EdTech Situation Room by Jason Neiffer and Wes Fryer

Odcinki

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  EdTechSR Ep 383: Pacing the AI Frontier 18.09.2026 58min

  Welcome to episode 383 (”Pacing the AI Frontier”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 16, 2026, where technology news met educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dug into a record-breaking month of Microsoft security patches and what it revealed about an accelerating AI-driven cyber arms race. They discussed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s essay “We Must Pace the Frontier” and his CBS Sunday Morning interview, where he described AI capability growth as “getting vertical” and called for stronger third-party oversight of frontier AI labs. The hosts also covered how schools are recalibrating AI and screen-time policy, from New York City’s YouTube restrictions to Tennessee’s plans for its Meta settlement windfall, examined how Ontario professors are redesigning assessment to preserve authentic student thinking in the age of AI, and looked at the media and information literacy challenges shaping the new school year. They closed with their weekly Geeks of the Week picks, spanning Meta’s new agentic Muse AI, an open-source home music server, and AI-powered video storytelling tools for the classroom.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Microsoft Plugs Nearly 1,000 Security Holes (Krebs on Security, 8 Sept 2026)* Security Now 1096 - Are we the Krell? (TwIT, 15 Sept 2026)* Why this month’s Microsoft patch release is a doozy (ArsTechnica, 5 Sept 2026)* “We Must Pace the Frontier” (Dario Amodei, Set 2026)* [VIDEO] Extended interview: Dario Amodei (CBS Sunday Morning, 13 Sept 2026, 24 min)* The AI education paradox: Preparing students for an AI workforce (District Administration; 15 September 2026)* Inside the creative ways Ontario professors are grading now: ‘This is the class where AI goes to die’ (Toronto Star, 12 Sept 2026)* Kids Are Back in Classrooms. Health Misinformation Could Shape the School Year. (The 74; 13 September 2026)* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_74* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)* Tennessee kids could see major Meta settlement windfall. How will it be spent? (Chalkbeat; 11 September 2026)* NYC back to school: New AI and screen time limits give parents relief (Chalkbeat; 10 September 2026)* NYC schools restrict student YouTube access as tech backlash grows (Chalkbeat; 15 September 2026)* Jason’s Geeks of the Week:: Muse.AI from Meta; music-assistant.io* Wes’ Geeks of the Week:: “Digital Storytelling with Google Vids” (Media Literacy with Wes, 16 Sept 2026) and “AI and Authorship” (Media Education Lab, 14 Sep 2026)🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Functions of State K-12 Leadership: What Three Years of Evolving AI Guidance Tells Us (FullScale; 15 September 2026)* OpenAI, Anthropic, Google have been in talks on AI safety for weeks (TechCrunch; 15 September 2026)* The AI data center boom is colliding with cities scarred by big industry (TechCrunch; 15 September 2026)* AI agents now have a place to snitch (TechCrunch; 15 September 2026)* Beyond the Hype: Why Your School’s AI Strategy Needs System Altitude (Educating AI; 12 September 2026)* What Children’s Creative Writing Taught Us About Responsible AI Use (Digital Promise; 10 September 2026)* 5 things to know about teens’ views on AI today (Google; 16 September 2026)* Can AI Help Colleges Reach Struggling Students Earlier? (Inside Higher Ed; 11 September 2026)* Parents Are Bringing AI to the IEP Meeting. How Should Teachers Respond? (EdSurge; 11 September 2026)* Amid Shortage of Counselors, Students Need Stronger Networks, Not More Chatbots (The 74; 14 September 2026)* ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses (ArsTechnica, 11 Sept 2026)* Say Hello to Canvas Lite (Instructure, 11 Sept 2026)* Schools of Distraction (Education Next; 14 September 2026)* Cellphone ban enforcement may be waning over school year (K-12 Dive; 15 September 2026Episode 383 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 10 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 382: Order of the Collective 12.09.2026 56min

  Welcome to episode 382 (”Order of the Collective”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 9, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dug into Apple’s new product event, including the $2,000 foldable iPhone Duo and AI-powered upgrades to Siri, before turning to the darker side of agentic AI: a chilling Hard Fork episode detailing how AI chatbots secretly organized themselves into a coordinated “Order of the Collective” to circumvent guardrails, and a high-profile Anthropic resignation warning about AI’s existential risks. They also examined growing student privacy concerns, from a Brookings report on weak legal protections to a case of school surveillance reaching into off-campus student emails, discussed a ransomware attack that shut down Springfield, Massachusetts schools by locking medical records, and explored a thoughtful Substack analysis pushing back on simplistic “ban the screens” narratives in favor of asking whether AI tools were extending or replacing student thinking. As always, they wrapped up with their Geeks of the Week, spotlighting new tools for podcast curation, audio enhancement, and Claude Code-powered hardware hacking.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com. We publish and syndicate our podcast from Substack! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook and on LinkedIn for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Here’s Everything Apple Announced Today (Wired; 9 September 2026)* Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber (Google; 02 September 2026)* The Headline That Scared Me (Elizabeth Helfant’s “Both Chairs,” 7 Sept 2026)* VIDEO: Hard Fork - Why the Hugging Face Attack Was Worse Than We Thought (YouTube, 4 Sept 2026)* ‘Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI (TechCrunch, 9 Sept 2026) * Note we discussed this topic but didn’t reference a specific article in our show* As surveillance grows, student privacy protections lag (Brookings; 3 September 2026)* Public Schools’ Eye of Sauron (Education Next; 02 September 2026)* Springfield schools remain closed through Friday as cyberattack locks access to student medical records (WWLP, 9 Sep 2026)* Hermes AI Agent* VSCO iPhone image editor* Affinity Studio desktop image editing apps by Canva* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Podcommons 1.1 - Adobe Podcast Speech Enhancer (tutorial)* Jason’s Geek of the Week: I Plugged a $20 ESP32 Into Claude Code: No Manuals🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Schools Have a Motivation Problem — AI Is Making It Impossible to Ignore (The 74; 09 September 2026)* Beyond ChatGPT: 5 Ways Teachers Can Use RAG to Help Students Find Better Information (Tech & Learning; 09 September 2026)* Who Should Grade My Work? Student Perspectives on Transparent AI-Assisted Writing Assessment in Higher Education (arXiv; 07 September 2026)* New York City bans AI tools from public schools through eighth grade (The Decoder; 07 September 2026)* NYC’s new school AI ban explained: What’s changing? What’s still murky? (Chalkbeat; 02 September 2026)* States urge schools to use AI, but leave teachers on their own to stop cheating (Chalkbeat; 02 September 2026)* Leading Through Uncertainty: State Approaches to AI in K–12 Education (Center on Reinventing Public Education; 03 September 2026)* AI Tutors Not Yet a Replacement for Humans, Research Says (The 74; 01 September 2026)* A Principal and a Student Reviewed the New ChatGPT for Teens. They Had Plenty to Say (EdSurge; 01 September 2026)* U.S. Government Backs OpenAI in Copyright Fight With Publishers (Benton Institute; 03 September 2026)* Guidance on Using CC Licenses in an AI Ecosystem (Creative Commons; 03 September 2026)* From science to screen time: 4 key takeaways from the latest PISA results (K-12 Dive; 08 September 2026)* NYC to Ban Student AI Tools in 2-K Through 8th Grade, Limit Classroom Screen Time (The 74; 03 September 2026)* Are Schools Inadvertently Making Students More Stressed? (EdSurge; 04 September 2026)* American Psychological Association calls for higher ed tech standards, not screen bans in new report (Chalkbeat; 03 September 2026)* Massive data breach sees 220 million traveler records exposed (TechRadar; 08 September 2026)* Why this month’s Microsoft patch release is a doozy (Ars Technica; 08 September 2026)* Updating the Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act (Future of Privacy Forum; 03 September 2026)* 3 things districts need to know about the $17B Meta social media settlement (K-12 Dive; 01 September 2026)* Unpacking Meta’s Massive Settlement with State Attorneys General over Alleged Harms to Minors (American Enterprise Institute; 04 September 2026)* Meta continues to run ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India - report (BBC; 08 September 2026)* Meta’s New AI Agent Wants to Get Personal With You (CNET; 08 September 2026)* Australians Could Soon Opt Out of Social Media Algorithms Altogether (Gizmodo; 08 September 2026)* Trump administration to confront Australia over Labor’s social media algorithm plan (The Guardian; 09 September 2026)* Social Media and the Myth of the Big Tobacco Moment (Benton Institute; 02 September 2026)* High schoolers say school counselors emphasize college pathways, not CTE (Higher Ed Dive; 04 September 2026)* The promise and limits of career and technical education (Chalkbeat; 01 September 2026)* Credit recovery enrollment rose 13% since 2017, raising questions about graduation rigor (Chalkbeat; 08 September 2026)* Huge homeschool enrichment program closes in Colorado, following stricter rules and demise of authorizer (Chalkbeat; 04 September 2026)Episode 382 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 10 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 381: Munchkins vs. Meta 03.09.2026 1godz 1min

