EdTech Situation Room Episode 72

Welcome to episode 72 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 1, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the unfortunate limitations of USB-C cables, the slowing of Moore’s law and the growing importance of AI for smartphone sales and function, and iPhone X pre-order sales numbers. Additional topics included survey results about Americans’ opinions of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, the U.S Congressional hearings with representatives of Facebook, Twitter and Google, the need to address online anonymity in light of U.S. Presidential election revelations, and the ways social media is used today to divide our nation rather than unify us. Samsung’s opening of its codebase for the Galaxy S5 has led to some remarkable DIY hacking projects, and Facebook may start requiring publisher to pay to make articles visible in user news feeds. All these topics and more were discussed in this week’s episodes. Jason’s geek of the week was a collection of Google related IFTTT recipes and a helpful beginner’s guide to IFTTT. Wes’ geek of the week was Screen Cloud, a Google services connected digital signage platform which is extremely robust and awesome. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay updated, and join us LIVE for a future show at 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain. Check all our shownotes on http://edtechSR.com/links

Shownotes:

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  6. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  7. Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org
  8. The impossible dream of USB-C (Marco.org; 14 October 2017)
  9. Google and Amazon are spearheading a quiet gadget revolution, and it’s going to put pressure on Apple most of all (Business Insider, 29 Oct 2017)
  10. A dormant chip in the Pixel 2 will soon let developers write better camera and AI apps (TechCrunch, 17 Oct 2017)
  11. Here’s how many minutes you had to score a first-day iPhone X (Business Insider, 27 Oct 2017)
  12. How Americans really feel about Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, Twitter, and more (Verge, 27 Oct 2017)
  13. Russia’s social media meddling could spell the end of online anonymity (The Verge, 1 November 2017)
  14. Apple CEO Tim Cook says social media is being used to manipulate and divide us (The Verge, 1 Nov 2017)
  15. Four Questions For Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Everyone Else (@DFRlab, 1 Nov 2017)
  16. Publishers might have to start paying Facebook if they want anyone to see their stories (@Recode, 23 Oct 2017)
  17. Samsung turned 40 Galaxy S5s into a Bitcoin mining rig (Android Authority, 30 October 2017)
  18. Google’s Home Mini needed a software patch to stop some of them from recording everything (Verge, 10 Oct 2017)
  19. Federal Court Ruling: USG Is Free 2 Seize Your Fingerprint 2 Unlock Your Apple Devices (@AEGISAllianceTM, 21 Oct 2017)
  20. Wait Until 8th (
  21. Jason’s Geek of the Week:  Reminder… IFTTT and The Beginner’s Guide to IFTTT (LifeHacker)
  22. Wes’ Geek of the Week: Screen Cloud (Digital Signage)