EdTech Situation Room by Jason Neiffer and Wes Fryer

Welcome to episode 249 (“AirTag Dangers”) of the EdTech Situation Room from February 16, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed "the technology correction" (the intersection of "Big Tech" / social media and regulation, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Meta / Facebook, security, and miscellaneous topics relatin...

Welcome to episode 248 (“Rogan Spotify Kerfuffle”) of the EdTech Situation Room from February 9, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed technology-related news about Microsoft, Apple, The Technology Correction, Google, Security, and Privacy. In this episode, we especially focused on the issues raised wi...

Welcome to episode 247 (“Goodbye FLoC”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 26, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed news about Microsoft, privacy, Google, the "Technology Correction," security, media literacy, and everyone's favorite topic, "miscellaneous." Geeks of the Week included an option...

Welcome to episode 246 (“Metaverse Rising”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 19, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed new Apple rumors about Mac Pro computers and a "portless" iPhone 14. New metaverse patents by WalMart and Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) as well as the enormous...

Welcome to episode 245 (“Roblox as Metaverse”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 12, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a recent explosive Guardian article about Roblox and child labor. Rumored Apple glasses which auto-adjust to a user's prescription, Windows 11 post-install tips, a hotel ch...

Welcome to episode 244 (“Join our SubStack”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 5, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the case of two California teachers secretly recorded talking about LGBTQ student outreach, who used student laptop monitoring software to identify prospective club members. T...

Welcome to episode 243 (“Bad Idea Alexa”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 29, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Alexa sharing a dangerous TikTok challenge, LastPass credential stuffing, and cybersecurity discoveries in 2021. Russia's Google fine, Texas' misguided social media law, and a...

Welcome to episode 242 (“Birds Are Real”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 15, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the Log4j security flaw, bluetooth security risks, Apple AirTags used in harmful ways, changes for LastPass as it becomes an independent company (sold by LogMeIn), Life360’s an...

Welcome to episode 241 ("Twitter Upgrade Benefits") of the EdTech Situation Room from December 8, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the monetization of user location data (including minors) by Life360 and other companies, Twitter's new "Twitter Blue" upgrade service, and Instagram's forthcoming chr...

Welcome to episode 240 ("Holiday Geek Gifts") of the EdTech Situation Room from December 1, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Eric Langhorst (@elanghorst) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) shared "geek gift" ideas in advance of the 2021 holiday season. From charging devices to tracking tiles, from home office upgrades to security tools, we'...

Welcome to episode 239 ("Debunking Security Myths") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 17, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the politics of international Facebook criticism, Facebook's role in Ethiopia's nascent civil war, and Facebook's (Meta's) lockdown of internal employee speech and cr...

Welcome to episode 238 ("Chegg Extortion Revealed") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 10, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a story of extortion via the "homework help" website Chegg, the freemium future of Notability for iPadOS, and the social media lessons learned because of the (relativ...

Welcome to episode 237 ("TBA") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 3, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed an amazing Wall Street Journal article featuring 12 Internet and cultural visionaries on "How to Fix Social Media." Other articles on the social media / "tech correction" topic included "F...

Welcome to episode 236 ("Shame on Canon") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 20, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the biggest announcements from Apple's Monday "Unleashed" event, The Apple Music Voice plan, Google's Pixel 6 Event announcements, and the forthcoming launch of Chrome OS 94 wit...

Welcome to episode 235 ("TikTok is Huge") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 13, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Epic's ongoing court battles over third party smartphone app payment processors with both Apple and Google, as well as upcoming tech events next week by Apple, Google and Samsun...

Welcome to episode 234 ("Regulate Facebook Please") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 6, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Microsoft news including how to update to Windows 11 without waiting in line, recommended preparatory steps to take BEFORE upgrading to Windows 11, and positive reviews...

Welcome to episode 233 ("Privacy Protection Prescriptions") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 29, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple updates to its productivity software suite, iPhone 13 stress tests and reviews, and strategies to avoid a Facebook hack. An important new guide to "res...

Welcome to episode 232 ("Instagram = Teen Poison") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 22, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed exciting features in the new iOS 15, The Wall Street Journal's new series harshly criticizing the behavior and culture of Facebook, "The Facebook Files," and a New Yo...

Welcome to episode 231 ("Epic Apple Show") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 16, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed virtually every aspect of the September 14th Apple Event. (Seriously, this is our most egregious Apple fanboi episode to date...) New iPads, new iPad Minis, new iPhones, new...

Welcome to episode 230 ("TBA") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 9, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google's new ChromeOS notetaking web app, Cursive, Microsoft's addition of "Reading" to MS Teams, and Windows 11 CPU requirements for older computers. Apple's upcoming September 14th iPho...

Welcome to episode 229 ("Podcast Platform Agnostics") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 25, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed back-to-school technology smart buys, tips for Windows 11 users wanting to do a clean install or switch default browsers, and Microsoft's push to Office web apps over...

Welcome to episode 228 ("NFT Rock Bargains") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 18, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Microsoft "PrintNightmare Ransomware," T-Mobile's confirmed (and large) customer data breach, and the differences between Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts. An amazing podcast i...

Welcome to episode 227 ("Facebook Bad Actor") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 11, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Facebook's shutdown of disinformation academic researchers, growing distrust of Facebook as a platform overall, and efforts by Facebook to re-engineer its advertisements to a...

Welcome to episode 226 ("Big YouTube EDU Changes") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 4, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed news articles on Microsoft Office running on Chromebooks, PWAs (progressive web apps), emojis, cloud-based Windows 365 computers for rent, and the near-disaster on the In...

Welcome to episode 225 ("Beware Video Embeds") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 28, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed media literacy, privacy, changing iOS app icons, Microsoft Edge's latest version, Google news, social media updates from Clubhouse, Twitter and Facebook, and a cautionary tale...