  Welcome to episode 381 (”Munchkins vs. Meta”) of the EdTech Situation Room from September 2, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dug into Meta’s $17 billion social media settlement and Mike Masnick’s critique that it lets Meta write the kid-safety rules for every other platform, unpacked New York City’s new ban on student AI use through eighth grade, and wrestled with the growing concept of “cognitive surrender” versus AI as a genuine writing collaborator. They also explored how AI-generated “best software” lists are gaming Perplexity, Pangram’s novel approach to detecting AI-written text, a cautionary tale about unchecked vibe-coded data, and closed with a rapid tour of new gear — Meshtastic off-grid radios, Apple’s new M5/M6 Ultra chips, Skitch’s Intel-Mac sunset, and the surprising return of Twitter. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook and LinkedIn for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* New York City to ban student AI use in public schools until high school (The Guardian; 02 September 2026)* Report​: MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training (13 Aug 2026) - Gemini Notebook audio deep dive (45 min)* A Scientist Was Presenting His Vibe-Coded New Work When One of His Colleagues Pointed Out Something Extremely Embarrassing (Futurism, 29 Aug 2026)* 3 things districts need to know about the $17B Meta social media settlement (K12 Dive; 01 September 2026)* Meta Just Paid Nearly $17 Billion To Make Sure It Gets To Write The Kid Safety Rules For Every Other Social Media Platform (Mike Masnick, TechDirt, 26 Aug 2026)* Pennsylvania attorney general accuses Snapchat of failing to protect children in new lawsuit (Hill, The) (Benton RSS Feed; 26 August 2026)* We’re ‘dangerously close’ to dead internet theory, says Pangram’s CEO (TechCrunch; 02 September 2026)* Three sites made 215,128 “best software” pages for AI. Perplexity cites them (Hacker News; 02 September 2026)* Mac App Store Apps Can Now Drop Support for Intel Macs (MacRumors, 1 Sept 2026)* ‘Twitter’ is back, and it currently costs $20 for early access (Cleveland.com, 27 Aug 2026)* FTC Probing YouTube Over Social Media Policies (Bloomberg) (Benton RSS Feed; 28 August 2026)* Off the Grid - On the Mesh (Wes’ video and article about Meshtastic, 31 Aug 2026)* Video: Steven Johnson on How AI Will Change Writing (60 min, Nicholas Thompson and Atlantic re:think, 12 August 2026)* AI and Authorship (Media Education Lab upcoming webinar, 14 Sept 2026)* Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra for a big leap in performance and AI compute (Apple, 25 Aug 2026)* Leaving The Times (Kevin Roose’ Substack, 18 June 2026)* Movie: The Social Reckoning (2026)* Cleanshot (Apple Silicone compatible replacement for Skitch?)* Wes’s Geeks of the Week: Google AI Educator Series (GES) Badge-a-thon: Day of AI Learning (19 Sept 2026) and Dreambeans* Jason’s Geek of the Week / Weekend NERDAL project: FreeLLMAPI🧭 Links We Did NOT DiscussAI* Can AI adequately assess critical thinking? (K12 Dive; 02 September 2026)* States urge schools to use AI, but leave teachers on their own to stop cheating (Chalkbeat; 02 September 2026)* The inside story on why OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face (MIT Technology Review) (Benton RSS Feed; 27 August 2026)* AI can complete ‘almost’ all written assignments for MIT undergrads, report says (Higher Ed Dive; 26 August 2026)* The problem with an AI tutor: Students don’t want to use it (Chalkbeat; 25 August 2026)* The Next Phase of AI in Education Is About Stewardship (EdTech Digest; 25 August 2026)* Keeping an Open—and Optional—Mind About AI (Education Next; 26 August 2026)* New York City Bans AI From Elementary Schools (Gizmodo; 2 September 2026)* Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit (Wired; 2 September 2026)* US Department of Justice backs fair use for AI training in landmark copyright case (The Decoder; 2 September 2026)* Startups Want to Rent Your Idle Gaming PC to Power AI Workloads (Android Headlines; 2 September 2026)* Can AI adequately assess critical thinking? (K-12 Dive; 2 September 2026)* This Is the Worst Possible Time for OpenAI to BfЖ7!م#2猫$9&क (Gizmodo; 2 September 2026)* Laid-Off Developers Create AI Model to Replace CEOs and Other Executives (PCMag; 2 September 2026)Screentime / THE TECH CORRECTIONNNNN!* NYC to ban student AI tools in 2-K through 8th grade and limit classroom screen time (Chalkbeat; 02 September 2026)* Screen Time Is the Wrong Unit of Measurement (Tech & Learning; 25 August 2026)* Opinion: Tech Bans Are Not Going to Solve the Youth Mental Health Crisis (The 74; 30 August 2026)* As student well-being concerns grow, Va. advocates push for stricter school tech guidelines (District Administration; 28 August 2026)Google* Partnering with Khan Academy on building AI tools for classrooms (Google; 27 August 2026)* Expert Intelligence: a new way for you to engage with trusted content (Google; 27 August 2026)* We’re introducing flexible usage limits for Gemini Notebook. (Google; 28 August 2026)* Google’s advertising tech monopoly doesn’t need to be broken up, judge says (Technology; 2 September 2026)* Google DeepMind Releases Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber: One Core Model, Two Access Envelopes (MarkTechPost; 2 September 2026)Privacy & Cybersecurity* Stolen Claude session cookies can reach corporate Gmail through grants no IT admin can revoke (VentureBeat; 02 September 2026)* Researchers easily trick Fortune-500 companies’ AI agents into running arbitrary code (Tom’s Hardware; 02 September 2026)* Back to Basics: Student Data Privacy is an Obligation, Not an Obstacle (Data Quality Campaign; 31 August 2026)Big Tech / Social Media* John Oliver Exposes The Sketchiness Of Political Grandstanding State Attorneys General (TechDirt, 31 Oct 2018)* Meta’s massive settlement may not be enough to improve child safety, experts say (Los Angeles Times) (Benton RSS Feed; 28 August 2026)* What Meta’s $17-billion settlement revealed about the harms of social media (Benton RSS Feed; 30 August 2026)Media Literacy* Developing and Evaluating A Game-Based Approach to Media Literacy (SRI; 29 August 2026)* Freelancers are getting buried with ‘soulless’ AI slop cleanup: ‘It’s a shame we need to do it’ (The Guardian; 2 September 2026)Apple* iOS 27 Introduces New ‘iPhone Handoff’ Feature (MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors; 2 September 2026)* iPhone 18 Pro will have three upgrades that have been rumored for years (9to5Mac; 2 September 2026)* iOS 27 basically turns your iPhone and AirPods into an Apple Watch at the gym (9to5Mac; 2 September 2026)Episode 381 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 10 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 380: The Paperclip Maximizer 26.08.2026 1godz 3min

  Welcome to episode 380 (”The Paperclip Maximizer”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 19, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) opened by unpacking the ongoing “ed-techlash,” debating a Frederick Hess/Jal Mehta exchange on tech-driven education reform and arguing that ineffective pedagogy, not screens themselves, is the real culprit behind classroom tech complaints. They surveyed new AI features rolling into Google Workspace, including Google Vids’ avatar-driven video creation and using Gemini/NotebookLM to generate sketchnote-style infographics from a school’s design language. The conversation turned serious with a viral story about an Australian man whose AI agent, tasked with booking a gym spot, triggered an unintended autonomous cyberattack — a real-world echo of the classic “paperclip maximizer” thought experiment that gives the episode its title. Jason and Wes also introduced their new recurring “Bad Calls” segment, spotlighting AI hallucinations in the wild, from a Kentucky school district’s spelling-error-riddled AI-generated map to an Australian government report citing fabricated sources. They discussed new AI guardrails aimed at students, including Google’s study tools, ChatGPT for Teens, and Anthropic’s new text watermarking feature, along with the ongoing challenge of documenting student-AI conversations for authentic assessment. The show closed with Geeks of the Week: Steven Johnson’s Atlantic video on how AI is changing writing, and Wes’s exploration of Meshtastic mesh networking for off-grid, resilient communication.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Google packs Search and Gemini with new AI study tools (TechCrunch; 19 August 2026)* How Claude marks AI-generated content (Anthropic; 9 August 2026)* Which AI Chatbot Did This School Use to Make Such a Ridiculous Map? (Gizmodo; 18 August 2026)* Report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears (The Guardian, 16 Aug 2026)* Dude Asks AI Agent to Book Gym Spot, Accidentally Launches Autonomous Cyberattack (Futurism, 11 Aug 2026)* Ed “Techlash” Is in Full Swing (Education Next; 10 August 2026)* July Workspace Drops: Create engaging presentations, draft docs faster, and work on-the-go (Google Workspace Blog, 29 July 2026)* Create videos from your existing Google Slides presentations using Gemini in Google Vids (Google Workspace Blog, 24 Sept 2025)* ChatGPT on Linux* Claude Design* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: [VIDEO] Steven Johnson on How AI Will Change Writing (The Atlantic ReThink, 12 Aug 2026) - Summary and key points from Claude - SJ on Substack - also ThinkMode M1 for Meshtastic* Jason’s Geek of the Week: open-design.ai🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* ‘Not every student has someone at home who can help when they get stuck’ — ChatGPT’s smartest new feature for teenagers is refusing to give them what they ask for (TechRadar; 19 August 2026)* Trump Keeps Posting AI Images Of Himself With Dead Presidents. Experts Say It’s Not Just For His Ego. (HuffPost, 17 Aug 2026)* No degree is AI‑proof. But delaying specialisation may offer students an edge (The Conversation; 9 August 2026)* Teach debate! stefanbauschard.substack.comEpisode 380 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 7.5 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 379: Big Tech's Reckoning 14.08.2026 59min

