guest schedules in upcoming weeks, so please check Twitter for those 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. Jun Kim (@mpstechnology) – Moore Public Schools, Oklahoma
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
  8. China Used a Tiny Chip in a Hack That Infiltrated U.S. Companies (Bloomberg, 4 Oct 2018)
  9. Risky Business Feature: Named source in “The Big Hack” has doubts about the story (Risky Biz Podcast, 9 Oct 2018)
  10. A U.S. telecommunications company finds fresh evidence of China hacking of tech hardware (Bloomberg, 9 Oct 2018)
  11. Sniffers and Snoopers and Hackers, Oh My! Protecting Yourself from the Risks of Public Wi-Fi (Ferpa Sherpa – Susan Bearden (@s_bearden), 20 Sept 2018)
  12. Firesheep should get your ATTENTION: Open Public Wifi Dangers are REAL (Wes Fryer, November 2010)
  13. How to Protect Yourself From a Phishing Attack by Hackers (Atlantic, 12 Sept 2018)
  14. LastPass Password Manager
  15. How robo-callers outwitted the government and completely wrecked the Do Not Call list (Washington Post, 11 Jan 2018)
  16. “All my friends are robocalls” episode of “Today Explained” podcast (on Twitter)
  17. Don’t force Google to Export Other Countries’ Laws (NYTimes, 10 Sept 2018)
  18. Google is shutting down Google+ after it exposed user data and neglected to tell anyone (8 Oct 2018)
  19. Google limits third-party access to Gmail and other account data (Engadget, 8 Oct 2018)
  20. Have I Been Pwned (good website to check your email addresses for security breaches)
  21. The Google IT Support Professional Certificate
  22. GSFE Admins – Google+ Community (@gsfeadmins)
  23. Beware of Phishing Cell Phone Calls: Don’t Share Personal Info with Strangers (Wes Fryer, 3 Oct 2018)
  24. Hiya: Caller ID, Call Blocker & Protection for a Better Phone Experience (via @pgeorge)
  25. TWIT Specials 326 Made by Google (4 Oct 2018)
  26. Google Assistant will screen spam calls on the Pixel 3 (Verge, 9 Oct 2018)
  27. Common Sense Media Privacy Evaluation Initiative (@cs_privacy)
  28. Ex-Facebook moderator sues Facebook over exposure to disturbing images (ARStechnia, 26 Sept 2018)
  29. Soldiers in Facebook’s War on Fake News Are Feeling Overrun (NYTimes, 9 Oct 2018)
  30. A dog lost part of her skull to cancer. So researchers printed her a 3D one (CNN, 25 Sept 2018)
  31. Jun’s Geek of the Week: COSN toolkit on protecting student data
  32. Wes’ Geek of the Week: FlowCrypt (encrypted email within Gmail)

EdTech Situation Room Episode 95

Welcome to episode 95 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 16, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the recent vote in the U.S. Senate to preserve net neutrality, Android-related updates from Google promoting more frequent security patches by smartphone manufacturers / OEMs, and the forthcoming Oneplus 6 Smartphone. The U.S. President’s reversal of a trade ban on ZTE smartphones in the United States, updates to Gmail, Google Drive, and Google News, and imminently expected announcements about new Chromebooks rounded out the Android and Google-focused news articles in the show. Computer security firm Kaspersky’s decision to relocate from Russia to Switzerland amidst continued concerns over its integrity, NASA’s plan to send a drone helicopter to Mars, and the recent Toronto Declaration calling on algorithms to respect human rights were also discussed headlines. Under the title of “Technology Correction,” the release of over 3500 advertisements funded by Russians to influence the 2016 US Presidential election were discussed, along with articles highlighting how over fifty percent of those ads focused on race and many ads targeted U.S. teens. Cambridge Analytica, which has been in the news constantly in the Facebook / Russian election influence story, declared bankruptcy but has apparently reformed as the company Emerdata. Wes shared his pessimism that these kinds of election psyops are going to continue unabated in the upcoming mid-term and regular term elections in the United States. Microsoft’s work on a $400 tablet to compete with the iPad rounded out the discussed tech news. Geeks of the week included “The Most Useful Podcast in the World” by Popular Mechanics (from Jason), and two from Wes: a YouTube video of Sylvia Martinez INTED2018 Keynote Speech, “The Maker Movement” and the July 15-20, 2018 Summer Institute in Digital Literacy. Check out our shownotes for links to all these articles and referenced resources, and please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates. Stay safe and stay savvy!

