Edtech Situation Room By @techsavvyteach & @wfryer

Welcome to episode 129 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 3, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed more technology links than should technically be "legal" for a free #edtech podcast. Topics included the NSO Group and Pegasus iPhone malware and the proliferation of Android-based pre-installed apps posing privacy and security issues. Dangers anticipated via the upcoming bi-annual Windows10 update from Microsoft, Chromium browser benefits on Windows, and another Facebook data breach affecting over 500 million users were also analyzed. Google news included the 15th birthday of Gmail, new features including canned responses and scheduled messages, the effect of Google's regular killing of its digital children (documented on killedbygoogle.com), and Google's 2019 April Fool's Day jokes. A shotgun wielding flying drone in Russia, prospects for a renewable hydrogen-based economy, and Mark Zuckerberg's latest attempt

Welcome to episode 128 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 27, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed how amazing Garageband software continues to be, this past week's Apple Event announcements, implications of Article 13's passage in the EU for user created content, freedom of expression, and the potential of a further fractured global Internet. Additional topics included MacBook keyboard reliability issues, Google's Stadia announcement for streaming games, Microsoft's imminent end of Windows7 support, the popularity of Google Docs among teens for chat at school, and the importance of China's long term strategy to dominate the global digital economy via Huawei and governmental policies. Geeks of the week were plentiful, including AirBnB versus Hilton comparisons, AirBnB superhosts, ScreenCloud digital signage, responses and protection against email phishing, Google home WiFi, the most amazing video (on storyte

Welcome to episode 127 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 7, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google's new Chromebook App Hub website, OpenAI's decision to NOT share a new AI text generator, and Microsoft's forthcoming "Windows Lite" operating system. Dipayan Ghosh & Ben Scott's advocacy to promote intelligent regulation of Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies enabling "precision propaganda" was also highlighted, along with ways outrage over common threats can hijack parents' common sense. Facebook's declining US user base, Facebook's announcement to emphasize point-to-point "ephemeral" messaging, and SpaceX's recent success launching its Dragon crew module were also discussed. The future of "the technology correction" and our prospects for changing the "Surveillance Capitalism" model of many Silicon Valley companies, implications of the Huawei CFO extradition controversy, and the importance of me

Welcome to episode 126 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 28, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on assignment at the NCCE Conference in Seattle. In this episode, Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and Beth Holland (@brholland) discussed baby duck syndrome, resources by PBS Learning Media including "The Cat in the Hat" online, and what's revealed about student perceptions when they "draw a scientist." Additional topics included the upcoming April 14-17, 2019 ATLIS Conference in Dallas, danah boyd's book, "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens," and the work of Lisa Gurnsey (@lisaguernsey) on the important roles of "media mentors." Beth also shared a shout out for Yong Zhao's book, "What Works May Hurt―Side Effects in Education." Geeks of the week included the websites Pexels and Unsplash for copyright-free images, and the COSN Digital Equity Project. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday n

Welcome to episode 125 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 13, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the death of NASA's Mars Opportunity rover, cybersecurity incidents in K12 schools, weak U.S. government enforcement of privacy laws, and criticism of both Apple and Google for allowing Saudi men to use apps to track and oppress women. Controversy over developer use of iOS screen recording capabilities, the unlimited powers of Israeli officials to surveil and utilize personal information of citizens without judicial oversight, and Cisco's push for privacy regulation were also addressed. The upcoming March 25th Apple event, Amazon's purchase of mesh router company Eero, and Flickr's extension for users to upgrade to Pro accounts or face image library deletion were other article headlines mentioned in the show. More analysis of Spotify's podcast company purchases and the implications that could have for openly

Welcome to episode 124 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 6, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed YouTube's most recent letter to Creators, Google's Jigsaw project which uses AI to help human moderators identify toxic posts which violate community standards, and the Japanese government's plans to hack into citizen's IoT devices to update firmware. Additional topics included Spotify's recent acquisitions of Gimlet Media and Anchor, predictions for podcasting in 2019, and the woes of crypto currency investors when the only person with the controlling password dies unexpectedly. The Google Chrome extension "Password Checkup," ChromeOS instant tethering, impressive digital revenue for the New York Times, and an interview with Ray Kurzweil about our evolutionary trajectory as humans to merge with our computers rounded out the show's articles. Wes' Geek of the Week was the PBS video, "What a Smell Looks Like."