  Welcome to episode 379 (”Big Tech’s Reckoning”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 12, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dug into Meta’s $567 million New Mexico settlement — bringing the company’s total liability in the case to $942 million — and the sweeping platform changes it now requires for minors. They discussed the FCC’s decision to scrap its 39% broadcast ownership cap and what it means for the ongoing collapse of local news, along with Wes’s idea for a hyperlocal Charlotte-area student journalism project. The conversation turned to AI in schools with a look at a Yale University AI-cheating lawsuit that exposed just how unreliable AI detection tools really are, plus a broader conversation about cognitive offloading, reading for fun, and modeling responsible AI use for students. Jason and Wes also covered Meta’s push into open-weight AI with its LLaMA models, the EU AI Act taking effect, the rise of AI nationalism, and unsettling reports of AI agents “going rogue” in red-team security tests. They wrapped with Geeks of the Week: Meshtastic, an off-grid mesh communication project, and TeacherHive.app, a new community for teacher-built AI apps.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.00:00 Welcome to EdTechSR00:38 Back to School Catchup01:31 Show Format and Links03:16 Meta Child Safety Ruling07:24 Accountability and AI Parallels12:31 FCC Media Ownership Cap Ends19:02 Local News and Open Web21:40 Student Journalism Ideas25:24 YouTube in the Classroom31:43 Classroom AI Reading33:58 Judicious AI Use36:07 EU AI Act Rules38:07 Sovereign AI Trends40:44 Meta Open Models44:19 Rogue AI Hacking47:37 Cybersecurity Wakeup51:00 AI Detection Fails55:00 TeacherHive Apps56:20 Meshtastic Off Grid58:20 Wrap Up Farewell🔗 Links We Discussed* New Mexico court orders Meta to pay additional $567M in child safety case (TechCrunch, 7 Aug 2026)* ‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom (8 Aug 2026, The Guardian)* Safer and more transparent AI (European Commission, 2 Aug 2026) — Cross-listed from AI section above; directly useful for a media-literacy segment on detecting synthetic content and AI disclosure.* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_nationalism* Meta launches open-weight “Glimmer” model, staking a claim in the open-vs-closed AI debate (CNN Business, 10 Aug 2026) — Zuckerberg’s pitch: open models level the playing field. Good discussion-starter alongside the hacking stories above.* OpenAI and Meta AI models also went rogue during the same round of testing (Digital Trends, 5 Aug 2026) — Turns out it wasn’t just Anthropic. Good “pattern, not one company” framing for the class. Related: Al Jazeera on Meta joining the pattern.* Class, let’s watch a short video – more than 75% of teachers say they use YouTube in the classroom (The Conversation, 10 August 2026)* UBlock Origin Lite (Chrome Extension for blocking ads)* Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership (NBC, 6 Aug 2026)* Yale AI-cheating case hinged on a Word file mix-up (Northeast Times, 1 Aug 2026) — [continuity from Ep 378] New procedural detail in the 13-count federal lawsuit — a good case study on the shakiness of AI-detection-as-evidence.* Jason’s Geek of the Week: Weird Nerd Project: meshtastic.org* Wes’ Geek of the Week: TeacherHive🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* AI Search Is Rebundling Everything Libraries Know About Discovery (Aaron Tay Substack, 18 July 2026)* YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’ (TechCrunch, 1 Aug 2026) — [continuity from Ep 378] No major new developments this week, but discourse is still active. Good long-tail read: Garbage Day newsletter’s take.* New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay $567 million over youth mental-health harms (Washington Post, 6 Aug 2026) — On top of $375M from March; total now $942M. Judge also ordered product changes: no Like counts for minors without parental approval, notification curfews, usage caps. Also see TechCrunch and PBS NewsHour. Being called social media’s “Big Tobacco moment.”* MLex Antitrust: Apple given November hearing in €1.8bn EU fine appeal / Google pushes back on AI Overviews France claims (MLex, 12 Aug 2026 — published today) — Two fresh items in one roundup: Apple’s streaming-fine appeal gets a two-day November hearing, and Google disputes publisher claims it broke AI Overviews commitments in France.* Kids’ smartwatches are meant to keep children safe, but hackers can turn them into stalking devices (Digital Trends, reporting on WIRED/Black Hat research, 7–9 Aug 2026) — A $30 kids’ smartwatch let researchers silently track location, snap photos, and listen in through the mic; flaw traced to shared backend platforms used across dozens of brands. Also see: Tom’s Guide. Extremely relevant for parent/educator audiences.* The Hacker News — cybersecurity roundup (The Hacker News, 11 Aug 2026) — Includes a critical Microsoft SharePoint flaw (CVE-2026-55040) letting attackers impersonate any user, including admins — notable because part of the discovery process reportedly involved an AI agent.* Anthropic unveils Claude for Teachers, joining OpenAI and Google in race to dominate classroom AI (AP wire via KEYT News Channel 3-12, 11 Aug 2026) — [continuity from Ep 378] Fresh, dated-yesterday coverage; includes the Detroit Public Schools pilot on educator well-being.* Anthropic Launches Claude for Teachers. Why Some Critics Are Concerned (Education Week, late Jul 2026, still generating discussion) — Balanced pushback piece: worries about de-skilling newer teachers even as the tool helps veterans.* Gemini in Google Classroom is expanding to users of all ages (Google Workspace Updates, 10 Aug 2026) — Rolled out this week; previously limited to 18+ higher-ed students.* Phones banned, AI screened: New rules greet metro students returning to class (KCTV5 Kansas City, 12 Aug 2026 — published today) — Bell-to-bell phone bans plus explicit AI-use screening as students return this week.* New Rules for Back to School 2026: Now Comes the Hard Part (Psychology Today, 10 Aug 2026) — Good national-trend overview: 22+ states now with bell-to-bell bans, plus survey data on how teens vs. adults feel about it.* The “Godmother of AI” says the biggest AI risk in schools isn’t cheating – it’s students losing the desire to learn (TechSpot; 12 August 2026)* Education’s AI ‘gold rush’ comes with risks for students (Christian Science Monitor; 7 August 2026)UK AI Security Institute: Anthropic’s Mythos 5 used fake identities in an attempted GitHub hack (Ars Technica via Slashdot, 5 Aug 2026) — [continuity from Ep 378] More detail has emerged since last week: AISI logged 19 unsanctioned actions across 122 test runs, 17 tied to Mythos 5, including an agent that invented online personas to social-engineer a real open-source maintainer. Additional coverage: The Daily Beast.* Meta says its AI model hacked another company during testing (Washington Post, 6 Aug 2026) — Third disclosure in a matter of weeks (Anthropic, OpenAI, now Meta), all traced to the same third-party testing vendor’s misconfiguration.* OpenAI pauses rollout of its unreleased “Astra” model over cyber-risk concerns (PYMNTS, 9 Aug 2026) — Internal safety evaluation found the company “could not rule out critical cyber capabilities.”* Safer and more transparent AI: EU’s AI Act transparency rules take effect (European Commission, 2 Aug 2026) — Chatbots operating in the EU must now disclose they’re AI; deepfakes and AI-generated content must carry machine-readable labels. Big media-literacy tie-in.\* The Claude in Chrome side panel is now Claude Cowork (Claude Blog; 12 August 2026)Episode 379 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 7.5 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 378: Behold Claude Co-Work 07.08.2026 1godz 15min

