EdTech Situation Room by Jason Neiffer and Wes Fryer

Welcome to episode 224 ("Stores Watch You") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 21, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the extent of retail facial recognition and why it matters, Automattic's acquisition of PocketCasts, the recent FTC ruling supporting the "Right to Repair," and ongoing proposals...

Welcome to episode 223 ("Windows 11 Underwhelms") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 14, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the plethora of proposed "big tech regulations" in the U.S. Congress (our ongoing "tech correction,") the underwhelming and somewhat confusing release of Windows 11 by Micr...

Welcome to episode 222 ("Ransomware Canary Speaks") of the EdTech Situation Room from June 9, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed our ongoing computer chip shortage and likely impacts, the FCC-managed $7 billion connectivity fund for U.S. schools, and tech reviews on Lon. TV. Media recommendations fr...

Welcome to episode 221 ("iPad as Laptop NO") of the EdTech Situation Room from June 2, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the merits of the iPad as a potential, functional replacement for a MacOS laptop, a wishlist for iPadOS features, the risks of purchasing an Apple Watch Series 3 today, and the f...

Welcome to episode 220 ("The Big Lebowski") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 26, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Jason's increasing resemblance to Jeff Bridges, lots of updates to Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Suite,) Google I/O 2021 updates, and Google's apparent rediscovery of...

Welcome to episode 219 ("Ransomware Threats Abound") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 12, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the Emotet botnet takedown, ransomware evolution, and the importance of evolving your own MFA (multi-factor authentication) from SMS / text messaging to a more secure opt...

Welcome to episode 218 ("Facebook's Doom Looms") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 5, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the decision of the Facebook Oversight Board to maintain (for now) Donald Trump's ban on the platform, Section 230 and possible tech company regulation by the US Congress, and...

Welcome to episode 217 ("CryptoCurrency is realER") of the EdTech Situation Room from April 28, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a new Supreme Court test of students' rights to freedom of expression on social media, the dark web marketplace of user data, and Apple's new iOS update (14.5) privacy f...

Welcome to episode 216 ("Luvin' Google Ain't Wrong") of the EdTech Situation Room from April 21, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the impending return of Parler to the Apple App Store, the amazing dynamics of WikiPedia following the January 6th U.S. Capitol Riot, and the tendency of negative polit...

Welcome to episode 215 ("Advertising is Complicated") of the EdTech Situation Room from April 14, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google's new advertisement targeting technology initiative, privacy and advertisement-opt out tools, and Google search's new product review prioritization changes. Slo...

Welcome to episode 214 ("Order Chromebooks NOW") of the EdTech Situation Room from April 7, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a copyright/fair use victory for Google and software developers everywhere, Russia and China's plans to host an in-person conference in June to further develop their plans f...

Welcome to episode 213 ("Order Chromebooks NOW") of the EdTech Situation Room from March 31, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed remote work post-pandemic, continuing electronic component shortages, proliferating firmware attacks, and President Biden's new nationwide infrastructure package. AT&T's lo...

Welcome to episode 212 ("NCCE 2021 Rocked") of the EdTech Situation Room from March 24, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the 2021 NCCE Conference, Google and Microsoft's spat over Australian journalism row & payoff, and Twitter's new entity in Turkey complying with local social media laws. Thought...

Welcome to episode 211 ("Age of CyberWar") of the EdTech Situation Room from March 3, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed privacy issues raised by Clubhouse, Google's professed commitment to privacy, and the Duck Duck Go Privacy app. Additional discussed articles included a sobering prophesy by the F...

Welcome to episode 210 ("Facebook Re-friends Australia") of the EdTech Situation Room from February 24, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the closure of Fry's Electronics Stores nationwide in the United States, and more details about updates and changes to "Google Workplace for Education" (the rebr...

Welcome to episode 209 ("Google Education Pivots") of the EdTech Situation Room from February 17, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google News including significant changes to PAID services for educational customers, privacy, security, Apple, podcasting and connectivity related news headlines. The...

Welcome to episode 208 ("North Dakota and Apple") of the EdTech Situation Room from February 11, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed "The Technology Correction," Apple News, Google Chrome and Chromebook news, and privacy updates, including Chrome's forthcoming ban of third party browser cookies. Secu...

Welcome to episode 207 ("Scraping is NOT a Crime") of the EdTech Situation Room from February 3, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed digital security, 5G / Connectivity, Apple news, Google news, burgeoning Chromebook sales, and "the tech correction." This included the threat and possibility of Google...

Welcome to episode 206 ("Tech Regulation Approaches") of the EdTech Situation Room from January 27, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed our ongoing "tech correction" with social media companies, users and governments: The potential for new regulations on technology companies in response not only to t...

Welcome to episode 205 ("Struggling with Information Abundance") of the EdTech Situation Room from January 20, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed recent technology news involving connectivity / bandwidth, Microsoft's embrace of open source software development, the return of the 3:2 laptop monitor a...

Welcome to episode 204 ("Forecasts for 2021") of the EdTech Situation Room from January 12, 2021, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) shared some predictions for educational technology in 2021, as well as a few technology news headlines from the past two weeks. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously...

Welcome to episode 203 ("Adios 2020") of the EdTech Situation Room from December 30, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the amazing Apple M1 chips, neuromorphic computing, "the case for edtech minimalism," and some of the amazing milestone in space exploration during 2020. "Public domain riches from...

Welcome to episode 202 ("Google Down") of the EdTech Situation Room from December 16, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Google news including Wednesday's temporary service outage, acquisition of Neverware, the death of Cloud Print, and the controversial firing of AI researcher and ethicist watchdog...

Welcome to episode 201 ("Facebook's Reckoning Approaches") of the EdTech Situation Room from December 9, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed new lawsuits brought against Facebook by the FTC and 48 state attorneys general. Apple's new privacy disclosure requirements for developers, the last update for...

Welcome to episode 200 ("A Bicentennial Conversation") of the EdTech Situation Room from December 2, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), special guest Eric Langhorst (@ELanghorst) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed technology news influenced by the upcoming U.S. Presidential transition, the imminent death of Google Cloud Print, and f...