Edtech Situation Room By @techsavvyteach & @wfryer

Welcome to episode 69 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 11, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Twitter's plans to double the character limit to 280, Microsoft giving up on Windows Phone, Google's Investment in Neverware, and the emerging details about Russian election hacking and Russian company Kaspersky. Additional topics include the role of social media in distributing news today, "what happens in an Internet minute in 2017," and podcast hosting services going offline (Opinion and AudioBoom). Gene therapy for Leukemia, Dropbox innovation, Tim Cook's surprising comment about AR computing hardware, and Facebook's new VR headset rounded out the week's articles. Geeks of the week included Facebook Messenger Lite and Podiant for podcast hosting. Teachable Machine from Google was also shared by Ben Wilkoff in the chat room. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and reach out to us if you listen t

Welcome to episode 68 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 4, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed today's exciting Google event and product announcements, with (as always) an eye toward the educational implications of the news. Discussed Google product announcements included the new Pixel2 smartphone, Pixelbuds supporting real-time translation in 40 languages, the updated Pixelbook, the Google Clip Camera, and new Google Home products including the Home Max and Home Mini. Geeks of the week included the Chromebook Comparison Chart from Zipso (from Jason), an update on the cross-platform video projection option Via Connect Pro, and Google Maps Treks (from Wes). Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and reach out to us if you listen to the show! If a particular article or topic is especially thought provoking or interesting to you, please let us know. The EdTech Situation Room is produced live each w

Welcome to episode 67 of the EdTech Situation Room from September 27, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed prison time given to a Volkswagon engineer who wrote the emissions test dodging car code, updates to Google Slides, Team Drives for G Suite users, and G Suite's new File Stream app for offline file access. Additional topics included the recent war of words between Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg, Doug Belshaw's post about why he deleted all his past Twitter likes/favorites as well as most of his tweets, and an alleged $5 million purchase by Mexico of Israeli technology which permits monitoring of anyone's cell phone location, text messages and phone calls by just using their phone number or phone IMEI number. (This article prompted Wes' tin foil hat for part of the show.) The possible risks of biometric smartphone security was discussed, along with a slew of new product announcements from Amazon bring the menu

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 lis

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

Welcome to episode 63 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 30, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed iPhone 9 rumors, Apple's recent Emmy Award, CRISPR and human DNA embryo editing ("DNA surgery"), fake news surrounding Hurricane Harvey, and Google’s forthcoming Chromebook Pixel laptop. Additional topics included the newly announced collaboration between Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana and YouTube updates removing black bars on vertical videos. Geeks of the week included the Blue Yeti Mic and a $26 HDMI to Component Video converter with the power to rescuccitate a HDMI-disabled flatscreen TV. 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 Mo

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 thread 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 p

Welcome to episode 61 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 16, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed new updates for Google Sheets and Slides for education (G Suite) users, and a helpful (but NSFW) article highlighting the "why" of Internet troll culture as well as many Internet culture personalities and events which could be considered essential for adults wanting to understand teens and their digital context today. On the surveillance front, Jason and Wes talked about the recent FBI warning to parents regarding "smart toys," and the troubling demand by the US Department of Justice to ISPs for names and data on 1.3 million Internet users who visited a Trump resistance website prior to the inauguration in January. A recent Google survey on ransomware, the recent HBO hack, the mind-bogglingly HUGE hack of Sweden's national database back in 2015, and a July article from the Atlantic exploring whether companies shou

Welcome to episode 60 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 9, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the celebrated death of a podcasting patent, revised password recommendations for users, hacked school Twitter accounts, new STEM-focused badges for Girl Scouts, and summer experiments with BadgeList.com. Additional topics included the recent Google broohaha over a sexist employee-authored memo, a new study further debunking the "digital native" myth, digital identity with Yoti, a predicted cyborg evolution for humanity, Jason's new Windows 10S experiment, and a creepy prototype of a self-driving truck. Geeks of the week included The Hackable Podcast by McAfee (from Jason) and "Send by FireFox" (from Wes). Wes also shared a flashback memory from 2010 involving the "FireSheep" extension for FireFox. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to a post about that incident and all the referenced articles / resources fr

Welcome to episode 59 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 2, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple's recent favorable quarterly earnings report, Tim Cook's alleged statements to President Trump about Apple manufacturing returning (at least in part) to the USA mainland, the relatively low influence of peer-journaled research in most K-12 educational purchasing decisions, and the implications of genetic modification / genomics in recently announced insect eradication campaigns in the US as well as a breakthrough human embryo genetic mutation "edit." Other topics addressed included solar eclipse sunglasses scams on Amazon (buyer beware!), some excellent explanatory videos and articles about cryptocurrencies and the "blockchain" (including Bitcoin), the announced death of Flash as a supported web technology from Adobe in 2020, and recent hacks to Verizon customers as well as an alarmingly saavy web user whose