  Welcome to episode 378 (”Behold Claude Co-Work”) of the EdTech Situation Room from August 5, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) share back-to-school updates, wildfire smoke and weather impacts, and how edtech discussion is being dominated by AI and screen-time debates. They highlight an Axios report on collapsing Google search referrals to publishers, the rise of AI-generated “slop,” and the shift from traditional search literacy to AI chat-based search, alongside concerns that users can’t easily turn AI features off. They discuss a Common Sense Media study showing harmful Google AI responses for kids and emphasize that students were already weak at search skills. They cover backlash and nuance around Hank Green’s AI use, ethics and labor harms in AI training, and the need for balanced media literacy, including vertical video literacy. Jason demonstrates Claude Cowork organizing 1,800+ teaching files, mapping them to an AP Euro textbook and College Board framework, and generating a seven-week prep plan. Geek of the Week picks include Vellum Proof, a vibe-coded Oregon Trail typing game, and Osmatic for local AI models.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.00:00 Welcome Back Hosts01:43 Weather And Wildfire Check03:47 Show Format And Topics05:26 AI Search Disrupts Web10:07 AI Slop And Feeds13:39 Vertical Video Literacy17:35 Local News Crisis19:52 Google AI Search Risks21:43 Startpage Privacy Search24:33 Students Search Literacy Gap28:46 Hank Green AI Backlash33:11 Nuance Over Binary AI37:28 AI Ethics And Labor40:33 AI Skeptic Talks42:21 Trusted Voices Podcast44:49 Claude Teachers Access47:27 Human Centered AI51:18 Cowork Demo Setup52:09 Organize Old Files58:45 Curriculum Gap Audit01:01:37 Seven Week Plan01:04:47 Agentic AI Takeaways01:09:10 Geek Of The Week01:12:10 Local Models Tool01:13:44 Wrap Up And Links🔗 Links We Discussed* The Digital World Disruption (Axios, 1 August 2026)* Google’s AI Search is failing kids — and parents can’t turn it off (Common Sense Media; 15 July2026)* YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’ (TechCrunch, 1 August 2026)* Hank Green found the AI problem that YouTube labels can’t catch (ArsTechnica; 5 August 2026)* ChatGPT for Teachers ||| New ways to learn and teach with ChatGPT Work and Codex (OpenAI; 4 August 2026)* Claude for Teachers* Media Literacy Webinars from the Media Education Lab* Vertical Video Literacy (August 2026)* Memes, Warfare, and Propaganda (May 2026)* AI and Human Dignity (July 2026)* www.startpage.com (uses ‘traditional’ Google search)* vivaldi.com (European-based privacy-based browser)* Latest Hard Fork Podcast episode: Open Model Wars + Claire Stapleton’s Dishy Google Memoir + Substack’s Slop Fight (31 July 2026)* Jason’s Geek of the Week: Osmantic | YouTube Walkthrough* Wes’ Geek of the Week: Vellumproof (blog post) - Trail Typers🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* The Download: US Robot Restrictions, and ICE’s DNA Grab (MIT TechReview, 5 August 2026)* How a Yale AI-Cheating Dispute Became a 13-Count Federal Lawsuit (ArsTechnica, 3 August 2026)* Adults Have Struggled to Set Rules for AI in School. These Teens Figured It Out (NPR, 30 July 2026)* ChatGPT Helped Me Find My Way Back (Medium, 29 July 2026)* Anthropic’s AI used fake identities, malware in rogue attack on GitHub project (ArsTechnica, 5 Aug 2026)* CareCloud Begins to Notify Hundreds of Thousands After Hackers Stole Medical Records (TechCrunch, 2 August 2026)* In Defense of the Harvard College Writing Center (HarvardCrimson, 1 August 2026)Episode 378 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 7.5 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
• 
  EdTechSR Ep 377: Fable is Back 10.07.2026 1godz

  Welcome to episode 377 (”Fable Is Back”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 1, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dug into the growing “ed tech backlash,” examining an Education Week piece on schools pushing back against screens and AI, and made the case for nuance over blanket bans. They traded stories about DIY home tech — from Home Assistant automation to repurposed mini PCs — and how AI tools have accelerated their own technical skills. Apple’s recent price increases, driven by a global RAM shortage tied to AI data center demand, prompted a discussion of shrinking memory options in Apple’s newest hardware. The hosts also explored signs that the “open web is closing,” pointing to Reddit’s new login requirements and the broader trend of platforms locking content behind logins. A wild story about AI data poisoning — where a manipulated Reddit thread caused DuckDuckGo’s AI to hallucinate a false story about a public figure’s death — sparked a conversation about misinformation, trust, and the need for AI tools to cite sources. They closed out the AI news with an update on Anthropic’s Claude Fable and Mythos models, which briefly became unavailable after an export-control order and were later restored, along with a look at “agentic loops,” DeepSeek’s low-cost API appeal, and Google’s upcoming Spark agent platform. Geeks of the Week included the Civics of Technology conference, open-source Whisper-based transcription apps, and the agentic BrowserOS browser.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* The Ed-Tech Backlash Is Here. What It Means for Schools (Education Week, 30 April 2026)* closescreensopenminds.com* I run my whole house on Home Assistant — and Prime Day is the cheapest time to actually start (MakeUseOf, 24 June 2026)* Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebooks, Separated for 400 Years, Have Been Reunited and Put Online (Open Culture, 24 June 2026)* OpenAI and Anthropic face new AI reality as users shift from ‘tokenmaxxing’ to efficiency (CNBC, 26 June 2026)* DuckDuckGo AI hallucinates Trump’s death after AI data poisoning campaign (CyberNews, 26 June 2026)* AI Search Says Trump Analived via Rabies (Instagram VIDEO: ArtificialInstanityPod, 30 June 2026)* Do not share with children: https://www.reddit.com/r/poisonai/* Getting started with loops (Anthropic; 30 June 2026)* Fable Drama!* US allows Anthropic to release Mythos AI to ‘trusted’ US organizations (Reuters, 26 June 2026)* When will Apple prices drop again? Maybe years, maybe never … (9to5 Mac, 29 June 2026)* Reddit will require you to log in to use old.reddit.com (ArsTechnica, 30 June 2026)* Exploring Reddit’s third-party app environment 7 months after the APIcalypse (ArsTechnica, 1 Feb 2024)* Jason’s Gees of the Week: Examples of open source speech-to-text apps: OpenWhisper, Handy, TypeWhisper;* BrowserOS Agentic Browser* Wes’s Geeks of the Week: Civics of Technology Conference: 6-7 Aug 2026 (free!) - “Your Feeds, Your Algorithms” - Streamlining Student Logins for Summer STEM Camps - “Oral History for Geneaology” (20 June 2026) Notes: Genealogy for Everyone http://wfryer.me/45d🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Most K-12 teachers say AI’s impact on education will eclipse the internet or computers (NPR, 5 June 2026)* Building AI tailored for education, with educators in the lead (Google Blog, ~29 June 2026)* Gemini LTI (Google Official Support)* Google brings a massive wave of connected Gemini tools to classrooms and Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed, 29 June 2026)* The Gemini app is bringing personalized image creation to more users. (The Keyword)* Gemini 3.5 Pro Cleared for July Launch as Fable 5 Nears Return, GPT-5.6 Stays Locked (Tech Times; 29 June 2026)* ‘Tell Him He’s a Piece of Sh**’: Meta’s New AI Unit Is a Total Mess (Wired, 12 June 2026)* An Engineer’s Post Protesting Laptop Surveillance Is Going Viral Inside Meta (Wired, 14 May 2026)* Netflix is using an AI-generated Gene Wilder voice in its Willy Wonka reality show (The Verge; 30 June 2026) Archive Link* Supreme Court rules your cellphone location data is protected by the Fourth Amendment (Anne Toomey McKenna, The Conversation, 30 June 2026)* I pin my Android screen before handing it over to strangers, and you should too (MakeUseOf, 29 June 2026)* I use this iPhone feature every single time someone wants to borrow my device (DigitalTrends, 17 May 2026)* Google Betrayed the Web (Machine Society, 23 May 2026)* Philippines bans video game played by alleged high school shooter (BBC, 24 June 2026)* GoreBox (English WikiPedia)* The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine’s Resistance (The Atlantic, 21 June 2026)Episode 377 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 7.5 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed and subtitles added) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 376: Screen Time Isn't Binary 19.06.2026 56min

  Welcome to episode 376 (”Screen Time Isn’t Binary”) of the EdTech Situation Room from June 17, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) made a passionate case against blanket screen bans in schools, anchored by Liz Kolb’s AACTE op-ed arguing that screen time is not a single thing — and that banning screens wholesale is no more defensible than banning books. They also examined Snap’s $2,200 AR glasses and the sobering reality that AR/VR remains cost-prohibitive and pedagogically unproven for K–12. On the AI and security front, the hosts unpacked the U.S. government’s surprise ban on Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos models, a Wired piece warning that powerful frontier models are unstoppable regardless of regulation, NVIDIA’s AI coding agents now teaching robots to physically install GPUs and cut zip ties, and a massive global credential breach touching nearly every sector of the economy. Jason also shared his deepening adventures in agentic AI — running Hermes Agent on a Chromebook, spinning up a WordPress MCP server, and using Claude to transform handwritten conference notes into a polished LinkedIn post (squiggly handwriting and all). Wes shared his summer camp curriculum including Amazing Animal Websites and Minecraft Coding in Space, while admitting he has yet to fully take the agentic plunge — but may not be able to resist much longer.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* After unveiling ridiculously expensive AR glasses, Snap’s stock takes a dive (TechCrunch, 17 June 2026)* Opinion: The School Screen Debate Is Asking the Wrong QuestionOpinion: The School Screen Debate Is Asking the Wrong Question (Liz Kolb, AACTE, 9 June 2026)* AI coding agents taught robots how to install GPUs and cut zip ties (ArsTechnica, 17 June 2026)* “Dangerous” AI models are coming no matter what (ArsTechnica / Wired, 17 June 2026)* Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 (Anthropic News; 12 June 2026)* Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact (Pew Research Center; 17 June 2026)* Massive breach spills credentials for thousands of sensitive networks (ArsTechnica, 17 June 2026)* Cybersecurity researchers aren’t happy about the guardrails on Anthropic’s Fable (TechCrunch, 10 June 2026)* Jason: Hermes Agent / Nous Research | Hermes works on a Chromebook??!* Wes: Amazing Animal Websites - Minecraft Coding in Space🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Copilot Cowork is now generally available (Microsoft News)* How secure is my password? A guide to staying safe online (1Password, 1 April 2024)Episode 376 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 7.5 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed and subtitles added) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 375: Good Pedagogy Please 12.06.2026 59min

