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.
"Special Access Projects" in the US military's black budget are a Constitutional violation of the chain of command. Glad to see coverage referring to SAPs in @nytimeshttps://t.co/aazKX17nam For more on this listen to @DrStevenGreer
Welcome to episode 75 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 29, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed rumors on other edtech podcasts that they are “a bit nerdy,” recent Apple security issues with the default root user account, and YouTube with respect to protecting kids and restricting content. Additional topics included the state of email in 2017 and useful apps / email workflow strategies, the amazingly fast new FireFox browser from Mozilla, exciting new announcements for more Android apps on Chromebooks, and the continued march of automation via AI, especially involving trucking. Geeks of the week included the upcoming December 15-31 “Ditch that Textook Digital Summit” (from Wes) and Google Voice (from Jason.) Refer to our podcast shownotes for all referenced news articles and links. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay updated, and join us LIVE for a future show at 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain most weeks on Wednesday night. Check all our shownotes on http://edtechSR.com/links
iReading: Automation could kill 73 million U.S. jobs by 2030 https://t.co/60c1ttlIcG by @USATODAY via @techsavvyteach#edtechSR (This issue is the canary in the coalmine when it comes to the labor force in the United States. We need to prepare for this NOW!) #OklaEd
Welcome to episode 66 of the EdTech Situation Room from September 19, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Facebook’s struggles to define standards for censoring advertisers, Facebook “Pixel” tracking, expanded T-Mobile data caps, recommended action steps for Equifax hack victims, and the CCleaner anti-malware software hack. Additional topics included tips G Suite admins can take to prevent phishing attacks, a great free Chrome extension which can help that effort (Password Alert), iOS 11 updates, tvOS updates, and Google’s forthcoming event featuring an expected Pixel 2 smartphone announcement. A speed round of CRISPR and genomics headlines rounded out the show, with geeks of the week including a new 2D to 3D facial modeling program and useful wireless device mirroring solutions: The Via Connect Pro and Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter 2. Check out the shownotes for links to all these articles, which are also listed on edtechsr.com/links. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @edtechSR and tune in (usually) on Wednesday nights at 9 pm central, 8 pm mountain, or 2 am GMT. Until next time, stay safe and stay savvy!
Welcome to episode 65 of the EdTech Situation Room from September 13, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed this week’s Apple Event product announcements, the huge Equifax hack and what victims can do about it, new headlines fitting in the broader topic of “This Week In Justified Paranoia,” and the prospects of a Parkinson’s Disease cure via gene pattern identification powered by 23andMe. Geeks of the week included a new screencasting software program (recordit.co) and Apple Today events at Apple retail stores including “Teacher Tuesdays” and Apple Store learning field trips. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to a post about that incident and all the referenced articles / resources from the show. Follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay up to date about upcoming shows. Please try to join us LIVE online if you can, normally on Wednesday nights at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific.
Welcome to episode 64 of the EdTech Situation Room from September 6, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed rumors of Apple’s September 12th event and expected iPhone updates, enhanced Android app performance on Chromebooks, Gimlet Media’s significant funding round supporting podcasting, and the recent NY Times article about ethics and teacher product promotion. Additional topics addressed included Apple’s newly announced support for network neutrality, pacemakers at risk for hacks, and social media file vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit. Geeks of the week included Manoush Zomorodi’s new book, “Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self,” Google File Stream for G-Suite, Plow for socially filtered web news, and Hop as a new/transformative email client. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to a post about that incident and all the referenced articles / resources from the show. Follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay up to date about upcoming shows. Please try to join us LIVE online if you can, normally on Wednesday nights at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific.
Welcome to episode 62 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 23, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the new Google operating system “Oreo,” the rising costs of new smartphones in the United States, whether or not Facebook poses a threat to democracy, and Wired magazine’s Internet Troll map. Additional topics included “How info overload robs us of creativity,” the militarization of computing via autonomous killer robots and the forthcoming independence of US CyberCommand. Geeks of the week touched on interactive annotation tools like Hypothes.is and tips for public wifi hotspot security. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to a post about that incident and all the referenced articles / resources from the show. Follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay up to date about upcoming shows. Please try to join us LIVE online if you can, normally on Wednesday nights at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific.
Welcome to episode 47 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 12, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week special guest Beth Holland (@brholland) joined Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) for discussions focusing on Anderson Cooper’s recent 60 Minutes Episode “What is ‘brain hacking?’ Tech insiders on why you should care,” new IoT (Internet of Things) home hacking episodes, the federated (and FREE / open source) social networking platform “Mastodon,” and helpful articles on finding a secure VPN to protect your privacy. Geeks of the Week included realtimeboard.com (from Beth), Google Flights (from Jason) and an $18 6 port smart ID USB charging hub (from Wes). Check our shownotes below for all referenced links from the show, which are also available on https://edtechsr.com/links. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates. Next week we’ll be back on Wednesday night at our regular time: 10 pm Eastern, 9 pm Central, 8 pm Mountain, 7 pm Pacific. If you listen to and enjoy the show, please provide us with feedback by submitting our short listener survey on http://wfryer.me/edtechsr.
Welcome to episode 21 of the EdTech Situation Room from September 7, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the much-heralded Apple Event from earlier today which featured the announcement of the iPhone 7. Jason and Wes, in classic “Yayyyyy! …. or Mehhhhhhh…” analysis, broke down the major elements of the Apple Event. This included the iPhone 7 camera, the death of the headphone jack, newly announced AirPods, The Apple Watch Series 2, and iWork real-time collaboration. They also discussed missing announcements from the event, which included updates to the MacBook lineup, MacPro updates, iMac updates, or iPad/iPad Mini updates. They briefly discussed the Time Magazine article from August 31st, “Screens In Schools Are a $60 Billion Hoax,” and agreed to dedicate next week’s show entirely to analysis and responses to the varied (and slippery) arguments put forth by Nicholas Kardaras in the piece. Geeks of the week included the the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide (from Jason) and two outstanding videos to watch (from Wes) by Travor Muir and National Geographic. Check out the episode shownotes for links to referenced articles and resources. Also be sure to view our Google Doc with archived links from every show on edtechSR.com/links. Remember to follow us on Twitter @edtechSR and complete our listener/viewer survey, linked first this week in the shownotes! Your feedback counts and we love to hear from our fans around the world! (Note: About 18:45 of the show, we had some bandwidth hiccups in the Google Hangout… and we didn’t edit out that dead space from the show, so please persevere through this minor glitch. Overall given our tech constraints tonight, we’re thrilled with the audio and video quality!)
Shout out to Hall Davidson (@HallDavidson) & his legendary stories of recording audio tracks for his teen daughter’s iPad & changing meta info to masquerade as Miley Cyrus (back when she was cool with parents)