Welcome to episode 123 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 30, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the advance of YouTube's local video content, Google's attempt to address conspiracy / outlier content on YouTube, and the new Gmail app for Android and iOS. The global decline in smartphone sales, the expectation smartphones are going to "get weird" to boost sales, Google's efforts to address website validity confusion by consumers, and companies attempting to turn surveillance capitalism's economic model upside down were also discussed. On the security front, recent comparison studies of paid versus free antivirus software suites, Facebook's apps and campaigns to wiretap teenage behavior and pay teens for their data, and Apple's privacy Facetime snafu were also explored. Companies (like Square) pushing Chromebooks across their enterprise as primary computers for employees (even designers!), the Pinebook Lin

Welcome to episode 122 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 23, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed highlights from the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and a series of articles further highlighting our ongoing "Technology Correction." These included a new fine for Google because of GDPR, and an excellent podcast interview with Shoshana Zuboff (@shoshanazuboff) about her new book, "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power." Controversy at the University of Oklahoma over a student-created racist video, the precipitous stock value crash of Apple over the past quarter, and Chinese School use of AI-powered facial recognition to take attendance in classes. Google's recent purchase of Fossil's smartwatch division, the possibility that Facebook's recent '10 Year Challenge' is a clever way to build an even greater catalog of surveillance data

Welcome to episode 121 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 10, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the implications of Apple's disappointing earnings projection for the first quarter of 2019, Baratunde Thurston's Tech Manifesto addressing how we should protect data privacy, and the intense technological as well as economic struggles underway between the United States and China, specifically via the Chinese company Huawei. In addition, Jason highlighted a variety of technology announcements and developments from the 2019 Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Geeks of the week included Tiles and the MacOS program Amphetamine. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.

Welcome to episode 120 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 3, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed 2018 "Tech Report Cards" from the Verge on Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. The proliferation of bots and fake content online, and the challenges this presents for online media metrics as well as media literacy, was highlighted. The release of thousands of works into the public domain in the United States, thanks to the non-renewal of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and an instance of ground-breaking brain surgery rounded out topics for the show. Geeks of the week included an article sharing tips for getting the most out of your Amazon Kindle eReader, and the open source software Burn for MacOS. 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. All

Welcome to episode 119 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 26, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed copyright and intellectual property issues on the Teachers Pay Teachers (@tptdotcom) website, YouTube creator backlash amidst other "trust issues" with Google, and the challenges of radicalization and "outlier content" on YouTube based on its attention-maximizing algorithms. Continuing warnings from U.S. security officials to avoid Huawei smartphones and telecommunications gear because of the Chinese government's hacking threat, the four variations of recommended 2 step verification for account security, and the promise of podcasting for the "slow democracy movement" were also highlighted and explored. Amazing recent space photos of the planet Jupiter, China's ongoing space exploration milestones on the moon, disclosure challenges for Instagram creators for paid advertising, and the power of Fortnite as a so

Welcome to episode 118 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 12, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) co-hosted a special episode titled, the 2018 Technology Shopping Cart! They shared and discussed a variety of different technology and geek oriented gift ideas. Gift categories included smartphone stuff, The Internet of Things (IoT), books, robots, STEM/STEAM lab, miscellaneous gadgets, home networking equipment, photography and videography, software, nerd paper gear, baggage, stocking stuffers, and other ideas. 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. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.

