EdTech Situation Room by Jason Neiffer and Wes Fryer

Welcome to episode 197 ("Bring Forth Thy M1 Chip''") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 11, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed ongoing information pollution relating to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, the new Apple M1 chip and other announcements from the November 10th Apple Event. Educator concerns about remote test monitoring during COVID-19, Google announcements about the end of free, unlimited Photo and Cloud document storage, and Roku's support for Apple HomeKit and AirPlay2 were also highlighted. Geeks of the Week included three recommended YouTube videos from Wes and a free Stadia gaming bundle for U.S. and U.K. YouTube Premium Subscribers from Jason. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 196 ("Election Disinformation Brewin''") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 28, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed election disinformation and countermeasures, deepfake threats, amplification of divisive issues by foreign and domestic actors, battles over WikiPedia facts, privacy and podcast tracking, and more. Adversarial interoperability, The Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure efforts to reimagine and rearchitect the Internet, smoking's lesson for social media regulation, forthcoming updates to Internet Explorer, and Apple's apparent foray into Internet search. Geeks of the Week included MS Edge on a Chromebook, Tour Creator by Google, a web-based teleprompter that listens to your voice and keeps pace with the speaker, and a new start engine startup (Neeva.) Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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. NOTE WE WILL NOT HAVE A SHOW NEXT WEEK ON NOVEMBER 4TH.

Welcome to episode 195 ("Search History Overreach'") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 21, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed privacy-violating subpoenas Google is now complying with, which provide identifying information about ALL people in a certain context who are searching for particular terms online. Historically, accessing knowledge (like checking out or reading particular library books) has not been something to which law enforcement officials in the United States have NOT had ready access. Our conversations touched on privacy issues involving VPNs, the TOR browser, how TCP/IP header packets include identifying MAC address information for the device(s) people use to access the Internet, and more. Additional topics discussed included surveillance capitalism, revelations that antivirus company AVAST secretly sold user data, Cory Doctorow's decision to write less dystopian SciFi, and a new competitor to Zoom in the academic videoconferencing market: Engageli. On the Google / ChromeOS front, Google's decision to extend the supported life of ChromeOS on many Chromebooks (to 9-10 years), Acer's forthcoming Chromebook with Snapdragon chips, and the overall arc of computer processors to use smartphone chips were discussed. The U.S. Department of Justice's newly announced anti-trust case against Google for alleged monopolistic behavior in maintaining its global dominance in Internet search, as well as an outstanding Renee DiResta (@noupside) article in the Atlantic about the rise and continued influence of QAnon and conspiracy groups to push conspiracy theories into mainstream media was also highlighted. Geeks of the Week included a YouTube Creators' tutorial about editing videos in the YouTube Studio interface, an outstanding Sway podcast interview with Elon Musk, and the cellular alternative provider, Visible. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 194 ("Yes Another New iPhone'") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 14, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple's new announcements about iPhone12 and HomePod Mini, actions taken by social media companies to curb election-related misinformation and malinformation, and some proposals by tech correction advocates for technology company anti-trust legislation advocates. Developments in fast battery charging technology, the CRISPR / CAS9s discovering female scientists recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the promises of faster bandwidth over both cellular 5G and residential cable modems, and the mindblowing power of the average smartphone today were topics rounding out this week's show. Geeks of the Week included a call to audit your own autopay subscriptions, a great opportunity for high school students to learn about AI from Stanford alums and grad students, and the podcast "In Machines We Trust" from journalist Jennifer Strong of the MIT Tech Review. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 193 ("Oops Google Did It Again'") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 7, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed monopolistic behavior of big tech companies, rebranding of Google' GSuite as "Google Workspace," updates to Google/Nest WiFi, availability of Google Drive File Stream for consumer accounts, and the release of a powerful new Chromebox by CTL. On the Apple front, rumors about the new iPhone set to be announced October 13th and an iOS14 battery drain solution (wipe your iOS) were highlighted. Several articles on social media and our ongoing "Technology Correction" were discussed from the Mozilla Foundation and other sources, seeking to curb the harmful impacts of virtual disinformation and conspiracy groups on the upcoming U.S. election. These include new steps by Facebook and Twitter to crack down on user accounts violating terms of service agreements and community standards. Ongoing COVID-19 impacts on movie theaters, long-game surveillance activities by the Chinese government, and a helpful metaphor to regulation of the tobacco / smoking industry as we thinking about needed regulations on social media were topics rounding out this week's show. Geeks of the Week included an eye opening "Angry Planet" podcast interview with Jason Wilson (@jason_a_w) about the rise of online extremist groups, an excellent "Virtually Unprepared" webinar series from The Classical Association of New England, a media literacy unit on "Just Add WikiPedia" for news site validation, and a YouTube TV promotional offer including a free Chromecast. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 192 ("Delete All Your Idle Smartphone Apps'") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 30, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the marathon nature of the COVID-19 pandemic for society and schools, the challenges of rural broadband connectivity, and the biggest announcements from Google's Pixel 5 Event. Upgrades to Google Meet, new HP Chromebooks, AI that can draw reasonably good pictures based on captions, and a call from futurist Amy Webb for a U.S. National Strategic Office for AI and other critical science and technology initiatives were also highlighted. COVID-19 era controversies over surveillance and biometric powered online assessment tools were discussed. Geeks of the Week included Wes' recent posts on Lesson Cast workflows for teachers, and Jason's call to "delete all your unused smartphone apps." Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 191 ("COVID-19 and Our New Educational 'Normal'") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 23, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the likelihood of long term COVID-19 impacts on education and our society, new Apple Watch and iPad announcements from the September 15th Apple Event, and Chromebook news from HP and the Dev channel. On the subject of U.S. - China relations, the proposed restructuring of TikTok and the possibility that differences over 5G infrastructure rollouts portends a tectonic shift in international relations was discussed. Continuing observations and analysis of the looming "tech correction," articles on Twitter and Facebook actions to censor disinformation and bad actors on their platforms, Facebook's thread to leave the EU over proposed data regulations in Ireland, and a fantastic TED Radio Hour podcast episode highlighting issues of privacy, surveillance capitalism, subversion of democratic processes, and "the tech correction" was also discussed. On the security front, the first hospital death in Germany attributed to a ransomware attack, and the incredible impact of the Mozi botnet on global IoT traffic were highlighted. The tremendous impact of WikiPedia articles on local tourism in some countries, the exciting detection of "phosphene" in the atmosphere of Venus suggesting organic life, and the ongoing destructive effects of disinformation and socially shared conspiracy theories in countering the spread of COVID-19 were explored. Geeks of the Week included Little Alchemy 2, “The Age of AI” by YouTube Originals (hosted by Robert Downey Jr.), a 4 Part Lesson Series on “Conspiracy Theories” by Wes, and the excellent media literacy website spotthetroll.org. Tips for how to use a second monitor with your laptop and the NECC 2021 virtual conference Call for Proposals were also shared. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 190 ("Jason on the Apple Edge") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 9, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed forthcoming announcements by Apple for the Apple Watch and iPad ecosystems, the return of Google Maps to the Apple Watch, and Apple's compelling arguments in litigation with Epic Games over Fortnight App Store payments. A review of Android 11, the integration of Google WiFi app functions into Google Home, and the possible demise of the open source FireFox web browser were also highlighted. T-Mobile's plan to give limited free data plan hotspots to 10 million U.S. students, China's nationwide ban of MIT's Scratch programming software for students, and the question of whether or not China and the United States are reaching a competitive tipping point in relations were explored. A rather wild story of disinformation over 5G cell towers in Peru leading to a hostage situation rounded out the show's news. Geeks of the Week included a new tutorial video by Wes helping students change their Google password, and 3 tool recommendations from Jason to combat browser tab overload. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 189 ("Hack the Nook") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 2, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed COVID-19 impacts and predicted impacts on schools in 2020-21 and beyond, and Apple's App store fights with Epic Games (over Fortnite) and WordPress, New Android updates for latest Samsung devices, Jason's love for Android E Ink tablets and desire to "hack the nook," updates about the U.S. military's new "Starlink style" space network in the work, and SpaceX's efforts to qualify Starlink for FCC grants were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included the forthcoming documentary, "The Social Dilemma," the superb Oct 2019 article by Joan Donovan, "How memes got weaponized: A short history," a free W3C Web Accessibility course, a helpful article about accessible typefaces, and FiveThirtyEight's statistical election forecasts. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 188 ("Hong Kong in Crisis") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 26, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed surveillance, privacy and security force crackdowns in Hong Kong, a Kansas teacher's crowdsourced use of Google Sheets to track COVID-19 school closures, and Google's recent "Future of the Classroom" report. Forthcoming updates to Google Meet and Google Classroom, forthcoming upgrades to Google's home video casting technology, and the apparent loss of simplicity for Chromebooks amidst dual-boot and other options were also discussed. The alarming rise of "fruit loop conspiracy theory" advocates including winning candidates in U.S Congressional primary elections, the rise of political extremists in the United States on the wings of conspiracy theories, and the impact of sustained remote work mandates by tech companies on the Silicon Valley housing marked were highlighted. The dark side of the "sandbox game" RoBlox was also mentioned. Geeks of the Week included ethics in computing and science embodied in the "Asilomar AI Principles," the recent "Undivided Attention" podcast episode, "“When Media Was for You and Me," The Epic eBook of Web Tools and Apps, and Google Voice. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 187 ("Embrace CloudReady in Our Pandemic") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 12, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Russia's announcement to skip phases 2 and 3 in rushed vaccine trial, Chromebook and device shipment delays for schools and individuals, and the wonders of Neverware's CloudReady software for running ChromeOS on older Intel-based computer hardware. Microsoft's new Surface Duo laptop, changes to Google Play Music, and screentime for kids (and adults) during the pandemic were also discussed. Additional topics included the limits of home connectivity bandwidth, the importance of "filtering the exoflood" of polluted information around us, and recent government initiated interruptions in Internet connectivity and social media platform access in Belarus following a contested election. Tips for upgrading a 2020 iMac, a recent webinar on "Know Your Power: Know Your Rights" (shared by Peggy George,) and Charter Telecom's push for residential Internet data caps with the FCC were also highlighted. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 186 ("Don't TINKER with Students' Free Speech Rights") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 5, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed teenage Twitter hackers and zoombombing, tips for remote workers, and illegal school restrictions on student social media use in Georgia amidst pandemic response controversy. Microsoft's possible purchase of TikTok, reason's to still purchase a MacOS Intel-based computer instead of waiting for Apple Silicon, a recent podcast highlighting the prominent role of conspiracy theories in shaping politics throughout history, and the ways people are fighting disinformation in our COVID-19 era were also discussed. Geeks of the week included the Oregon State Open Text Project on Romeo and Juliet, an instructional support module on 'live teaching tools' including Wooclap (which is free for K-12), the awesome scheduling platform Doodle, and the private beta for the videography platform mmHmm. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 185 ("The Speed You Need") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 29, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed home Internet speeds and connectivity best practices for remote learners and workers. Coronavirus planning and announcements for the fall 2020 academic term, Congressional testimony by CEOs from Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple, and the importance of "reverse image search" skills and media literacy in our propaganda-filled information environment were also highlighted and analyzed. Resurfacing disinformation videos ("Plandemic" from May 2020) on social media, censorship of disinformation by social media tech firms, a great BBC video uncovering the QAnon conspiracy cult, and Google's new "for context" links were discussed in the context of media literacy and the ongoing "tech correction." Topics rounding out the show included ongoing tech shortages during the COVID-19 global pandemic, Android "Phone Hub" features added to ChromeOS, and Collabra Office for ChromeOS. Geeks of the Week included a remarkable podcast Twitter post thumbnail video by Michelle Obama, Google's forthcoming free global conference "The Anywhere School 2020," the "Global EdTech Academy" YouTube playlist from CUE, and the powerful Amazon Fire Toolbox. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 184 ("Remote Learning Looms Large") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 22, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed announcements by many school districts nationwide starting the 2020-21 academic year at home in "remote learning" mode. The "Vaccine Trust Problem," Twitter's crackdown on conspiracy / disinformation QAnon accounts, Eric Schmidt's advice about government regulation of social media companies, and news articles about Internet trolls stoking the fires of political polarization were also discussed. A looming ban of the TikTok app by U.S. government officials, the new GMail experience for GSuite users, and updates in ChromeOS version 84 were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included the "Mote" extension for voice comments in Google Docs via the Chrome browser, the new Google Certified Coach program, and the upcoming NCCE/TeacherCast “Beyond the Bootcamp” free webinar. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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 183 ("Back To School Planning During COVID-19") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 8, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the upcoming Mountain Moot virtual conference, and the enormous challenges facing school administrators planning for safe K-12 learning in schools this fall amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Updates from ChromeOS world were shared by Jason, including a forthcoming "clipboard history manager," worthy "cheap Chromebooks," and Amazon issues with inaccurate Chromebook spec headlines. Updates from the ongoing Facebook advertiser boycott and protest movement and challenges around 5G infrastructure build-outs and standards specifications between China and the United States were also explored. Homework for our episode was to follow Peggy George on Twitter (@pgeorge) and subscribe to Peggy's super-helpful Nuzzel newsletter (nuzzel.com/pgeorge). Geeks of the Week included the Archive.org software library (including Oregon Trail), 1 Take Videos by Lodge McCammon (@pocketlodge) and a post by Wes about installing an "ethernet backhaul" cable at home to speed up WiFi performance. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can 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.