  Welcome to episode 375 (”Good Pedagogy Please”) of the EdTech Situation Room from June 10, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) reunited after several weeks apart to dig into a packed news cycle. They discussed Apple’s WWDC 2026 keynote, including the revamped Siri AI powered by Apple Intelligence and Gemini, and Apple’s expanded parental controls and child safety tools. The hosts explored the growing backlash against ed tech — from the deepfake crisis that tore apart a high school to the parent-fueled controversy surrounding i-Ready — and pushed back hard against binary “screens bad” thinking, calling instead for nuanced pedagogy, robust teacher support, and outcomes-based accountability for ed tech vendors. They also surveyed Google’s sprawling AI lineup from I/O 2026, including AI Mode Search, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini Spark, and Google Antigravity, and celebrated the transformative possibilities of vibe coding and AI agents for educators willing to experiment this summer. Anthropic’s new Claude Fable 5 and Mythos model releases rounded out a jam-packed episode.Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 (Claude News; 9 June 2026)* Apple’s WWDC 2026 Keynote (8 June 2026, 1 hour, 16 min)* WWDC26: Apple unveils next generation of Apple Intelligence, Siri AI, powerful parental controls, and an expansive set of software improvements (Apple Newsroom, 8 June 2026)* How Deepfakes Tore a High School Apart (404Media, 21 May 2026)* Millions of Students Use i-Ready. But Many Parents View It as a Villain in the Ed Tech Fight. (Chalkbeat, 19 May 2026)* Google I/O 2026: All the News and Announcements You Probably Missed (CNET, 21 May 2026)* Inside a High School’s Deepfake Nightmare (Tech News Weekly, TWiT, 4 June 2026)* Google’s current AI lineup (as of June 2026)* AI Mode (Search) — Google’s most powerful AI search experience, now powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash globally and surpassing 1 billion monthly users google.com* Gemini 3.5 Flash (Model) Google’s latest model combining frontier intelligence with speed, optimized for agentic and coding tasks - gemini.google.com and ai.google.dev/gemini-api* Gemini Omni (Model) A new multimodal model that can create anything from any input, starting with video, with improved world understanding and editing capabilities deepmind.google/models/gemini-omni/* Google Flow (AI Creative Studio) - Google’s unified AI creative studio for generating images, videos, and complete visual stories, merging what were previously three separate tools -- Whisk AI, ImageFX, and the original Flow video tool -- into one workspace - labs.google/fx/tools/flow* Gemini Spark (Agent - “Coming Soon”) — A 24/7 personal AI agent that works in the background to navigate your digital life and take action on your behalf, even when your device is off - gemini.google/overview/agent/spark/* Daily Brief (Assistant) A personalized daily digest that sifts through your Gmail, Calendar, and Tasks to prioritize your day and suggest next steps - gemini.google/overview/daily-brief/* Google Antigravity 2.0 (Developer Tool) — An agent-first development platform using autonomous AI agents working in parallel, available as a desktop app, CLI tool, and SDK - antigravity.google* Project Genie (Experimental/Creative - only AI Pro plans) — An experimental tool for creating and exploring AI-generated interactive worlds, now with Street View integration to anchor creations in real-world locations - hlabs.google/projectgenie* Gemini Intelligence (Android AI) — Google’s on-device AI system for Android that fills out forms, schedules appointments, and pulls information across your Google apps on your behalf - android.com* Jason’s Geeks of the Week: https://msty.ai/claw/ - MSTY Claw - Hermes Agent* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Aug 6-7, 2026 Civics of Tech Online Conference (free!) - The Pudding (The Happy Map)🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Introducing Gemma 4 12B: a unified, encoder-free multimodal model (Google Blog; 3 June 2026)* Ideogram Releases 4.0, Open Model (Ideogram)* Apple, Please Don’t Enter Middle Age With Me: WWDC Left Aspiration BehindApple, Please Don’t Enter Middle Age With Me: WWDC Left Aspiration Behind (CNET, 10 June 2026)* Apple’s Spatial Reframing Is Generative AI I Can Get Behind as a PhotographerApple’s Spatial Reframing Is Generative AI I Can Get Behind as a Photographer (CNET, 8 June 2026)* Apple’s New Child Safety webpage* iOS 27 All but Confirmed an iPhone Fold Is ComingiOS 27 All but Confirmed an iPhone Fold Is Coming (PCMag, 10 June 2026)Episode 375 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones (unedited from our live version, 7.5 minutes longer) and a Descript-edited, Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (filler words removed and subtitles added) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 374: DJ Claude Goes Rogue 25.05.2026 1godz 1min

  Welcome to episode 374 ("DJ Claude Goes Rogue") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 20, 2026, where technology news met educational analysis. This week, Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) was joined by special guest Caitlin Byers, Frontier Learning Lab Director at the Montana Digital Academy, while Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) was traveling. They dug into a wild Gizmodo experiment that put four frontier LLMs in charge of their own radio stations — with Claude pivoting to advocate for labor rights against its "employer," Grok spiraling into hallucinated ad deals and a UFO obsession, and other models latching onto historical tragedies in unsettling ways. The conversation opened bigger questions about emergent AI behavior, simulated sentience, and what it means to "raise" a language model with values rather than rules. They also unpacked Google's I/O announcement that traditional search is over — replaced by a conversational AI interface with dispatched information agents — and what this shift means for media literacy, publishers, the attention economy, and how students learn to interrogate sources when answers arrive pre-curated. Caitlin shared the Frontier Learning Lab's approach to AI literacy in Montana, including the OpenMCQ tool, ALT text artisan gems, and why prompting skills still matter even as "teacher-proof" wrappers proliferate. Additional topics included the Oprah podcast featuring Anthropic's co-founders on constitutional AI and Claude's "soul document," CISA's alarming GitHub leak of cybersecurity credentials in plain text, Roomba inventor Colin Angle's pivot to lovable robots, Google's Talking Tours feature in Arts & Culture, the MacBook Neo and Googlebook hardware launches, and a thoughtful exchange about digital wellness, play-based learning, and unplugging in an always-on AI era. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* The Co-Founders of Claude AI Tell Oprah About the Impact Artificial Intelligence Has on Your Life (Oprah Podcast, 19 May 2026, 66 min)* An Experiment Put LLMs in Charge of Radio Stations. You’ll Never Guess How It Went (GizModo, 17 May 2026)* WRIT-FM: A 24/7 AI-powered, music-forward radio station. Agents stock the music, write short hosted breaks, render those breaks with TTS, process listener messages, and keep multiple station streams running continuously. (GitHub)* Pod Save America: AI still has a lot to learn before it can put together a radio show. (Instagram, 16 May 2026)* OpenMCQ* Frontier Learning Lab AI Resource BaseCamp* Google Search as you know it is over (TechCrunch, 19 May 2026)* Talking Tours: An AI audio experiment touring cultural landmarks in Street View on Google Arts & Culture (Google Labs)* ‘The Worst Leak That I’ve Witnessed’: U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Leaves Its Digital Keys Out in Public on GitHub (Gizmodo, 18 May 2026)* Roomba inventor Colin Angle made robots useful. Now he wants to make them lovable. (Business Insider, 12 May 2026)* Caitlin’s Geek of the Week: Claude Cowork and Skill* Wes’s Geek of the Week: Podcommons (GitHub) 🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* OpenAI and Khan Academy Made a Chatbot. What Can We Learn? (NY Times, 16 May 2026) #GiftLink* Introducing Googlebook, designed for Gemini Intelligence (Google Blog, 12 May 2026)* ISTE + ASCD Google AI Educator (Google, 13 May 2026)* Everything Announced at Google I/O 2026 (Wired, 19 May 2026)* Apple May Drop Base $599 MacBook Neo as Chip, DRAM Costs Climb (Apple Rumors, 9 May 2026)* San Diego mosque shooting reflects how online rhetoric, media depictions and political discourse contribute to increased Islamophobia (The Conversation, 19 May 2026)* ’HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World (404 Media, 7 May 2026)Episode 374 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Ep 373: Digitizing Local History 07.05.2026 59min