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. Senate votes to restore net neutrality: Here’s how every senator voted (CNET, 16 May 2018)
  9. AT&T will ask Supreme Court to cripple the FTC’s authority over broadband (ArsTechnica, 7 May 2018)
  10. Upcoming Chromebooks: New Devices Aplenty (Chrome Unboxed; 13 May 2018)
  11. Oneplus 6 Announced With A Glass Back And A Notched 6.3-inch Display (The Verge, 16 May 2018)
  12. Trump helps sanctioned Chinese phone maker after China delivers a big loan to a Trump project (Vox, 15 May 2018)
  13. Project Treble is turning out to be more important than we thought (Android Central, 13 May 2018)
  14. Google is starting to require that OEMs roll out regular security patches (XDA Developers, 10 May 2018)
  15. Enable hosted S/MIME for enhanced message security (Google Support)
  16. Google Drive Getting a Redesign, Looks More Like The New Gmail (Chrome Unboxed, 14 May 2018)
  17. Google News to be revamped, incorporate YouTube videos and magazines  (ArsTechnica, 4 May 2018)
  18. The Internet is going the wrong way (Dave Weiner @davewiner, 10 May 2018)
  19. NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars to get a bird’s-eye view of the planet (Verge, 11 May 2018)
  20. Common Sense Supports BOT Act to Identify Bot Accounts on Social Media (@CommonSenseED)
  21. New Toronto Declaration calls on algorithms to respect human rights (Verge, 16 May 2018)
  22. Kaspersky Lab relocating infrastructure to Switzerland amid Russian spying allegations (Washington Times, 15 May 2018)
  23. Russian trolls targeted teens on Facebook with memes (CNet, 11 May 2018)
  24. House Democrats Release 3,500 Russia-linked Facebook Ads (Wired, 10 May 2018)
  25. More Than Half of Russian Facebook Ads Focused on Race (NY Magazine, 12 May 2018)
  26. Cambridge Analytica dismantled for good? Nope: It just changed its name to Emerdata (2 May 2018)
  27. Microsoft reportedly working on $400 Surface tablets to compete with the iPad (The Verge, 16 May 2018)
  28. Jason’s Geek of the Week: The Most Useful Podcast in the World by Popular Mechanics
  29. Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Sylvia Martinez – The Maker Movement – INTED2018 Keynote Speech (@smartinez) and Summer Institute in Digital Literacy: July 15-20, 2018 (@reneehobbs)

Android by othree, on Flickr
Android” (CC BY 2.0) by othree

EdTech Situation Room Episode 92

Welcome to episode 92 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 25, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed new national standards for online courses in the USA, a strange case of liability for an ewaste recycler, exciting updates for Gmail from Google, and several other tidbits of Google news. These included the movie editor in Google Photos, controversy at Google over proposed AI contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, and a strange Gmail spam issue which modified email headers so new messages showed up as “sent mail.” Forthcoming updates to the YouTube Kids app featuring human-moderated channels and a new Google Tasks update rounded out the Google focused news updates. On the Apple front, Tim Cook’s announcement that MacOS and iOS will NOT be merging was mentioned, along with sizable reported profits from the iOS port of the game Fortnite. A few thoughts about SmugMug’s recent purchase of Flickr from Verizon were shared. Security hacks including hotel door locks and home wifi routers by Russian agents were also discussed. It was great to have Jason back after a multi-week hiatus as he completed his dissertation, which he’s scheduled to defend in early May. Follow the show on Twitter @edtechSR for updates and please try and join us live on Wednesday evenings if you can on YouTube Live. Thanks for watching / listening!

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. K-12 National Standards for Quality Online Courses, Teaching and Program to be Revised by QM and VLLA
  9. Electronics-recycling innovator faces prison for trying to extend computers’ lives (Los Angeles Times, 25 April 2018)
  10. 5 New Gmail Features to Check Out Now (PC Magazine, 25 April 2018)
  11. Gmail’s biggest redesign is now live (The Verge, 25 April 2018)
  12. How to enable the new Gmail right now (The Verge, 25 April 2018)
  13. Google Photos is rolling out a friendlier and more powerful movie editor (Android Police, 20 April 2018)
  14. Google is Pursuing the Pentagon’s Giant Cloud Contract Quietly, Fearing An Employee Revolt (NextGov, 13 April 2018)
  15. Gmail accounts appear to send out spam, and their owners are baffled (Mashable, 22 April 2018)
  16. YouTube Kids adding human curated channel collections, more parental restrictions (9 to 5 Google, 25 April 2018)
  17. Google debuts a standalone to-do app, Google Tasks (TechCrunch; 25 April 2018)
  18. Making Media Mondays at Casady School
  19. Tim Cook says Apple won’t merge Mac and iPad (AppleInsider, 19 April 2018)
  20. iOS release of ‘Fortnite’ rakes in over $25M in first 30 days (AppleInsider, 18 April 2018)
  21. Flickr acquired by professional photo hosting service SmugMug (The Verge, 20 April 2018)
  22. Flickr has been sold after 13 years at Yahoo. Can Flickr be relevant again? (Recode, 20 April 2018)
  23. PSA: There’s a new fake Flash Player installer for Macs, and it’s nastier than usual (9 to 5 Mac; 25 April 2018)
  24. Hotel door locks worldwide were vulnerable to hack (BBC News; 25 April 2018)
  25. Has a Russian intelligence agent hacked your wifi? (The Guardian, 17 April 2018)
  26. US, UK warn of Russian hackers targeting millions of routers (CNet, 16 April 2018)
  27. Jason’s Geek of the Week: Spotify Free
  28. Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Wordable and Mentimeter (h/t @kjarrett)