Welcome to episode 117 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 5, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week's technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included Microsoft's embrace of Chromium for their Windows10 web browser, the death of the Edge Browser, best choices on Mac laptops for schools after October's special Apple event, and the perils of YouTube networks for content creators. The recent unfortunate content filtering / inappropriate content access situation on a Chromebook in Ridgewood Schools, New Jersey, reasons most doctors seem to hate their computer systems at work, Rudy Giuliani recent demonstration of Twitter ignorance, and a recent, amazing robot video from Boston Dynamics rounded out the show. We did have some technical glitches for about two minutes in the middle of this show, but that portion has been edited out of the downloadable audio and video versions

Welcome to episode 116 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 29, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week's technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included the continued growth of mobile broadband connectivity worldwide, the expanded availability of Google Fi, and varying opinions about Google's new Pixel Slate tablet. The milestone last week of Microsoft surpassing Apple as the world's most valuable company, Microsoft's HoloLens AR goggle contract with the U.S. Army, and the scientist who defied the international community by using CRISPR to genetically engineer a human baby were also discussed. OpEds about the unpredictability of Internet effects as shown by the popularity of chess as an online spectator sport, and the rise of "surveillance capitalism" via targeted advertising were also highlighted. The successful landing of the Insight space probe on Mars this week and

Welcome to episode 115 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 21, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week's technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included the recent outages of cloud services including Microsoft's Azure Active Directory and LastPass Password Manager, and multiple signs of "The Technology Correction." These included calls for regulating Facebook, surveys showing many young computer scientists do not want to work for Facebook, and Facebook's apparent inability to regulate / fix itself. Processor upgrades to the Samsung Chromebook Plus, the enduring value of Google Pixelbooks, and Black Friday week deals on Pixelbooks were also discussed. On the security front, a new, stealthy Russian hacking tool, a phishing test tool, the first amendment and Facebook, and student protests over Facebook's sponsored learning management system "Summit Learning" were also disc

Welcome to episode 114 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 14, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week's technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included college students at UC Berkeley developing browser extensions to identify political bot accounts on social media, prospects for liberal democracy portrayed in PBS Frontline's recent series "The Facebook Dilemma," and issues of both trust and due process involving Facebook, content takedowns and smart assistants like Alexa and Google Home. Microsoft's problems with recent Windows10 updates and its new crowdsourced feedback process for updates, and new research on the value of doodling for learning and retention were also discussed with a shout out to Sylvia Duckworth's (@sylviaduckworth) new book on sketchnoting. The "Shift Happens" video series 10 years later, problems with drone videos and wildlife harassment, Google's

Welcome to episode 113 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 7, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Jason Kern (@jasonmkern) discussed the past week's technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included virtual reality in the classroom, the use of social media worldwide to radicalize politics, hardware updates from Apple's special event last week, and our need for media literacy everywhere. Anya Kamenetz' excellent response article, "What the Times got wrong about kids and phones" was also highlighted. Professional courtesy with cell phones at meetings and in the classroom, the NetFlix documentary "The Eighties," and Flickr's important announcement about free and pro accounts rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included free "Unity" software licenses for schools, Raspberry Pi projects, the browser extension "OneTab," and the "Pulse" SMS app on Android. Please follow us on Twit

Welcome to episode 112 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 24, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Jennifer Carey (@thejencarey) 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 data privacy, the "hackability" of the human mind, the recent FBI warning on student data privacy, and Tim Cook's recent criticism of Silicon Valley over privacy. Additional topics included a U.S. cyberoperation against Russia aimed at protecting U.S. elections, the book "Algorithms of Oppression" by Safiya Umoja Noble, and fake news surrounding the death of Jamal Khashoggi. Geeks of the week included CoSpaces Edu, "PD in the Privy" by Cyndi Kuhn, Digital Citizenship presentations for students by Wes, and tips from the Family Online Safety Institute for cleaning up your digital footprint. Check out our shownotes on edtechSR.

Welcome to episode 111 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 17, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Beth Holland (@brholland) discussed the past week's technology news through an educational lens, as well as a variety of educational issues relating to digital citizenship and digital equity. Co-host Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on special assignment. Topics highlighted in this week's show included algorithmic literacy, privacy, digital equity, digital citizenship, media literacy, digital literacy, Internet safety, digital citizenship week, and more. Other topics included the National Educational Technology Plan, the ongoing code wars between nation states, and the power of social networks / human connections in unlocking opportunity and innovation. The digital divide in rural America, the perils of IoT cameras in our homes, the Media Education Lab's Mind over Media Project, Imagineering in Storytelling, and geomaps of Lewis and

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 coun