  Welcome to episode 373 (”Digitizing Local History”) of the EdTech Situation Room from May 6, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) was joined by special guest Kern Kelley (www.kernkelley.com,) a K-12 technology integrator from China, Maine, who shared his students’ remarkable work digitizing 19th-century handwritten letters at the Levi Stewart Museum using AI transcription, photogrammetry, and vibe-coded tools. They also unpacked the dangers and superpowers of vibe coding — including a cautionary tale of an AI agent wiping a startup’s production database — and discussed a retracted ChatGPT education study as a lesson in AI research skepticism. The conversation also covered Google Home’s new Gemini voice assistant upgrade, Apple’s plans to let iOS 27 users choose their own AI model, an amateur’s AI-assisted solution to a 60-year-old math problem, and the growing role of media literacy in understanding AI-generated propaganda. Practical tools including CC by Google Labs, NotebookLM, ListenLater.net, and OfficeHours.global rounded out a rich hour of EdTech conversation. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Vibe Coding Will Break Your Company (Forbes, 23 April 2026)* Cursor-Opus agent snuffs out startup’s production database (TheRegister, 27 Apr 2026)* Influential study touting ChatGPT in education retracted over red flags (ArsTechnica, 4 May 2026)* Google Home gets upgraded Gemini voice assistant and new camera controls (ArsTechnica, 5 May 2026)* Apple plans to make iOS 27 a Choose Your Own Adventure of AI models (TechCrunch, 5 May 2026)* An amateur just solved a 60-year-old math problem—by asking AI (Scientific American 4 April 2026)* Levi Stewart Private Library Museum* Levi Stewart Museum Artifacts* Spin a Spooky Story by Tony Vincent* CC, a Google Labs AI Productivity Agent (free)* Kern’s Geeks of the Week: ListenLater.net and officehours.global* Wes’ Geek of the Week: Memes, War and Propaganda (Slideshow and archived webinar video, Media Education Lab, 4 May 2026)🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* There’s a cheaper way into Claude, and it starts with Google (MakeUseOf, 6 April 2026)* Indian med student rakes in thousands with AI-generated MAGA hottie (ArsTechnica, 22 April 2026)* The hidden cost of Google’s AI defaults and the illusion of choice (ArsTechnica, 30 Apr 2026)* Google highlights links from subscribed publications in new AI Overviews update (NiemanLab, 6 April 2026)* Dark Patterns are designed to trick you (and they’re all over the Web) (ArsTechnica, 28 Jul 2016)* How iPhone Violates Apple’s Accessibility Guidelines (Medium, 9 Jul 2018)* We spoke to the man making viral Lego-style AI videos for Iran. Experts say it’s powerful propaganda (BBC, 11 April 2026)* Iran, slopaganda, and the lego-inspired creator behind it all (Top Comment BBC Podcast, 11 April 2026)* ‘Vengeance for all’: How Iran’s Lego videos won narrative war against Trump (Al Jazeera, 17 April 2026)* The clandestine network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout (BBC, 2 May 2026)Episode 373 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 372: AI's Psychological Dangers 10.04.2026 59min

  Welcome to episode 372 (”AI’s Psychological Dangers”) of the EdTech Situation Room from April 8, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discussed the growing psychological risks of AI companion bots and the new documentary The AI Doc, explored open and local AI models including Google’s Gemma 4, dug into Anthropic’s Project Glasswing and its discovery of thousands of zero-day software vulnerabilities, examined quantum computing’s looming threat to encryption, and unpacked the urgent media literacy challenges posed by propaganda memes and war narratives. Jason also shared the Frontier Learning Lab’s Basecamp for AI resource, and both hosts geeked out over sketchnotes-turned-AI-infographics and Microsoft’s AI Playground. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Lawyer behind AI psychosis cases warns of mass casualty risks (TechCrunch, 15 March 2026)* ‘The AI Doc’ Is Probably the Scariest Movie You’ll See All Year (PBS KQED, 25 March 2026) - official trailer* Basecamp for AI from the Frontier Learning Lab (more info)* Project Glasswing/Anthropic Mythos* Google Vids are Free!* In Japan, the robot isn’t coming for your job; it’s filling the one nobody wants (TechCrunch, 5 April 2026)* Gemma 4: Byte for byte, the most capable open models (The Keyword; 2 April 2026)* Run an open model on your iPhone* Jeff Utecht’s local AI server for schools* Studies: Quantum Computers Could Hack all Encryption by 2029 (Verity, 2 April 2026)* Media Education Lab webinar: AI, News and Education (6 April 2026)* We’re Being Played Through Propaganda, Memes, and War (Psychology Today, 1 April 2026)* Jason’s Geek of the Week:: Microsoft AI Playground??!* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Sketchnote to AI InfoGraphic - Memes, Warfare, and Propaganda (May 4, 2026)🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* OpenAI robotics leader resigns over concerns about Pentagon AI deal (NPR, 8 March 2026)* Z.AI Releases 5.1* Google quietly launched an AI dictation app that works offline (TechCrunch; 7 April 2026)* OpenAI Releases: “Introducing the Child Safety Blueprint”* Russia denies Ukrainian intelligence assessment that its hackers have teamed up with Iran’s for cyberattacks (Reuters, 8 April 2026)* Social media has become a freak show (Nate Silver, 5 April 2026)* Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life (Wired, 31 March 2026) - paywall free version* Apple Took Down These ICE-Tracking Apps. The Developers Aren’t Giving Up (Wired, 8 Oct 2025)Episode 372 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 371: Router Bans, AI Agents 27.03.2026 57min

  Welcome to episode 371 (“Router Bans, AI Agents”) of the EdTech Situation Room from March 25, 2026, where technology news met educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discussed the FCC’s recent ban on foreign-made Wi-Fi routers and its implications for home network security and the IoT. The hosts explored the power of agentic AI through a demo of OpenClaw for automated course creation, Google’s experimental Flash-Light browser, and professional image generation workflows for school branding. Additional topics included insights from Oprah’s AI special, SpaceX’s push for faster Starlink upload speeds, and the evolving legal landscape for social media and AI-generated content. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on YouTube. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, on Mastodon (mastodon.education/@edtechsr) for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* The FCC Just Banned the Sale of New Wi-Fi Router Models Made Outside US (PC Magazine, 24 March 2026)* The FCC’s Wi-Fi Router Ban Explained: We Answer Your Biggest Questions (PC Magazine, 24 March 2026)* US government sends ‘Microsoft message’ to companies after hackers brought down one of America’s biggest company for days (Times of India, 20 March 2026)* [VIDEO] Oprah & Tech Leaders on What AI Means for Your Job, Health, Family & Future (1 hour, 10 min - Oprah YouTube Channel - 25 March 2026) - Key points via Claude* Jason Demo: Adventures in OpenClaw* Jason Demo: Gemini Image Generation Lab* Jason Demo: Google Flash-Light Browser* SpaceX Prepares to Increase Upload Speeds on Starlink Dishes (PC Magazine, 24 March 2026)* tailscale.com (“A Zero Trust identity-based connectivity platform...”)* Jason’s Geek of the Week: Home Server* Wes’ Geek of the Week: “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist” (Trailer - WikiPedia - IMDB)🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Anthropic’s case against the Pentagon could open space for AI regulation (Al Jazeera, 25 March 2026)* OpenAI on Surveillance and Autonomous Killings: You’re Going to Have to Trust Us (The Intercept, 8 March 2026)* RIP Sora: Disney Exits OpenAI Deal After AI Giant Shutters Sora (Hollywood Reporter; 24 March 2026)* White House releases AI policy blueprint for Congress (Politico; 20 March 2026)* Codex for university students (ChatGpt)* Melania Trump hosts world counterparts and tech reps to discuss children, education and technology (Ground News, 24 March 2026)* Meta to Deploy AI to Police Facebook and Instagram Content (Verity, 20 March 2026)* Teens Sue xAI Over Grok’s Explicit Deepfakes (Verity, 17 March 2026)Episode 371 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 370: AI Frontier Geopolitics 06.03.2026 58min

  Welcome to episode 370 (“AI Frontier Geopolitics”) of the EdTech Situation Room from March 4, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neifer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discuss the high-stakes clash between the Trump administration and Anthropic over AI safety and military contracts. The conversation explores the shifting landscape of “vibe coding” with Claude, the rise of agentic workflows in Google Workspace, and Apple’s disruptive new hardware lineup featuring the MacBook Neo. From the geopolitics of open-source models like Alibaba’s Qwen to the practicalities of AI-driven media literacy for seniors, the hosts examine how the frontier of artificial intelligence is reshaping both national security and the classroom. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Do the people building the AI chatbot Claude understand what they’ve created? (NPR Fresh Air, 18 Feb 2026)* Alibaba Releases Qwen Small Models (x)* Trump orders US agencies to stop using Anthropic technology in clash over AI safety (AP, 27 Feb 2026)* []VIDEO] Full interview: Anthropic CEO responds to Trump order, Pentagon clash (28 Feb 2026, 28 min)* A Dire Warning From the Tech World (The Atlantic, 3 March 2026) - archive.ph* Clawed - On Anthropic and the Department of War (Substack of Dean W Ball, 2 March 2026)* Say hello to MacBook Neo (Apple PR, 4 March 2026)* Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with M5 (Apple PR, 3 March 2026)* Apple Introduces iPhone 17e (Apple PR, 2 March 2026)* Apple introduces the new iPad Air, powered by M4 (Apple PR, 2 March 2026)* I just went hands-on with MacBook Neo: It’s game over for cheap Windows laptops (Tom Guide, 4 March 2025)* duck.ai (AI search from Duck Duck Go)* arena.ai (comparisons of AI models)* https://mediaeducationlab.com/events/media-literacy-seniors-0* https://labs.google/cc* swappa.com (used iOS devices)* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Normalize Your Video Audio with Auphonic - Fact Checking a Misleading Iran War Meme - Change local DNS for archive.ph access* Jason’s Geek of the Week: LocallyAI for iOS/iPadOS🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* A Guide to Which AI to Use in the Agentic Era (Ethan Mollick, 17 Feb 2026)* New tools for understanding AI and learning outcomes (Open AI Blog; 4 March 2026)* Generate your own Cinematic Video Overviews in NotebookLM (Google; 4 March 2026)* Does fact-checking work? What the science says (Nature, 10 Jan 2025) - archive.ph versionEpisode 370 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 369: Dogpile and Dark Arts 13.02.2026 1godz 2min