Welcome to episode 58 of the EdTech Situation Room from July 19, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week was a special episode dedicated specifically to "Net Neutrality" and the ongoing campaign to oppose corporate telco lobbying for Internet fast lanes. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed what net neutrality is and why it's important, how it impacts schools as well as the economy, and why we need to advocate for net neutrality not only with the FCC but also with our elected representatives and senators in Congress. 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 57 of the EdTech Situation Room from July 12, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed takeaways and "tired edtech trends" from the 2017 ISTE Conference in San Antonio. They demonstrated the new "Seeing AI" app from Microsoft, which amazingly has been FIRST released for iOS / iPhone / iPad, and discussed several noteworthy and recent podcasts, videos and articles relating to artificial intelligence. Other addressed topics included Google's new integrated Drive & Photos ‘Backup & Sync’ app, a recent study finding the mere presence of a cell phone reduces brain power, #FontGate in Pakistan, a tragic story of attempted YouTube stardom, and reviews of the new Microsoft laptop. Geeks of the week included "Gypsy Guide" for iOS driving tours, the web series "Do Not Track," and the amazing slide collection (for PowerPoint and Google

Welcome to episode 56 of the EdTech Situation Room from June 19, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) were back after several weeks apart, which included some international travel for Jason to Sweden. This week discussion topics included the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on "a right to social media access" as part of 1st Amendment rights, and recent announcements from Apple at WWDC including new iPads, the iMac Pro and HomePod speakers. The proposed purchase of Whole Foods by Amazon, the degree to which we can societally prepare for job displacement from automation, and efforts by Amazon and Google to address offensive content as well as terrorist-related media using human moderators were also discussed. An amazing (but apparently true) event in Ethiopia was also discussed, in which the nation shut down the entire Internet for several days to prevent

Welcome to episode 55 of the EdTech Situation Room from June 7, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week while Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was out on assignment in Sweden, special guest Dr. Scott McLeod (@mcleod) joined Wes Fryer (@wfryer) to discuss cyberattacks in Qatar and the Middle East, new iPad features announced at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in California, and the possible legal limits on public figures to block followers on social media platforms like Twitter. They also discussed a new book by CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna, insights into the rise of our artificial intelligence golden age from Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt, and students admitted to Harvard denied admission over inappropriate Internet memes shared over social media. Geeks of the Week included Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends 2017 presentation (355 slides!) by Scott and Story Map (including a Story Map of 2017 Terr

Welcome to episode 54 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 31, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week while Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was out on assignment, returning special guest Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) joined Wes Fryer (@wfryer) to discuss cybersecurity and recommended anti-malware computing solutions, They also talked about efforts to salvage Twitter and Internet discourse by web 2.0 pioneer Evan Williams (@ev), the perils of moderating live video moderation, and recent commercial space milestones by SpaceX as well as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's company, Vulcan Aerospace. For Geeks of the Week, Miguel shared Multcloud.com and CloudHQ.net as solutions for creating backup copies of cloud-based storage files, and Wes extolled TabPilot as a Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform. Next week we'll be back to our regular live show time (Wednesday at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain

Welcome to episode 53 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 24, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed more takeaways from the recent Google I/O event, genomics and biotechnology news involving CRISPR and DARPA, artificial intelligence advances by Google, and updates to the Surface Pro line by Microsoft amidst forthcoming rumors of MacBook updates at WWDC in June by Apple. They also talked about recent "bot blunders" (related to AI and machine learning), ongoing fake news challenges to information validation (thanks Newt Gingrich), a company demonstrating the potential for journalism platforms to make money with a subscription model, and the interesting ways Apple is reinventing its retail experience in malls for post-modern (and online) shoppers. Geeks of the week included the Burstio app for iOS (Wes) and the "Amazon Basics" product lin

Welcome to episode 52 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 17, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Ben Wilkoff (@bhwilkoff) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed an array of exciting announcements from today's Google i/o conference, as well as an interesting but disturbing video from the May 10th Microsoft Build Conference perhaps foreshadowing our "privacy free future" powered by ubiquitous surveillance cameras, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Panelists also discussed the recent WCry worm whose ransomeware payload has made headlines and wreaked havoc on unpatched (as well as pirated) Windows-powered computers worldwide. The response of Microsoft's President, Brad Smith, was a call for national governments to stop stockpiling computer exploits like this one originally developed by the NSA and leaked to the public. Topics also included the possibility of a f

Welcome to episode 51 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 10, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple's forthcoming (but rumored) "Today at Apple" retail sessions, and a TEDideas article suggesting we replace the term "digital natives" with the terms "digital orphans," "digital exiles" and "digital heirs." Additional subjects included the continued growth of the digital home assistant market and the new "Echo Show" product from Amazon, next-generation mesh-based home routers, and privacy articles highlighting surreptitious surveillance smartphone apps using "ultrasonic sounds" and new advice from NIST changing generally accepted safe password recommendations. Additionally, a new video promoting Microsoft's Minecraft for Education's Code Builder Tool and Google's new tools to battle fake news in suggested search results were discuss

Welcome to episode 50 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 3, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and Ben Wilkoff (@bhwilkoff) discussed today's widespread Google Docs phishing attack, Microsoft's newly announced Windows-S operating system, new Microsoft laptop announcements targeting the Chromebook market and MacBook users, and recent controversy regarding the website Unroll.me selling anonymized user data to advertisers. They also discussed Mark Zuckerberg's recent forecast for the future of social media and screens (mixed-reality), a new Kickstarter campaign (Jelly, The Smallest 4G Smartphone), and cybersecurity. Geeks of the week included Google Trips (Jason), the Clips app for iPhone (Wes), and the Pocket Video from iOS (Ben). Be sure to follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates and show date/time changes. Normally we're LIVE on Wednesday ni