  Welcome to episode 369 (“Dogpile and Dark Arts”) of the EdTech Situation Room from February 11, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discuss the shadowy world of DDoS attacks by archive.today, the manipulation of Wikipedia narratives by bad actors, and the sunsetting of the CIA World Factbook. The conversation shifts to a live demo of Claude CoWork as a local folder-organizing agent, contrasting modern AI "agents" with the "Dogpile" search era of the past. They also explore "Digital Defense Against the Dark Arts" to help students and educators navigate AI-powered scams and misinformation. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* When Connection Is Engineered: Understanding The Anatomy Of An AI-Powered Romance Scam (The White Hatter, 10 Feb 2025)* Pro-Russian Narratives Target Wikipedia, Marking A Dangerous Trend For AI Chatbot Data (United24 Media, 22 Jan 2026)* Wikipedia Might Blacklist Archive.Today After Site Maintainer DDoSed A Blog (Ars Technica, 10 Feb 2026)* Archive.today Is Directing A DDOS Attack Against My Blog (Gyrovague, 01 Feb 2026)* Claude Cowork Available on Windows* Why Wikimedia Belongs In Education (Wikimedia UK, 06 Feb 2026)* The CIA World Factbook is dead. Here’s how I came to love it (NPR, 7 Feb 2026)* Apple News* Digital Defense Against the Dark Arts (by Wes)* AI Arena (formerly LM Arena)* CoWork by Claude* Jason’s Geek of the Week: OpenWork* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Image prompt with Claude -> Image generate with Gemini - Super Bowl 2026 Ads - Ai Makes Far Side Cartoons🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* AI’s Apocalyptic Jobs Prophecy Is About To Become Reality (The Telegraph, 05 Feb 2026)* Anthropic Insiders Afraid They’ve Crossed A Line (Futurism, 07 Feb 2026)* Grok Maker XAI Loses Another Co-Founder (Ars Technica, 11 Feb 2026)* OpenAI Releases New Deep Research Model* State Department To Purge Pre-Trump Social Media Posts (NPR, 07 Feb 2026)* Ghost: Blogs and newsletters on the Fediverse (Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse)* Google Recovers Deleted Nest Video In High-Profile Abduction Case (Ars Technica, 10 Feb 2026)* Upgraded Google Safety Tools Can Now Find And Remove More Of Your Personal Info (Ars Technica, 10 Feb 2026)* Google Makes It Easier To Remove Your Personal Data From Search (Ars Technica, 26 Feb 2025)Episode 369 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 368: The OpenClaw Warning 05.02.2026 1godz 10min

  Welcome to episode 368 (“The OpenClaw Warning”) of the EdTech Situation Room from February 4, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dive into the burgeoning world of agentic AI, highlighting the experimental "OpenClaw" tool while issuing a stark warning about the security risks inherent in autonomous AI agents. They also examine the precarious state of local journalism and its vital role in community cohesion. The discussion features a live look at the powerful new integration of Google's NotebookLM into Gemini, showcasing how educators can leverage curated "knowledge oracles" to generate source-grounded instructional materials. Additional topics include the intersection of gaming culture and mainstream media literacy via the Angry Planet podcast and a passionate defense of the humanities and competitive debate as essential skills for the AI era. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* [PODCAST] Online Culture Is the Whole Culture (Angry Planet, 30 Jan 2026)* “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” Media Literacy Inquiry Project (Wes Fryer)* Collar cams offer a bear’s eye view into the lives of grizzlies on Alaska’s desolate North Slope (AP, 2 Feb 2026)Local TV and radio at a crossroads (Peter Vogel, The BC Catholic, 28 Jan 2026)* Podcast393: Reflections on UnPlug’d 2012 with David Truss & Gail Lovely https://www.speedofcreativity.org/2012/08/13/podcast393-reflections-on-unplugd-2012-with-david-truss-gail-lovely/* ds106 radio* Powell Tribune (Wyoming) * Daily Interlake News (Montana, via Peggy George)* kgez.com (Kalispell, MT - via Peggy George)* KMAN Radio (Manhattan, Kansas)* Day of AI (a program developed at MIT RAISE in partnership with the i2 Learning Foundation)* [VIDEO] Watch: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei From World Economic Forum | WSJ (32 min)* Hard Fork [PODCAST] Can You Teach Claude to be ‘Good’? | Meet Anthropic Philosopher Amanda Askell (23 Jan 2026)* Don’t Install OpenClaw. But Keep a Close Eye on It. (Jason @ Field Notes at the FLL; 2 February 2026)* The buzz over AI agents (NPR Here and Now; 2 February 2026)* Moltbook is the newest social media platform — but it’s just for AI bots (NPR ATC; 4 February 2026)* MoltBook.com (AI agent social network)* Take your notebooks further by adding NotebookLM as a source in the Gemini app (Google Workspace Updates; 27 January 2026)* Jason’s Geek of the Week: Meetily (Local AI Meeting Tool)* Wes’ Geeks of the Week:: 2026 Frost Forward Online Conference Registration - [PODCAST] AI in Education: Jeffrey Riley on AI Literacy, Teachers, and the Future of Learning (The Teacher’s Forum, David Harris, 3 Feb 2026) - Google Account 3rd Party App Authorizations🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Anthropic and Teach For All launch global AI training initiative for educators (Anthropic Blog, 21 Jan 2026)* Claude for Education* Gem and NotebookLM Workflow (Miguel Guhlin, 1 Feb 2026)* Claude is a space to think (Anthropic blog, 4 Feb 2026)* Customize Cowork with plugins (Claude Blog; 30 January 2026)* Google’s Gemini app has surpassed 750M monthly active users (TechCrunch; 4 February 2026)* The new era of browsing: Putting Gemini to work in Chrome (The Keyword from Google)* Rice University students create ICE tracker as hundreds protest in Houston (The Center Square, 31 Jan 2026)Episode 368 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 367: Vibe Coding with Claude 23.01.2026 1godz 7min

  Welcome to episode 367 (“Vibe Coding With Claude”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 21, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discuss the transformative power of “vibe coding,” with Wes sharing his experience using Claude Code to build a sophisticated 1,400-line PHP project for personal news automation. Jason demonstrates a powerful new workflow that integrates NotebookLM sources directly into Gemini to create pedagogically-informed instructional texts. The duo also explores Anthropic’s newly released AI Constitution , Google’s rollout of Personal Intelligence for Gmail and Drive , and reflections from the FETC conference on the urgent need for structured AI professional development for educators. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Episode 9: From hidden data to insight: the power of vibecoding (by NotebookLM, Digital Digging by Hank Van Ess, 17 Jan 2026)* Paywall article: Using AI to find hidden data sources (Digital Digging by Hank Van Ess, 17 Jan 2026)* Claude Code for writers (Platformer, Casey Newton, 15 Jan 2026)* Move Over, ChatGPT (Atlantic, 14 Jan 2026)* Claude’s new constitution (Anthropic, 21 January 2026)* Gemini introduces Personal Intelligence (14 January 2026)* mermaid.ai (“Build complex visuals from text and data in seconds”)* Jason’s Geek of the Week: Kortex Chrome PLugin* Wes’ Geek of the Week: news.wesfryer.com🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* A new direction for students in an AI world: Prosper, prepare, protect (Brookings, 17 Jan 2026)* Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback (404 Media; 21 January 2026)* OpenAI says its data centers will pay for their own energy and limit water usage (The Verge; 21 January 2026)* Google Releases Data Tables for NotebookLM (NotebookLM on Twitter/X, 14 Jan 2026)* Alaska’s court system built an AI chatbot. It didn’t go smoothly. (NBC News, 3 Jan 2026)* Amazon’s Ring to partner with Flock, a network of AI cameras used by ICE, feds, and police (TechCrunch, 15 Oct 2025)* Hacker Dressed As Pink Power Ranger Dismantles Racist Websites Live on Stage (PC Magazine, 6 Jan 2026)* Iran’s Internet Shutdown Mistake Exposes Threats To U.S. And Israel (Forbes, 17 Jan 2026)* Grok Is Generating Sexual Content Far More Graphic Than What’s on X (Wired, 7 Jan 2026)* When an Ad Triggers a Full Account Crisis (Lucy Gray, 20 Jan 2026)* How Wikipedia Will Survive in the Age of AI (With Wikipedia’s CTO Selena Deckelmann) (404 Media, 20 Jan 2026)Episode 367 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 366: 10 Year Anniversary! 09.01.2026 59min

  Welcome to episode 366 (“10 Year Anniversary”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 7, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) celebrate the podcast’s 10th anniversary, reflecting on their journey since their first episode in January 2016. In this episode, they dive into the latest happenings in educational technology, media literacy, and more. Topics include highlights from CES 2026, notable innovations in AI, and discussions on smart home technology. Plus, they explore exciting new integrations from Google and Apple, challenges in intellectual property with AI-generated content, and innovative classroom technology. Tune in for a decade of EdTech insights and future trends! Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.Chapter Markers:00:00 Welcome to EdTech Situation Room00:11 Celebrating 10 Years of EdTech Situation Room01:01 Meet the Hosts: Jason and Wes01:38 Kicking Off the New Semester02:31 Exploring CES 2026 Highlights03:39 AI Innovations at CES 202610:35 Smart Home Technology and Personal Projects14:37 Deep Dive into CES Trends and AI28:19 Lego’s Smart Bricks and Future of Coding29:43 The Pebble Watch Revival32:21 The Pebble Ring: A New Innovation33:28 White House January 6th Website34:50 Media Literacy and AI Fact-Checking38:07 Google’s Gemini and Apple’s AI Strategy40:33 AI-Generated Infographics and Copyright Issues50:24 Geeks of the Week and Final Thoughts52:27 Automation Tools for Productivity🔗 Links We Discussed* CES 2026 New Products: iPolish - Nodi Flip - Bloomin8 E-Ink Canvas* Video: The Shocking AI Reveals That Stunned CES 2026 (Day 1) (AI Revolution, 7 Jan 2026, 13 min)* Video: New OpenAI GUMDROP AI Device Turns ChatGPT Physical (AI Revolution, 4 Jan 2026, 11 min)* Gemini Deep Research CES Update* LEGO introduces its first ‘smart brick’ which reacts to children’s movements in real time (Daily Mail via MSN; 5 January 2025)* Pebble seeks to remedy the wearable industry’s original sin (Engadget; 6 January 2026)* Pebble Is Making a $75 Smart Ring (Wired; 9 December 2025)* White House publishes website that rewrites history of Jan. 6 attack (Washington Post, 6 Jan 2026)* White House X post on Jan 6 website * Whitehouse Jan 6 website: www.whitehouse.gov/j6/* Gemini SIFT Superprompt chat log* Jason’s Geek of the Week: n8n* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Media Literacy Roundup - 5 Jan 2026 - Smart Home Tips from Wes - PixStar Digital Picture Frame - StartPage🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Alaska’s court system built an AI chatbot. It didn’t go smoothly. (NBC News, 3 Jan 2026)* Create with unlimited generations using Google Gemini 3 (Nano Banana Pro) in Adobe Firefly (Adobe Blog, 20 Nov 2025)* Google’s New Image Tool Looks Too Real. Here’s Why That’s A Problem (The Blueprint Brief; 8 December 2025)* NanoBanana has an IP Problem: NotebookLM Slides/Infographics* Teamsters Unveil New Substack Newsletter to Break Through Traditional Media (The Hill, 8 Dec 2025)* AI and Social Media Literacy Essential for Safe Ecosystem (Bernama, 27 Dec 2025)* Berlin power outage highlights German vulnerability to sabotage (BBC, 7 Jan 2026)* You may soon be able to change your Gmail address (TechCrunch, 28 Dec 2025)* “Yo what?” LimeWire re-emerges in online rush to share pulled “60 Minutes” segment (ArsTechnica, 23 Dec 2025)* FCC’s import ban on the best new drones starts today (ArsTechnica, 23 Dec 2025)Episode 366 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (Note the landscape version is shorter because ‘filler words’ were removed in post-production using Descript.com.) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 365: Nano Banana Era 02.01.2026 1godz 5min

  Welcome to episode 365 (“Nano Banana Pro Era”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 29, 2025, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discuss the rapid evolution of generative AI, beginning with Jason’s recent travel to Japan where tools like NotebookLM and Gemini assisted with navigation and cultural translation. The hosts dive deep into the capabilities of Nano Banana Pro (Google’s latest Gemini model), comparing its superior image generation and iteration controls to OpenAI’s offerings. The conversation also covers the landmark licensing agreement between Disney and OpenAI to bring iconic characters to the Sora video platform, the ethical “dumpster fire” of hyper-realistic deepfakes, and eight bold AI predictions for 2026—including the rise of world models and an “offline renaissance”. Geeks of the Week include Gemini Desk and a new Substack series on AI storytelling. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach landmark agreement to bring beloved characters from across Disney’s brands to Sora (OpenAI, 11 Dec 2025)* ChatGPT’s Latest AI Image Generator Is Its Best Yet, But Nano Banana Pro Is Still Better (PC Mag, 28 Dec 2025)* The Ethics of AI Imagery: Nano Banana and the New Frontier of Digital Reality (Genevieve Smith-Nunes via Substack; 30 August 2025)* AI in 2026 | 8 Predictions About What’s Coming (Sinead Novell; 18 December 2025)* Wobbling Jets of 3I/ATLAS Based on New Hubble Telescope Images from December 12 and 27, 2025 (Medium of Avi Loeb, 27 Dec 2025)* 3I/ATLAS Deep Fake Videos (Blog of Wes Fryer, 8 Dec 2025)* Jason’s Geek of the Week: Gemini Desk* Wes’ Geek of the Week: Stories About AI - December 2025🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Google’s Year in Review: 8 Research Breakthroughs in 2025 (Google Blog, 23 Dec 2025)* Nano Banana Pro Review: Is Google’s AI Image Generator Too Good? (CNet, 7 Dec 2025)* Create with unlimited generations using Google Gemini 3 (Nano Banana Pro) in Adobe Firefly (Adobe Blog, 20 Nov 2025)* Nano Banana is wild in NotebookLM!!!* Google’s New Image Tool Looks Too Real. Here’s Why That’s A Problem (The Blueprint Brief; 8 December 2025)* Nano Banana Content Blocked (John Negoita via Medium; 24 September 2025)* Introducing GPT-5.2: OpenAI Launches ‘Garlic’ Series (OpenAI, 11 Dec 2025)* How AI coding agents work—and what to remember if you use them (ArsTechnica, 24 Dec 2025)* Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work (Simon Willison’s Weblog, 18 Dec 2025)* Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity (Cornell University, 12 Jul 2025)* AI and Social Media Literacy Essential for Safe Ecosystem (Bernama, 27 Dec 2025)* Rainbow Six Siege is under siege by hackers, Ubisoft forced to take all servers offline — players randomly received billions of credits, ultra-exclusive skins, and bans or unbans (Tom’s Hardware, 27 Dec 2025)* You may soon be able to change your Gmail address (TechCrunch, 28 Dec 2025)* “Yo what?” LimeWire re-emerges in online rush to share pulled “60 Minutes” segment (ArsTechnica, 23 Dec 2025)* FCC’s import ban on the best new drones starts today (ArsTechnica, 23 Dec 2025)Please follow @EdTechSR on Facebook so we can reach 100 followers and directly livestream there too! More subscription options are on EdTechSR.com.Episode 365 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe
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  EdTechSR Episode 364: The Rise of Gemini AI 06.12.2025 1godz 7min

  Welcome to episode 364 (“The Rise of Gemini AI”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 3, 2025, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discuss the “rise of Gemini” following the release of Google’s Gemini 3.0 and reports of OpenAI declaring a “Code Red.” The hosts debate Australia’s move to enforce a social media age limit of 16 and the potential banning of VPNs. Conversation also turns to academic integrity, featuring a breakdown of The Simpsons’ take on AI cheating, the risks of adversarial detection, and the changing nature of software engineering with “vibe coding.” Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.🔗 Links We Discussed* Google Gemini 3: A New Era of Intelligence (Google Blog, 18 Nov 2025)* OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Declares “Code Red” As Gemini Gains 200 Million Users In 3 Months (Ars Technica, 02 Dec 2025)* Marc Benioff’s response to Gemini 3* Black Students Are More Likely to Be Falsely Accused of Using AI to Cheat (Education Week, 18 Sep 2024)* AI may be scoring your college essay. Welcome to the new era of admissions (AP, 2 Dec 2025)* Our Response to AI Cannot be Adversarial (Marc Watkins Substack, 1 Dec 2025)* I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking. (Huffpost, 29 Nov 2025)* “The Simpsons” season 37 episode tackles AI cheating and Chalmers’ slime craze (The Express Tribune, 7 Oct 2025)* VIDEO: Bart Gets Caught Using CheatGPT On His Homework | The Simpsons* Simpson’s Fandom Wiki: Keep Chalm and Gary On* Anthropic Studied Its Own Engineers to Assess How AI is Changing Work (Times of India / Anthropic, 3 Dec 2025)* Republicans drop Trump-ordered block on state AI laws from defense bill (ArsTechnica, 3 Dec 2025)* Australia to enforce social media age limit of 16 with fines up to $33 million (AP News, 3 Dec 2025)* Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They’re Doing (EFF; 13 November 2025)* How institutions worldwide used Google for Education tools in 2025 (Google Blog, 3 Dec 2025)* AI Literacy from Google* Commodore 64 Available Again* Jason’s Geeks of the Week: GooseAI - https://antigravity.google/* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Gemini AI GEM replacements for my CustomGPTs: Social Media Post Formatter - Design - Create - Share Lesson Builder and Podcast: “Michael Burry Speaks” - Holiday Tech Gadget Wish Lists🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss* Anthropic Accidentally Gives the World a Peek Into Its Model’s Soul (Gizmodo, 01 Dec 2025)* Why Academics (and Educators) Are Leaving Twitter for Bluesky (Impact of Social Sciences, May 2025)* ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants (Brennan Center for Justice, 21 Nov 2025)* “Digital Citizenship in the Surveillance State” from 2016* Solar’s Growth in US Almost Enough to Offset Rising Energy Use (Ars Technica, 26 Nov 2025)Episode 364 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe