#EdTechSR Discussion Links
Episodes 201+
Our archived Google Doc (Episodes 1-200) is also available.
This is a public document of links shared and discussed on “The EdTech Situation Room.” (@edtechSR) Links which are discussed in shows are included in podcast episode shownotes. This Google Document is linked and embedded on http://edtechsr.com/links/. Suggest links and contribute to our conversations using the Twitter hashtag #edtechSR, and during our live shows by joining us on YouTube Live.
Episode 330: 18 July 2024 (Thursday NOT Wednesday!)
Episode 312: 6 December 2023 - Holiday Tech Gift Guide
Episode 281: 18 January 2023 Stories of Piracy
Episode 271: 21 September 2022
Episode 270: 14 September 2022
Episode 233: 29 September 2021
Episode 232: 22 September 2021
Episode 231: 15 September 2021
Ideas for DigCit posts
- Passwords
- https://twitter.com/CommonSenseEd/status/1030937401949138947
- https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/1031334615993249794
- To Catch A Robber, The FBI Attempted An Unprecedented Grab For Google Location Data (Forbes, 15 Aug 2018)
Geek of the Week Ideas:
- https://snag.gy
- Scan a QR code with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Customize [G Suite] spam filter settings
- www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/
- https://realhappinessproject.bbcearth.com/
- https://classflow.com/
- Space Exploration Educators Conference - Virtual Conference Feb. 4-6, 2021
- Reverse Video Editor (free iOS app)
- How to Merge and Remove Duplicate Contacts in macOS and iCloud (MacRumors, 23 Feb 2019)
- Google Contacts Suggestions
- Apollo in Real Time (access every moment in the historical record from these historic Apollo missions!) via @smartereveryday
- MisInfo Day: 15 March 2022
- Go Viral Game
- Wiki Loves Folklore
- Thinklink Virtual Tour Example
- ISS Mimic
- Civics of Technology project and site
- https://www.capturefully.com/
- https://readwise.io
- CoDrone EDU
- Social Media Post Formatter - CustomGPT: EdTechSR Podcast Post-Production (April 2025) - Cursor - the AI Code Editor
Jason’s Random List
Jason’s BDay: Oct 16th!
- Lesson: Web Searchable Spreadsheet - : Glide (I keep turning my Google Sheets into phone-friendly webapps, and I can’t stop (ArsTechnica, 26 Dec 2024)
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As the Executive Director of the Montana State virtual school program, Montana Digital Academy, I am interested in virtual education policies, technologies, and best practices for K-12 education. I am also focused on the development of study and online learning skills in students, educational technology, AI in education, and social studies and humanities education.
Please provide a summary of this document that highlights the 5-10 major points most relevant to my role and context.
Please also attempt attempt to identify what this document is along with the context of the document.
Thank you!
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AI Articles Categories
Based on the range of topics covered in your podcast episodes, here are six potential subcategories to organize your discussions:
AI Ethics and Social Impact: This category could include discussions on algorithmic discrimination, AI's role in privacy and surveillance (like Clearview AI), and societal concerns such as AI-generated fake news or deepfakes. It can also encompass broader ethical issues like the potential for AI to replicate voices without consent.
AI in Creative Industries and Intellectual Property: This category could focus on the impact of AI on creative fields, including copyright issues with AI art generators, AI's role in generating or replicating literary and artistic works, and the implications for artists and writers.
AI in Business and Industry: This could cover how businesses are integrating AI, such as Amazon's investment in AI startups, Google's AI advancements, and the use of AI in various industries (like Microsoft's developments). It can also include discussions about the economic implications of AI advancements.
AI Policy and Regulation: This section would delve into the governmental and legal aspects of AI, including regulatory measures, legal cases involving AI (like copyright infringement or safety concerns), and policies from tech giants regarding AI usage and development.
AI Technology and Innovations: This category can focus on the technical advancements in AI, such as new features in ChatGPT, developments in large language models, AI in weather forecasting, and updates from major AI companies like OpenAI and Google.
AI in Education and Academic Settings: This could include discussions on how AI is being used in educational contexts, AI's role in student assessment, tools for detecting AI-generated work, and educational initiatives to teach AI and its implications.
Episode 359: 17 September 2025
- AI
- Freedom of Expression / Free Speech
- Police make 30 arrests a day for offensive online messages (Times of London, 4 April 2025)
- China
- “China Keeps the Algorithm”: Critics Attack Trump’s TikTok Deal (Ars Technica, 17 Sep 2025)
- China Blocks Sale of Nvidia AI Chips (Ars Technica, 17 Sep 2025)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason:
- Wes:
Episode 358: 3 September 2025
- AI
- Gemini Is Replacing Google Assistant on Google Home Devices from October 1 — Here’s What We Know (Tom’s Guide, 3 September 2025)
- AI Killed My Job: Translators (Blood in the Machine, 21 Aug 2025)
- Someone Ordered 18,000 Cups of Water at an AI Drive-Thru — Now Fast Food Chains Are Reconsidering (ZDNet, 3 September 2025)
- Google Unveils Jules, Its Autonomous Coding Agent (Geeky Gadgets, 2 September 2025)
- NASA and Google Test AI Medical Assistant for Astronaut Missions to the Moon and Mars (Space.com, 3 September 2025)
- Chatbots Are Susceptible to Flattery and Peer Pressure (The Verge, 3 September 2025)
- How AI Upended a Historic Antitrust Case Against Google (Tech Policy Press, 3 Sept 2025)
- Media Channel and Media recommendations
- Tools
- Google AI Studio: https://aistudio.google.
- Terms
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://lmarena.ai/
- Wes: DIY Home Assistant IoT Setup (video) - Wes’ Flipboard magazine iReading - Federated Reader
Episode 357: 27 August 2025
- AI
- Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models (TechCrunch, 22 Aug 2025)
- Nano Banana : A Free AI Image Editor That Could Be Photoshop’s Biggest Rival (Geeky Gadgets, 22 Aug 2025) - Nano Banana - example
- https://www.freepik.com/
- https://chat.qwen.ai/ (image modifier)
- Digital Learningpalooza https://www.deelac.com/digital-learningpalooza/
- Matt Wolfe on YouTube about AI: https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow
- Sabrina Romanov on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sabrina_ramonov
- AI Platform
- https://schoolai.com/
- https://www.playlab.ai/
- “Build a Bot Workshop” (intermediate) and “Prompting is Teaching” (basic) https://frontierlearninglab.substack.com/p/schools-training-for-an-ai-future
- Apple
- Deciphering Apple’s Awe-Dropping iPhone 17 Event Invite (CNET, 26 August 2025)
- Security
- Someone Created the First AI-Powered Worm That Can Spread Automatically (The Hacker News, 26 August 2025)
- Anthropic Disrupts AI-Powered Disinformation Campaign Targeting Global Elections (The Hacker News, 27 August 2025)
- Experts Find AI Browsers Can Be Tricked Into Performing Dangerous Actions (The Hacker News, 20 August 2025)
- Misc
- This Famous Star Is a Total Fraud, Astronomers Say (Gizmodo, 19 Aug 2025)
- Frontier Learning Lab Substack: frontierlearninglab.substack.com
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Play with International AI
- https://mistral.ai/
- https://chat.z.ai/
- https://chat.deepseek.com/sign_in
- https://chat.qwen.ai/
- https://app.reka.ai/chat
- https://www.kimi.com/
- Wes: Home Assistant Green
- 7 Laws of Good Web Design: www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/54749294891
- Google Site Milestone 1: www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/54749513344
Episode 356: 20 August 2025
- AI
- OpenAI Is Reportedly Building a Social Network to Compete With X (The Verge, 20 August 2025)
- 4 Predominant Narratives with AI (that are not helpful)
- AI is a cheating machine
- AI rots your brain
- AI creates superpowers for you
- AI will save you time
- Wes’ posts on AI
- 2025 Civics of Technology Conference (homepage)
- Civics of Tech Conference Day 1 Reflections
- Is Any AI Use Ethical?
- AI clear use cases (“no debate uses”)
- ALT text - W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0
- She Knows ALT Text (Custom GPT)
- Troubleshooting tech issues (WordPress, Linux VPS, other geek squad stuff)
- Recipe and cooking instructions
- OPEN MCQ from Montana Digital Academy: https://wfryer.me/openmcq
- Use the VISION part of ChatGPT
- Social Media
- Missouri Districts Begin New School Year with State‑Mandated Cell‑Phone Ban (Missouri Independent, 20 Aug 2025)
- Back to School: Iowa Students Will Return to Class With Cell Phone Restrictions (KCCI, 18 Aug 2025)
- New State Laws Bring Major Changes for Texas Schools (Texas Tribune, 18 Aug 2025)
- Updated Terms and Policies (Bluesky, 14 August 2025)
- Bluesky announced updates to its Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, Privacy Policy, and Copyright Policy to improve clarity, comply with global regulations, and strengthen user protections. The new Community Guidelines, open for feedback until August 28 and effective October 15, focus on four principles—Safety First, Respect Others, Be Authentic, and Follow the Rules—while clarifying harm categories, enforcement, and appeals. The Terms of Service, effective September 15, add age assurance requirements, a detailed appeals process, and expanded dispute resolution options that emphasize informal resolution before arbitration or court. Updates to the Privacy Policy enhance transparency about user rights, international data transfers, data retention, and jurisdiction-specific rules. Finally, the Copyright Policy streamlines takedown requests, introduces measures against misuse, and expands transparency reporting.
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Get started with the Model Context Protocol (MCP) - Obsidian
- Wes: Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Mike Caufield - Podcast: Digital Digging - The Shitification of Google - Wes’ social bookmarks (Pinboard) for #edtechSR
Episode 355: 9 July 2025
- AI
- AI Is Helping Cheaters Cheat at Chess. This Group Is Trying to Stop It (Time, 09 July 2025)
- Racist AI Videos Created With Google Veo 3 Are Proliferating on TikTok (Ars Technica, 1 July 2025)
- Perplexity launches "Comet" AI web browser to take on Chrome and Edge — and you can use it today for $200 a month (Windows Central; 9 July 2025)
- This Year’s Hot New Tool for Chefs? ChatGPT. (NYT; 2 June 2025 - Gift Link)
- ChatBots
- Mark Zuckerberg Already Knows Your Life. Now He Wants His AI to Run It (Gizmodo, 30 June 2025)
- Inside ‘AI Addiction’ Support Groups, Where People Try to Stop Talking to Chatbots (404 Media, 26 Jun 2025)
- Scraping Ethics
- Control Content Use for AI Training With Cloudflare’s Managed Robots.txt and Blocking for Monetized Content (Cloudflare Blog, 01 July 2025)
- Multiple AI Companies Bypassing Web Standard to Scrape Publisher Sites Without Licensing (Reuters, 21 June 2024)
- Creative Commons debuts CC signals, a framework for an open AI ecosystem (Tech Crunch; 25 June 2025)
- Social Media
- Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech (Techdirt, 28 Aug 2019)
- [PODCAST] Reclaiming The Internet with Mike Masnick and Aaron Ross (Techdirt Podcast, 8 Jul 2025)
- EdTech Announcements from ISTE
- Jason Reports on ISTE/ASCD
- ISTE 2025 Collection: New Chromebooks and Tools for Even Better Teaching and Learning (Google Blog, 2 July 2025)
- What’s New in Microsoft EDU, ISTE Edition June 2025 (Microsoft Education Blog; 25 June 2025)
- Apple Skips ISTE (Apple Community Forums)
- Security
- The Most Imminent Cyber Threat Is Called ‘Scattered Spider’ (Wired, 02 July 2025)
- Feds Warn of Possible Cyber Attacks By Iran on US Critical Infrastructure (Ars Technica, 30 June 2025)
- TIP: Look for Perplexity Pro keys on eBay
- Geek of the Week:
- Jason: https://obsidian.md/ | https://www.raycast.com
- Wes: Privacy, Power and Platforms - Vibe Coding for Flickr CC 4.0 Attribution - DIA browser
Episode 354: 25 June 2025
- AI
- Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task (MIT; 10 June 2025)
- AI Company Anthropic Sued Over Use of Copyrighted Books to Train Chatbots (AP News, 25 June 2025)
- Ethan Mollick on LinkedIn
- Social Media
- Reports of Bluesky's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated (MATHEW INGRAM, 18 Jun 2025)
- Facebook Group Admins Complain of Mass Bans, Meta Says It’s Fixing the Problem (TechCrunch, 24 June 2025)
- From Threads to Thoughts: How Social Media Is Shaping Public Dialogue (Deliberative Citizenship Initiative, 24 June 2025)
- AI is ruining Pinterest. Here's why it's such a big problem (ZDnet, 11 March 2025)
- Security / Surveillance
- The High Stakes of Biometric Surveillance (Tech Policy Press, 24 June 2025)
- Free Speech
- How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation (The New Yorker, 24 June 2025)
- News Over Noise [PODCAST] Episode 308: The Campus Free Speech Panic: Who’s Fueling the Misinformation Machine? (Bradford Vivian)
- Misc
- Creative Commons 4.0 Has Arrived on Flickr! (Flickr, 18 Jun 2025)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://witsyai.com/
- Wes: Wes’ Pinboard - Creating Cool Websites (June 2025 media camp) - BookletCreator
Episode 353: 11 June 2025
- AI
- A Professor Testing ChatGPT’s, DeepSeek’s and Grok’s Stock-Picking Skills Suggests Stockbrokers Should Worry (MarketWatch, 10 Jun 2025)
- We Need More AI Oversight, Not Less (Seattle Times, 9 Jun 2025)
- Unpacking Empire AI: Karen Hao | Podcast Transcript (MSNBC, 11 Jun 2025)
- 2025 Student Guide to AI by Elon University
- AGI
- The Government Knows AGI is Coming (Video: The Ezra Klein Show, 4 March 2025, 63 min)
- The Man Who ‘A.G.I.-Pilled’ Google (NYT Hard Fork Podcast, 23 May 2025)
- Character AI
- Big Win in Our Character.AI Lawsuit: TJLP Statement on the Motion to Dismiss Decision (Tech Justice Law Project, 21 May 2025)
- A Federal Judge Ruled AI Chatbots Don’t Have Free Speech Protections — For Now (Marketplace, 6 Jun 2025)
- Character.AI: What to Know About the Role-Playing AI Tool and Its New Video Features (CNET, 10 Jun 2025)
- Chatbot Platform Character.AI Unveils Video Generation, Social Feeds (TechCrunch, 2 Jun 2025)
- Anti AI News
- Teachers Are Not OK (404 Media; 2 June 2025)
- Against Technofeudal Education (The American Vandal; 10 June 2025)
- Artificial Power: 2025 Landscape Report (AI Now; 3 June 2025)
- Anti Anti AI News
- I Think I’m Done Thinking About genAI For Now (Glyph Lefkowitz; 4 June 2025)
- Jason AI Experiments
- Buyer’s Guides
- Prompt
- Google Gemini Deep Research
- Perplexity Labs Research
- Mac Software Web Object
- School OS Web Object
- Perplexity Labs - Cheap Perplexity?
- “AI First”
- Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI (The Verge; 28 April 2025)
- Going ‘AI first’ appears to be backfiring on Klarna and Duolingo (Fast Company; 12 May 2025)
- Apple - WWDC 2025
- WWDC 2025 Main Keynote (YouTube, 9 June 2025, 1.5 hours)
- Apple is shipping through it (Platformer; 9 June 2025)
- Apple Tiptoes With Modest AI Updates While Rivals Race Ahead (Ars Technica, 9 Jun 2025)
- Apple Opens Its AI to Developers but Keeps Its Broader Ambitions Modest (Reuters, 9 Jun 2025)
- Apple Underwhelms at WWDC With Incremental AI Changes, New Software Name and 'Liquid Glass' Design (AP News, 10 Jun 2025)
- Social Media
- The problem(s) with platforms with Cory Doctorow (Democracy Works Podcast, 19 March 2025)
- Other Topics
- The Path Forward for WordPress (Joost Blog, 5 Jun 2025)
- WordPress Co-Founder Mullenweg’s Reaction To FAIR Project (Search Engine Journal, 10 June 2025)
- Disney, Universal Sued Over AI Images Allegedly Made With Midjourney (AP News, 10 June 2025)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: WebCatalog
- Wes: Beyond the Algorithmic Feed - LibreWolf
Episode 352: 21 May 2025
- AI
- Google IO
- Everything Google announced at I/O 2025: Gemini, Search, Android, and more (9 to 5 Google; 21 May 2025)
- Google NotebookLM made by Google describing all of the new released by Google at Google I/O
- What are the Gemini app’s free, AI Pro, and AI Ultra limits (9 to 5 Google; 21 May 2025)
- Project Starline becomes Google Beam, debuts real-time translation (9 to 5 Google; 20 May 2025)
- So Many GSuite AI Stuff: Gmail getting personalized smart replies as Google Vids adds AI avatars (9 to 5 Google; 20 MAy 2025)
- Google’s NotebookLM is getting Video Overviews (TechCrunch; 20 May 2025)
- OpenAI
- Future ChatGPT Could Store and Analyze Your Entire Digital Life (Digital Information World; 16 May 2025)
- OpenAI and Jony Ive Open io
- Frameworks
- UT Unveils Proposed Guidelines for Responsible Use of AI in Teaching and Learning (UT News; 20 May 2025)
- A4L: A4L: An Architecture for AI-Augmented Learning (Arxiv; 8 May 2025)
- Accessibility: AI for Accessible Education: Personalized Audio-Based Learning for Blind Students (Arxiv; 23 April 2025)
- White House Issues Executive Order to Advance AI Education for American Youth (National Law Review: 5 May 2025)
- CEOs of Microsoft, Salesforce, and Hundreds More Push for AI Training in High School (INC. Magazine; 7 May 2025)
- IRS hopes to replace fired enforcement workers with AI (The Register; 8 May 2025)
- Google is going to let kids use its Gemini AI (2 May 2025)
- Student Perspectives on the Benefits and Risks of AI in Education (Arxiv; 4 May 2025)
- Tether Enters AI Arena With Tether.AI (CoinDesk; 5 May 2025)
- Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Reportedly Changing Its Deal With ChatGPT (Yahoo Finance, 13 May 2025)
- We need to prepare for ‘addictive intelligence’ (MIT Tech Review, 8 Aug 2024)
- Stuff to Try:
- Qwen Deep Research
- LegoGPT | Article
- Ideogram 3.0
- SIFT Prompt (via Mike Caufield)
- Microsoft launches Phi-4-Reasoning-Plus, a small, powerful, open weights reasoning model! (Future Beat; 1 May 2025) | Free Access via OpenRouter
- Someone got an LLM running on a Commodore 64 from 1982, and it runs as well as you'd imagine (XDA; 4 May 2025)
- Hugging Face releases a free Operator-like agentic AI tool (TechCrunch; 6 May 2025)
- PISA 2029 Media and Artificial Intelligence Literacy
- Dear College Board: a note from K-12 Technology Leaders
- District Technology
- Trimming the Edtech Fat: How Districts Are Streamlining Their Digital Ecosystems (EdSurge; 16 May 2025)
- Meta Battles an ‘Epidemic of Scams’ as Criminals Flood Instagram and Facebook (WSJ, 15 May 2025) archive.ph link
- Authorship technologies:
- Geeks of the Week:
- Wes: Better Video Audio with Auphonic and Study Hall and [VIDEO] The "vibe coding" mind virus explained… (Fireship)
- Jason: https://github.com/theJayTea/WritingTools
Episode 351: 14 May 2025
- AI (Duh)
- AI Trust You (EdTech Digest; 14 April 2025)
- Chrome Plugin
- Creating AI Transparency and Academic Honesty With AI Trust You, A New Free Browser Extension (Tech & Learning; 21 April 2025)
- Chatbots
- Social AI Companions (Common Sense Media, 28 April 2025) - ChatGPT Summary
- People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies (Rolling Stone, 4 May 2025) - Archive.ph version
- We Let the Chatbots In — Now They’re Teaching “Care” (James O’Hagan on Medium)
- Stuff to Try:
- Qwen Deep Research
- LegoGPT | Article
- Ideogram 3.0
- SIFT Prompt (via Mike Caufield)
- Microsoft launches Phi-4-Reasoning-Plus, a small, powerful, open weights reasoning model! (Future Beat; 1 May 2025) | Free Access via OpenRouter
- Hugging Face releases a free Operator-like agentic AI tool (TechCrunch; 6 May 2025)
- https://www.meta.ai/
- Sycophancy
- Expanding on what we missed with sycophancy; OpenAI (OpenAI; 2 May 2025)
- HardFork on Sycophancy
- RIP “I’m feeling lucky:” Google Homepage Pushes AI Mode Forward, Leaves 'I'm Feeling Lucky' Button Behind (Digital Information World; 14 May 2025)
- Copyright
- Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired (The Verge, 14 May 2025)
- Judge in Meta case warns AI could 'obliterate' market for original works (Reuters; 1 May 2025)
- Alternative to UBlock Origin: https://nextdns.io/
- Emily Bender & Alex Hanna: “The AI Con” — Busting Big-Tech Hype, TESCREAL Terrors & Real-World Harms - AI Inside | The Book
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Croissant for iOS
- Jason: The Document is the Prompt: The Two Quiet Superpowers of Today’s AI Tools (Jason @ LinkedIn)
Episode 350: 16 April 2025
- AI
- Google suspended 39.2 million malicious advertisers in 2024 thanks to AI (ArsTechnica, 16 April 2025)
- Privacy
- That groan you hear is users’ reaction to Recall going back into Windows (ArsTechnica, 11 Apr 2025)
- Other
- Ideas
- Have an open door policy for parents to come observe lessons
- Can use an AI loaded with best practices for teaching, and get feedback after directly loading up the hour long video
- AI Magic Trick ideas
- Image generation: 60s style superheroes
- Image prompt: head cut style like WSJ
- Deep Research tools: Create a dossier about individuals based on Gemini Deep Research
- Follow Stephan Bauchard on AI: https://stefanbauschard.substack.com/
- Use Deepseek AI: https://chat.deepseek.com/
- https://www.playlab.ai/
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason:
- Wes: Wes and Shelly Share Ep 33: Sources of Joy and Summer Plans and Multi-Segment Audio Podcast lesson (and tools)
Episode 349: 9 April 2025
- OMGAI
- New Google Workspace Tools (Google Blog; 26 March 2025)
- Gmail’s new AI search now sorts emails by relevance instead of chronological order (TechCrunch; 20 March 2025)
- NotebookLM Now with Mind Maps (X)
- Gemini with Deep Research, Updated, Free!
- Groq and PlayAI just made voice AI sound way more human — here’s how (VentureBeat; 26 March 2026) PlayAI Announcement
- New/Updated Models
- OpenAI rolls out image generation powered by GPT-4o to ChatGPT (The Verge, 25 March 2025)
- Our Family: Ghibli Style
- No elephants: Breakthroughs in image generation (Ethan Mollick, 30 March 2025)
- The new best AI image generation model is here: say hello to Reve Image 1.0! (Venture Beat; 25 March 2025)
- Mistral AI drops new open-source model that outperforms GPT-4o Mini with fraction of parameters (VentureBeat; 17 March 2025)
- Krisp is using AI to help Indians sound like Americans on calls (TechCrunch; 26 March 2025)
- Ideogram 3.0!
- https://manus.im/
- Meta
- Europe, Meet Your Newest Assistant: Meta AI (Meta PR)
- Meta spotted testing AI-generated comments on Instagram (TechCrunch; 21 March 2025)
- Claude Searches the Web Now
- ShotTracker embraces AI to improve coaching products, reach fans with monetizable assets (Sports Business Journal, 26 March 2025)
- OpenAI
- OpenAI to start testing ChatGPT connectors for Google Drive and Slack (TechCrunch; 17 March 2025)
- New 4o Image Model from OpenAI
- Will the future of software development run on vibes? (ArsTechnica, 5 March 2025)
- US authors’ copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft combined in New York with newspaper actions (Guardian, 4 April 2025)
- https://cursivetechnology.com/
- Security
- Weekly cyberattacks on UK by pro-Russian and pro-Palestinian hackers (The Times, 6 April 2025)
- New federal data thrWeekly cyberattacks on UK by pro-Russian and pro-Palestinian hackerseats demand new mitigation technologies (Federal News Network, 9 April 2025)
- Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch (AP, 9 April 2025) - references a keylogger for all students!
- Google changes Chrome extension policies following the Honey link scandal (The Verge, 11 March 2025)
- Gemini can now turn your Google Docs into podcasts (The Verge, 9 April 2025)
- Phone Bans / Social Media
- Council becomes the first in Scotland to blanket ban mobile phones in classrooms (Scottish Sun, 4 April 2025)
- Free Speech / Media Censorship
- Take It Down Act nears passage; critics warn Trump could use it against enemies (ArsTechnica, 9 April 2025) - Critical Letter
- The speech police: Chairman Brendan Carr and the FCC’s news distortion policy (ArsTechnica, 7 Apr 2025)
- Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow (Freedom of the Press Foundation, 18 March 2025)
- DOGE
- The Ed. Dept. Axed Its Office of Ed Tech. What That Means for Schools (EdWeek, 18 March 2025)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Why Regulate AI? - Fact Checking (Previously) Invisible History
- Jason: OpenRouter.ai … so much free access! https://msty.app/
Episode 348: 19 February 2025
- AI
- Microsoft
- The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers (Microsoft Research)
- Microsoft shows progress toward real-time AI-generated game worlds (ArsTechnica, 19 Feb 2025)
- Google pulls Gemini from main search app on iOS (TechCrunch, 19 Feb 2025)
- Google owner drops promise not to use AI for weapons (The Guardian, 5 Feb 2025) - stopkillerrobots.org
- 6 unsettling thoughts Google's former CEO has about artificial intelligence (NPR, 5 Feb 2025)
- Now you can use Deep Research in Gemini on the Go (Google Blog; 18 February 2025)
- AI Models and Research
- Elon Musk’s xAI releases its latest flagship model, Grok 3 (TechCrunch; 17 February 2025)
- Introducing Perplexity Deep Research (Perplexity Blog)
- OpenAI tries to ‘uncensor’ ChatGPT (TechCrunch; 16 February 2025)
- OpenAI removes certain content warnings from ChatGPT (TechCrunch; 13 February 2025)
- China's Baidu to make latest Ernie AI model open-source as competition heats up (Reuters; 13 February 2025)
- AI and Society
- Accelerating scientific breakthroughs with an AI co-scientist (Google Research Blog; 19 February 2025)
- AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it (AP, 26 Dec 2024)
- AI and Productivity
- Fiverr wants gig workers to offload some of their work to AI (TechCrunch; 18 February 2025)
- Superhuman introduces AI-powered categorization to reduce spammy emails in your inbox (Tech Crunch; 19 February 2025)
- Apple
- Apple has officially killed off the Home Button (Apple Insider, 19 Feb 2025) “you cannot purchase any new Apple products that feature a Lightning port”
- Apple debuts iPhone 16e: A powerful new member of the iPhone 16 family (Apple Newsroom; 19 February 2025)
- Social Media
- YouTube by the numbers: uncovering YouTube's ghost town of billions of unwatched, ignored videos (TechSpot, 17 Feb 2025)
- Privacy
- Clearview AI’s CEO Resigns As Facial Recognition Company Focuses On Trump 'Opportunities' (Forbes, 19 Feb 2025) archive.ph paywall free link
- Data watchdog fines Clearview AI $33M for 'illegal' data collection (MSN, 3 Sept 2024)
- Quantum Computing
- Google says commercial quantum computing applications arriving within five years (Reuters, 5 Feb 2025)
- Microsoft-DARPA collaboration yields possible quantum chip breakthrough (Defense One, 19 Feb 2025)
- Misc
- Microsoft Transitioning Away from HoloLens Mixed Reality Hardware (THE Journal, 18 Feb 2025)
- The Best Instagram Alternatives If You're Sick of Meta (LifeHacker, 18 Feb 2025)
- Behind the Curtain: America's drone-swarm crisis (Axios, 18 Feb 2025)
- AI Inside podcast: https://aiinside.show/
- Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI Kindle Edition
- by Ethan Mollick
- https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Killer-Mission-Killed-al-Awlaki-ebook/dp/B00J3526ZK
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: MacWhisper - Google Recorder
- Wes: Upscayl - Scrollytelling - Oasis (blog post)
Episode 347: 12 February 2025
- AI
- Google Expands NotebookLM Plus to Individual Users (Tech Transformation; 11 February 2025)
- AI Tools Make Workers Less Critical, More Confident, Microsoft Study Finds (Science Blog; 10 February 2025)
- Irony alert: Anthropic says applicants shouldn’t use LLMs (ArsTechnica, 4 Feb 20205)
- New Survey Shows What Most People Think of AI and AI Generated Content (Digital Information World; 12 February 2025)
- ByteDance’s Deepfake Tool Creates Convincing Videos From One Photo (PetaPixel, 5 Feb 2025) - Einstein video
- Google owner drops promise not to use AI for weapons (The Guardian, 5 Feb 2025) - stopkillerrobots.org
- Perplexity Increases Context Window (Perplexity via Twitter)
- 6 unsettling thoughts Google's former CEO has about artificial intelligence (NPR, 5 Feb 2025)
- AI Reveals Hidden Interior Design Rules of the Cell A new tool predicts where proteins fit, opening new frontiers in drug discovery (IEEE Spectrum; 10 February 2025)
- Ex-Google engineer faces new US charges he stole AI secrets for Chinese companies (Reuters, 5 Feb 2025)
- Machines of Loving Grace by Dario Amodei (Oct 2024 - Anthropic CEO - via #ChinaTalk [PODCAST] “Anthropic's Dario Amodei on AI Competition” (5 Feb 2025)
- Google Releases New Models (Google Develops Blog; 5 February 2025)
- A Book App Used AI to 'Roast' Its Users. It Went Anti-Woke Instead (Wired, 3 Jan 2025) - paywall free archive.ph version
- Tools
- French AI startup Mistral launches Le Chat mobile app for iPhone, Android — can it take enterprise eyes off DeepSeek? (Venture Beat; 6 February 2025)
- Build Anything with Le Chat, Here’s How (David Ondrej via YouTube)
- DeepSeek Drama
- Introducing DeepSeek-V3 (DeepSeek API Docs; 26 December 2024)
- DeepSeek: all the news about the startup that’s shaking up AI stocks (The Verge; 31 January 2025)
- Downloading DeepSeek could land you a 20-year prison sentence, $1M fine under proposed US bill (Fox29; 5 February 2025)
- The Dangerous A.I. Nonsense That Trump and Biden Fell For (NYT; 5 February 2025)
- DeepSeek security concerns and what people get wrong about the app vs. the model (CNBC via YouTube)
- DeepSeek: What Actually Matters (for the everyday user) (Jeff Su, YouTube)
- YouTube TV Viewers Outnumber Mobile (World Screens; 11 February 2025)
- Security
- Many Americans still don’t understand how easily IoT devices can get bricked (ArsTechnica, 5 Feb 2025)
- Macs under attack from North Korean malware stealing passwords and more — how to stay safe (Toms Guide, 4 Feb 2025)
- Misc
- $42B broadband grant program may scrap Biden admin’s preference for fiber (ArsTechnica, 4 Feb 2025)
- Judge blocks Sandy Hook families’ settlement over Alex Jones bankruptcy (The Guardian, 5 Feb 2025)
- Google says commercial quantum computing applications arriving within five years (Reuters, 5 Feb 2025)
- Geeeekkkkkk of the Weeeeekkkkkk!
Episode 346: 5 February 2025
- AI
- Google launches new AI models and brings ‘thinking’ to Gemini (TechCrunch, 5 Feb 2025)
- Irony alert: Anthropic says applicants shouldn’t use LLMs (ArsTechnica, 4 Feb 20205)
- ByteDance’s Deepfake Tool Creates Convincing Videos From One Photo (PetaPixel, 5 Feb 2025) - Einstein video
- Google owner drops promise not to use AI for weapons (The Guardian, 5 Feb 2025) - stopkillerrobots.org
- 6 unsettling thoughts Google's former CEO has about artificial intelligence (NPR, 5 Feb 2025)
- Ex-Google engineer faces new US charges he stole AI secrets for Chinese companies (Reuters, 5 Feb 2025)
- Tools
- DeepSeek Drama
- Introducing DeepSeek-V3 (DeepSeek API Docs; 26 December 2024)
- DeepSeek: all the news about the startup that’s shaking up AI stocks (The Verge; 31 January 2025)
- Downloading DeepSeek could land you a 20-year prison sentence, $1M fine under proposed US bill (Fox29; 5 February 2025)
- The Dangerous A.I. Nonsense That Trump and Biden Fell For (NYT; 5 February 2025)
- DeepSeek security concerns and what people get wrong about the app vs. the model (CNBC via YouTube)
- DeepSeek: What Actually Matters (for the everyday user) (Jeff Su, YouTube)
- Tech Angles on Washington Politics
- Elon Musk Wants to Get Operational Control of the Treasury’s Payment System. This Could Not Possibly Be More Dangerous (Nathan Tankus, 3 Feb 2025)
- China opens Google antitrust probe in retaliation to tariffs (The Verge 4 Feb 2025)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft has a big Windows 10 problem, and it's running out of time to solve it (ZDnet, 4 Feb 2025)
- Apple
- Apple’s attempt to intervene in the Google Search antitrust trial is denied (The Verge, 3 Feb 2025)
- Security
- Robocallers posing as FCC staff blocked after robocalling real FCC staff (ArsTechnica, 5 Feb 2025)
- Drones
- Drone locates missing hiker at Crowders Mountain State Park (WBTV Charlotte, NC: 3 Feb 2025)
- Drones are now launching drones to attack other drones in Ukraine (ArsTechnica, 4 Feb 2025)
- Misc
- Shein and Temu depend on a 100-year-old tariff loophole that Trump wants to close (The Verge, 3 Feb 2025)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: https://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/operating-system/
- Wes: AI Chatbot Ethics - Sharing Mastodon Lists
Episode 345: 22 January 2025
- AI
- Politics
- Trump rescinds Biden’s executive order on AI safety in attempt to diverge from his predecessor (AP, 22 Jan 2025)
- AGI
- Anthropic chief says AI could surpass “almost all humans at almost everything” shortly after 2027 (ArsTechnica, 22 Jan 2025)
- "[If] we make good enough AI systems, they'll enable us to make better robots. And so when that happens, we will need to have a conversation... at places like this event, about how do we organize our economy, right? How do humans find meaning?" - Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
- “On Monday, Google announced an additional $1 billion investment in Anthropic, bringing its total commitment to $3 billion. This follows Amazon's $8 billion investment over the past 18 months. Amazon plans to integrate Claude models into future versions of its Alexa speaker.”
- Models
- Updated Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental model now available (9to5Google, 21 Jan 2025)
- “1 million token context window (from 32k): This is useful for those that want to “plug in a codebase or query a set of papers with more complex reasoning””
- AI in Education
- How AI and human teachers can collaborate to transform education (World Economic Forum; 8 January 2025)
- Three ways to develop students’ AI literacy (Times Higher Education; 2 January 2025)
- AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it (Skagit Valley Herald; 26 December 2024)
- AI Agents Will Shape Every Aspect Of Education In 2025 (Forbes; 26 December 2025)
- Experimentations with AI
- Jason Clones His Voice with ElevenLabs
- Jason Sets up Open Router and Glarity
- Wes plans his “Golden Texas BBQ” sideline business with ChatGPT for iOS voice conversations: “BBQ Birdie Bites” (Chat log link - more: wfryer.me/tips)
- Security
- Trump admin fires security board investigating Chinese hack of large ISPs (ArsTechnica, 22 Jan 2025) - Salt Typhoon in English WikiPedia
- “"disbanding the Cyber Safety Review Board while it's in the middle of investigating the most damaging breach of America's phone system in recent memory is a massive gift to the Chinese spies who targeted Trump, JD Vance and other top political figures." - US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
- TikTok Ban / Restore
- iPhones with TikTok installed listed for thousands of dollars on eBay after brief ban (USA Today, 22 Jan 2025)
- Why did Trump bring TikTok back? What to know about the president's ban reversal (Austin American Statesman, 22 Jan 2025)
- Wes’ TikTok backups - myfaveTT
- YouTube
- YouTube Premium discount coming to Google One, testing 4x playback speed (ArsTechnica, 22 Jan 2025)
- YouTube’s conversational AI starts rolling out, but only to Premium subscribers on Android (9to5Google, 24 Sep 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: Silly--NotebookLM Vamping Dehumidifier and List of Sweets
- https://www.home-assistant.io/
- TP Link Tapo Security Cameras: https://us.store.tp-link.com/collections/tapo-security-cameras
- Wes: “Dangerous Ideas with Wes Fryer” (Patreon) - The “Heal Our Culture” Project - Together We Rise “The First 100 Days: Co-Creating Connections and Possibilities in a Time of Transition”
Episode 344: 15 January 2025
- AI IN ‘25!!
- AI Trends in Ed Tech to Watch in 2025 (EdTech Magazine 15 January 2025)
- AI co-workers and more: Experts offer predictions for the fast-evolving technology (ABC News 13; 15 January 2025)
- ChatBots
- Meta scrambles to delete its own AI accounts after backlash intensifies (CNN, 3 Jan 2025)
- Meta’s fake AI users are here and they’re giving everybody the creeps (Sherwood News, 3 Jan 2025) via Doug Peterson on BlueSky
- More: 3 Feb 2025 free webinar “AI ChatBot Ethics)
- Media Literacy
- Information literacy is key in the age of AI (eSchoolNews, 19 Dec 2024)
- AI Sundries
- It’s getting harder to measure just how good AI is getting (Vox; 12 January 2025)
- One quick trick to make AI actually useful (Vox; 12 December 2024)
- 'The New York Times' takes OpenAI to court. ChatGPT's future could be on the line (NPR, 14 Jan 2025)
- TikTok
- The Supreme Court doesn’t seem likely to save TikTok (Vox; 10 January 2025)
- With TikTok ban looming, how many Americans support it? Public opinion has changed a lot (USA Today; 15 January 2025)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Backtracks After Teasing an End to Free Windows 11 Upgrades (PC Magazine; 15 January 2025)
- Microsoft won’t support Office apps on Windows 10 after October 14th (The Verge; 15 January 2025)
- Other Social Media
- German government may yet quit X over algorithms, spokesperson says (Reuters, 10 Jan 2025)
- The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine: A rationale is always just a scroll or a click away by Charlie Warzel and Mike Caulfield (The Atlantic, 6 Jan 2025) (Paywall free link)
- Meta Says It Will End Its Fact-Checking Program on Social Media Posts (NY Times; 7 January 2025) (Gift Link)
- Misc
- Open-World Games Like Zelda Can Boost Your Mental Health, Study Says (Science Alert, 6 Jan 2025)
- Tracing the Anti-Establishment Shift Among Podcasts and the Role of Platforms (Tech Policy Press, 2 Jan 2025)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Highlight AI; Google AI Studio - https://play.ai/
- Wes: MediaEdForum 2025 Notes - My Screen Setup for Virtual Learning - Stouchi Continuity Camera Mount
Episode 343: 1 January 2025
- AI
- Arizona’s getting an online charter school taught entirely by AI (TechCrunch, 20 Dec 2024)
- How Google Spent 15 Years Creating a Culture of Concealment (NYTimes, 20 Nov 2024) #GiftLink (“Vegas”)
- Why I switched from Windows to Chromebooks and haven’t looked back (PC World, 3 Nov 2024)
- Social Media
- Inside South Korea's right-wing YouTube world openly embraced by Yoon (Reuters, 16 Dec 2024) - BlueSky quote
- Is Bluesky the New Twitter for Teachers? (Education Week, 17 Dec 2024)
- Video Accuses Honey Browser Extension of Shady Business Practices and We Found Some Truth to It (Snopes, 30 Dec 2024)
- The Honey Scam and the Ridiculous Mess of Affiliate Marketing (Hank Green [VIDEO}, 24 Dec 2024)
- Digital Storytelling
- Some of the Best Reuters Photos of 2024, and the Stories Behind Them (Wider Image, 17 Dec 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: ChromeBook Recommendation: Dell Enterprise 5430 Chromebook
- Wes: Show Clips via SubStack - Terms of Service - Didn’t Read - Upcoming MediaEd Webinars - Dangerous Ideas with Wes Fryer
Episode 342: 18 December 2024
- AI
- New Open AI Stuff
- Sora General Availability
- Sora prompt example: "Promptrockefeller center is overrun by golden retrievers! everywhere you look, there are golden retrievers." https://openai.com/sora/?shareId=16
- ChatGPT Pro
- ChatGPT Search Widely Available
- New Google Stuff
- Introducing Gemini 2.0: our new AI model for the agentic era (Google Blog)
- NotebookLM gets a new look, audio interactivity and a premium version (Google Blog)
- Google Whisk
- Image FX from Google
- Google Deep Research in Gemini
- Create podcasts in minutes (11 Labs; 6 December 2024)
- Key leaders behind Google’s viral NotebookLM are leaving to create their own startup (TechCrunch, 4 Dec 2024) - https://werebuilding.ai
- Huge randomized trial of AI boosts discovery — at least for good scientists (Nature; 3 December 2024)
- Tech Correction
- Meta gains steam in its push to make Apple, Google verify users’ ages (The Washington Post; 21 November 2024) Gift Link
- TikTok Faces U.S. Ban After Losing Bid to Overturn New Law (NY Times, 6 Dec 2024)
- Social Media
- Bluesky at a crossroads as users petition to ban Jesse Singal over anti-trans views, harassment (TechCrunch, 13 Dec 2024) - Change.org petition - via Renee DiResta
- Jesse Singal: Bluesky Has a Death Threat Problem (The Free Press, 17 Dec 2024)
- WikiPedia: The Free Press (online newsletter)
- How Wikipedia Became a Propaganda Site (The Free Press, 17 Sept 2024)
- Trump TV Ad Repeats False ‘Border Czar,’ Illegal Immigration Claims (FactCheck.org, 5 Aug 2024)
- Security
- U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack (NBC News, 3 Dec 2024)
- Sell Chrome to end search monopoly, Google told (BBC; 21 November 2024)
- Rumor: Android may take over for ChromeOS on Chromebooks in a massive move (ChromeUnboxed; 18 November 2024)
- ChromeOS merging into Android could create new fragmentation issues (ChromeUnboxed; 22 November 2024)
- Microsoft
- Windows 365 Link is a $349 mini PC that streams Windows from the cloud (The Verge; 19 November 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: [PODCAST] Towards Resilience: A Conversation with Kate Starbird About the Future of Online Elections Discourse (8 Dec 2024)
- Jason: Msty + Open Router = Cheap Desktop AI
Episode 341: 4 December 2024
- AI
- Automation/Agents
- OpenAI’s take on AI agents could come in January (TechCrunch; 13 November 2024)
- AI and Dumbing Down
- I’m a neurology ICU nurse. The creep of AI in our hospitals terrifies me (Coda Story; 12 November 2024)
- Privacy
- Your Bluesky Posts Are Probably Training AI (404 Media Podcast, 4 Dec 2024)
- Facebook Friend Safety Tips (Wes Fryer on Speed of Creativity, 1 Dec 2024)
- AI and Health
- AI-Powered ‘Death Clock’ Promises a More Exact Prediction of the Day You’ll Die (Bloomberg; 30 November 24; Archive Link)
- AI and Search
- ChatGPT’s search results for news are ‘unpredictable’ and frequently inaccurate (The Verge; 3 December 2024)
- Hacking AI
- Tool Exploration
- https://play.ai/ (audio cloning and text to audio)
- Grammarly on MacOS
- ElevenLabs has new “Projects” functionality
- Freepik AI Generator
- AI and Labor
- Research: How Gen AI Is Already Impacting the Labor Market (Harvard Business Review; 11 November 2024)
- Other cool stuff
- Vatican, Microsoft create AI-generated St. Peter’s Basilica to allow virtual visits, log damage (AP; 11 November 2024)
- AI-powered tool may offer quick, no-contact blood pressure and diabetes screening (American Heart Association; 11 November 2024)
- How Open Science and AI Are Advancing Hurricane Research (NASA, 12 Nov 2024)
- Transform to Open Science (NASA)
- Social Media
- “Downranking Links” - Twitter (and Threads) Have Made a HUGE Mistake (Hank Green on YouTube, 16 min, 29 Nov 2024)
- Bluesky implements a 'more aggressive' impersonation policy (Engadget; 30 November 2024)
- Meta scrambles to respond to upstart social platform Bluesky’s surge (Washington Post, 23 Nov 2024) #PaywallFree
- Media Literacy
- A seventh grade media literacy class demonstrates how to handle tough conversations this Thanksgiving (CBS News, 28 Nov 2024)
- Privacy
- China-linked hackers stole wiretap data from telcos, FBI and CISA say (Politico; 13 November 2024)
- Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in Germany (Wired; 18 November 2024)
- Hardware
- The Hidden Lifespan of Smart Devices: What the FTC’s Report Means for Consumers (Consumer Reports; 26 November 2024)
- The Redbox Removal Team (404Media, 28 Nov 2024)
- Tech Correction / Tech Regulation
- Supreme Court To Review Legality Of FCC-Managed Universal Service Fund (MSN, 23 Nov 2024)
- Meta gains steam in its push to make Apple, Google verify users’ ages (The Washington Post; 21 November 2024) Gift Link
- Sell Chrome to end search monopoly, Google told (BBC; 21 November 2024)
- Rumor: Android may take over for ChromeOS on Chromebooks in a massive move (ChromeUnboxed; 18 November 2024)
- ChromeOS merging into Android could create new fragmentation issues (ChromeUnboxed; 22 November 2024)
- Microsoft
- Windows 365 Link is a $349 mini PC that streams Windows from the cloud (The Verge; 19 November 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: ChatGPT Summary for Chrome
- Wes: “The 12 Days of AI” via Kevin Hodgeson (@dogtrax.bsky.social)
Episode 340: 13 November 2024
- AI
- Learning Tools
- AI in Notepad?? Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now (The Verge; 6 November 2024)
- Google’s AI ‘learning companion’ takes chatbot answers a step further (The Verge 11 November 2024)
- Announcing general availability of Google Vids: Our new AI-powered video creation app for work to help tell stories across your organization (Google Blog; 7 November 2024)
- Media Literacy
- The images of Spain’s floods weren’t created by AI. The trouble is, people think they were (The Guardian; 9 November 2024)
- AI and Politics
- AI didn’t sway the election, but it deepened the partisan divide (WaPo; 9 November 2024)
- The other election night winner: Perplexity (TechCrunch; 6 Novmeber 2024)
- Apple
- Mac Mini M4… whoa! M4 Mac mini review: The first redesign in years hides incredible computing power (Apple Insider; 13 november 2024)
- iOS 18.2 makes AirPods more powerful than ever, here’s why (9 to 5 Mac; 12 November 2024)
- Misguided Apple Intelligence Ads (Tidbits; 11 November 2024)
- Social Media
- The tiny tweak that could change YouTube forever (The Verge; 13 November 2024)
- YouTube viewers guzzled 84 million hours of Presidential Election Day news (Fortune; 6 November 2024)
- Racist text messages referencing slavery raise alarms in multiple states and prompt investigations (AP, 10 Nov 2024)
- Bluesky crosses the 15 million user mark (The Verge, 13 Nov 2024)
- Google’s Gemini Gems are a hit, and they are getting even more powerful (Chrome Unboxed; 13 November 2024)
- Google Slides gets a refresh with new, professionally designed templates (Chrome Unboxed; 9 November 2024)
- Security
- These are the passwords you definitely shouldn’t be using (The Verge; 13 November 2024)
- Misc
- Amazon starts drone deliveries in Arizona (The Verge, 6 Nov 2024)
- book: Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick
- Geeks of the Week
- Wes: Descript and Wes is on TruthSocial?!
- Jason: Google Machine Learning Crash Course
Episode 339: 6 Nov 2024
- AI
- Model Updates / Platform Integrations
- Microsoft just delayed Recall again (The Verge; 31 October 2024)
- OpenAI’s search engine is now live in ChatGPT (The Verge; 31 October 2024)
- Apple Intelligence expands in iOS 18.2 developer beta, adding Genmoji, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT (Engadget, 23 October 2024)
- Ideogram Canvas, Magic Fill, and Extend (Ideogram; 22 October 2024)
- Asana launches a no-code tool for designing AI agents - aka your new 'teammates' (ZDNet; 22 October 2024)
- Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot now has a desktop app (The Verge; 31 October 2024)
- New AI experiences for Paint and Notepad begin rolling out to Windows Insiders (Microsoft Blog; 6 November 2024)
- Prime Video will let you summon AI to recap what you’re watching (The Verge; 4 November 2024)
- AGI Transition / Dystopia
- Google to develop AI that takes over computers, The Information reports (Reuters; 26 October 2024)
- Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said (AP; 26 October 2024)
- Deep Fakes
- Downey Jr. plans to fight AI re-creations from beyond the grave (ArsTechnica, 30 Oct 2024)
- Tom Hanks warns followers to be wary of 'fraudulent' ads using his likeness through AI (NBC News; 30 August 2024)
- Ethics
- Google open-sourced its watermarking tool for AI-generated text (The Verge; 23 October 2024)
- Workforce Impacts
- AI may not steal many jobs after all. It may just make workers more efficient (AP 2 September 2024)
- AI training for Government workers major part of smart tech plan amid ‘clear economic opportunities’ despite job fears (The Irish Sun, 6 Nov 2024)
- Business
- Pearson gets boost from push into AI (The Times, 29 Oct 2024)
- Election Tech
- Making the Case: Evidence Generation Infrastructure in the 2024 Election (Center for an Informed Public - University of Washington, Rapid Research Report, 28 Oct 2024)
- The Atlantic Did Not Publish an Article With the Headline “Trump Is Literally Hitler” (The Atlantic, 23 Oct 2024)
- Foreign Interference in 2024 Election Reaches New Heights, Security Experts Warn (TWIT; 29 October 2024)
- Copyright
- US Copyright Office “frees the McFlurry,” allowing repair of ice cream machines (ArsTechnica, 25 Oct 2024)
- Apple
- APPLE FAN BOY ALERT: New Apple Stuff
- The MacBook Air gets a surprise upgrade to 16GB of RAM (The Verge; 30 October 2024)
- Schools issue prom warning to pupils over missing iPads (The Times, 31 Oct 2024)
- Apple’s iOS 18.2 public beta starts opening up access to more AI features (The Verge; 6 November 2024)
- Social Media
- Instagram saves the best video quality for the most popular content (The Verge; 27 October 2024)
- For fame or a death wish? Kids’ TikTok challenge injuries stump psychiatrists (ArsTechnica, 6 Nov 2024)
- The surprising source of kids’ stress lurking on parents’ phones (Vox; 26 October 2024)
- A realistic way to protect kids from social media? Find a middle ground (AP, 6 June 2024)
- Russian court fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (The Register; 29 October 2024)
- ChromeOS gets a big update with Quick Insert, Focus mode, and new AI features (The Verge; 31 October 2024)
- Misc
- “Impact printing” is a cement-free alternative to 3D-printed structures (ArsTechnica, 1 Oct 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://www.home-assistant.io/ ; NotebookLM Webinar; AI Playdate at the University of Montana
- Wes: ChatGPT LIVE Web Search - ChatGPT conversation archive for tonight’s articles - [VIDEO] Classroom Management Digital Tips for Middle School Teachers (17.5 min) - PodCampCLT.com (7 Dec 2024)
Episode 338: 23 Oct 2024
- AI
- Introducing computer use, a new Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku (Anthropic Blog; 22 October 2024)
- Claude AI Can Now Control Your PC, Prompting Concern From Security Experts (Pc Magazine; 23 October 2024)
- Anthropic flags AI's potential to 'automate sophisticated destructive cyber attacks (ZDnet, 16 Oct 2024)
- "use wrapper with chatgpt ai key" https://mistyai.com and https://www.typingmind.com are ones Jason has used…
- Playing with AI and databases: Google has options to connect sheets
- https://www.make.com/en/ai-automation is a powerful tool for AI integrations
- Also https://n8n.io/ is AI workflow automation
- Chatbot that caused teen’s suicide is now more dangerous for kids, lawsuit says (ArsTechnica, 23 Oct 2024)
- Apple is ‘concerned’ about AI turning real photos into ‘fantasy’ (The Verge; 23 October 2023)
- Canva has a shiny new text-to-image generator (The Verge; 22 October 2024)
- Unlocking autonomous agent capabilities with Microsoft Copilot Studio (Microsoft; 21 October 2024)
- Penguin Random House books now explicitly say ‘no’ to AI training (The Verge; 18 October 2024)
- 96% Accuracy: Harvard Scientists Unveil Revolutionary ChatGPT-Like AI for Cancer Diagnosis (Sci Tech Daily; 17 October 2024)
- There’s something off about this year’s “fall vibes” (Vox; 22 October 2024)
- Anthropic publicly releases AI tool that can take over the user’s mouse cursor (ArsTechnica, 22 Oct 2024)
- Misc
- Please ban data caps, Internet users tell FCC (ArsTechnica, 23 Oct 2024)
- San Francisco to pay $212 million to end reliance on 5.25-inch floppy disks (ArsTechnica, 23 Oct 2024)
- Security
- A world without passwords is in sight (Vox; 23 October 2024)
- Zoom hack derails Quilcene school board's LGBTQ+ books decision (PT Leader, 23 Oct 2024)
- Passkeys with 1Password: https://1password.com/product/passkeys
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: PROJECT! Install ChromeOS on PC with Google Play Store [Intel & AMD]
- Wes: How internet influencers, algorithms and crowds are altering our politics, our society and our very relationship to reality-with guest Renée DiResta (Thinking Clearly Podcast) and Nov 4th “Invisibile Rulers” MediaEd Webinar
Episode 337: 16 Oct 2024
- AI
- Student was punished for using AI—then his parents sued teacher and administrators (ArsTechnica, 16 Oct 2024)
- AI Sexbots Are on the Rise. Should We Regulate Them? (The Intelligence Debrief, 16 Oct 2024)
- Ask Claude: Amazon turns to Anthropic's AI for Alexa revamp (Ruters; 30 August 2024)
- People are using AI bots to create nude images of almost anyone online (BGR, 16 Oct 2024)
- Anthropic flags AI's potential to 'automate sophisticated destructive cyber attacks (ZDnet, 16 Oct 2024)
- Social Media
- Inside the TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people (NPR, 13 October 2024)
- Apple
- The Vision Pro is being used to assist surgeons during live procedures (9to5Mac, 16 Oct 2024)
- Tech Correction
- The Antitrust Revolution: Liberal democracy’s last stand against Big Tech (Harpers Magazine, (Oct 2024)
- Security
- The Internet Archive is under attack, with a breach revealing info for 31 million accounts (Verge, 9 Oct 2024)
- There’s Never Been a Better Time to Delete Your 23andMe Data. Here’s How to Do It (Gizmodo, 16 Oct 2024)
- Misc
- WordPress saga escalates as WP Engine plugin forcibly forked and legal letters fly (The Register, 14 Oct 2024)
- SpaceX Calls New Starship Test a Success, Captures Rocket at Landing (Voice of America, 13 Oct 2024)
- South Texans are going after SpaceX after the company avoided launch delays (Houston Chronicle, 15 Oct 2024)
- Amazon finally has a color Kindle, and it looks pretty good (The Verge, 16 Oct 2024)
- Unknown drones breach US military bases, baffle defense officials (DroneDJ, 14 Oct 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: OpenMCQ from MTDA
- Fotorama from AppNation
- Stupid AI Tricks
- “From all of our interactions what is one thing that you can tell me about myself that I may not know about myself”
- “Roast me like one of your French girls”
- Wes: Webinar on Google’s NotebookLM (archived) - Radio for preparedness: What lessons can we learn from Hurricane Helene? (47 min) - Wes’ Communitarian Prepper
Episode 336: 25 Sept 2024
- AI
- Meta’s going to put AI-generated images in your Facebook and Instagram feeds (The Verge, 25 Sept 2024)
- Everything Announced at Meta Connect 2024: Quest 3S, Orion AR glasses and Meta AI updates (Engadget, 25 Sept 2024)
- OpenAI’s Murati shocks with sudden departure announcement (ArsTechnica, 25 Sep 2024)
- Talking to ChatGPT for the first time is a surreal experience (ArsTechnica, 25 Sep 2024)
- Hacker plants false memories in ChatGPT to steal user data in perpetuity (ArsTechnica, 25 Sep 2024)
- The Intelligence Age (Sam Altman, 23 Sep 2024)
- OpenAI CEO: We may have AI superintelligence in “a few thousand days” (ArsTechnica, 23 Sept 2024)
- Snapchat’s AI selfie feature puts your face in personalized ads — here’s how to turn it off (The Verge, 17 Sep 2024)
- NaNoWriMo is in disarray after organizers defend AI writing tools (The Verge; 3 September 2024)
- Oprah Winfrey Is Hosting an AI Special Tonight: What We Know (CNet; 12 September 2024)
- Oprah just had an AI special with Sam Altman and Bill Gates — here are the highlights (TechCrunch; 12 September 2024)
- Social Media
- Newsom signs California bill to limit ‘addictive’ social media feeds for kids (LA Times, 23 Sep 2024)
- What if the panic over teens and tech is totally wrong? (Vox; 18 September 2024)
- Information Wants to Be Freeeeee
- The Internet Archive just lost its appeal over ebook lending (The Verge; 4 September 2024)
- Security
- NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules (ArsTechnica, 25 Sep 2024)
- Elections
- AI’s impact on elections is being overblown (MIT Technology Review; 3 September 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Notion’s New AI Features
- Wes: POWs and NotebookLM - Oct 7 Webinar: NotebookLM and Steven Johnson
Episode 335: 18 Sept 2024
- AI
- NoteBook LM
- From Google: https://notebooklm.google/
- Ethan Mollick on Substack: https://substack.com/@oneusefulthing
- OpenAI Announces a Model That ‘Reasons’ Through Problems, Calling It a ‘New Paradigm’ (Atlantic, 11 Sept 2024)
- OpenAI releases o1, its first model with ‘reasoning’ abilities (The Verge; 12 September 2024)
- NotebookLM’s new ‘Audio Overview’ turns your notes into a mini podcast (9 to 5 Google; 11 September 2024)
- There’s a fix for AI-generated essays. Why aren’t we using it? (Vox; 7 September 2024)
- Microsoft’s AI Can Be Turned Into an Automated Phishing Machine (Wired; 8 August 2024)
- Microsoft’s Office apps are getting more useful Copilot AI features (The Verge; 16 September 2024)
- Facebook admits to scraping every Australian adult user's public photos and posts to train AI, with no opt-out option (ABC; 11 September 2024)
- What Is AI Best at Now? Improving Products You Already Own (Wall Street Journal; 13 September 2024)
- [PODCAST] Do You Need a New iPhone? + Yuval Noah Harari’s A.I. Fears + Hard Fork Crimes Division (Hard Fork, 13 Sept 2024)
- Apple
- OMMMGGGGGGG NEW IPHONES AND OTHER STUFFFFFFFF: iPhone 16, Apple Intelligence, AirPods 4 and more: Everything revealed at Apple Event 2024 (The Verge; 10 September 2024)
- Apple gets FDA authorization to turn the AirPods Pro into hearing aids (Verge, 12 Sept 2024)
- Hands On Review: OSX Sequoia and iOS 18.1 (both with Apple Intelligence)
- Politics / Elections
- Taylor Swift cites AI deepfakes in endorsement for Kamala Harris (ArsTechnica, 11 Sept 2024)
- Media Literacy
- AI chatbots might be better at swaying conspiracy theorists than humans (ArsTechnica, 12 Sept 2024)
- YouTube debuts new parental controls aimed at teens (TechCrunch; 4 September 2024)
- Google will now link to The Internet Archive to add more context to Search results (9 to 5 Google; 11 September 2024)
- Pavel Durov and Elon Musk are not free speech champions (Disconnect, 6 Sept 2024)
- Social Media
- New Instagram features aim to boost child safety after years of criticism (NPR; 17 September 2024)
- Australia’s Prime Minister wants to ban social media for children (Engadget; 10 September 2024)
- Misc
- T-Mobile Customers Will Get Starlink Satellite Internet Directly On Their Mobiles First And Others Only Later, Says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (Benzinga, 2 Sept 2024)
- Two private astronauts took a spacewalk Thursday morning—yes, it was historic (ArsTechnica, 12 Sept 2024)
- 14 dead as Hezbollah walkie-talkies explode in second, deadlier attack (ArsTechnica, 18 Sept 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: GPT for Docs
- Wes: Descript - Wes and Shelly Share Ep 39 - PodCampCLT (9 Dec 2024)
Episode 334: 29 August 2024
- AI
- Uhhhhh
- Oprah Winfrey to Host ‘AI and the Future of Us’ ABC Special With Bill Gates and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (Variety; 29 August 2024)
- Security
- This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it? (The Verge; 21 August 2024)
- Art and Humanity
- The AI photo editing era is here, and it’s every person for themselves (The Verge; 19 August 2024)
- Regulation
- California legislature passes sweeping AI safety bill (The Verge; 28 August 2024)
- OpenAI and Anthropic will share their models with the US government (The Verge; 29 August 2024)
- Nerdy Nitty Gritty
- 100M Token Context Windows (Magic.dev; 29 August 2024)
- New AI Tools
- Microsoft
- Microsoft’s Recall AI feature won’t be available for Windows testers until October (The Verge; 21 August 2024)
- Apple
- NEWWW APPPLLEE STUFFFFFF: Apple targets Sept. 10 debut for new iPhones, AirPods and watches, Bloomberg News reports (Reuters; 23 August 2024)
- ChatGPT makes Siri more intelligent in iOS 18: Here’s how (9 to 5 Mac; 21 August 2024)
- Google Keep rolling out AI-powered ‘Help me create a list’ on Android (9 TO 5 Google; 22 August 2024)
- Google Gemini Now Accessible From Chrome Address Bar (Search Engine Journal; 29 August 2024)
- Higher Education
- Subscription World
- Report: Amazon to Launch Paid Version of Alexa in October (Thurott.com; 27 August 2024)
- Social Media
- TikTok must face lawsuit over 10-year-old girl's death, US court rules (Reuters; 28 August 2024)
- Tumblr to move its half a billion blogs to WordPress (TechCrunch, 28 Aug 2024)
- Threads deepens its ties to the open social web, aka the ‘fediverse’ (TechCrunch, 28 Aug 2024)
- Misc
- YouTube’s Growth As A Podcast Power Player Revealed In Cumulus Media And Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download – Spring 2024 Report (WestwoodOne, 8 July 2024)
- Harmful 'Nudify' Websites Used Google, Apple, and Discord Sign-On Systems (Wired, 29 Aug 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Wes: How to Attribute AI (via MLA) and Zbib and NASA What’s Up?
- Jason: LibreOffice 24.8 is Now Available
Episode 333: 21 August 2024
- AI
- Hype Cycle
- How AI’s booms and busts are a distraction (Vox; 17 August 2024)
- Grok 2 with Image Generation
- Elon Musk's AI Image Generator Is a Deepfaker's Dream (LifeHacker; 15 August 2024)
- Elon Musk’s AI photo tool is generating realistic, fake images of Trump, Harris and Biden (CNN; 15 August 2024)
- BUT…
- LLM mysteries
- Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why. (MIT Technology Review Podcast, 7 Aug 2024)
- Security
- Hackers leak 2.7 billion data records with Social Security numbers (Bleeping Computer; 11 August 2024)
- Massive data leak may include the personal data of every person in the US, UK, and Canada (9to5Mac, 13 Aug 2025)
- Influencer Nation
- Google threatened tech influencers unless they ‘preferred’ the Pixel (The Verge; 16 August 2024)
- Forget Apple, the biggest loser in the Google search ruling could be Mozilla and its Firefox web browser (Fortune; 5 August 2024)
- Google Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL review: AI all over the place (The Verge; 21 August 2024)
- Google’s AI ‘Reimagine’ tool helped us add wrecks, disasters, and corpses to our photos (The Verge; 21 August 2024)
- Google Releases Powerful AI Image Generator You Can Use for Free (PetaPixel, 14 Aug 2024)
- Connectivity
- US Navy Eyes Adopting SpaceX's Starlink Across Its Fleet (PC Magazine; 21 August 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Updates on Jason’s AI Local Models
Episode 332: 7 Aug 2024
- AI
- Good AI
- A neurological disease stole Rep. Jennifer Wexton's voice. AI helped her get it back. (NPR, 25 Jul 2024)
- Human Reader (Chrome extension from ElevenLabs)
- Search Disruption
- Bing’s AI redesign shoves the usual list of search results to the side (THe Verge; 24 July 2024)
- Google Researchers Publish Paper About How Ai Is Ruining The Internet (The Byte; 4 July 2024)
- AI and Jobs
- Artificial intelligence isn’t a good argument for basic income (Vox; 22 July 2024)
- The AI bubble has burst. Here's how we know (Mashable, 6 Aug 2024)
- OpenAI
- OpenAI Unleashes 'Advanced Voice Mode' Following ScarJo Controversy (PC Mag; 30 July 2024)
- Jason Demos… what can the existing voice prompt do??!
- OpenAI tempers expectations with less bombastic, GPT-5-less DevDay this fall (TechCrunch; 5 August 2024)
- OpenAI co-founder Schulman leaves for Anthropic, Brockman takes extended leave (TechCrunch; 5 August 2024)
- OpenAI Seems Like It's Imploding! (Matt Wolfe; 6 August 2024)
- OpenAI says it’s taking a ‘deliberate approach’ to releasing tools that can detect writing from ChatGPT (TechCrunch; 4 August 2024)
- AI Messaging
- Google pulls Olympics AI ad after backlash (WaOi; 1 August 2024)
- Evaluating AI
- Everyone Is Judging AI by These Tests. But Experts Say They’re Close to Meaningless (The Markup; 17 July 2024)
- AI is Weird
- Meta's AI Studio Can Create a Copy of Your Favorite Influencer. Here's Why That Matters (CNet; 30 July 2024)
- AI Research
- What do people really ask chatbots? It’s a lot of sex and homework (Washington Post, 4 Aug 2024) - paywall free Archive.today link
- Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why. (MIT Technology Review, 4 March 2024) - audio version available
- Copyright
- AI music startup Suno claims training model on copyrighted music is ‘fair use’ (Techcrunch, 1 Aug 2024)
- YouTuber files class action suit over OpenAI’s scrape of creators’ transcripts (Tech Crunch; 5 August 2024)
- More AI Cruft
- Automattic launches AI writing tool that aims to make WordPress blogs more readable and succinct (TechCrunch; 7 August 2024)
- Apple
- The SOS satellite calling feature on Apple’s latest iPhones can be literally life-saving: B.C. search and rescue group saves hikers stranded on a glacier from wildfire (CBC, 28 Jul 2024)
- ‘You are a helpful mail assistant,’ and other Apple Intelligence instructions (The Verge; 5 August 2024)
- Apple's AI Features Rollout Will Miss Upcoming iPhone Software Overhaul (Bloomburg; 28 July 2024) - paywall free version
- Apple to Adopt Voluntary AI Safeguards Established by Biden (Bloomberg; 26 July 2024) AltLink
- Apple leads tech rout after Berkshire Hathaway sells more than half of its stake (Business Outside, 5 Aug 2024)
- 3 new Chrome AI features for even more helpful browsing (Google Blog; 1 August 2024)
- Now that Google is a monopolist, what’s next? (Verge, 6 Aug 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: ChatGPT Prompt Optimizer
- Wes: New media literacy lesson: Influencers - Adobe Podcast - Descript
Episode 331: 24 July 2024
- AI
- New Stuff!
- Introducing Llama 3.1: Our most capable models to date (Meta; 23 July 2024)
- Meta AI gets new ‘Imagine me’ selfie feature (TechCrunch; 23 July 2024)
- Apple shows off open AI prowess: new models outperform Mistral and Hugging Face offerings (VentureBeat; 19 July 2024)
- Microsoft’s new AI system ‘SpreadsheetLLM’ unlocks insights from spreadsheets, boosting enterprise productivity (Venture Beat 15 July 2024)
- AI and Lying
- Finding GPT-4’s mistakes with GPT-4 (Open AI Blog; 27 June 2024)
- Copyright / Intellectual Property
- Record labels sue AI music generators Suno and Udio alleging “unimaginable scales” of copyright infringement (MusicTech, 24 June 2024)
- It May Soon Be Legal to Jailbreak AI to Expose How it Works (404 Media, 18 Jul 2024)
- Bad Actors / Disinformation
- Court ordered penalties for 15 teens who created naked AI images of classmates (ArsTechnica, 10 Jul 2024)
- State-Sponsored Russian Media Leverages Meliorator Software for Foreign Malign Influence Activity (FBI & CNMV, 9 Jul 2024)
- Summary and “so what?” by Claude 3.5: “This press release warns about Russian state-sponsored actors using covert AI-enhanced software called Meliorator to create fake social media personas and spread disinformation on X (formerly Twitter). The software, used by affiliates of Russian state media RT, can create authentic-appearing bot accounts en masse to disseminate misleading information about various countries. While currently limited to X, there are indications the developers intend to expand to other platforms. The advisory, issued by multiple intelligence and law enforcement agencies from the US, Netherlands, and Canada, aims to help social media companies detect and mitigate this malign influence activity. This matters because it reveals sophisticated efforts by Russia to manipulate public opinion and exacerbate discord in multiple countries through covert social media operations.”
- AI and Education
- Eureka Labs
- 3 things parents and students told us about how generative AI can support learning (Google Blog; 18 July 2024)
- AI and Information
- Apple
- [VIDEO] The real reasons Apple won’t put macOS on the iPad (The Verge via YouTube; 24 July 2024)
- Microsoft
- CrowdStrike blames test software for taking down 8.5 million Windows machines (THe Verge; 24 July 2024)
- Inside the 78 minutes that took down millions of Windows machines (The Verge; 23 July 2024)
- But… The worst internet outage still hasn’t happened yet (Vox; 24 July 2024)
- The Windows CrowdStrike outage highlights the benefits of ChromeOS (ChromeUnboxed; 19 July 2024)
- Highlights from the global tech outage: Airlines, businesses and border crossings hit by global tech disruption (AP, 19 Jul 2024)
- Media
- The Paris Olympics Will Show Us the Future of Sports on TV (Wired 17 July 2024) - Paywall free version
- Judge blocks Mississippi law that required age verification on social media (Verge, 2 Jul 2024)
- Security
- The FBI got into the Trump rally shooter’s phone in just 40 minutes (Verge, 19 Jul 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://localsend.org/
- Wes: Debugging Javascript with Claude and Wes on Spoutible
Episode 330: 18 July 2024 (Thursday NOT Wednesday!)
- AI
- New Models
- GPT-4o mini released (OpenAI; 18 July 2024)
- Sweet AI Tools!
- New ways to get creative with Microsoft Designer, powered by AI (Microsoft Blog; 17 July 2024)
- NotebookLM goes global with Slides support and better ways to fact-check (Google Keyword Blog)
- Flint AI (
- Latest AI Experimentations
- Social Media
- Disinformation
- ‘One screen, two movies': Conflicting conspiracy theories emerge from the Trump rally shooting (AP, 18 July 2024)
- FACT FOCUS: A look at false claims around the assassination attempt on former President Trump (AP, 16 Jul 2024)
- noplace, a mashup of Twitter and Myspace for Gen Z, hits No. 1 on the App Store (TechCrunch, 3 July 2024)
- Elon Musk’s X may succeed in blocking Calif. content moderation law on appeal (ArsTechnica, 18 Jul 2024)
- Musk's X adds pro-Trump icons for Trump hashtags (Mashable, 18 Jul 2024)
- Facebook: middleware / nudgeware
- Facebook Banned Me for Life Because I Help People Use It Less (Slate, Louis Barlay, 7 Oct 2021)
- Zuck vs. Zuck: 7 thoughts (Louis Barclay on Substack, 3 May 2024)
- Was There A Trojan Horse Hidden In Section 230 All Along That Could Enable Adversarial Interoperability? (TechDirt, Mike Masnik, 2 May 2024) “using section 230 proactively for declaratory judgment”)
- A brief update on Zuckerman vs. Meta (Ethan Zuckerman, 9 May 2024)
- Meta tells court it won’t sue over Facebook feed-killing tool—yet (ArsTechnica, 17 Jul 2024)
- Claude AI summary and analysis
- Security
- Police allege ‘evil twin’ of in-flight Wi-Fi used to steal passenger’s credentials (The Register, 1 July 2024)
- Sick of scams? Stop answering your phone. (Washington Post, 17 June 2024)
- Advertising
- Meet AdVon, the AI-Powered Content Monster Infecting the Media Industry (Futurism, 8 May 2024)
- Google Search’s New AI Overviews Will Soon Have Ads (Wired, 21 May 2024) - Archive.ph version
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is changing how it delivers Windows updates: 4 things you need to know (ZDnet, 18 Jul 2024)
- Apple
- Apple rolls out iOS 18 Beta: List of eligible devices and how to update your devices (LiveMint.com; 17 July 2024)
- Misc
- FCC closes “final loopholes” that keep prison phone prices exorbitantly high (ArsTechnica, 18 Jul 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Google AI Studio
- Wes: Social Media Text Formatter (CustomGPT - details / instructions) and “Teaching the Conspiracies - Part 2” (starts Sunday, July 21!)
- Unspoken Links: AI Facebook Suspension (1 July 2024) and Book: Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality by Renee DiResta (2024) and Stand Out with Meta Verified ($23/mo for FB & IG)
Episode 329: 19 June 2024
- AI
- Big AI Concepts
- Hallucination is Inevitable: An Innate Limitation of Large Language Models (Arxiv; 22 January 2024)
- Scientists Develop New Algorithm to Spot AI ‘Hallucinations’ (Time; 19 June 2024)
- OpenAI’s former chief scientist is starting a new AI company (The Verge; 19 June 2024)
- It’s Time to Believe the AI Hype (Wired; 17 May 2024)
- Elon Musk says AI will take all our jobs (CNN; 23 May 2024)
- Drama Updates
- Elon Musk drops suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman (CNBC; 11 June 2024)
- Politics
- There’s an AI Candidate Running for Parliament in the UK (Wired; 11 June 2024; Archive Link)
- TOTAL RECALL
- Microsoft Provides Update on Recall, Addresses Complaints (Thurott.com; 7 June 2024)
- Google is Working on a Recall Feature for ChromeOS (Thurott.com; 6 June 2024)
- OpenRecall
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is Removing ChatGPT Builder from Copilot Pro (Thurott.com; 10 June 2024)
- Privacy
- DuckDuckGo AI Chat Promises Anonymous Access to Popular AI Chatbots (Thurott.com; 6 June 2024)
- Commerce
- McDonald’s Ends Its Test Run of AI Drive-Throughs With IBM (Time; 19 June 2024)
- Advertising
- Meet AdVon, the AI-Powered Content Monster Infecting the Media Industry (Futurism, 8 May 2024)
- Google Search’s New AI Overviews Will Soon Have Ads (Wired, 21 May 2024) - Archive.ph version
- Apps
- AIs are coming for social networks (The Verge, 18 June 2024)
- Deep Fakes
- She was accused of faking an incriminating video of teenage cheerleaders. She was arrested, outcast and condemned. The problem? Nothing was fake after all (The Guardian, 11 May 2024)
- APPLE!!
- Introducing Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that puts powerful generative models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac (Apple PR)
- What are all these Apple executives doing with their legs? (WaPo; 14 June 2024) - paywall free version
- OK, fine, here’s Apple Intelligence (Jason Snell @ Six Colors; 13 June 2024)
- The iPhone Is Now an AI Trojan Horse (The Atlantic; 10 June 24) - paywall free version
- Also…
- The iPad’s new Calculator actually might have been worth the 14-year wait (Macworld; 10 June 2024)
- Microsoft
- Exclusive: MediaTek designs Arm-based chip for Microsoft's AI laptops (Reuters; 12 June 24)
- Media Literacy
- YouTube is copying X’s most interesting feature (Washington Post; 19 June 2024)
- Chrome’s “Listen to this page” replaces yet another Google Assistant feature (Chrome Unboxed; 19 June 2024)
- Security
- Sick of scams? Stop answering your phone. (Washington Post, 17 June 2024)
- Misc
- SpaceX's Starlink May Be Keeping the Ozone From Healing, Research Finds (Futurism, 15 June 2024) - Related CustomGPT story
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: 1972 Christmas Audio Letter (on YouTube) with analog tape photo and Steven Johnson & Michael Specter on the Future of Life (27 April 2023)
- Jason: Notion… wow.
Episode 328: 5 June 2024
- AI
- Hype
- OpenAI, Google DeepMind's current and former employees warn about AI risks (Reuters, 4 June 2024)
- Learning
- Microsoft Edge will translate and dub YouTube videos as you’re watching them (Verge, 21 May 2024)
- Perplexity AI’s new feature will turn your searches into shareable pages (TechCrunch; 5 June 2024)
- My Perspective on AI in Education: Changes Needed for Students to Thrive in a Radically Changing World (Stefan Bauschard’s Substack “Education Disrupted: Teaching and Learning in an AI World,” 19 May 2024)
- Kai Fu Lee Interview with Fortune Magazine
- Elections
- Political ads could require AI-generated content disclosures soon (The Verge; 22 May 2024)
- Not Deep Fakes
- Lawyers say OpenAI could be in real trouble with Scarlett Johansson (The Verge; 22 May 2024)
- The Scarlett Johansson Dispute Erodes Public Trust In OpenAI (Time; 21 May 2024)
- Exactly how stupid was what OpenAI did to Scarlett Johansson? (The Washington Post; 21 May 2024)
- Dating Companion ChatBots
- TechLife - Dating a ChatBot (BBC Sounds, 4 June 2024)
- Chat GPT "DAN" (and other "Jailbreaks")
- Pause?
- How to Hit Pause on AI Before It’s Too Late (TIme; 16 May 2024)
- Media Literacy
- Google scrambles to manually remove weird AI answers in search (The Verge; 24 May 2024)
- Social Media
- Display of a captured wolf in a Wyoming bar brings outrage (NPR, 1 June 2024)
- A Perspective on Meta's Moderation of Palestinian Voices (Tech Policy Press Podcast, 26 May 2024)
- E-Sports / Video Games
- Lawsuit argues Call of Duty helped Cause the Uvalde School Shooting (ArsTechnica, 29 May 2024)
- Miscellaneous
- “Investigators collected evidence from 1,128 body-worn cameras, 8,903 images, 65 officer interviews, and 765 pieces of evidence” (ABC11, 31 May 2024)
- The 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (Digital Learning Today Podcast with Jeff Bradbury, Susan Bearden and Beth Holland, 28 May 2024)
- T-Mobile Raises Rates on Select Legacy Plans, Here's the Deal (CNET, 26 May 2024)
- What Doge Taught Me About the Internet (OpEd, New Yorker, 5 June 2024)
- China's military shows off robot dog with automatic rifle mounted on its back (ABC7, 29 May 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: Got lots of meetings? https://fireflies.ai/
- Really cool stuff https://www.make.com/en
- https://www.notion.so/notes
- Wes: Family History website (in progress) https://history.wesfryer.com/ and Google’s “Prompting Guide 101” and My Mastodon Lists
Episode 327: 22 May 2024
- AI
- Hype
- It’s Time to Believe the AI Hype (Wired; 17 May 2024)
- More Announcements!
- OpenAI debuts GPT-4o ‘omni’ model now powering ChatGPT (TechCrunch; 13 May 2024)
- Learning
- Microsoft Edge will translate and dub YouTube videos as you’re watching them (Verge, 21 May 2024)
- Advertising
- Meet AdVon, the AI-Powered Content Monster Infecting the Media Industry (Futurism, 8 May 2024)
- Google Search’s New AI Overviews Will Soon Have Ads (Wired, 21 May 2024) - Archive.ph version
- Elections
- Political ads could require AI-generated content disclosures soon (The Verge; 22 May 2024)
- Deep Fakes
- She was accused of faking an incriminating video of teenage cheerleaders. She was arrested, outcast and condemned. The problem? Nothing was fake after all (The Guardian, 11 May 2024)
- Not Deep Fakes
- Lawyers say OpenAI could be in real trouble with Scarlett Johansson (The Verge; 22 May 2024)
- The Scarlett Johansson Dispute Erodes Public Trust In OpenAI (Time; 21 May 2024)
- Exactly how stupid was what OpenAI did to Scarlett Johansson? (The Washington Post; 21 May 2024)
- Pause?
- How to Hit Pause on AI Before It’s Too Late (TIme; 16 May 2024)
- Google I/O 2024: everything announced (The Verge, 14 May 2024)
- Social Media
- Key January 6th Instigator, Nick Fuentes, Reinstatement on Twitter/X: The Implications (Just Security, 4 May 2024)
- Gaming
- Roblox Community Protests ‘Communism’ Update (404 Media, 9 May 2024)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Surface event: the 6 biggest announcements (The Verge; 20 May 2024)
- Why Microsoft’s New AI Feature Has Prompted Major Privacy Concerns (Time; 22 May 2024)
- M4 iPad Pro vs Microsoft Surface Pro: How do they stack up? (9 to 5 Mac; 21 May 2024)
- UK watchdog looking into Microsoft AI taking screenshots (BBC, 21 May 2024)
- How the new Microsoft Recall feature fundamentally undermines Windows security (Double Pulsar, 21 May 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: LogiTech AI Generator
- Wes: Star Wars 1978 Remix (6 min) and Email Jedi Tricks (31 min)
Episode 326: 8 May 2024
- AI
- BioTech
- Google's New AI Predicts Molecular Behavior, Which Could Supercharge Drug Discovery (CNet, 8 May 2024)
- Politics
- Nervous about falling behind the GOP, Democrats are wrestling with how to use AI (AP News, 6 May 2024)
- Hollywood and AI
- Will AI dream up the hit TV shows of the future? (BBC; 8 May 2024)
- AI and Education
- Our Students’ Future in an AI-World is Debatable (Higher Education Digest; 3 May 2024)
- Related: The American Lyceum
- AIs can now pull quotes from articles without hallucination (Stefan Bauschard; 8 May 2024)
- Tools: Use Gemini Advanced!
- This Week in Tech 977 Gahoo Yoogle (with Amy Webb and Kevin Rose)
- The Complexity of AI Training
- OpenAI offers a peek behind the curtain of its AI’s secret instructions (Tech Crunch; 8 May 2024)
- Tech Correction
- Mitt Romney Reveals Twisted Reason Why Congress Moved to Ban TikTok (New Republic, 6 May 2024)
- Apple
- OMG NEW APPLE STUFF! Everything announced at Apple's Let Loose iPad event (Engadget; 8 May 2024)
- Apple’s Crushing iPad Ad Trashed By Hugh Grant, Justine Bateman & Almost Everyone Else (Deadline, 8 May 2024)
- Is Apple BEHIND on AI??? Fitting Facts To The Narrative At The Washington Post (John Gruber, Daring Fireball; 6 May 2024)
- Google search boss warns employees of ‘new operating reality,’ urges them to move faster (CNBC; 23 April 2024)
- The Man Who Killed Google Search (Edward Zitron; 23 April 2024)
- Google paid Apple $20 Billion to be default search engine in 2022 (Apple Insider; 2 May 2024)
- New Media
- With YouTube Booming, Podcast Creators Get Camera-Ready (New York Times; 26 April 2024) Gift Link
- A Columbia professor wanted to document history. NYPD arrested him outside his home (Yahoo News, 4 May 2024)
- Media Literacy
- The New Propaganda War (The Atlantic, June 2024)
- Privacy / Security
- How your behavior became the world's biggest resource (Technically Optimistic Podcast, 24 April 2024)
- Why the TikTok ban won't solve the US's online privacy problems (DeCoder Podcast, 25 April 2024)
- Change Healthcare cyberattack was due to a lack of multifactor authentication, UnitedHealth CEO says (AP News, 1 May 2024)
- UnitedHealth says Change hackers stole health data on ‘substantial proportion of people in America’ (TechCrunch, 22 Apr 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: 1. ChatGPT… for travel advice! 2. Fallout on Amazon Prime
- Wes: Democracy and Human Rights Need Your Voice! (2.5 min) and all recorded “Webinars with Wes” are FREE! And free Grow with Google course “AI for Educators”
Episode 325: 24 April 2024
- AI
- New Tools Released:
- Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI (The Verge; 24 April 2024)
- Killer Combination: Mistral AI + GLASP
- Copyright
- Author granted copyright over book with AI-generated text—with a twist (ArsTechnica, 18 Apr 2024)
- How One Author Pushed the Limits of AI Copyright (Wired; 17 April 2024)
- Deepfakes in the courtroom: US judicial panel debates new AI evidence rules (ArsTechnica, 24 Apr 2024)
- OpenAI's GPT-4 can exploit real vulnerabilities by reading security advisories (The Register; 17 April 2024)
- Adobe’s impressive AI upscaling project makes blurry videos look HD (The Verge, 24 Apr 2024)
- Cool or creepy? Microsoft's VASA-1 is a new AI model that turns photos into 'talking faces' (Tom’s Guide; 18 April 2024)
- Watch the Mona Lisa Rap, via Microsoft's AI: It's as Freaky as You Think (CNet, 23 Apr 2024)
- Tech Correction
- Biden signs TikTok ‘ban’ bill into law, starting the clock for ByteDance to divest it (The Verge, 24 Apr 2024)
- Is the new TikTok ban for real? (Vox; 24 April 2024)
- China bans government officials from using iPhones for work, Wall Street Journal reports (Reuters, 6 Sept 2023)
- What the evidence really says about social media’s impact on teens’ mental health (Vox; 12 April 2024)
- Schools Want to Ban Phones. Parents Say No. (WSJ; 20 April 2024)
- Security
- Nation-state hackers exploit Cisco firewall 0-days to backdoor government networks (ArsTechnica, 24 Apr 2024)
- Google can’t quit third-party cookies—delays shut down for a third time (ArsTechnica, 24 Apr 2024)
- Google Podcasts export tool live internationally, app shuts down June 23 (9to5Google, 24 Apr 2024)
- YouTube Music wants to be the ‘ultimate destination for podcasters and fans’ (9to5Google, 24 Apr 2024)
- Apple
- An Apple event is coming: What are you most excited to see? (9 to 5 Mac; 23 April 2024)
- Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device (MacRumors, 24 Apr 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: eSIMS for Travel!
- Wes: [PODCAST] How Should I Be Using A.I. Right Now? by Ezra Klein with Ethan Mollick and Apple in China - Face-Off: The U.S. vs China
Episode 324: 17 April 2024
- AI
- Texas will use computers to grade written answers on this year’s STAAR tests (Texas Tribune, 9 April 2024)
- Society of Authors survey reveals a third of translators and quarter of illustrators losing work to AI (Down The Tubes, 12 Apr 2024)
- Google Vids is a ‘new AI-powered video creation app’ for Workspace (9to5Google, 9 Apr 2024)
- Microsoft Copilot AI will soon run locally on PCs (Engadget; 28 March 2024)
- Ethics / Legality
- Hard Fork Podcast: “A.I.’s Data Wall + a Surprise Privacy Bill + What Happened to the TikTok Ban?” (12 Apr 2024)
- How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I. (NY TImes; 8 April 2024)
- AI Music Generation Takes Center Stage
- Media Literacy / LikeWar
- Kremlin-backed actors spread disinformation ahead of US elections (ArsTechnica, 17 Apr 2024)
- Technology and Kids
- The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness? (Nature; 29 March 2024)
- “Google Vids” is Google’s fourth big productivity app for Workspace (ArsTechnica, 9 Apr 2024)
- 5 Workspace announcements from Google Cloud Next '24 (Google Blog; 9 April 2024)
- Google brings AI-powered editing tools, like Magic Editor, to all Google Photos users for free (Tech Crunch; 10 April 2024)
- Security
- Critical takeover vulnerabilities in 92,000 D-Link devices under active exploitation (ArsTechnica, 8 Apr 2024)
- Robotics
- Boston Dynamics’ new humanoid moves like no robot you’ve ever seen (ArsTechnica, 17 Apr 2024)
- Apple
- Apple Plans to Overhaul Entire Mac Line With AI-Focused M4 Chips (Bloomberg; 11 April 2024)
- Apple is reportedly planning a big AI-focused M4 Mac upgrade (The Verge; 11 April 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: AI Chat Battle!
- Wes: StoryGraph
Episode 323: 3 April 2024
- AI
- ChatGPT no longer requires an account — but there’s a catch (TechCrunch 1 April 2024)
- Amazon and Anthropic deepen their shared commitment to advancing generative AI (Amazon; 27 March 2024)
- Assessment of Student Learning Is Broken (Inside Higher Education; 28 March 2024)
- Generative AI and K-12 Education: An MIT Perspective (An MIT Exploration of Generative AI; 26 March 2024)
- Gen-AI Search Engine Perplexity Has a Plan to Sell Ads (AdWeek, 1 April 2024)
- Bad Actors
- Anthropic researchers wear down AI ethics with repeated questions (TechCrunch, 2 April 2024)
- How Spammers, Scammers and Creators Leverage AI-Generated Images on Facebook for Audience Growth (Stanford Internet Observatory, 18 March 2024)
- Voice Tech
- Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities of Synthetic Voices (OpenAI; 29 March 2024)
- OpenAI’s voice cloning AI model only needs a 15-second sample to work (Verge, 20 March 2024)
- Image Generation
- Sora: first impressions (OpenAI, 25 March 2024)
- Jobs
- ‘We Won't Need Sara’: Actress Learns She’s Been Replaced by AI (DeCrypt, 30Mar 2024)
- Apps / Platforms
- Security
- AT&T resets account passcodes after millions of customer records leak online (TechCrunch, 30 March 2024)
- Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests (MacRumors, 26 March 2024)
- Hackers are targeting a surprising group of people: young public school students (NPR, 13 March 2024)
- The Strange Story of the Teens Behind the Mirai Botnet: Their DDos Malware Threatened the Entire Internet (IEEE Spectrum 23 May 2023)
- Military
- Game of Drones: How drone combat in Ukraine is changing warfare (Reuters, 26 March 2024)
- Social Media
- Justice Dept. Sues Apple + Smartphones and Children with Jonathan Haidt + Reddit’s IPO (Hard Fork Podcast, 22 March 2024)
- Copyright / Intellectual Property
- The Nintendo DS emulator Drastic is now free as Yuzu lawsuit fallout begins (Verge, 5 March 2024)
- A wildly popular game dubbed 'Pokémon with guns' has been forced to deny that its characters are a rip-off (Business Insider, 25 Jan 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: https://www.going.com/
- Wes: My 9 fav podcasts / My Podcast Subscriptions - SIFT Lesson Videos - Tired of Streaming? Free Blockbuster Libraries Offer an Alternative. (NYTimes, 21 March 2024) #GiftLink
Episode 322: 20 March 2024
- AI
- Lawsuit DRAMA!
- Elon Musk sues OpenAI over AI threat (Courthouse News Service; 29 February 2024)
- OpenAI and Elon Musk (Open AI Blog; 5 Match 2024)
- In Latest A.I. War Escalation, Elon Musk Releases Chatbot Code (NYTimes, 17 March 2024)
- Apple
- Report: Apple’s iPhone AI Plans May Leverage Google Gemini (Thurrott; 18 March 2024)
- Microsoft
- Copilot Pro Users Can Now Access the AI Assistant in the Microsoft 365 Web Apps (Thurrott; 14 March 2024)
- Microsoft Brings GPT-4 Turbo to Free Version of Copilot (Thurrott; 13 March 2024)
- 4 Reasons to Use Microsoft Copilot Instead of ChatGPT (MakeUseOf, 14 March 2024)
- Google’s Gemini AI now refuses to answer election questions (ArsTechnica, 13 March 2024)
- OpenAI’s chatbot store is filling up with spam (TechCrunch; 20 March 2024)
- AI Experimentations
- Google Keep is getting an AI upgrade with Gemini (Chrome Unboxed; 5 March 2024)
- My Memo
- Wes’ AI Learning site and preso slides “Stories About AI” ai.wesfryer.com
- Tech Correction
- House passes a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban if Chinese owner refuses to sell (AP; 13 March 2024)
- Why Trump is now against a TikTok ban (
- The U.S. Wants to Ban TikTok for the Sins of Every Social Media Company (404; 13 March 2024)
- Social Media
- Bluesky’s Stackable Approach to Moderation (Blue Sky, 12 March 2024)
- Privacy
- Automakers Are Sharing Consumers’ Driving Behavior With Insurance Companies (NYTimes, 11 March 2024)
- Media Literacy
- How to consume information in times of conflict (DFR Lab, 18 Mar 2024)
- AI Isn’t Our Election Safety Problem, Disinformation Is (Time; 13 March 2024)
- A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty (Time; 12 March 2024)
- Connectivity
- FCC scraps old speed benchmark, says broadband should be at least 100Mbps (Ars Technica; 14 March 2024)
- Apple
- Walmart Brings the Popular MacBook Air With the M1 Chip to Its Shelves (Walmart Corporate; 15 March 2024)
- Security
- “Disabling cyberattacks” are hitting critical US water systems, White House warns (ArsTechnica, 19 March 2024)
- Four big questions for DC following massive health care hack (Politico, 18 March 2024)
- Misc
- Formula 1 chief appalled to find team using Excel to manage 20,000 car parts (ArsTechnica, 20 March 2024)
- Geek of the Week:
- Wes: [PODCAST] Exploring the Intersection of Information Integrity, Race, and US Elections by Tech Policy Press and Mastodon.Education suspended by Mastodon.Cloud and War Over TikTok
- Jason: https://innovationrunsthroughit.com/
Episode 321: 6 March 2024
- AI
- Apple Has a New Open-Source AI Image Editor (LifeHacker, 7 Feb 2024)
- US says AI models can’t hold patents (ArsTechnica, 14 Feb 2024)
- Experiments
- Google launches “Gemini Business” AI, adds $20 to the $6 Workspace bill (ArsTechnica, 21 Feb 2024)
- Google Chatbot’s A.I. Images Put People of Color in Nazi-Era Uniforms (The New York Times; 22 February 2024)
- Google Chatbot’s A.I. Images Put People of Color in Nazi-Era Uniforms #GiftLink https://bit.ly/3wQ9ff8
- Sarah Silverman’s copyright infringement suit against OpenAI will advance in pared-down form (Engadget; 13 February 2024)
- New Tools
- QuillBot (paraphrasing your writing)
- Elon Musk wants to merge humans with AI. How many brains will be damaged along the way? (Vox; 30 January 2024)
- Claude 3 Released - (Anthropic; 4 March 2024)
- Ideogram 1.0 Released (Ideogram; 28 February 2024)
- The AI wars heat up with Claude 3, claimed to have “near-human” abilities (ArsTechnica, 4 Mar 2024)
- Windows 11 Gets its First Big Update of the Year With Copilot and Accessibility Improvements (Thurott.com; 29 February 2024)
- Something to Talk About: AI Agents
- Arc Search App
- Perplexity.AI
- Apple Knowledge Navigator (YouTube)
- Brave Brings Leo AI to Android (Thurrot.com; 29 February 2024)
- Social Media
- Bluesky gets nearly 800K new users in its first day open to the public, despite outages (TechCrunch, 7 Feb 2024)
- Security and Privacy
- Backdoors that let cops decrypt messages violate human rights, EU court says (ArsTechnica, 14 Feb 2024)
- Biden executive order aims to stop Russia and China from buying Americans' personal data (Engadget; 28 February 2024)
- Walmart isn’t buying Vizio for its hardware. It wants the TV maker’s ad business (Fast Company; 20 February 2024)
- $30 doorbell cameras can be easily hijacked, says Consumer Reports (ArsTechnica, 28 Feb 2024)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is Killing the Windows Subsystem for Android and Amazon Appstore on Windows 11 (Thurrott; 5 March 2024)
- NEW. APPLE. STUFF.
- Apple unveils the new 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip (Apple Newsroom; 4 March 2024)
- Nerdal
- Linux market share passes 4% for first time; macOS dominance declines (ArsTechnica; 5 March 2024)
- Misc
- It turns out that Odysseus landed on the Moon without any altimetry data (ArsTechnica, 27 Feb 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
- Wes: [VIDEO] Expert Behind Google’s Secret A.I. Writing Tool | Steven Johnson | How I Write Podcast and [PODCAST] How to Fix the Internet: “Open Source Beats Authoritarianism”
Episode 320: 21 February 2024
- AI
- Apple Has a New Open-Source AI Image Editor (LifeHacker, 7 Feb 2024)
- US says AI models can’t hold patents (ArsTechnica, 14 Feb 2024)
- Experiments
- Google launches “Gemini Business” AI, adds $20 to the $6 Workspace bill (ArsTechnica, 21 Feb 2024)
- Sarah Silverman’s copyright infringement suit against OpenAI will advance in pared-down form (Engadget; 13 February 2024)
- New Tools
- QuillBot (paraphrasing your writing)
- Elon Musk wants to merge humans with AI. How many brains will be damaged along the way? (VOx; 30 January 2024)
- High school senior: Why aren’t more teachers embracing AI? (CNN OpEd, 16 Sept 2024)
- MTDA AI Framework via Michigan Virtual
- Sora by OpenAI (official)
- VIDEO: AI Generated Videos Just Changed Forever (Marques Brownlee)
- VIDEO: Introducing Sora — OpenAI’s text-to-video model (10.5 min)
- Social Media
- Bluesky gets nearly 800K new users in its first day open to the public, despite outages (TechCrunch, 7 Feb 2024)
- Musk’s X sold checkmarks to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, report says (ArsTechnica, 14 Feb 2024)
- New Surgeon General Advisory Raises Alarm about the Devastating Impact of the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation in the United States (US Dept of Human Services, May 2023)
- Senate poised to pass biggest piece of tech regulation in decades (Washington Post; 15 February 2024)
- Kids Online Safety Shouldn’t Require Massive Online Censorship and Surveillance: 2023 Year in Review (EFF, 28 Dec 2023)
- Media Literacy
- Here's why conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl are spreading (NPR, 1 Feb 2024)
- Security and Privacy
- Backdoors that let cops decrypt messages violate human rights, EU court says (ArsTechnica, 14 Feb 2024)
- After years of losing, it’s finally feds’ turn to troll ransomware group (ArsTechnica, 20 Feb 2024)
- Hardware
- After trying the Vision Pro, Mark Zuckerberg says Quest 3 ‘is the better product, period’ (The Verge; 13 February 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Rewind: Third Wave Internet with Ben Tarnoff (Reimagining the Internet, 18 Jan 2024) and Grandparents of Media Literacy and wesfryer.com/after (reboot),
- Jason: Matt Wolfe Channel (YouTube)
Episode 319: 31 January 2024
- AI
- ChatGPT’s new @-mentions bring multiple personalities into your AI convo (ArsTechnica, 31 Jan 2024)
- AI Hardware
- Apple aims to run AI models directly on iPhones, other devices (Ars Technica; 24 January 2024)
- AI Impact
- Google News Is Boosting Garbage AI-Generated Articles (404 Media; 18 January 2023) - Archive.today version
- Nightshade, the tool that ‘poisons’ data, gives artists a fighting chance against AI (TechCrunch; 26 January 2024)
- AI Image Harms
- Toxic Telegram group produced X’s X-rated fake AI Taylor Swift images, report says (ArsTechnica, 26 Jan 2024)
- Teen boys use AI to make fake nudes of classmates, sparking police probe (ArsTechnica, 2 Nov 2023)
- Cops bogged down by flood of fake AI child sex images, report says (ArsTechnica, 31 Jan 2024)
- Google and Bing put nonconsensual deepfake porn at the top of some search results (NBC News, 11 Jan 2024)
- Security
- FBI director warns that Chinese hackers are preparing to ‘wreak havoc’ on US critical infrastructure (CNN, 31 Jan 2024)
- Hardware
- Amazon confirms that Fire TV is dropping Android in deleted job listing (9 to 5 Google; 31 January 2024)
- Tech Correction
- Accusations, tears and rants: 5 takeaways from today’s tech CEO hearing (CNN, 31 Jan 2024)
- Pew report shows TikTok’s rise and YouTube’s ubiquity (TechCrunch; 31 January 2024)
- The Media and Democracy Project names Elon Musk the “2023 Disinformer of the Year” (Media & Democracy Project, 31 Jan 2024)
- Apple
- OMG, VISION PRO!!!!
- Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not (The Verge; 30 January 2024)
- The Vision Pro (Daring Fireball; 30 January 2024)
- Apple is finally allowing full versions of Chrome and Firefox to run on the iPhone (The Verge; 25 January 2024)
- Positive Misc
- NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies (NASA Webb Mission Team, 29 Jan 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://drop.com/home
- Wes: Mediapocalypse Now + a16z’s Chris Dixon Defends Crypto + HatGPT (Hard Fork, 26 Jan 2024) and Voices from DARPA Podcast: Episode 73: The AI Cyber Challenge - CTF, Code, and Critical Infrastructure
Episode 318: 24 January 2024
- AI
- Business
- Mark Zuckerberg indicates Meta is spending billions of dollars on Nvidia AI chips (CNBC; 18 January2024)
- Ethics / Bad Actors
- Certificates for copyright-compliant AI are here — but ChatGPT won’t get one (The Next Web; 18 January 2024)
- Fake Joe Biden robocall tells New Hampshire Democrats not to vote Tuesday (MSNBC, 22 Jan 2024)
- Is A.I. the Death of I.P.? (THe New Yorker; 15 January 2024)
- AI bots are everywhere now. These telltale words give them away (WaPo; 20 January 2024)
- Regulation
- Training Generative AI Models on Copyrighted Works Is Fair Use (Association of Research Libraries, 23 Jan 2024)
- Societal Impact
- Rethinking AI's impact: MIT CSAIL study reveals economic limits to job automation (MIT; 22 January 2024)
- How AI Can Help Humans Become More Human (Arianna Huffington; Time; 22 January 2024)
- Delivery Firm’s AI Chatbot Goes Rogue, Curses at Customer and Criticizes Company (Time; 20 January 2024)
- Google's next Chrome update adds three new generative AI features (Engadget, 23 Jan 2024)
- ChromeOS 122 bringing Focus Mode to Chromebooks (About Chromebooks; 21 January 2024)
- How to customize your mouse buttons on a Chromebook [VIDEO] (ChromeUnboxed; 6 January 2024)
- Google’s latest AI video generator can render cute animals in implausible situations (ArsTechnica, 24 Jan 2024) - Lumiere
- Apple
- Apple’s App Store rule changes draw sharp rebuke from critics (Bloomberg; 18 January 2024)
- Kuo: Apple Has Already Sold Up to 180,000 Vision Pro Headsets (MacRumors; 22 January 2024)
- Apple's Stolen Device Protection feature is now live. Here's how it can help protect your iPhone (CBS News; 23 January 2024)
- Apple boosts plans to bring generative AI to iPhones (FT, 23 Jan 2024)
- Bots May Have Nabbed Thousands of Apple Vision Pro Preorders (PC Mag, 24 Jan 2024)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft makes its AI-powered reading tutor free (TechCrunch, 18 Jan 2024)
- Privacy
- Amazon Ring stops letting police request footage in Neighbors app after outcry (ArsTechnica, 24 Jan 2024)
- Misc
- National Ed-Tech Plan Gets First Update Since 2017 (Government Technology, 24 Jan 2024)
- North Korea: Rare footage shows teens sentenced to hard labour over K-drama (BBC, 18 Jan 2024)
- Mugger take your phone? Cash apps too easily let thieves drain accounts, DA says (ArsTechnica, 24 Jan 2024)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: https://clipdrop.co/ - https://www.aicentrist.com/
- Wes: Roll Call Question Random Generator - Recent AI Discoveries (thread) - Invidious - https://www.wesfryer.com/after/
Episode 317: 17 January 2024
- AI
- Tools
- Microsoft launches a Pro plan for Copilot (TechCrunch; 15 January 2024)
- The Most Powerful Generative AI Text Tools of 2023 (Decrypt, 28 Dec 2023)
- OpenAI launches GPT Store to capitalize on ChatGPT's consumer success (Reuters; 10 January 2024)
- Q* MAY have made a breakthrough in two more intelligence domains (reasoning and planning). That shouldn't surprise you; it will eventually happen. (Stefan Bauchard Substack, 24 Nov 2023)
- Hardware
- Volkswagen says it’s putting ChatGPT in its cars for ‘enriching conversations’ (The Verge; 8 January 2024)
- Ethics
- AI-Generated ‘George Carlin’ Comedy Special Blasted by Comedian’s Daughter (Rolling Stone; 11 January 2024)
- George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead (2024) - Full Special (Dudesy via YouTube) CAUTION: Adult Themes and Salty Langauge
- As social media guardrails fade and AI deepfakes go mainstream, experts warn of impact on elections (AP News, 26 Dec 2023)
- PSA: Warn your non-techy friends about fake AppleCoin ads (9 to 5 Mac; 16 January 2024)
- Regulation
- OpenAI must defend ChatGPT fabrications after failing to defeat libel suit (ArsTechnica, 17 Jan 2024)
- Big Tech
- Microsoft Tops Apple to Become Most Valuable Public Company (NYTimes, 12 Jan 2024) #GiftLink
- Tech Correction
- App Store to Be 'Split in Two' Ahead of EU iPhone Sideloading Deadline (MacRumors, 15 Jan 2024)
- Teen sued Utah over social media law requiring curfew for minors (ArsTechnica, 17 Jan 2024)
- Social Media
- Substack Realizes Maybe It Doesn’t Want To Help Literal Nazis Make Money After All (But Only Literal Nazis) (TechDirt, 10 Jan 2024)
- Hard Fork Podcast (NY Times)
- Apple
- Apple Vision Pro’s Lengthy Sales Pitch Will Include 25-Minute Demo (Bloomberg; 14 January 2024)
- Supreme Court upholds Apple vs. Epic ruling, Apple must allow app developers to link to other payment systems (9 to 5 Mac; 16 January 2024)
- Even more Californians could be moving to Austin after Apple shuttered a San Diego office (San Antonio Express, 17 Jan 2024)
- Security
- Researcher uncovers one of the biggest password breaches in recent history (ArsTechnica, 17 Jan 2024)
- Passkeys may not be for you, but they are safe and easy—here’s why (ArsTechnica, 12 May 2023)
- CES
- CES 2024: AI everything, what we expect in Las Vegas and all the announcements so far (Engadget; 8 January 2024)
- The GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker brings BBQ inside for $1,000 (Engadet, 8 Jan 2024)
- GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker with Active Smoke Filtration
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: FlightAware
- Wes: Free virtual AI EdTech PlayDate: Saturday, Jan 20th, 10am to Noon ET (EventBrite Registration)
Episode 316: 10 January 2024
- AI
- Tools
- In case you missed it, ChatGPT rival 'Copilot' is now on iOS and Android (Mashable; 2 January 2024)
- AI Policy and Regulation
- The New York Times Sues Microsoft, OpenAI for Copyright Infringement (Thurott; 27 December 2023)
- The NY Times Lawsuit Against OpenAI Would Open Up The NY Times To All Sorts Of Lawsuits Should It Win (TechDirt; 28 December 2023)
- Good copyright and fair use discussion relating to AI: [PODCAST] The Times Sues OpenAI + A Debate Over iMessage + Our New Year’s Tech Resolutions (Hard Fork, 5 Jan 2024)
- Bad Actors
- Exposing the Rotten Reality of AI Training Data (Podcast, Tech Policy Press, 31 Dec 2023)
- Hardware
- CES 2024: AI everything, what we expect in Las Vegas and all the announcements so far (Engadget; 8 January 2024)
- Vocabulary
- Effective accelerationism (WikiPedia) via Hard Fork 15 Dec 2023
- Experiments
- 500 chatbots read the news and discussed it on social media. Guess how that went. (Business Insider,14 Nov 2022)
- Amazon Review Summaries
- Minecraft Castle Build Challenge / Quest
- Tech Correction / Big Tech
- Google settles $5 billion privacy lawsuit over tracking people using 'incognito mode' (ABC News, 29 Dec 2023)
- Japan to crack down on Apple and Google app store monopolies (Nikkei Asia, 27 Dec 2023)
- Facebook, Instagram block teens from sensitive content, even from friends (ArsTechnica, 9 Jan 2024)
- Apple
- AirTag saves Christmas, tracks down luggage stolen from Charlotte airport (Apple Insider, 29 Dec 2023)
- Apple Just Broke a Tradition It Held for 12 Years (Mac Rumors; 1 January 2024)
- Media Literacy
- 3 new ways to check images and sources online (Google Blog “The Keyword,” 25 Oct 2023)
- Column: Meet the most dangerous quack in America (LA Times, 9 Jan 2024)
- Tips for sorting online fact from fiction (NPR KUOW, 3 Jan 2024)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Everyday AI Podcast
- Wes: Beeper - AI Resource Guides (PlayDateCLT)
Episode 315: 3 January 2024
- Debriefing Dec 27, 2023 “EdTech PlayDate - AI Edition” (online
- Overall Comments
- Helpful “AI Stories”
- Using “AI Resource Guides” in breakout rooms
- Ways to use AI
- Ask an informational question
- Load up sample resources for queries (NoteBook LM, Custom GPTs)
- Related Resources
- Archived resources from 27 Dec 2023 PlayDate
- 20 Jan 2024: In-person EdTech PlayDate - AI Edition (Charlotte, NC)
- AI
- Tools
- In case you missed it, ChatGPT rival 'Copilot' is now on iOS and Android (Mashable; 2 January 2024)
- The Most Powerful Generative AI Text Tools of 2023 (Decrypt, 28 Dec 2023)
- AI Policy and Regulation
- The New York Times Sues Microsoft, OpenAI for Copyright Infringement (Thurott; 27 December 2023)
- A New Kind of AI Copy Can Fully Replicate Famous People. The Law is Powerless. (Politico, 30 Dec 2023)
- Bad Actors
- As social media guardrails fade and AI deepfakes go mainstream, experts warn of impact on elections (AP News, 26 Dec 2023)
- Vocabulary
- Effective accelerationism (WikiPedia) via Hard Fork 15 Dec 2023
- Experiments
- 500 chatbots read the news and discussed it on social media. Guess how that went. (Business Insider,14 Nov 2022)
- Amazon Review Summaries
- Minecraft Castle Build Challenge / Quest
- Tech Correction / Big Tech
- Google settles $5 billion privacy lawsuit over tracking people using 'incognito mode' (ABC News, 29 Dec 2023)
- Japan to crack down on Apple and Google app store monopolies (Nikkei Asia, 27 Dec 2023)
- Social Media
- Youth suicide rates rose 62% from 2007 to 2021: ‘People feel hopeless,’ one recent grad says (CNBC, 5 Dec 3023)
- To Minimize Harms and Maximize Benefits of Social Media to Adolescent Health, New Report Recommends Setting Industrywide Standards, New Protections Against Harassment (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 13 Dec 2022)
- Apple
- AirTag saves Christmas, tracks down luggage stolen from Charlotte airport (Apple Insider, 29 Dec 2023)
- Apple Just Broke a Tradition It Held for 12 Years (Mac Rumors; 1 January 2024)
- Microsoft
- Report: Surface Pro 10 and Laptop 6 Are Coming in Spring 2024 With Intel and Qualcomm Chips (Thurott; 28 December 2023)
- Media Literacy
- 3 new ways to check images and sources online (Google Blog “The Keyword,” 25 Oct 2023)
- Geeks of the Week:
- Heather: https://www.classcraft.com/ - https://mizou.com/ - https://snorkel.ai/
- Jason: https://copilot.microsoft.com/ … Music Generator by Suno
- Wes: Chrome browser extension “Show YouTube Video Upload Date” and “Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing” by Chris Bail
Episode 314: 20 December 2023
(Substack scheduled: 29 Dec 2023)
- AIIIIIII
- AI Ethics and Social Impact
- Plagiarism doesn’t need AI to thrive online (Vox; 7 December 2023)
- What do AI chatbots really mean for students and cheating? (Stanford Graduate School of Education; 31 October 2023)
- This A.I. Subculture’s Motto: Go, Go, Go (NYT; 10 December 2023)
- Judges Given the OK to Use ChatGPT in Legal Rulings (Gizmodo; 12 December 2023)
- Cheating Fears Over Chatbots Were Overblown, New Research Suggests (New York Times; 13 December 2023)
- 'Art will never be the same' | Charlotte artist has her work stolen by AI (WCNC Charlotte, 20 Dec 2023)
- AI Technology and Innovations
- Microsoft Copilot is Getting GPT-4 Turbo, New DALL-E 3 Model, And More (Thurott; 5 December 2023)
- Round 2: We test the new Gemini-powered Bard against ChatGPT (Ars Technica; 8 December 2023)
- Channel 1
- AI Policy and Regulation
- Microsoft Announces New AI Alliance With AFL-CIO Union Federation (Thurrott.com; 11 December 2023)
- We’re still in a fight for survival when it comes to AI safety (Vox; 13 December 2023)
- E.U. reaches deal on landmark AI bill, racing ahead of U.S. (WaPo; 8 December 2023)
- AI Disinformation / Bad Actors
- YouTube is Autogenerating Videos for Songs Advocating the Expulsion of Muslims from India (Bellingcat, 16 Oct 2023)
- Facebook Is Being Overrun With Stolen, AI-Generated Images That People Think Are Real (404 Media, 18 Dec 2023)
- AI Experimentations
- Google Releases Gemini Pro-Powered NotebookLM in the U.S. (Thurrott; 9 December 2023)
- EdTechSR Post-Production Custom GPT
- https://www.magicschool.ai/
- https://notebooklm.google/
- Privacy
- Marketing giant ‘admits it listens to your conversations to sell targeted ads’ (Search Engine Land; 15 December 2023)
- Apple
- Apple invites press to relive their own spatial videos on Vision Pro: ‘Almost brought me to tears’ (9to5Mac, 14 Dec 2023)
- Microsoft
- Software
- Adobe gives up on $20 billion acquisition of Figma (Ars Technica; 18 December 2023)
- Security
- The Disturbing Impact of the Cyberattack at the British Library (New Yorker, 19 Dec 2023)
- Misc
- Distribution of dialogue in selected Disney movies worldwide as of April 2016, by gender (Statista, April 2016)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Vivaldi Web Browser
- Jason: Seven Things We Learned Analyzing 515 Million Wordles (NYT; 17 December 2023) Gift link for that NYT article: https://bit.ly/48veCy9
- Inside The New York Times’ Big Bet on Games (Vanity Fair; 19 December 2023)
Episode 313: 13 December 2023
(Substack scheduled: 28 Dec 2023)
- AIIIIIII
- AI Ethics and Social Impact
- Plagiarism doesn’t need AI to thrive online (Vox; 7 December 2023)
- What do AI chatbots really mean for students and cheating? (Stanford Graduate School of Education; 31 October 2023)
- AI Technology and Innovations
- Google’s Gemini Looks Remarkable, But It’s Still Behind OpenAI (Bloomberg; 7 December 2023)
- Google admits AI viral video was edited to look better (BBC; 8 December 2023)
- Imagen 2 on Vertex AI is now generally available (Google Blog)
- Gemini now live for developers with free access via Google AI Studio (9 to 5 Google; 13 December 2023)
- Grok is a woke, crypto-loving insult comic according to X users (Mashable; 9 December 2023)
- Microsoft Copilot is Getting GPT-4 Turbo, New DALL-E 3 Model, And More (Thurott; 5 December 2023)
- AI Policy and Regulation
- This A.I. Subculture’s Motto: Go, Go, Go (New York Times; 10 December 2023) - 🎁Link
- We’re still in a fight for survival when it comes to AI safety (Vox; 13 December 2023)
- E.U. reaches deal on landmark AI bill, racing ahead of U.S. (WaPo; 8 December 2023)
- EU AI ACT CHEAT SHEET (Oliver Patel via LinkedIn; 11 December 2023)
- The EU Just Passed Sweeping New Rules to Regulate AI (Wired, 8 Dec 2023)
- Tech Correction/Social Media
- Threads will let you push fact-checked posts further down your feed (The Verge; 13 December 2023)
- Threads starts testing ActivityPub support for integration with Mastodon and more (9 to 5 Mac; 13 December 2023)
- ‘Problematic pockets’: How Discord became a home for extremists (Washington Post, 12 Dec 2023) #GiftLink
- Parent and consumer groups warn against 'naughty tech toys' (NPR, 13 Dec 2023)
- Apple
- Local police should not be your go-to source for iPhone safety news (Vox; 29 November 2023)
- Microsoft
- Now Microsoft PowerPoint for the web can add videos with closed captions (THe Verge; 13 December 2023)
- Microsoft is Launching an Extended Security Update Program for Windows 10 (Thurott.com; 5 December 2023)
- Plot Twist: Windows 10 Extended Security Update Program is Coming to Consumers Too (Thurrott; 5 December 2023)
- Google’s App Store Is an Illegal Monopoly, Says Jury in Epic Trial (Gizmodo, 12 Dec 2023)
- Misc
- Distribution of dialogue in selected Disney movies worldwide as of April 2016, by gender (Statista, April 2016)
- Wes’ upcoming Jan/Feb 6 week online course: “Teaching the Conspiracies”
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: DotSocial Podcast by Mike McCue: “ActivityPub and the End of Walled Gardens, with Evan Prodromou” - Introducing VCam for Mac (Beta)
- Jason: Using LLMs locally on iPad or iPhone
Episode 312: 6 December 2023 - Holiday Tech Gift Guide
(Substack scheduled: 27 Dec 2023)
- Wes
- Misc
- Family Memories
- Auto
- Device Charging
- Amazon Basics 100W Four-Port GaN Wall Charger
- Anker USB C Cable 100W 10ft
- Best bedside iPhone + Apple Watch charger?
- Grilling / Meat Smoking / Cooking
- Jason
- Jason’s Tech Shopping Strategies
- Apple Refurbished
- Amazon Refurbished
- The higher the cost, the more you want input from the recipient of the gift
- Gift certificates is a great way to give a gift of technology
- Weird Brand Name on Amazon? Try Temu
- Techie Stuff
- Apple People
- Non Apple People
- Kitchy Nerdal
- Build Your Tech Tool Bag
- And… for the cook in your life
- Geek of the Week
- Jason; https://clipdrop.co/
- Wes: Social Media Text Prepper
Episode 311: 29 November 2023
(Substack scheduled: 26 Dec 2023)
- AI
- Open AI
- Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI (The Verge; 17 November 2023)
- Sam Altman to return as OpenAI CEO (Axios; 22 November 2023)
- Ethan Mollock on the Status of Models
- OpenAI's Altman says today's AI will be "quaint" by next year, talks GPT-5 (The Decoder; 9 November 2023)
- OpenAI debuts GPT-4 Turbo and fine-tuning program for GPT-4 (OpenAI Blog, 6 November 2023)
- Open AI Releases GPTs! (OpenAI Blog; 7 November 2023)
- Introducing Claude 2.1 (Anthropic; 21 November 2023)
- Artists Lose First Round of Copyright Infringement Case Against AI Art Generators (Hollywood Reporter; 30 October 2023)
- The Humane AI Pin is a bizarre cross between Google Glass and a pager (Ars Technica; 10 November 2023)
- Can writing experts detect AI? (X/Emollick)
- AIs are “reasonably good” graders (X/E Mollick)
- Meet Grok: Elon Musk's AI offering (Axios; 6 November 2023)
- Getty Images built a “socially responsible” AI tool that rewards artists (Ars Technica; 6 October 2023)
- Google SGE rolling out AI image generator [U] (9 to 5 Google; 25 October 2023)
- Make Something New (Google)
- YouTube To Require Disclosure When Videos Include Generative AI (Bloomberg via Archive Today; 14 November 2023)
- The alleged theft at the heart of ChatGPT (Planet Money; 10 November 2023 via Snipd)
- AI’s Spicy-Mayo Problem (The Atlantic; 24 November 2023)
- Bard update adds better email summarization and image sharing (9 to 5 Google; 24 October 2023)
- AI outperforms conventional weather forecasting for the first time: Google study (ArsTechnica, 14 Nov 2023)
- Chatbots May ‘Hallucinate’ More Often Than Many Realize (New York Times; 6 November 2023)
- Can Chatbots Help You Build a Bioweapon? (Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov 2023)
- Jason Gulya (on Linked In)
- Mitigating Risk
- IBM Tries to Ease Customers’ Qualms About Using Generative A.I. (New York Times; 28 September 2023) (Gift Link)
- Google is latest company to indemnify AI users against infringement (Legal Dive; 13 October 2023)
- YouTube cracks down on synthetic media with AI disclosure requirement (ArsTechnica, 15 Nov 2023)
- Podcast Recc: Decentralizing Innovation, with Techdirt's Mike Masnick https://pca.st/xk7j0ntn
- Stuart Russell wrote the textbook on AI safety. He explains how to keep it from spiraling out of control. (Vox; 20 September 2023)
- Sports Illustrated’s use of AI infuriates a staff already in turmoil (Washington Post, 28 Nov 2023) #GiftLink
- Experimentations
- Wes
- Jason
- Talking AI Out of Its Rules (X/TechSavvyTeach)
- Dalle 3
- https://notebooklm.google/
- Snipd
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: LM Studio
- Wes: Meet Me on Mastodon (My “Dear John Letter” to Twitter) and 17th MediaEd Forum (formerly the Northeast Media Literacy Conference) on Friday & Saturday, January 12-13, 2024
Episode 310: 15 November 2023
(Substack scheduled: 25 Dec 2023)
- AI
- OpenAI
- OpenAI's Altman says today's AI will be "quaint" by next year, talks GPT-5 (The Decoder; 9 November 2023)
- OpenAI debuts GPT-4 Turbo and fine-tuning program for GPT-4 (OpenAI Blog, 6 November 2023)
- Open AI Releases GPTs! (OpenAI Blog; 7 November 2023)
- AI fake nudes are booming. It’s ruining real teens’ lives. (Washington Post, 5 Nov 2023) #GiftLink
- How antisemitic hate groups are using artificial intelligence in the wake of Hamas attacks (CNN, 14 Nov 2023)
- Hardware News
- Scoop: Amazon is ditching Android for Fire TVs, smart displays (LowPass; 9 November 2023)
- Add GIFs and stickers in Google Slides (Google Workspace Updates, 6 Nov 2023)
- Social Media
- Video chat site Omegle shuts down after 14 years — and an abuse victim's lawsuit (NPR, 9 Nov 2023)
- Judge tosses social platforms’ Section 230 blanket defense in child safety case (ArsTechnica, 15 Nov 2023)
- Media Literacy
- At trial, accused Pelosi attacker says Gamergate led him to far-right conspiracies (ArsTechnia, 15 Nov 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Snipd
- Wes: Wes’ Text Prepper - How to Make a QR Code in Google Docs - wfryer.me/tips - Adobe Express QR Code Generator
Episode 309: 8 Nov 2023
(Substack scheduled: 24 Dec 2023)
- AI
- American Federation of Teachers partners with AI identification platform, GPTZero (CBS News; 17 October 2023)
- Biden Steps Up on AI
- Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (The White House)
- 211. Regulating AI by Executive Order is the Real AI Risk (Hardcore Software Blog; 1 November 2023)
- Baby Steps Towards Transparency
- Google Search rolls out ‘About this image’ to help see if something was created by AI (9 to 5 Google; 25 October 2023)
- Adobe launches new symbol to tag AI-generated content—but will anyone use it? (Ars Technica; 11 October 2023)
- Canva launches free AI 'Classroom Magic' tools for educators (Mashable; 23 October 2023)
- Jason AI Experimentation
- Wes AI Experimentation
- 4 Nov 2023 - Bard help with VPS server Apache / Cron / WordPress issues
- More on: http://wfryer.com/tips
- Social Media
- Elon Musk Broke All the Tools Historians Need to Archive Tweets About Israel-Gaza War (404 Media, 26 Oct 2023)
- Security
- AirTags are the new go-to tool for cops after spike in car thefts (ArsTechnica, 8 Nov 2023)
- Apple
- OMG New Apple Stuff Again!
- Behind the scenes: An Apple Event shot on iPhone (2 min video from Apple)
- https://www.youtube.com/@lukemiani
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEovLW8buk4
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Releases the Windows 11 2023 Update (23H2) (Thurrott.com; 31 October 2023)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Arrives Today (Thurrott.com; 1 November 2023)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: Cheap NFC Tags
- Wes: Media Literacy Roundup - Nov 6, 2023 (Substack)
Episode 308: 25 Oct 2023
(Substack scheduled: 23 Dec 2023)
- AI
- Wes Experiments with AI
- ISTE’s Stretch AI: https://info.iste.org/stretch-ai
- Bard can now connect to your Google apps and services (Google Blog, 19 Sept 2023)
- BigTech / Social Media
- 33 States Sue Meta, Say It Knowingly Addicted Kids to Social Media (Gizmodo, 24 Oct 2023)
- Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media Per Day (Gallup; 13 October 2023)
- Media Literacy
- Jim Jordan’s Conspiratorial Quest for Power: How the Ohio Republican built an insurgent bid for Speaker on the lies of Donald Trump. (New Yorker, 21 Oct 2023)
- Google’s AI-powered search experience can now generate images, write drafts (TechCrunch, 12 Oct 2023)
- Hardware
- Qualcomm will try to have its Apple Silicon moment in PCs with “Snapdragon X” (Ars Technica; 11 October 2023)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: DuckDuckGo Browser, for Windows and Mac
- Wes: Native iOS Voice Dictation in Chrome - Google’s SGE - Minecraft Mars Colony - Wes’ new background video - Wes’ AI Tips and Tricks
Episode 307: 11 Oct 2023
(Substack scheduled: 22 Dec 2023)
- AI
- Good explanation of why algorithmic discrimination is a key concern when it comes to AI (8:35) “Talking AI with Data and Society’s Janet Haven” (Arbiters of Truth podcast, 5 Oct 2023)
- Actor Stephen Fry says his voice was stolen from the Harry Potter audiobooks and replicated by AI—and warns this is just the beginning (Fortune, 15 Sept 2023)
- Google adds a switch for publishers to opt out of becoming AI training data (The Verge; 28 September 2023)
- Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic (TechCrunch; 25 September 2023)
- Ukraine / Israel / Gaza War
- Activist Hackers Are Racing Into the Israel-Hamas War—for Both Sides (Wired, 9 Oct 2023)
- MakerSpace Warfare: “In Ukraine, explosive DIY drones give an intimate view of killing” (Washington Post, 4 Oct 2023) #GiftLink
- Web Design / Media Literacy
- Why NASA Chose WordPress for Revamping Its Flagship Website (WP Tavern, 6 Oct 2023)
- For All Userkind: NASA Web Modernization and WordPress (VIDEO, 47 min)
- How rumors and conspiracy theories got in the way of Maui's fire recovery (NPR, 28 Sept 2023)
- Tech Correction / Big Tech
- Digital Empires: A Conversation with Anu Bradford (Tech Policy Press podcast, 8 Oct 2023)
- The Real History of the Luddites (Cyber Podcast by Vice, 29 Sept 2023)
- The Supreme Court will decide if state laws limiting social media platforms violate the Constitution (AP, 29 Sept 2023)
- Social Media
- Food Science: Stories about things we eat (The Story Collider podcast, 8 Sept 2023)
- Meta Plans to Charge $14 a Month for Ad-Free Instagram or Facebook (The Wall Street Journal; 3 October 2023)
- Google Kills Jamboard: “The next phase of digital whiteboarding for Google Workspace” (Google Workspace blog, 28 Sept 2023)
- The Teacher’s Guide for Transitioning from Jamboard to FigJam (Tom Mullaney, 28 Sept 2023)
- FigJam for Schools Advanced Webinar (Eric Curts, 11 Oct 2023)
- Google’s 7-Year commitment to Pixel 8 is for both software and hardware alike (ChromeUnboxed; 10 October 2023)
- Introducing Chromebook Plus: the new standard for fast, capable, fun-to-use devices [VIDEO] (Chrome Unboxed; 2 October 2023)
- Chromebook Plus is rolling out to certified devices right now: how to try it (ChromeUnboxed; 9 October 2023)
- Google is already bringing back the software features it removed because of Sonos’ lawsuit (Verge, 10 Oct 2023)
- Maker News
- The Raspberry Pi 5 is finally here (The Verge; 28 September 2023)
- Meta / Facebook
- Introducing the Next-Generation Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses Collection (Meta blog, 27 Sept 2023)
- End of an Era
- The Death of Netflix DVD Marks the Loss of Something Even Bigger (Slate; 21 September 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://www.librarian-ai.com/
- Wes: Ep 482: Moderating Livestreams with Cool Kicks – An Interview with 7th Grader “G” - Flipboard Supports Mastodon Lists!
Episode 306: 27 Sept 2023
- AI
- ChatGPT update enables its AI to “see, hear, and speak,“ according to OpenAI (ArsTechnica, 25 Sept 2023)
- ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak (OpenAI blog, 25 Sept 2023)
- Bard can now connect to your Google apps and services (Google Blog, 19 Sept 2023)
- AI Lie: Machines Don’t Learn Like Humans (And Don’t Have the Right To) (Tom’s Hardware, 13 Sept 2023)
- Beyond Ineffective: How Unreliable AI Detection Actively Harms Students (Marc Watkins; 3 September 2023)
- The Inventor Behind a Rush of AI Copyright Suits Is Trying to Show His Bot Is Sentient (Wired; 31 August 2023)
- Microsoft Publishes Garbled AI Article Calling Tragically Deceased NBA Player "Useless" (Futurism; 14 September 2023)
- 'He Would Still Be Here': Man Dies by Suicide After Talking with AI Chatbot, Widow Says (Vice, 30 March 2023)
- OpenAI’s GPT-4 Scores in the Top 1% of Creative Thinking (Singularity Hub; 10 September 2023)
- Clearview AI
- Breaking Bard + Who Owns Your Face? + Gamer News! (Hard Fork Podcast, 22 Sept 2023)
- Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It by Kashmir Hill
- The Technology Facebook and Google Didn’t Dare Release (NY Times, 9 Sept 2023)
- [VIDEO] documentary: Microsoft & OpenAI CEOs: Dawn of the AI Wars | The Circuit with Emily Chang (Bloomberg Originals, late August 2023)
- featuring interviews with Sam Altman of OpenAI & Satya Nadella of Microsoft. “AI moving from auto-pilot to co-pilot. Do NOT trust any 1 company or person with this technology.” (24 minutes)
- Share: Michigan Virtuals AI Toolkit for Schools
- Jason’s AI Resources: http://halfpint.link/aibrief
- Demo of LLM Claude 2 generating answers to a New York Regents test. (4 min)
- Apple
- OMG Jason Bought an iPhone 15 Pro!
- iPhone 15 Pro’s overheating issues possibly explained and a fix is on the way (Macworld; 27 September 2023)
- Social Media
- “Community Notes” on X / Twitter (A Good Example)
- Top librarian calls 'Marxist lesbian' tweet backlash 'regrettable' (NBC News, 7 Aug 2023)
- War / Military
- Ukrainian Drone Demo Thread (@saintjavelin, 18 Sept 2023)
- Misc
- Unity reportedly backtracking on new fees after developers revolt (TechCrunch, 18 Sept 2023)
- Can the U.S. Make Solar Panels? This Company Thinks So. (NY Times, 26 Sept 2023) #GiftLink
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://theresanaiforthat.com/
- Wes: America’s Top Librarian on the Rise of Book Bans (Ezra Klein Show, 12 Sept 2023) - “A Million Miles Away” (Amazon Prime)
Episode 305: 13 Sept 2023
- AI
- Apple is reportedly spending ‘millions of dollars a day’ training AI (Verge, 6 Sept 2023)
- OpenAI’s GPT-4 Scores in the Top 1% of Creative Thinking (Singularity Hub; 10 September 2023)
- PROOF POINTS: It’s easy to fool ChatGPT detectors (The Hechinger Report; 4 September 2023)
- Large language models aren’t people. Let’s stop testing them as if they were. (MIT Tech Review; 30 August 2023)
- In Praise of Boring AI (One Useful Thing from Ethan Mollick; 2 August 2023)
- 6 tips to detect AI-generated student work (eSchool News; 6 September 2023)
- Apple
- Here’s everything Apple announced at its 2023 event: iPhone 15 models, new Apple Watch, updated AirPods (CNBC, 12 Sept 2023)
- The iPhone Is Finally Getting USB-C. Here’s What That Means (Wired, 12 Sept 2023)
- France halts iPhone 12 sales over radiation levels (BBC News, 12 Sept 2023)
- Tech Correction
- United States takes on Google in biggest tech monopoly trial of 21st century (NPR, 11 Sept 2023)
- Judge in US v. Google trial didn’t know if Firefox is a browser or search engine (ArsTechnica, 12 Sept 2023)
- Just because Americans love Google doesn't make it a monopoly. Biden lawsuit goes too far. (USA Today, 12 Sept 2023)
- Social Media
- Threads blocks searches related to covid and vaccines as cases rise (Washington Post, 11 Sept 2023) #GiftLink
- Space
- SpaceX says Starlink ‘network issue’ has been resolved (Verge, 12 Sept 2023)
- Japan launches 'moon sniper' lunar lander SLIM into space (Reuters, 7 Sept 2023)
- Software
- Coming Soon: A Brand New TextExpander for Chrome (Text Expander Blog; 12 September 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://www.supermeme.ai/
- Wes: AI Guidelines for Students
Episode 304: 6 Sept 2023
- AI
- AI-generated child sex imagery has every US attorney general calling for action (ArsTechnica, 6 Sept 2023)
- Zoom's New 'AI Companion' Will Catch You Up When You're Late to Meetings (CNet, 6 Sept 2023)
- Brave is Adding a Native AI Assistant to its Browser (Thurrott.com; 22 August 2023)
- Google’s Recorder app could be set to receive AI generated summaries (Chrome Unboxed; 24 August 2024)
- GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers (Arxiv; 10 July 2023)
- Beyond Ineffective: How Unreliable AI Detection Actively Harms Students (Marc Watkins; 3 September 2023)
- Researchers figure out how to make AI misbehave, serve up prohibited content (ArsTechnica, 2 Aug 2023)
- What normal Americans — not AI companies — want for AI (Vox; 18 August 2023)
- OpenAI seeks to dismiss majority of Sarah Silverman’s and authors’ claims in ChatGPT lawsuits (Venture Beat; 29 August 2023)
- 40% of workers will have to reskill in the next three years due to AI, says IBM study (ZDNet; 18 August 2023)
- Is your data safe with Google’s generative AI? Here’s what you need to know (Chrome Unboxed; 15 August 2023)
- Is the AI boom already over? (Vox; 29 August 2023)
- US Copyright Office wants to hear what people think about AI and copyright (Verge, 29 Aug 2023)
- You can now train ChatGPT on your own documents via API (ArsTechnica, 23 August 2023)
- 6 tips to detect AI-generated student work (eSchool News; 6 September 2023)
- Zoom's New 'AI Companion' Will Catch You Up When You're Late to Meetings (ZDNet, 6 Sept 2023)
- AI Tool Talk
- Poe.com: Quora’s “Metacrawler” of Chatbots (free version available; pro is $20/month)
- Perplexity.AI: Research-focused AI chat bot (free version available; pro is $20/month); quotes citations
- (Wes’ Geeks of the Week)
- Younger student generative image AI: Padlet “I Can’t Write”
- Workflows Emerging
- Download a podcast
- Create a transcript with Word 365 Online
- Run it through a LLM
- Prompt: As the Executive Director of the Montana State virtual school, I am interested in virtual education policies, technologies, and best practices for K-12 education. I am also focused on the development of study and online learning skills in students, educational technology, AI in education, and social studies and humanities education. Please provide a summary of an article that highlights the 5-10 major points most relevant to my role and context.
- Wes’ EdTechSR podcast summary workflow
- https://youtubetranscript.com/
- Google Docs: Save as PDF
- Ingest into https://claude.ai/
- Saved prompt: Summarize in the style of this past example…
- Generate 10 clever, 3 word titles for the show…
- Tech Correction / Big Tech / Privacy
- Connected cars are a “privacy nightmare,” Mozilla Foundation says (ArsTechnica, 6 Sept 2023)
- These academics studied falsehoods spread by Trump. Now the GOP wants answers (Washington Post, 6 June 2023)
- X sues hate speech researchers whose “scare campaign” spooked Twitter advertisers (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2023)
- Apple
- A low-cost Macbook is reportedly in the works to take on Chromebooks (CHrome Unboxed; 5 September 2023)
- Now Available: Duet AI for Google Workspace (Google Workspace Blog; 29 August 2023)
- Google Docs just got a new AI-powered proofreading tool (ZDNet; 30 August 2023)
- Google Docs adds new AI-driven proofreading option to help you create high quality writing (Chrome Unboxed; 30 August 2023)
- UPDATE: How to try out Google’s new decoupled Chrome browser on Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 25 August 2023)
- Forget subtitles: YouTube now dubs videos with AI-generated voices (Rest of World; 27 July 2023)
- The Google Assistant is getting a big reboot around generative AI (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2023)
- Google Chrome will summarize entire articles for you with built-in generative AI (The Verge; 15 August 2023)
- There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac (Android Central; 14 April 2023)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft AI Subscription: A New Era In Productivity Tools (AutoGPT; 19 July 2023)
- From the Yikes Department: Microsoft retracts AI-written article advising tourists to visit a food bank on an empty stomach (Engadget; 18 August 2023)
- Social Media
- All hail the new EU law that lets social media users quiet quit the algorithm (Tech Crunch; 25 August 2023)
- Notable Nuggets (Misc)
- Huawei's Mate 60 smartphone should have been impossible (Creative Bloq, 6 Sept 2023)
- For John Green, the Battle Over Access to Books Has Gotten Personal #GiftLink (NYTimes, 31 Aug 2023)
- Can Tech Save Democracy? With Rose Jackson (Openweb Podcast, 8 Aug 2023)
- The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco. (NYTimes, 13 Aug 2023) #GiftLink
- Record Labels File $412 Million Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Internet Archive (Rolling Stone, 12 Aug 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Taking Seriously The Threats Posed by A.I., with Tristan Harris -
- Wes: How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Education by Sal Khan - Khanmigo
Episode 303: 30 August 2023
- AI
- Brave is Adding a Native AI Assistant to its Browser (Thurrott.com; 22 August 2023)
- Google’s Recorder app could be set to receive AI generated summaries (Chrome Unboxed; 24 August 2024)
- In Praise of Boring AI (One Useful Thing from Ethan Mollick; 2 August 2023)
- GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers (Arxiv; 10 July 2023)
- Researchers figure out how to make AI misbehave, serve up prohibited content (ArsTechnica, 2 Aug 2023)
- What normal Americans — not AI companies — want for AI (Vox; 18 August 2023)
- 40% of workers will have to reskill in the next three years due to AI, says IBM study (ZDNet; 18 August 2023)
- Is your data safe with Google’s generative AI? Here’s what you need to know (Chrome Unboxed; 15 August 2023)
- Is the AI boom already over? (Vox; 29 August 2023)
- US Copyright Office wants to hear what people think about AI and copyright (Verge, 29 Aug 2023)
- A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat (NY Times, 27 Aug 2023) 🎁Link
- You can now train ChatGPT on your own documents via API (ArsTechnica, 23 August 2023)
- Guy Puts Artist Back Into AI System After He Begs to Be Removed (Futurism , 2 Aug 2023)
- Stephen Wolfram on Computational Thinking (Wes’ blog post from 7 Aug 2023)
- Fascinating AI Tools
- Google is 25 Years Old!!! (Android Police; 8 August 2023)
- AI images are getting harder to spot. Google thinks it has a solution (The Washington Post; 29 August 2032)🎁Link
- Now Available: Duet AI for Google Workspace (Google Workspace Blog; 29 August 2023)
- AI Image Generation in Google Slides is Here (Flipped Classroom via YouTube)
- Google’s “Help Me Write” AI is coming to Chromebooks on a system-wide level (Chrome Unboxed; 25 August 2023)
- Google Docs adds new AI-driven proofreading option to help you create high quality writing (Chrome Unboxed; 30 August 2023)
- UPDATE: How to try out Google’s new decoupled Chrome browser on Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 25 August 2023)
- Forget subtitles: YouTube now dubs videos with AI-generated voices (Rest of World; 27 July 2023)
- The Google Assistant is getting a big reboot around generative AI (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2023)
- Google Chrome will summarize entire articles for you with built-in generative AI (The Verge; 15 August 2023)
- There's very little a Chromebook can't do compared to Windows or a Mac (Android Central; 14 April 2023)
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Microsoft AI Subscription: A New Era In Productivity Tools (AutoGPT; 19 July 2023)
- From the Yikes Department: Microsoft retracts AI-written article advising tourists to visit a food bank on an empty stomach (Engadget; 18 August 2023)
- Social Media
- All hail the new EU law that lets social media users quiet quit the algorithm (Tech Crunch; 25 August 2023)
- X sues hate speech researchers whose “scare campaign” spooked Twitter advertisers (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2023)
- Following Elon Musk’s lead, Big Tech is surrendering to disinformation (Washington Post, 25 Aug 2023) 🎁Link
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education sues social media companies over mental health impacts (25 Aug 2023)
- Notable Nuggets (Misc)
- Can Tech Save Democracy? With Rose Jackson (Openweb Podcast, 8 Aug 2023)
- The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco. (NYTimes, 13 Aug 2023) #GiftLink
- Record Labels File $412 Million Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Internet Archive (Rolling Stone, 12 Aug 2023)
- The ‘US Cyber Trust Mark’ finally gives device makers a reason to spend big on security (TechCrunch, 23 Aug 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: MacBook Air M1 on Sale!
- Wes: [VIDEO] Sharing Voice Memos (Family Oral History Project) - full lesson
Episode 302: 23 August 2023
- AI
- When Hackers Descended to Test A.I., They Found Flaws Aplenty (New York Times; 16 August 2023) 🎁Link
- OpenAI may have to wipe ChatGPT and start over (Boy Genius Report; 18 August 2023)
- Microsoft brings Bing AI support to Google Chrome, adds dark mode too (9 to 5 Google; 24 July 2023)
- Dungeons & Dragons tells illustrators to stop using AI to generate artwork for fantasy franchise (AP, 6 Aug 2023)
- Music can be reconstructed from human auditory cortex activity using nonlinear decoding models (Plos Biology, 15 Aug 2023)
- An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to decide which books to ban (ArsTechnica, 16 Aug 2023)
- Using Generative AI to Resurrect the Dead Will Create a Burden for the Living (Wired, 21 Aug 2023)
- ChatGPT costs $700,000 daily, maker may go bankrupt in 2024: Report (Business Standard, 13 Aug 2023)
- The new ‘Floating Workspace’ feature is finally beginning to show up in ChromeOS Canary (Chrome Unboxed; 21 August 2023)
- Google says it will take nearly a year to fully decouple Chrome from ChromeOS (Chrome Unboxed; 10 August 2023)
- Google opens eSignature beta for Google Docs and Google Drive (TechCrunch; 9 August 2023)
- Google is set to increase the frequency of Chrome updates to bolster security (Chrome Unboxed; 14 August 2023)
- Apple
- Surprise: Apple now supports California’s right-to-repair (The Verge; 23 August 2023)
- Apple has been working on Vision Pro since the first iPhone launched (9 to 5 Mac; 23 August 2023)
- Social Media
- TikTok launches text-only posts to rival Elon Musk's Twitter (Reuters, 25 July 2023)
- NASCAR driver Noah Gragson suspended from racing due to social media conduct (CNN, 5 Aug 2023)
- The EU wants to cure your teen’s smartphone addiction (Politico, 16 Aug 2023)
- Notable Nuggets (Misc)
- Bill Simmons, Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain and 36 More on The Future of Podcasting (Hollywood Reporter, 21 Aug 2023)
- Geek of the Week:
- Jason: “Custom Instructions” from Reddit
- Wes: “What Is The Internet” playlist - Student YouTubers - Oloigies [PODCAST] Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH) with Nita Farahany
Episode 301: 16 August 2023
- AI
- Pearson eyes AI revenue growth but concedes some tools are imports of ChatGPT (Evening Standard; 31 July 2023)
- Project Gemini: Google wants to dethrone ChatGPT and others with yet another secret AI initiative (Chrome Unboxed; 16 August 2023)
- ChatGPT can now remember who you are and what you want (The Verge; 20 July 2023)
- Outstanding Larry Lessig #AnotherWay [PODCAST] “Taking Seriously The Threats Posed by A.I., with Tristan Harris”
- Apple
- Family rescued from wildfires in Maui thanks to iPhone’s Emergency SOS via Satellite (9to5Mac, 9 Aug 2023)
- Free-to-Pay
- Wakelet Legacy & Premium Plans (Wakelet; 5 July 2025)
- Why has Wakelet introduced plans? (Wakelet)
- Misc
- A better internet for readers (SubStack, 10 Aug 2023)
- Far-right Patriot Front members sue leftist activist for allegedly leaking their identities (Seattle Times, 8 Aug 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: stelfiett.com - Personal ChatGPT Use Examples: Spreadsheet formulas - Assessment Rubric - AI Generated video with pictory.ai
- Jason: https://www.upscale.media/
Episode 300: 2 August 2023
- AI
- What Is Worldcoin? Here’s What To Know About The Eyeball-Scanning Crypto Project Launched By OpenAI’s Sam Altman (Forbes, 24 July 2023)
- Netflix Pulls AI Content Creation From Job Listing After Backlash (Newsweek; 31 July 2023)
- The Writers’ Strike Over AI Is Bigger Than Hollywood (The Markup; 29 July 2023)
- Google will ‘supercharge’ Assistant with AI that’s more like ChatGPT and Bard (The Verge; 31 July 2023)
- Dario Amodei, C.E.O. of Anthropic, on the Paradoxes of A.I. Safety and Netflix’s ‘Deep Fake Love’’ (New York TImes; 21 July 2023)
- Security
- Canon warns printer users to manually wipe Wi-Fi settings before discarding (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2023)
- Tech Correction
- OpEd: Lindsey Graham and Elizabeth Warren: When It Comes to Big Tech, Enough Is Enough (NYTimes, 27 July 2023) #GiftLink
- Meta loses battle in EU, will ask for consent to show personalized ads (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2023)
- Elon Musk’s Unmatched Power in the Stars (NYTimes, 28 July 2023) #GiftLink
- Meta starts blocking news in Canada over law on paying publishers (Reuters, 1 Aug 2023)
- Google Chrome officially removing the download bar for a new tray UI (9to5Google, 2 Aug 2023)
- Why I use a Chromebook: It does what I need really well (About Chromebooks; 1 July 2023)
- First look at the new Microsoft 365 Chromebook integration (About Chromebooks; 24 July 2023)
- Apple
- ‘No sign’ Apple will launch generative AI in 2024, says Kuo (9to5Mac, 2 Aug 2023)
- Misc
- Federal Reserve officially launches new FedNow instant-payments service (CNBC, 20 July 2023)
- Republicans Are Fooling Democrats on Kids’ Online Safety (New Republic, 2 Aug 2023)
- Geek ‘o the Week
- Jason: You Can Download Instructions for More Than 6,800 LEGO Kits for Free (LifeHacker; 29 July 2023)
- Wes: Google Robotics Lab Segment, NYT Hard Fork Podcast (28 July 2023, at 40:00) - Mastodon share
Episode 299: 26 July 2023
- AI
- GPT-4 is becoming less functional (Ethan Mollick, Twitter)
- AI Detection Doesn’t Work (Ethan Mollick, Twitter)
- The Homework Apocalypse (Ethan Mollick, One Useful Thing; 1 July 2023)
- Empower educators to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (Microsoft)
- What to Know About Claude 2, Anthropic's Rival to ChatGPT (Time; 18 July 2023)
- OpenAI’s ChatGPT Bot Probed by FTC Over Consumer Harms (Time; 13 July 2023)
- More than 1,300 experts call AI a force for good (BBC; 18 July 2023)
- AI learned from their work. Now they want compensation (Washington Post; 16 July 2023)
- Meta Unveils a More Powerful A.I. and Isn’t Fretting Over Who Uses It (New York Times; 18 July 2023)
- Elon Musk announces a new AI company (CNN Business; 12 July 2023)
- Google’s Bard prepares to add extensions, giving you useful travel and shopping power ups (Chrome Unboxed; 18 July 2023)
- NotebookLM is Google’s new AI-driven notes app that is official as of today (Chrome Unboxed; 12 July 2023)
- Apple Tests ‘Apple GPT,’ Develops Generative AI Tools to Catch OpenAI (Bloomberg; 19 July 2023)
- Maybe showing off an AI-generated fake TV episode during a writers’ strike is a bad idea (TechCrunch; 18 July 2023)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot AI Tool Will Cost $30 Per Month (CNet; 18 July 2023)
- Intelligence nominee warns generative AI poses threat to 2024 elections (Politico, 20 July 2023)
- Fully AI-Generated Influencers Are Getting Thousands of Reactions Per Thirst Trap (Futurism, 20 July 2023)
- Digital Avatars and Our Refusal to Die (LongNow, 21 July 2023)
- ByteDance Releases CapCut Plugin For ChatGPT (Search Engine Journal, 15 July 2023)
- ISTE ‘23
- The Once and Future ISTE (eSchool News; 13 July 2023)
- EdTech
- Security
- How to tell if a gadget is secure? Look for this new government seal (Washington Post; 19 July 2023) 🎁Link
- Social Media/Tech Correction
- Threads now has ‘tens of millions’ of daily users. But its honeymoon phase may be over (CNN Business; 19 July 2023)
- Twitter replaces its bird logo with an X as part of Elon Musk's plan for a super app (NPR, 24 July 2023)
- Media Literacy
- Fact Check-Online conspiracies link Pixar’s use of the number A113 with adrenochrome (Reuters, 18 July 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Autio and AI x Education Conference (Aug 5-6)
- Jason: Conference Presentation Opportunities
Episode 298: 14 June 2023
- AI
- Let us serve you, but don’t bring us down (Archive.org blog; 29 May 2023)
- OpenAI reportedly warned Microsoft about rushing GPT-4 integration into Bing (Engadget; 13 June 2023)
- AI automated discrimination. Here’s how to spot it. (Vox; 14 June 2023)
- University of Kansas Researchers Claim 99% Accuracy Detecting ChatGPT Fakes (Gizmodo; 8 June 2023)
- AI doom, AI boom and the possible destruction of humanity (Venture Beat; 4 June 2023)
- Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says (New York Times; 14 June 2023) 🎁Link
- Amazon cracks down on fake reviews with AI (BBC; 12 June 2023)
- E.U. Takes a Step Closer to Passing the World's Most Comprehensive AI Regulation (Time; 14 June 2023)
- The US Senate is working to get up to speed on AI basics ahead of any legislation (CNN Business; 8 June 2023)
- Microsoft Says New A.I. Shows Signs of Human Reasoning (NYTimes, 16 May 2023) #GiftLink
- Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4 (Microsoft Research, March 2023)
- Google I/O and the Coming AI Battles (Stratechery, 15 May 2023)
- Can we count on the government to do something about AI? (Vox; 16 May 2023)
- AI poses risk to humanity, according to majority of Americans in new poll (ArsTechnica, 17 May 2023)
- It’s Not Just About ChatGPT. Other AI Technologies Are Heading to Schools (Education Week; 9 May 2023)
- How Do We Ensure an A.I. Future That Allows for Human Thriving? (New York Times; 2 May 2023)
- How Google is branding AI: Sparkles, Duet, and ‘generative’ (9 to 5 Google; 16 May 2023)
- Adobe is so confident its Firefly generative AI won’t breach copyright that it’ll cover your legal bills (Fast Company, 8 June 2023)
- Apple
- The best MacBooks for 2023: How to pick the best Apple laptop (Engadget; 13 June 2023)
- macOS Sonoma drops support for another wide swath of Intel Macs (Ars Technica; 5 June 2023)
- Here’s what Mark Zuckerberg thinks about Apple’s Vision Pro (The Verge; 8 June 2023)
- Apple’s Face Computer + Crypto Chaos + How Teens Really Feel About Social Media (Hard Fork Podcast, 9 June 2023)
- The best hidden ChromeOS features I use on my Chromebook (About Chromebooks; 13 June 2023)
- ‘Minecraft’ for ChromeOS leaves early access, works on more machines (Engadget; 7 June 2023)
- Amazon
- Amazon still doesn’t understand productivity tablets (The Verge; 14 June 2023)
- Social Media/Tech Correction
- Apple's Face Computer, Crypto Chaos and How Teens Really Feel About Social Media (Hardfork Podcast; 9 June 2023)
- Privacy
- An anti-porn app put him in jail and his family under surveillance (ArsTechnica, 13 June 2023)
- Information Literacy / Media Literacy
- Google is getting a lot worse because of the Reddit blackouts (The Verge; 13 June 2023)
- DeSantis ad uses fake AI images of Trump hugging and kissing Fauci, experts say (ArsTechnica, 8 June 2023)
- Security
- Dozens of popular Minecraft mods found infected with Fracturiser malware (ArsTechnica, 7 June 2023)
- Misc
- 'Mr. Run and Jump' will be the first official cartridge for the Atari 2600 since 1990 (Engadget, 13 June 2023)
- Meet the newest employee at Elon Musk's SpaceX. He's 14. (Business Insider, 10 June 2023)
- Why the ‘Mother of Dragons’ at SpaceX left her job building rockets to work on nuclear fusion (CNBC, 10 June 2023)
- Smart TV industry rocked by alleged patent conspiracy from chipmaker (ArsTechnica, 8 June 2023)
- Geek of the Week!
- Jason: https://short.io/ - https://mizage.com/divvy/
- Wes: Whisperboard
Episode 297: 7 June 2023
- AI
- A Chatbot Was Designed to Help Prevent Eating Disorders. Then It Gave Dieting Tips (WSJ; 1 June 2023)
- Can a chatbot help people with eating disorders as well as another human? (NPR; 24 May 2023)
- What will stop AI from flooding the internet with fake images? (Vox; 3 June 2023)
- OpenAI still not training GPT-5, Sam Altman says (TechCrunch; 7 June 2023)
- The US Senate is working to get up to speed on AI basics ahead of any legislation; (CNN; 7 June 2023)
- A professor accused his class of using ChatGPT, putting diplomas in jeopardy (Washington Post, 18 May 2023)
- Here’s What Happens When Your Lawyer Uses ChatGPT (NYTimes, 27 May 2023)
- Social Media
- Pew: 60% of U.S. Twitter users have ‘taken a break’ from the platform in the past year (TechCrunch; 17 May 2023)
- Teachers are on the front lines of a battle to change how teens use social media (CNN Business; 3 June 2023)
- YouTube rolls back its rules against election misinformation (TechCrunch, 3 June 2023)
- OMGGGGG NEW APPLE STUFF
- Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer (Apple PR)
- Apple introduces the 15‑inch MacBook Air (Apple PR)
- Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro (Apple PR)
- Mac Pro with M2 Ultra first look: boy, that’s a big chip (The Verge; 5 June 2023)
- Apple’s most expensive M2 Ultra Mac Pro is $40,000 cheaper than the maxed-out Intel model (The Verge; 5 June 2023)
- Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro Headset Will Test Marketing Might (Bloomberg; 6 April 2023) - free from Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-debuts-3-499-vision-211946203.html
- Security
- Malicious Chrome extensions with 75M installs removed from Web Store (Bleeping Computer, 2 June 2023)
- Google Assistant kills off support for third-party note apps (ArsTechnica, 1 June 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://www.chatpdf.com/
- Wes: Mark Rober tells MIT graduates to throw themselves into the unknown (MIT News, 1 June 2023) and “Demystifying A.I.” on From the Horse’s Mouth
Episode 296: 31 May 2023
- AI
- A.I. Poses ‘Risk of Extinction,’ Industry Leaders Warn (NYTimes, 30 May 2023) - Gift Link
- Spotlight: AI Myths and Misconceptions (Your Undivided Attention Podcast, 11 May 2023)
- The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions (MIT Technology Review; 6 October 2022)
- Here’s What Happens When Your Lawyer Uses ChatGPT (NY TImes; 27 May 2023) Gift Link
- Google has officially stopped supporting the first-gen Chromecast (Engadget, 31 May 2023)
- Good alternative: Walmart ONN Android TV Box
- Ex-Googler Answers Why Google Search is Getting Worse (Search Engine Journal; 30 November 2022)
- Social Media
- Surgeon General Warns That Social Media May Harm Children and Adolescents (The New York Times; 23 May 2023) Gift link
- Apple
- Apple’s new ‘Personal Voice’ feature can create a voice that sounds like you or a loved one in just 15 minutes (9to5Mac, 16 May 2023)
- How to Enable Advanced Data Protection on iOS, and Why You Should (EFF, 17 May 2023)
- Apple Plans to Launch More Than Just Its New Headset at WWDC (Bloomberg; 16 April 2023)
- Tech Correction / Game
- Europe is ready to crack down on loot boxes and exploitative game mechanics (PC World, 18 Jan 2023)
- Loot boxes in online games and their effect on consumers, in particular young consumers (European Parliament's committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, July 2020)
- Bad Idea Department
- Elon Musk's Neuralink wins FDA approval for human study of brain implants (Reuters; 26 May 2023)
- Geek of the Week:
- Jason: NOLEJ AI
- Wes: GIS for CLT (Wakelet) and https://comingtothetable.org/
Episode 295: 24 May 2023
- AI
- Microsoft Says New A.I. Shows Signs of Human Reasoning (NYTimes, 16 May 2023) #GiftLink
- Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4 (Microsoft Research, March 2023)
- Google I/O and the Coming AI Battles (Stratechery, 15 May 2023)
- Can we count on the government to do something about AI? (Vox; 16 MAy 2023)
- Spotlight: AI Myths and Misconceptions (Your Undivided Attention Podcast, 11 May 2023)
- AI poses risk to humanity, according to majority of Americans in new poll (ArsTechnica, 17 May 2023)
- It’s Not Just About ChatGPT. Other AI Technologies Are Heading to Schools (Education Week; 9 May 2023)
- How Do We Ensure an A.I. Future That Allows for Human Thriving? (New York Times; 2 May 2023)
- Market dips briefly after AI image of fake explosion near Pentagon goes viral (The Hill; 22 May 2023)
- Newspaper Apologizes For Accidentally Running Deranged Ai-Generated Article (The Byte/Futurism; 16 May 2023)
- How Google is branding AI: Sparkles, Duet, and ‘generative’ (9 to 5 Google; 16 May 2023)
- Using AI to Implement Effective Teaching Strategies in Classrooms: Five Strategies, Including Prompts (SSRN; 24 March 2023)
- New AI research lets you click and drag images to manipulate them in seconds (THe Verge; 19 May 2023)
- CNET staff are unionizing, citing editorial independence and use of AI tools (The Verge; 16 May 2023)
- Mr. Altman Goes to Washington + Casey Goes on This American Life (Hard Fork Podcast, 19 May 2023)
- A.I. Photoshopping Is About to Get Very Easy. Maybe Too Easy. (NY Times, 23 May 2023)
- Content Authenticity Campaign
- On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots:Can Language Models Be Too Big?
- Social Media/Tech Correction
- Pew: 60% of U.S. Twitter users have ‘taken a break’ from the platform in the past year (TechCrunch; 17 May 2023)
- Fact Check Team: How will Montana's TikTok ban work? (NBC Montana; 24 May 2023)
- Flipboard becomes first app to support Bluesky, Mastodon and Pixelfed all in one place (TechCrunch, 23 May 2023)
- Meta slapped with record $1.3 billion EU fine over data privacy (CNN, 22 May 2023)
- Google will start deleting inactive accounts after two years (ArsTechnica, 16 May 2023)
- YouTube Will Start Showing 30-Second Unskippable Ads (Cord Cutter News; 17 May 2023)
- Apple
- Apple’s new ‘Personal Voice’ feature can create a voice that sounds like you or a loved one in just 15 minutes (9to5Mac, 16 May 2023)
- Privacy
- The government can’t seize your data — but it can buy it (TechCrunch; 21 May 2023)
- The True Cost of a Free TV - Telly TV (Wired, 17 May 2023)
- How to Enable Advanced Data Protection on iOS, and Why You Should (EFF, 17 May 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: The Seamless Clipboard
- Jason: https://temp-mail.org/en/
Episode 294: 17 May 2023
- AI
- * ChatGPT Adds Web Browsing Feature to Rival Google Bard and Microsoft Bing (Decrypt, 16 May 2023)
- * Wes’ ChatGPT Powered Javascript Program of the Day
- * Influencer who created AI version of herself says it's gone rogue and she's working 'around the clock' to stop it saying sexually explicit things (Insider, 11 May 2023)
- * AI technology “can go quite wrong,” OpenAI CEO tells Senate (ArsTechnica, 16 May 2023)
- * Meet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who learned to code at 8 and is a doomsday prepper with a stash of gold, guns, and gas masks (Insider, 1 May 2023)
- * Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny (New Yorker, 3 Oct 2016) archive.today link
- * Professors Are Grappling With an Excruciating Assignment (Slate; 4 May 2023)
- * Amazon Is Being Flooded With Books Entirely Written By Ai (The Byte by the Futurist; 6 May 2023)
- Privacy
- * Your DNA Can Now Be Pulled From Thin Air. Privacy Experts Are Worried. (NYTimes, 15 May 2023)
- Security
- * Hackers Contacted Cybersecurity Firm CEO’s Son, Wife in Extortion Attempt (Bloomberg, 10 May 2023) - Archive.Today link
- * Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers (ArsTechnica, 16 May 2023)
- * Wemo won’t fix Smart Plug vulnerability allowing remote operation (ArsTechnica, 16 May 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://video2recipe.com/
- Wes: Disruptive Decentralization in Social Media and AI - Bluesky Default Content Moderation - take-a-screenshot.org
Episode 293: 10 May 2023
- Sigh. AI.
- * Edtech Chegg tumbles as ChatGPT threat prompts revenue warning (Reuters, 2 May 2023)
- The Next Fear on A.I.: Hollywood’s Killer Robots Become the Military’s Tools (NYTimes, 5 May 2023)
- * [PODCAST] I Was There When: AI reached a crossroads on with Gary Marcus (#InMachinesWeTrust, 26 April 2023)
- * ChatGPT is powered by a hidden army of contractors making $15 per hour (TechSpot; 8 Mat 2023)
- * Next Level Prompting Strategy: Ethan Mollick (via Twitter) Plan-and-Solve Prompting: Improving Zero-Shot Chain-of-Thought Reasoning by Large Language Models (ARXIV)
- Designing For The Future With AI: Lessons Learned In Curriculum Development (Michigan Virtual Blog; 27 April 2023)
- * Can Artificial Intelligence Help Mitigate Grading Bias? (Government Technology; 8 May 2023)
- * The Future Isn’t Prompt Engineering (Ethan Mollick, Twitter; 6 May 2023)
- Stanford Director: Ai Scientists’ “Frontal Cortex Is Massively Underdeveloped” (The Byte; 6 May 2023)
- Amazon's Latest AI Acquisition Is for Podcasts on Amazon Music (CNet; 5 May 2023)
- Teachers and Students Embrace ChatGPT for Education (Walton Family Foundation Blog; 1 Match 2023)
- * OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic (Time, 18 Jan 2023)
- * AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are (Guardian - Naomi Klein, 8 May 2023)
- Media Literacy / Conspiracy Theories
- Former head of Roscosmos now thinks NASA did not land on the Moon (ArsTechnica, 8 May 2023)
- * Secret Room Inside Popular Game (Counter Strike) Contains Independent Journalism about Ukraine Russia War (hs.fi, May 2023?)
- * Call Me Maybe (Made by Google Podcast; 10 April 2023)
- 9to5Google Log Out: Streaming should replace native Android apps on Chromebooks (9 to 5 Google; 7 April 2023)
- Microsoft
- * Announcing the next wave of AI innovation with Microsoft Bing and Edge (Microsoft Blog; 4 May 2023)
- Microsoft Edge caught leaking every website you visit to Bing (9 to 5 Google; 26 April 2023)
- Microsoft’s current AI dominance is thrilling the company’s diehard fans (Vox; 12 April 2023)
- Microsoft 365 apps are moving to the cloud.microsoft domain (The Verge; 26 April 2023)
- Security/Privacy
- FBI warning: Don’t use free public phone charging stations (Orange County Register, 10 Apr 2023) - USB Data Blocker
- How to Remove Your Personal Info From Google's Search Results (Wired, 1 May 2022) (archive.today version)
- Apple releases last week’s security patches for older iPhones, iPads, and Macs (ArsTechnica, 10 April 2023)
- Cybersecurity Nightmare in Japan Is Everyone Else’s Problem Too (Bloomberg, 17 Apr 2023)
- * Has Multi-Factor Authentication Failed Us? (PC Magazines; 26 April 2023)
- * How one of Vladimir Putin’s most prized hacking units got pwned by the FBI (ArsTechnica, 10 May 2023)
- * Passwordless Google accounts are here—you can now switch to passkey-only (ArsTechnica, 10 May 2023)
- Social Media
- They Did It for the Clicks (The New Republic; 18 April 2023)
- Misc
- Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Set to Begin Commercial Flight After Years of Delay (Observer, 8 May 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://edtechbooks.org/
- Wes: Simple Signage App (works with AppleTV, JAMF & Google Slides!) - Wes’ ChatGPT Stories Wakelet
Episode 292: 3 May 2023
- AI
- MIT Professor Compares Ignoring AGI to “Don’t Look Up” (Futurism; 30 April 2023)
- Mr. Ranedeer: Your personalized AI Tutor! (JustBJJ via GetHub)
- Education companies’ shares fall sharply after warning over ChatGPT (Financial Times; 2 May 2023)
- Ethan Mollick Tweet - Article
- GPT AI Enables Scientists to Passively Decode Thoughts in Groundbreaking Study (Artisana; 1 May 2023)
- Sam Altman Predicts AI Will Either Make Tons Of Money Or End The World As We Know It (Liquid Ocelot; 6 April 2023)
- Grammarly rolls out its generative AI tools with these limits (9 to 5 Google; 27 April 2023)
- University of California Berkeley law school rolls out AI policy ahead of final exams (Reuters; 20 April 2023)
- EPIC ChatGPT Prompts for Research (Andy Stapleton, YouTube)
- ChatGPT falsely accused me of sexually harassing my students. Can we really trust AI? (USA Today, 3 Apr 2023)
- Microsoft’s rolling out Edge’s AI image generator to everyone (The Verge, 7 Apr 2023)
- We are hurtling toward a glitchy, spammy, scammy, AI-powered internet (MIT Technology Review; 4 April 2023)
- Biden eyes AI dangers, says tech companies must make sure products are safe (Reuters; 4 April 2023)
- AI Video Generators Are Nearing a Crucial Tipping Point (Wired; 6 April 2023)
- Microsoft’s rolling out Edge’s AI image generator to everyone (The Verge; 7 April 2023)
- ChatGPT and Google Bard studies show AI chatbots can’t be trusted (Tech Radar; 5 April 2023)
- A professor says he's stunned that ChatGPT went from a D grade on his economics test to an A in just 3 months (Insider; 26 March 2023)
- Midjourney Ends Free Trials After Fake AI Images go Viral (PetaPixel; 30 March 2023)
- Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites and gave them to cops: it puts everyone into a 'perpetual police line-up' (Insider 2 April 2023)
- Someone keeps accusing fanfiction authors of writing their fic with AI, and nobody knows why (The Verge; 7 April 2023)
- Photographer admits prize-winning image was AI-generated (Huff Post 19 April 2023)
- AI-Generated Joe Rogan Chats Up Steve Jobs Over His Use of LSD, Spat With Gizmodo (Gizmodo, 11 Oct 2023)
- An A.I. Hit of Fake ‘Drake’ and ‘The Weeknd’ Rattles the Music World (NY Times, 19 April 2023) 🎁 link
- AI 'godfather' Geoffrey Hinton warns of dangers as he quits Google (BBC News, 2 May 2023)
- Google Authenticator now syncs 2FA with your Google Account, gets new icon (9 to 5 Google; 24 April 2023)
- Google issuing Chromebooks to employees as part of cost-cutting measures (9 to 5 Google; 3 April 2023)
- Google will shut down Currents, the work-focused Google Plus replacement (The Verge; 12 April 2023)
- CTL launches next-gen Chomebox CBX3 with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 (Chrome Unboxed; 14 April 2023)
- EBooks
- Gen Z Prefers Print Books, Not E-Books (Good eReader; 29 April 2023)
- How to teach kids who flip between book and screen (MIT Technology Review; 19 April 2023)
- Dan Willingham Extra Info (Twitter)
- Social Media/Tech Correction
- New bill would add mandatory age verification to social networks (The Verge; 26 April 2023)
- A 13-year-old was groomed publicly on Twitter and kidnapped, even after his parents warned authorities (NBC News, 26 Apr 2023)
- NYPD’s answer to TikTok car theft challenges: 500 free AirTags (Verge, 1 May 2023)
- Mastodon fixes “confusing” sign-up process to attract users fleeing Twitter (ArsTechnica, 2 May 2023)
- How TikTok Reads Your Mind (NY Times, 5 Dec 2021) 🎁 link
- Copyright / IP
- The Ruling That Threatens the Future of Libraries (The Atlantic, 9 Apr 2023)
- LikeWar
- China Gears Up for Cognitive Warfare (DefenseOne, 7 April 2023)
- Culture War
- Texas: County May Close Its Libraries Rather Than Restore Banned Books (Diane Ravitch, 12 Apr 2023)
- Chip War
- [PODCAST] The Most Amazing — and Dangerous — Technology in the World (Ezra Klein Show, 4 April 2023) - Thread 🧵
- Micro
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: Rick Steves Audio Tours
- Wes: canny.io (example) - summarize.tech - play.ht - TikTok and Media Literacy 🧵
Episode 291: 26 April 2023
- Security/Privacy
- Discord member details how documents leaked from closed chat group (Washington Post, 12 April 2023) 🎁 link
- AI
- From DrakeGPT to Infinite Grimes, AI-generated music strikes a chord (Tech Crunch; 26 April 2023)
- Google will reportedly release new AI-powered search tools next month (The Verge; 17 April 2023)
- AI is flooding the workplace, and workers love it (Vox; 10 April 2023)
- Chinese Company Ditches Human Creatives for ChatGPT-Style AI (PC Magazine, 15 Apr 2023)
- OpenAI will let you turn off your chat history in ChatGPT (The Verge; 25 April 2023)
- [VIDEO] AI Required: Teaching in a New World with Ethan Mollick (YouTube: ASU+GSV 2023, 23 April 2023)
- Padlet-generated art to accompany student poetry
- Schools bought millions of Chromebooks in 2020 — and three years later, they’re starting to break (The Verge; 21 April 2023)
- Google may stop forcing Android apps on Chromebooks out of the box (Chrome Unboxed; 3 April 2023)
- Apple
- iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via Satellite saves the day for Utah college kids trapped in 500-foot deep canyon (9to5Mac, 24 Apr 2023)
- Geek of the Week
Episode 290: 19 April 2023
- Social Media/Tech Correction
- The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social (New York TImes; 19 April 2023) 🎁 Link
- Bluesky’s CEO wants to build a Musk-proof, decentralized version of Twitter (The Verge; 17 April 2023)
- 13-year-old dies from overdose after attempting TikTok challenge (WVTV, 17 Apr 2023)
- Twitter Suspends User For Sharing Washington Post Story About Pentagon Docs Leaker (TechDirt, 14 Apr 2023)
- Twitter Circle tweets are not that private anymore (TechCrunch, 10 April 2023)
- Arkansas passes social media law requiring age verification (Engadget, 12 Apr 2023)
- AI
- Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart (THe Washington Post; 19 April 2023) 🎁 link
- Mind-blowing image reveals how AI art has progressed in 1 year (Creative Bloq; 5 April 2023)
- ChatGPT invented a sexual harassment scandal and named a real law prof as the accused (The Washington Post; 5 April 2023) 🎁Link
- Misc
- Why China Is Banning Rare Earth Metal Exports (Popular Mechanics, 17 Apr 2023)
- Curiosity Mars rover gets its latest interplanetary software patch (TechSpot, 17 Apr 2023)
- Netflix to bring down the curtain on its DVD-by-mail service (WBTV, 18 Apr 2023)
- Geeks of the Week!
- Jason: https://app.humanornot.ai/
- AI Text Detectors (Torrey Trust, Ph.D.; April 2023)
- Wes: [VIDEO] The AI revolution: Google's developers on the future of artificial intelligence | 60 Minutes
Episode 289: 12 April 2023
- Social Media
- Elon Musk Decides NPR Is Not State Propaganda After All (Gizmodo, 9 Apr 2023)
- NPR quits Twitter after being falsely labeled as 'state-affiliated media' (NPR; 12 April 2023)
- Arkansas governor signs sweeping bill imposing a minimum age limit for social media usage (CNN Business; 12 April 2023)
- PBS Joins NPR in Quitting Twitter Over State-Backed Label (Bloomberg, 12 Apr 2023)
- Security / Privacy
- NYPD robocops: Hulking, 400-lb robots will start patrolling New York City (ArsTechnica, 12 Apr 2023)
- AI
- Listen:
- A.I. Vibe Check With Ezra Klein + Kevin Tries Phone Positivity (Hard Fork; 7 April 2023)
- Generating creativity (In Machines We Trust; 5 April 2023)
- Jobs lost, jobs gained: What the future of work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages (McKinsey & Company; 28 November 2017)
- #134: AI Art Will Make Marionettes Of Us All Before It Destroys The World (Cortex Podcast, 19 Oct 2023)
- IoT
- Google and ADT have a new security system with lots of subscription fees (ArsTechnica, 29 March 2023)
- Apple
- Analysts say Mac sales are down 40% as post-pandemic PC sales slump continues (ArsTechnica, 10 April 2023)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: https://memoable.app/
- Wes: Podcast series: “The Last Soviet” - “AI in the Classroom” webinar series from the Media Education Lab - Amy Webb Launches 2023 Emerging Tech Trend Report | SXSW 2023
Episode 288: 5 April 2023
- AI
- Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai on Bard, A.I. ‘Whiplash’ and Competing With ChatGPT (Hard Fork podcast, 31 March 2023)
- ChatGPT banned in Italy over privacy concerns (BBC News, 1 April 2023)
- The chatbot era: Better or worse off? (Seattle Times, 31 March 2023)
- An A.I.-Generated Picture Won an Art Prize. Artists Aren’t Happy. (NYTimes, 2 Sept 2023) 🎁Link
- OpenAI threatened with landmark defamation lawsuit over ChatGPT false claims (ArsTechnica, 5 Apr 2023)
- Midjourney's AI Platform Blocks Images of Chinese President, Sparking Ethics Debate (Decrypt, 3 April 2023)
- Midjourney Kills Free AI Image Generator Access After Explosion of Deep Fakes (Decrypt, 30 March 2023)
- Stanford AI Report Summary (Pete the AI Guy)
- FIFA Debuts AI-Powered World Cup Soccer Mobile Game, With Plans for NFTs (Decrypt; 3 April 2023)
- Can AI-Generated Text be Reliably Detected? (arXiv; 17 March 2023)
- AI leaders (and Elon Musk) urge all labs to press pause on powerful AI (Vox; 29 March 2023)
- The Age of AI has begun (Gates Notes; 21 March 2023)
- How to test what an AI model can — and shouldn’t — do (Vox; 29 March 2023)
- What Makes A.I. Chatbots Go Wrong? (The New York Times; 29 March 2023) 🎁Link
- A Campaign Aide Didn’t Write That Email. A.I. Did. (The New York Times; 28 March 2023)
- How AI is helping birth digital humans that look and sound just like us (MIT Technology Review, 29 Sept 2022)
- Bill Gates: “Natural language is now the primary interface that we're going to use to describe things to computers" (“Bill Gates on AI and the rapidly evolving future of computing”, Microsoft Behind the Tech with Kevin Scott, 21 March 2023)
- Conservatives Aim to Build a Chatbot of Their Own (NYTimes, 22 March 2023) 🎁Link
- Generative Artificial Intelligence: The Future is Now (Jason Neiffer, via Linked In; 5 APril 2023)
- OpenAI threatened with landmark defamation lawsuit over ChatGPT false claims [Updated] (ArsTechnica, 5 April 2023)
- Samsung Fab Workers Leak Confidential Data While Using ChatGPT (Toms Hardware, 3 April 2023)
- Media Literacy / Social Media
- The swagged-out pope is an AI fake — and an early glimpse of a new reality (The Verge, 27 March 2023)
- DirecTV puts Newsmax back on the air after Republicans’ angry protests (ArsTechnica, 22 March 2023)
- Musk expands feud with media by labeling NPR Twitter account “state-affiliated” (ArsTechnica, 5 Apr 2023)
- Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media,' which is untrue (NPR, 5 April 2023)
- Got a question for Twitter's press team? The answer will be a poop emoji (NPR, 20 March 2023)
- Biden and Republican senators join forces in attack on Big Tech at Supreme Court (NBC News; 18 February 2023)
- Hollywood, music industry brace for a TikTok ban (Washington Post; 25 March 2023) 🎁Link
- How Forcing TikTok To Completely Separate Its US Operations Could Actually Undermine National Security (TechDirt; 24 March 2023)
- Hyundai and Kia forced to update software on millions of vehicles because of viral TikTok challenge (The Verge; 14 February 2023)
- Is your Facebook account worth $12 a month? Meta rolls out subscription program (ArsTechnica, 20 Feb 2023)
- Why advertisers aren’t coming back to Twitter (Vox, 24 March 2023)
- IoT
- Open garage doors anywhere in the world by exploiting this “smart” device (ArsTechnica, 4 April 2023)
- Wyze Cam flaw lets hackers remotely access your saved videos (Bleeping Computer; 29 March 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Digital Learning Collaborative Webinar on AI
- Wes: Media Literacy Lessons (April 2023) and New Lessons from TIP Teachers MisInformation Day 2023 - Convert MOVs to GIFs via Adobe Express
Episode 287: 29 March 2023
- TikTok Ban / Tech Correction / Social Media
- Bill to block Montanans from accessing TikTok clears Senate committee (Billings Gazette; 1 March 2023)
- Utah’s social media for kids law could be coming to a state near you (Vox; 25 March 2023)
- How TikTok failed to make the case for itself (Platformer, 23 March 2023)
- Section 230 Hearings
- A Ruling That Could End the Internet as We Know It (NYTimes The Daily Podcast, 23 Feb 2023) - Mastodon quote
- SCOTUS “confused” after hearing arguments for weakening Section 230 immunity (ArsTechnica, 21 Feb 2023)
- Hardware
- Gordon Moore, Intel Co-Founder, Dies at 94 (Intel; 24 March 2023)
- Copyright and Intellectual Property
- The Internet Archive has lost its first fight to scan and lend e-books like a library (The Verge; 24 March 2023)
- Consumer Rights
- The FTC wants to ban those tough-to-cancel gym and cable subscriptions (The Verge; 23 March 2023)
- Privacy
- Announcing the launch of the new Ads Transparency Center (Google Blog; 29 March 2023)
- ChromeOS and desktop Chrome are getting a Reading Mode (9 to 5 Google; 28 March 2023)
- Minecraft is officially coming to Chromebooks with a $13 upcharge over Android (9 to 5 Google; 15 March 2023)
- Google Calendar is now automatically enabling spam protection on your behalf (Chrome Unboxed; 18 February 2023)
- You can finally sign PDFs with your finger or a stylus directly inside Google Drive (16 February 2023)
- Misc
- E-book library app OverDrive is shutting down on May 1st (Engadget, 28 March 2023)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Canva Create Event from Last Week!
- Wes: “AI births digital humans” (In Machines We Trust podcast, 29 March 2023) and Interior AI and [VIDEO] OpenAI's GPT-4 Discussion with Red Teamer Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg
Episode 286: 22 March 2023
- Links from March 1st we didn’t discuss:
- Now for sale: Data on your mental health (Washington Post; 13 February 2023) - 🎁Link
- AI
- AI-faked images of Donald Trump’s imagined arrest swirl on Twitter (ArsTechnica, 21 March 2023)
- Sam Altman unveils the hotly anticipated GPT-4, an AI model he says 'can pass a bar exam and score a 5 on several AP exams' (Business Insider, 14 March 2023)
- Sam Altman (English WikiPedia)
- Sam Altman Interview Video: OpenAI CEO, CTO on risks and how AI will reshape society
- Transcending Political Polarization (Wes Fryer, 21 March 2023)
- Google’s new AI chatbot seems boring. Maybe that’s the point. (Vox, 22 March 2023)
- “Code” Math Games with ChatGPT + Google Sites (Tony Vincent, 5 Feb 2023)
- Chat GPT 4 Released
- “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models,” ARXIV/Cornell University; 23 March 2023
- Google Releases Bard
- Chat-GPT Pretended to Be Blind and Tricked a Human Into Solving a CAPTCHA (Gizmodo; 16 March 2023)
- Security / Privacy
- Thousands scammed by AI voices mimicking loved ones in emergencies (ArsTechnica, 6 March 2023)
- Technology Fear Therapy | Wesley Fryer | TEDxUCO
- ‘Disrespectful to the Craft:’ Actors Say They’re Being Asked to Sign Away Their Voice to AI (Motherboard by Vice; 7 February 2023)
- FBI finally admits to buying location data on Americans, horrifying experts (ArsTechnica, 9 Mar 2023)
- Media Literacy
- 7 false claims from Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s segments on Jan. 6 footage (Poynter, 9 March 2023)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft releases Minecraft for Chromebooks. Who needs the metaverse? (About Chromebooks / Kevin C Toefel, 15 March 2023)
- Copyright
- Hachette v. Internet Archive (EFF, date unclear?)
- Pirate e-book site Z-Library is back from the dead (Silicon Republic, 14 Feb 2023)
- FCC
- Biden FCC nominee withdraws, blaming cable lobby and “unlimited dark money“ (ArsTechnica, 7 March 2023)
- Social Media
- Police charge 18-year-old and juvenile for making a ‘threat of mass violence’ (WBTV Charlotte, NC, 3 March 2023)
- Geeks of the Week:
- Jason: 17 Track
- Wes: “The Brilliant Inventor Who Made Two of History’s Biggest Mistakes” by #stevenbjohnson #GiftLink http://wfryer.me/43w
Not shared in the show: ReClipped: YouTube Notes & Screenshots and Vysor (via Eric Curts at #NCTIES23) and Fra Mauro’s Map (1450) by Engineering Historical Memory
Episode 285: 1 March 2023
- AI
- Here we go! OpenAI announces an API for ChatGPT and its Whisper speech-to-text tech (The Verge; 1 March 2023)
- Bing AI
- Bing’s A.I. Chat: ‘I Want to Be Alive. 😈’ (New York Times; 17 February 2023) 🎁Link - archive.today version
- A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled (New York Times; 17 February 2023)🎁Link - archive.today version
- Sunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’ (NYTimes The Daily)
- Microsoft limits Bing chat to five replies to stop the AI from getting real weird (The Verge; 17 February 2023)
- Microsoft “lobotomized” AI-powered Bing Chat, and its fans aren’t happy (ArsTechnica, 17 Feb 2023)
- Google’s AI chatbot Bard makes factual error in first demo (The Verge; 8 February 2023)
- Sci-fi becomes real as renowned magazine closes submissions due to AI writers (ArsTechnica; 21 February 2023)
- ‘Disrespectful to the Craft:’ Actors Say They’re Being Asked to Sign Away Their Voice to AI (Motherboard by Vice; 7 February 2023)
- Inside the Minds of Spiders, Octopuses and Artificial Intelligence (Ezra Klein podcast, 24 Feb 2023)
- Episode 409: ChatGPT takes on the smart home (Internet of Things Podcast, Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin C. Tofel, 9 Feb 2023)
- Tech Correction
- Bill to block Montanans from accessing TikTok clears Senate committee (Billings Gazette; 1 March 2023)
- Biden and Republican senators join forces in attack on Big Tech at Supreme Court (NBC News; 18 February 2023)
- Hyundai and Kia forced to update software on millions of vehicles because of viral TikTok challenge (The Verge; 14 February 2023)
- Ban TikTok? (Today Explained podcast, 21 Feb 2023) - Mastodon quote on Project Texas
- Project Texas: The Details of TikTok’s Plan to Remain Operational in the United States (Lawfare, 26 Jan 2023)
- A Ruling That Could End the Internet as We Know It (NYTimes The Daily Podcast, 23 Feb 2023) - Mastodon quote
- SCOTUS “confused” after hearing arguments for weakening Section 230 immunity (ArsTechnica, 21 Feb 2023)
- YouTube tests adding podcasts to ‘Create’ button alongside other new podcast tools & analytics (9 to 5 Google; 20 February 2023)
- Google Calendar is now automatically enabling spam protection on your behalf (Chrome Unboxed; 18 February 2023)
- You can finally sign PDFs with your finger or a stylus directly inside Google Drive (16 February 2023)
- Privacy
- Now for sale: Data on your mental health (Washington Post; 13 February 2023) - 🎁Link
- Apple
- Apple flexes lobbying power as Apple Watch ban comes before Biden next week (The Hill; 17 February 2023)
- Facebook / Twitter / Social Media
- Will Meta Begin Charging for Verified Accounts? Yes! (Snopes; 28 February 2023)
- Official: Twitter will now charge for SMS two-factor authentication (17 February 2023)
- Twitter’s two-factor authentication change “doesn’t make sense” (ArsTechnica, 20 Feb 2023)
- Facebook’s new $12 fee is straight out of Don Corleone’s playbook (Washington Post, 23 Feb 2023) #GiftLink
- Is your Facebook account worth $12 a month? Meta rolls out subscription program (ArsTechnica, 20 Feb 2023)
- Social media used to be free. Not anymore. (Vox, 21 Feb 2023)
- Elon Musk’s reach on Twitter is dropping — he just fired a top engineer over it (Verge, 9 Feb 2023)
- Hardware News
- PC industry sees biggest decline ever, says Gartner (Computer Weekly; 12 January 2023)
- Media Literacy
- Why Election Denialism Might Cost Fox News $1.6 Billion (NYTimes The Daily podcast, 27 Feb 2023)
- Geeks of the Weeeekkkk!
- Jason: Camel Camel Camel
- Wes: Durable AI website generator and The Last Soviet Podcast
Episode 284: 8 February 2023
- AI
- Holy rabbit hole, Batman! JailBreak ChatGPT (Reddit)
- From the “Make ‘em handwrite it” Dept.: This genius student uses the power of AI and a 3D printer to 'handwrite' their homework (PC Gamer; 3 February 2023)
- Microsoft and Google are about to Open an AI battle (The Verge; 7 February 2023)
- AI as Co-Pilot: Your Online Life Is About to Change, Like It or Not (CNet; 8 February 2023)
- Google announces ChatGPT rival Bard, with wider availability in ‘coming weeks’ (The Berge; 6 February 2023)
- The AI boom is here, and so are the lawsuits (Vox; 2 February 2023)
- More Workers Are Using ChatGPT, and They're Not Telling Their Bosses (PC Magazine, 8 February 2023)
- Siri GPT-3 combo aims to create a truly smart voice assistant [Video] (9 to 5 Mac; 19 January 2023)
- 4chan Members Allegedly Used Eleven Labs To Create Disturbing Audio Content In Celeb Voices (IBT; 31 January 2023)
- Music LM (Google/GitHub)
- Here come the wild new products with AI!
- BING!!
- Bing (Yes, Bing) Just Made Search Interesting Again (The New York Times; 8 February 2023)
- Hands-on with the new Bing: Microsoft’s step beyond ChatGPT (The Verge; 8 February 2023)
- Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search — CEO Satya Nadella explains why (The Verge; 7 February 2023)
- Runway Gen-1
- China's Answer to ChatGPT Is Called 'Ernie' (PC Magazine; 7 February 2023)
- AI-generated Seinfeld parody suspended by Twitch for transphobic content (Mashable, 6 Feb 2023)
- AI Tips and Tricks
- Social Media/Tech Correction
- State of the Union address calls for Congress to pass antitrust and data privacy legislation (9 to 5 Mac; 8 February 2023)
- Now Twitter Blue subscribers can write 4,000-character tweets (The Verge; 8 February 2023)
- How the Supreme Court could soon change free speech on the internet (CNBC, 30 Jan 2023)
- Twitter’s new developer terms ban third-party clients (Engadget; 19 January 2023)
- India blocks YouTube videos and Twitter posts on BBC Modi documentary (TechCrunch, 21 Jan 2023)
- Inside Elon’s “extremely hardcore” Twitter (Verge, 17 Jan 2023)
- Introduction new algorithm regulator and implications for financial sector (Lexology, 5 Jan 2023)
- The clock is ticking on a TikTok ban (Vox; 17 January 2023)
- Social Media Use Is Linked to Brain Changes in Teens, Research Finds (New York Times; 3 January 2023)
- Brazil riots trigger widespread content bans on Facebook, YouTube (ArsTechnica, 10 Jan 2023)
- Are we too worried about misinformation? (Vox; 16 January 2023)
- Google says Lens and Maps Live View are ‘prelude to [its] long-term vision’ for AR (9to5Google, 1 Feb 2023)
- Use Microsoft 365 and OneDrive? They’re getting better on Chromebooks (About Chromebooks; 3 February 2023)
- Today’s Event Video: Google presents : Live from Paris (8 Feb 2023)
- "Your camera is your new keyboard" #VisualSearch #GoogleLens
- Languages
- Media Literacy
- Exposure to the Russian Internet Research Agency foreign influence campaign on Twitter in the 2016 US election and its relationship to attitudes and voting behavior (Nature.com, 9 Jan 2023)
- How Finland Is Teaching a Generation to Spot Misinformation (NY Times, 10 Jan 2023) #GiftLink
- Geek of the Week:
- Wes: “Zillow and Open Door” on #CLTvoices & Wes’ Podcast Subscriptions (Dec 2022)
- Jason: Jason’s Travel Tips… use Googel Flights and book DIRECTLY with the airline!
Episode 283: 1 February 2023
- Apple
- Apple should be required to let iPhone users sideload apps, Biden admin says (ArsTechnica, 1 Feb 2023)
- White House goes after app store ‘gatekeepers’ Apple and Google (The Verge; 1 February 2023)
- Apple set to post rare revenue drop as focus shifts to demand rebound (Reuters, 1 Feb 2023)
- Smartphone Shipments Are Imploding. Is Apple's iPhone Next? (CNet, 31 Jan 2023)
- Report: Apple is planning both a foldable screen and a kickstand for the iPad (Ars Technica; 30 January 2023)
- Apple beefs up smartphone services in “silent war” against Google (Ars Technica; 25 January 2023)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens (Windows Central; 20 January 2023)
- AI
- AI-powered surveillance sought for US Central Command (Defense News, 31 Jan 2023)
- Gmail creator says ChatGPT might ‘destroy’ Google within 2 years (BGR, 30 Jan 2023)
- The AI Ethics War Will Make the Content Moderation Debate Look Like a Picnic (Observer, 20 Jan 2023)
- Netflix stirs fears by using AI-assisted background art in short anime film (ArsTechnica, 1 Feb 2023)
- OpenAI announces ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month (The Verge; 1 February 2023)
- GPT Zero
- Scores of Stanford students used ChatGPT on final exams, survey suggests (Stanford Daily; 22 January 2023)
- ChatGPT passes MBA exam given by a Wharton professor (NBC News; 24 Janaury 2023)
- Tech Correction
- Free Speech / Expression / Censorship
- Decades-old law forms biggest obstacle to nationwide TikTok ban, lawmaker says (ArsTechnica, 30 Jan 2023)
- Indian police detain students over BBC's Modi documentary (Deutsche Welle, 25 Jan 2023)
- Media Literacy / Culture War
- When Fox entered the hen house (Robert Reich, 26 Jan 2023
- Securit
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: MidJourney
- Wes: Top Gun: Maverick - Official Trailer IN LEGO - Archive.Today (example) - new podcast: “Wes and Shelly Share”
Episode 282: 25 January 2023
- AI
- OpenAI and Microsoft announce extended, multi-billion-dollar partnership (ArsTechnica, 23 Jan 2023)
- Five Days in Class with ChatGPT (Alperovitch Institute, Thomas Rid, 22 Jan 2023)
- Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio (Ars Technica; 9 January 2023)
- The AI Ethics War Will Make the Content Moderation Debate Look Like a Picnic (Observer; 20 January 2023)
- Teaching In The Age Of AI Means Getting Creative (538; 23 January 2023)
- Apple
- Apple’s full-size HomePod is back with new features (ArsTechnica, 18 Jan 2023)
- Apple Reportedly Delays AR Glasses and Puts All Hopes on Mixed Reality Headsets (GizModo, 18 Jan 2023)
- Why It’s Okay to Buy A Mac With Only 8 GB RAM (How-to Geek; 17 January 2023)
- The new Mac mini is proof that Google needs to rethink Chromeboxes (Android Central; 19 January 2023)
- I really hope Google doesn’t kill off “Assistant Memory” before it sees the light of day (Chrome Unboxed; 31 December 2022)
- CES 2023 highlights an upturn in affordable Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 10 January 2023)
- Google Docs becomes a better listener with more accurate voice typing tools in its latest update (Chrome Unboxed; 10 January 2023)
- Tech Correction / Twitter
- The DOJ sues Google for ad dominance, wants to break company up (ArsTechnica, 24 Jan 2023)
- White Nationalist and Nazi Nick Fuentes Is Back on Twitter (New Republic, 24 Jan 2023)
- Supreme Court Poised to Reconsider Key Tenets of Online Speech (NYTimes, 19 Jan 2023) #GiftLink
- OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic (Time, 18 Jan 2023)
- You Toot Too, Right? - Twitter API fallout, Section 230, TikTok ban, tech layoffs, AmazonSmile RIP (TwIT Podcast, 23 Jan 2023)
- Misc
- AT&T to pay out $60M settlement to thousands of customers (WBTV Charlotte, 20 Jan 2023)
- Geek of the Week:
- Jason: Dan Willingham’s New Book: Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy
- Wes: AirTable of Pending Journalists for Verification on PressCheck and TextSplit for iOS
Episode 281: 18 January 2023 Stories of Piracy
- AI (Rabbit Hole)
- AI. Is Becoming More Conversational. But Will It Get More Honest? (New York Times; 10 January 2023)
- ChatGPT Thread from Tiffany Peltier
- Torry Trust ChatGPT Slide Deck
- Stop feeding the hype and start resisting (Iris Van Rooij, 14 Jan 2023)
- Apple
- NEW APPLE STUFFFFFF! Every new Apple product coming in 2023 (Macworld; 18 January 2023)
- A 27-inch iMac is redundant, especially with the new M2 Mac mini (9 to 5 Mac; 18 January 2023)
- Where is the Mac mini of MacBooks? (9 to 5 Mac; 17 January 2023)
- Siri pulled a false alarm at the gym and caused 15 armed police officers to show up (9 to 5 Mac; 18 January 2023)
- Privacy
- Facial Recognition Researcher Left a Trans Database Exposed for Years After Using Images Without Permission (Motherboard, 12 Dec 2022)
- Podcast: The Trans Dataset Built Without Permission and Stored Improperly (Cyber Podcast, 5 Jan 2023, Twitter share)
- Tech Correction/Social Media
- Seattle public schools sue social media companies for allegedly harming students’ mental health (CNN Business; 9 January 2023)
- Oklahoma Universities Ban TikTok On Networks Following Gov. Stitt's Executive Order (News9, 21 Dec 2022)
- Meta’s Ad Practices Ruled Illegal Under E.U. Law (New York Times; 4 January 2023)
- Twitter continues to disrespect developers with weak explanation on third-party clients not working (9 to 5 Mac; 17 January 2023)
- Is Twitter dying? And what would that mean for journalism? (Columbia Journalism Review, Mathew Ingram, 12 Jan 2023)
- NC bans TikTok on state-issued devices (WCNC Charlotte, 12 Jan 2023)
- Parler owner laid off 75% of staff and has only 20 employees left, report says (ArsTechnica, 11 Jan 2023)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft says it has changed its ‘hardware portfolio’ amid layoffs (The Verge; 18 January 2023)
- CES Recap
- CES 2023: 10 tech innovations that caught our eye (AP; 11 January 2023)
- Copyright and Licensing
- Belarus Legalizes Pirating Media From 'Unfriendly' Countries (PC Magazine; 10 January 2023)
- John Deere relents, says farmers can fix their own tractors after all (ArsTechnica, 9 Jan 2023)
- Misc
- A damaged file may have caused the outage in an FAA system, leading to travel chaos (NPR, 11 Jan 2023)
- Defending Ukraine: Early Lessons from the Cyber War (Brad Smith, Microsoft, 22 June 2022)
- Geek of the Weeeeekkkkk!
- Wes: Dog who lost leg to cancer gets a prosthetic leg thanks to clever high schoolers (WCNC Charlotte, 18 Jan 2023)
- Jason: MacBook USB-C Chargers… used?
Episode 280: 11 January 2023
- AI
- A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business (NY Times, 21 Dec 2022, Gift Link)
- A college student created an app that can tell whether AI wrote an essay (NPR; 9 January 2023)
- Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio (ArsTechnica, 9 Jan 2023)
- Controversy erupts over non-consensual AI mental health experiment (ArsTechnica, 10 Jan 2023)
- ChatGPT is enabling script kiddies to write functional malware (ArsTechnica, 6 Jan 2023)
- My pick for 2022 Chromebook of the Year (About Chromebooks; 2 January 2023)
- Google Voice Can Now Flag Suspected Spam Calls (CNET; 30 December 2022)
- Review: Framework Chromebook is what enthusiasts have been waiting for (9 to 5 Google; 10 January 2023)
- The best Chromebooks for work (ZDnet, 9 Jan 2023)
- Security
- Hackers reportedly leak email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users (The Guardian; 5 January 2023)
- Supreme Court declines to block WhatsApp lawsuit over NSO phone hacking (TechCrunch, 9 Jan 2023)
- LastPass users: Your info and password vault data are now in hackers’ hands (Ars Technica; 22 December 2022)
- Jason has moved to… https://1password.com/
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://neeva.com/
- Wes: youtubetranscript.com and YouTube Summary with ChatGPT (Example)
Episode 279: 4 January 2023
- AI Marches On
- Awesome ChatGPT Prompts
- Rob Lennon on Twitter
- Advanced AI Will Make Scams Harder to Spot: Here's Why (Make Use Of; 2 Janaury 2023)
- How China is building a parallel generative AI universe (TechCrunch; 31 December 2022)
- How China is building a parallel generative AI universe • TechCrunch http://wfryer.me/432
- Here’s how teachers can foil ChatGPT: Handwritten essays (Washington Post; 29 December 2022)
- ChatGPT is just a taste of a “monster” GPT-4 says Gary Marcus (DeCoder; 26 December 2022)
- Did a Fourth Grader Write This? Or the New Chatbot? (New York TImes; 26 January 2023)
- Jason’s Wakelet: Articles About AI
- Apple
- What Are the Dangers of Third-Party App Stores? (Make Use Of; 1 Janaury 2023)
- MacBook owners have two months to claim up to $395 over butterfly keyboard woes (The Verge; 4 January 2023)
- Tech Correction/Social Media
- Good luck explaining a TikTok ban to young people (Vox; 24 December 2022)
- Countering Online Extremism
- ‘Do you have white teenage sons? Listen up.’ How white supremacists are recruiting boys online. (Washington Post, 17 Sept 2019)
- [PODCAST] How to save kids from online extremism - Conversation with Joanna Schroeder
- Confronting Conspiracy Theories and Organized Bigotry at Home A Guide for Parents and Caregivers
- Theeee Fuuuutttuuurreeeeee
- Withings announces ‘breakthrough’ in-home smart urine lab for nutrition and cycle tracking (9 5o 5 Mac; 3 January 2023)
- China
- Beijing's Plan to Control the World's Data: Out-Google Google (Newsweek, 7 Sept 2022)
- Wes’ Wakelet: China and Data Harvesting
- Mobile Phones Can Get You In Trouble
- Makiivka: Russia blames missile attack on soldiers' mobile phone use (BBC, 4 Jan 2023)
- US DOJ: United States versus Greenwood and Crahan
- Misc
- Spotify Platform Rules
- Boondoggle of the Year: Cryptocurrency (The New Republic, 21 Dec 2022)
- Listener Homework:
- Play with OpenAI ChatGPT & go beyond “beginner mode”
- Verify your smartphone geotagging settings for photos
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Texting Story Maker - chat-animator.com
- Jason: What to do with old tech!
Episode 278: 29 December 2022
YEAR IN REVIEW!
Jason
- Schools Continue Digging Out From Covid
- AI Marches Forward
- Tech Correction Marches On!
Wes
- TikTok Ascendant (Ep 273, 26 Oct 2022)
- Twitter Dumpster Fire (Ep 274, 9 Nov 2022)
- Rise of Bossware (Ep 268, 31 Aug 2022)
Articles
- VR / Metaverse
- New rollout for the Army’s $22 billion ‘mixed reality’ combat goggles (Army Times, 6 Oct 2022)
- Metaverse off to ominous start after VR headset sales shrank in 2022 (CNBC, 28 Dec 2022)
- Security
- LastPass users: Your info and password vault data are now in hackers’ hands (ArsTechnica, 22 Dec 2022)
- to change, fast (ZDNet, 4 Dec 2022)
- Swatters used Ring cameras to livestream attacks, taunt police, prosecutors say (ArsTechnica, 19 Dec 2022)
- Mastodon
- Twitter rival Mastodon rejects funding to preserve nonprofit status (ArsTechnica, 28 Dec 2022)
- AI
- No Linux? No problem. Just get AI to hallucinate it for you (ArsTechnica, 5 Dec 2022)
- The AI Content Flood (Nieman Lab; December 2022)
- Why Google Missed ChatGPT (Big Technology; 9 December 2022)
- Cheating on your college essay with ChatGPT won't get you good grades, say professors — but AI could make education fairer (Business Insider via MSN News; December 2022)
- What Would Plato Say About ChatGPT? (New York Times; 15 December 2022)
- AI breakthrough ChatGPT raises alarm over student cheating (Financial Times; 17 Decemver 2022)
- The AI revolution has arrived; Teachers can reap the fruits - opinion (Jerusalem Post; 20 December 2022)
- Misc
- Amazon begins drone deliveries in California and Texas (ArsTechnica, 28 Dec 2022)
- Flickr Establishes New Nonprofit to Preserve Photography’s History (PetaPixel, 13 Dec 2022)
Geek of the Week
- Wes: Winter Storm Elliott visualization
- Jason: RSS is back for me??! https://www.inoreader.com/
Episode 277: 22 December 2022
- Podcasting
- The economic downturn benefits the podcasting industry. (No, really!) (Nieman Lab; December 2022)
- AI
- Jason is collecting AI and Education Articles on Wakelet.
- Canva Magic Write: https://www.canva.com/magic-write/
- Fotor AI Image Generator: https://www.fotor.com/features/ai-image-generator/
- AI writer: https://lex.page/
- Twitter (ugh)
- Journalists Banned… then unbanned kinda
- External lists to other SM sites outlawed… then unoutlawed
- Musk promises to resign
- Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find (NY Times, 2 Dec 2022) - #GiftLink
- Should You Leave Twitter for Mastodon? (Ethan Zuckerman, 7 Nov 2022)
- Social Media
- TikTok personality journalists continue to rise (Nieman Lab; December 2022)
- Warner: Parents should be ‘very concerned’ about TikTok (The Hill; 20 November 2022)
- Connection, Creativity and Drama: Teen Life on Social Media in 2022 (Pew; 16 November 2022)
- Senate votes to ban TikTok use on government devices (THe Hill; 14 December 2022)
- TikTok privacy and security - Is TikTok safe to use? (Kaspersky)
- Algorithm Warfare: How Elon Musk uses Twitter to control brains (George Lakeoff Substack, 14 Dec 2022)
- Mastodon Tips - 30 min screencast tutorial (Wes’ blog, 21 Dec 2022)
- “Facebook downranks content that links to other sites on the internet.” (via Cory Doctorow)
- Shadow Banning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banning
- Space
- NASA's historic Artemis I mission is coming to a close (CNN, 5 Dec 2022)
- Privacy
- Face Recognition Tech Gets Girl Scout Mom Booted From Rockettes Show — Due to Where She Works (NBC New York; 19 December 2022)
- Security
- We are still failing to learn the most important lesson in cybersecurity. That needs to change, fast (ZDnet, 4 Dec 2022)
- Apple
- Apple is reportedly preparing to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone (The Verge; 13 December 2022)
- iPhone app sideloading? Developers can't agree whether it's a blessing or a disaster waiting to happen (iMore; 20 December 2022)
- Apple’s new whiteboard app gives you and up to 99 friends an ‘infinite canvas’ (The Verge; 13 December 2022)
- Apple finally details what’s new in the latest AirTag firmware updates (9 to 5 Mac; 19 December 2022)
- Media Literacy
- No, The FBI Is NOT ‘Paying Twitter To Censor’ (TechDirt, 20 Dec 2022)
- Misc
- Epic Games fined $520 million in FTC's Fortnite privacy case (Axios, 19 Dec 2022)
- Happy New Year!
- January 1, 2023 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1927 are open to all! (Center for the Study of the Public Domain)
- Geek of the Week!
- Jason: Hotel Tonight
- Wes: My #edtechSR tagged posts on Mastodon: https://mastodon.cloud/@wfryer/tagged/edtechsr
Episode 276: 15 December 2022
- 2023 Holiday Gift Guide!
- Jason’s Stocking Stuffers
- Wes
- BAOFENG UV-5R Dual Band Two Way Radio ($20)
- Wyze Color Bulb (2 for $18)
- Wyze Robot Vacuum (sold out - $294)
- Gourmet Bear Mix ($18)
- AI (again)
- DoNotPay is launching an AI chatbot that can negotiate your bills (The Verge; 13 December 2022)
- AI is finally good at stuff, and that’s a problem (Vox; 7 December 2022)
- Wes’ “Creativity and AI” Wakelet
- Canva magic write: https://www.canva.com/magic-write/
- Apps
- Evernote’s Next Move: Joining the Bending Spoons Suite of Apps (Evernote Blog)
- Bending Spoons? https://bendingspoons.com/products
- Social Media
- Maryland is the latest state to ban TikTok in government agencies (NPR; 7 December 2022)
- Gov. Greg Abbott bans TikTok on state phones and computers, citing cybersecurity risks (Texas Tribune; 7 December 2022)
- Indiana Sues TikTok for Security and Child Safety Violations (New York Times; 7 December 2022)
- Marco Rubio pushes TikTok ban in Congress (The Verge; 13 December 2022)
- We don’t need another Twitter (The Verge; 7 December 2022)
- Lawmakers unveil bipartisan bill that aims to ban TikTok in the U.S. (MSNBC, 13 Dec 2022)
- Journalism / Polarization
- Secretly Partisan-Funded Websites Posing as Independent Local News Sites On Verge of Outnumbering Daily Newspapers in the U.S. (NewsGuard, 2 Dec 2022)
- The Google
- Google delays start of Manifest V2 Chrome extension deprecation (9 to 5 Google; 12 December 2022)
- Google Chrome adding Memory and Energy Saver modes on Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks (9 to 5 Google; 8 December 2022)
- YouTube will now show how long it takes for a video to process after uploading (9 to 5 Google; 13 December 2022)
- Google Sheets get a new project tracking Smart Canvas feature (Chrome Unboxed; 11 December 2022)
- Geek of the Weeeeeek
- Wes: Wes’ Student Media Hall of Fame (on Wakelet)
- Jason: https://www.xsplit.com/ -- now with lower third support!
Episode 275: 7 December 2022
- Top Story: AI
- AI experts are increasingly afraid of what they’re creating (Vox; 29 November 2022) “What’s the worst that could happen?”
- Lensa
- Read This Before You Jump on the Lensa “Magic Avatar” Trend (Hyperallergic; 6 December 2022)
- Lensa AI, the app making ‘magic avatars,’ raises red flags for artists (TechCrunch; 5 December 2022)
- ChatGPT Version 4
- The College Essay Is Dead: Nobody is prepared for how AI will transform academia (The Atlantic, 6 Dec 2022)
- Why Everyone's Talking About ChatGPT, a Mindblowing AI Chatbot (CNet, 7 Dec 2022)
- This artist is dominating AI-generated art. And he’s not happy about it. (MIT Tech Review, 16 Sept 2022)
- The Moral Panic Over Open-Source Generative AI (Lincoln Policy, 10 Oct 2022)
- Jason’s been playing with AI writing platform https://lex.page/
- Twitter / Mastodon
- A Verifiable Mess: Twitter Users Create Havoc by Impersonating Brands (New York Times; 11 November 2022)
- How Mastodon and the Fediverse put social networks in people's hands (PC World, 30 Nov 2022)
- Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find (NY Times, 2 Dec 2022)
- Mastodon convo with Adam Mackay
- Great podcast discussion Twitter verification: https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1594665450872389632
- Connectivity
- The long-awaited US broadband internet maps are here — for you to challenge (The Verge; 18 November 2022)
- Voice Assistants
- Amazon Alexa is a “colossal failure,” on pace to lose $10 billion this year (Ars Technica; 21 November 2022)
- Apple
- Apple sued by two women over AirTag stalking (Phone Arena; 6 December 2022)
- Stalkers’ “chilling” use of AirTags spurs class-action suit against Apple (ArsTechnica, 6 Dec 2022)
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It? (The Fork podcast, 21 Oct 2022) - NC Power Grid Attacks (Dec 2022)
- Jason: BackMarket
Episode 274: 9 November 2022
Show title: Fractured and Polluted
- Elon Musk says Twitter Blue will cost $8, and include blue tick verification (Mashable, 2 Nov 2022)
- The ridiculous Twitter checkmark situation just got more complicated (Vox; 9 November 2022)
- How Elon Musk is changing Twitter (Vox; 9 November 2022)
- Mastodon Is No Twitter Replacement (cNet; 9 November 2022)
- Tips for using Mastodon on a Chromebook (About Chromebooks; 7 November 2022)
- Apple
- Apple had the best September quarter in laptop sales while other companies declined (Apple Insider, 2 Nov 2022)
- Viral nature of #AirTag used as political pawn in lost luggage case (Apple Insider, 2 Nov 2022)
- The Google
- LumaFusion video editor to come Android, Chrome OS in ‘coming months’ as development begins (9 to 5 Google; 27 October 2022)
- Google Workspace Individual now in 12 more countries and getting 1TB of storage (9 to 5 Google; 25 October 2022)
- This new Google Lens feature looks like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie (Digital Trends; 28 September 2022)
- ChromeOS set to gain built-in background blur and other video calling features (9 to 5 Google; 9 September 2022)
- Google Photos is getting a movie maker and upgraded video editor (Chrome Unboxed; 27 July 2022)
- Google Docs getting edit notifications that alert you to additions and removals (9 to 5 Google; 19 July 2022)
- Chrome's Incognito Mode Is The Butt Of Jokes Among Google Employees, It Seems (SlashGear; 11 October 2022)
- Google Chat is finally rolling out Inline Threaded Conversations to help you keep things tidy (Chrome Unboxed; 19 October 2022)
- You can now share Google Drive files temporarily thanks to a new expiration date feature (Chrome Unboxed; 3 November 2022)
- Performance boosts for Chromebooks, Chrome browser on the way (About Chromebooks; 18 September 2022)
- Google Slides and Drawings redesign file menus to improve findability (Chrome Unboxed; 19 October 2022)
- Document Scanning with Google Classroom (Google Classroom; 23 February 2022)
- Coming Soon: YouTube Handles (YouTube)
- YouTube Is Rolling Out New Features (LifeHacker; 25 October 2022)
- Conspiracy theories thrive on YouTube, new study (University of Sydney, 5 Oct 2022)
- Microsoft
- Google to end Chrome support for Windows 7, 8.1 in early 2023 (MS PowerUser; 25 October 2022)
- How Microsoft Designer Could Rival Canva (Make Use Of; 28 October 2022)
- The Environment
- Record-breaking transparent solar panels pave way for electricity-generating windows (The Independent; 28 October 2022)
- Misc
- Why The Browser Company’s Darin Fisher thinks it’s time to reinvent the browser (Verge, 31 Oct 2022)
- Something Violently Shook the Surface of Mars. It Came From Space. (NY Times, 27 Oct 2022)
- NASA delays Artemis 1 moon launch to Nov. 16 due to Tropical Storm Nicole (Space.com, 7 Nov 2022)
- Tech Correction
- Silicon Valley is starting to cave to European regulators (Vox; 18 October 2022)
- Study finds that you can’t really change YouTube recommendations even if you try (9 to 5 Google; 20 September 2022)
- Doomscrolling linked to poor physical and mental health, study finds (The Guardian; 5 September 2022)
- Senator Asks FTC and DOJ for 'Rigorous Oversight' Into Apple, Google, and Amazon's Expansion Into Automobiles (MacRumors, 2 Nov 2022)
- Where we’re spending our screentime, in 3 charts (Vox; 31 August 2022)
- ‘Fat Bear Week’ Hit By Voter-Fraud Attempt (Rolling Stone; 11 October 2022)
- Social Media is Dead (Motherboard, 6 Nov 2022)
- Kids Are Back in Classrooms and Laptops Are Still Spying on Them (Vox, Aug 2002)
- iOT
- Elizabeth Warren wants to keep Big Tech from taking over your car (Vox; 3 November 2022)
- Connectivity
- Starlink Sets High-Speed Data Cap at 1TB Per Month, Lowers Advertised Speeds (cNet; 4 November 2022)
- Geek of the Week:
- Jason: eBoox App
- Wes: Check In Generator and Angry Planet Podcast: “The Second American Civil War Is (Not) Coming” and Hackastory Tools
Episode 273: 26 October 2022
- Apple World
- OMG NEW APPLE STUFF AGAIN
- Apple October product news — iPad Pro M2, new iPad 2022 and more (Tom’s Guide; 20 October 2022)
- OSX Ventura
- MacOS Ventura now available for Mac users with Camera Continuity and Stage Manager (9 to 5 Mac; 24 October 2022)
- iPhone as Mac webcam: How to use Continuity Camera in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura [Video] (9 to 5 Mac; 26 October 2022)
- Should you upgrade your Mac to macOS Ventura? (9 to 5 Mac; 24 October 2022)
- iPadOX / iOS 16.1
- iPadOS 16.1 now available: Stage Manager, iMessage editing, display scaling, more (9 to 5 Mac; 24 October 2022)
- iOS 16.1 now rolling out, here are the full release notes (9 to 5 Mac; 24 October 2022)
- Apple Watch
- Doctor is ‘not a crazy Apple person’ and recommends lifesaving Apple Watch to every patient (9 to 5 Mac; 25 October 2022)
- Study finds Apple Watch blood oxygen sensor is as reliable as ‘medical-grade device’ (9 to 5 Mac; 25 October 2022)
- AI
- GPT-3 Powers the Next Generation of Apps (OpenAI.com)
- https://autowriterpro.com/
- Google's AI editing tricks are making Photoshop irrelevant for most people (Tech Radar; 8 October 2022)
- Darth Vader’s voice will be AI-generated from now on (ArsTechnica, 26 Sep 2022)
- Media Literacy
- TikTok is increasingly becoming a news source (The Verge; 24 October 2022)
- I tried replacing Google with TikTok, and it worked better than I thought (THe Verge; 21 September 2022)
- Anti-vaccine activists giddily celebrate as poliovirus spreads in NY (17 Aug 2022)
- Dominion Voting Systems CEO speaks out against conspiracy theories (60 Minutes, 23 Oct 2022)
- Video Conferencing
- You will soon be able to join Google Meet calls from Zoom Rooms and vice versa (Chrome Unboxed; 26 October 2022)
- Podcasting
- PocketCasts Mobile Apps Are Now Open Source (PocketCasts & Automatic)
- EdTech
- LEGO is discontinuing MINDSTORMS in 2022 (Brick Fanatics; 26 October 2022)
- Misc
- Drones look like Nerf Guns? (Peter Singer)
- I wish we could stop talking about Kanye West. Here’s why we can’t. (NBC News, 16 Oct 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Storyblocks (via @mwesch course trailer) and “Think Whatever: The End of Wonder by Michael Wesch” and novelai.net
- Jason: Learn New Old Recipes From This Free Collection of 12,000 Vintage Cookbooks (LifeHacker)
Episode 272: 12 October 2022
- Microsoft
- The biggest announcements from Microsoft’s Surface event (The Verge; 12 October 2022)
- Microsoft was right all along (The Verge; 14 September 2022)
- EdTech Hype
- Hype Cycle for K-12 Education, 2022 (Gartner; 19 July 2022)
- Education Professional Development Superpower? ISTE and ASCD Set to Merge (Education Week, 29 Sept 2022)
- The Metaverse
- Tim Cook in new interview: ‘I’m really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is’ (9 to 5 Mac; 30 September 2022)
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg debuts Meta Quest Pro VR headset that will cost $1,500 (MSNBC, 11 Oct 2022)
- Meta hasn’t “really learned the right lesson,” whistleblower Frances Haugen says (Vox; 6 September 2022)
- Social Media
- Instagram’s finally working on protecting users from unsolicited nude photos (The Verge; 21 September 2022)
- How Frustration Over TikTok Has Mounted in Washington (NY Times, 14 Aug 2022)
- Elon Musk can’t fix Twitter because no one can (Vox; 5 October 2022)
- Attention IT Directors
- Army CIO on email, tech modernization and more (Defense News; 10 October 2022)
- Security
- Why web apps are one of this year’s leading attack vectors (Venture Beat; 7 October 2022)
- Elections
- Election officials worry about potential poll worker interference this November (NPR, 9 Oct 2022)
- Malicious Emails Surged for Election Workers in 2 Battleground States Ahead of Primaries (NextGov, 12 Oct 2022)
- Misc
- Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million for Sandy Hook lies (AP, 12 Oct 2022)
- Switchblade kamikaze drone production to ramp up following Ukraine use (Military.com, 11 Oct 2022)
- The Sunday Read: ‘The Search for Intelligent Life Is About to Get a Lot More Interesting’ (The Daily / NYT, 9 Oct 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: OpenCore Legacy Patcher (h/t Jason!) - FEMA Ready.org “Build a Kit” - BAOFENG UV-5R
- Jason: Plugable USB C Power Meter Tester for Monitoring USB-C Connections - Digital Multimeter for USB-C Cables, Laptops, Phones and Chargers
Episode 271: 21 September 2022
- The Google
- Rumor: Google may be working on a ‘small-screen’ Pixel, but you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up (9 to 5 Google; 14 September 2022)
- Bye, bye Pixelbook. We will always love you (Chrome Unboxed; 12 September 2022)
- Framework’s new Chromebook is upgradable and customizable (The Verge; 21 September 2022)
- YouTube
- YouTube launches an ad-free video player for education (The Verge; 9 September 2022)
- YouTube creates ad-free player for students, brings courses and quizzes to educational videos (Chrome Unboxed; 13 September 2022)
- Social Media
- Mark Zuckerberg Is in Big, Big Trouble (Futurism, 20 Sept 2022)
- Tech Correction
- People Aren’t Meant to Talk This Much - aka “Fix Facebook By Making It More Like Google+ (Atlantic, Ian Bogost, 22 Oct 2021)
- Pentagon opens sweeping review of clandestine psychological operations (Washington Post, 19 Sept 2022) #GiftLink
- Platforms
- Zoom is reportedly working on calendar and email tools to take on Office and Google (The Verge; 14 September 2022)
- Hardware
- iPhone 14 and 14 Pro review: A picture is worth a thousand dollars (ArsTechnica, 21 Sept 2022)
- Software
- Canva joins the big boys with an entirely new collaborative “Visual Worksuite” of tools (Chrome Unboxed; 15 September 2022)
- AI
- Getty Images bans AI-generated content over fears of legal challenges (The Verge; 21 September 2022)
- Ye Ole Geek of Thy Week
Episode 270: 14 September 2022
- Apple
- iOS 16 Available Today! (Apple; 12 September 2022)
- Tim Cook revealed the real reason Apple won’t fix green bubbles (The Verge; 8 September 2022)
- iPhone 14 is eSIM-only in the US: Here’s what you need to know (9 to 5 Mac; 10 September 2022)
- Apple iPhone 14 review: meet the iPhone 13S (The Verge; 14 September 2022)
- Security
- LA school district was warned of ransomware threat before recent shutdown (The Verge; 9 September 2022)
- Tech Correction
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai swears his company has real competition (Vox; 6 September 2022)
- TikTok Users Are Likely to See Misleading Information on Elections, Vaccines, and More (Time; 14 September 2022)
- Stable Diffusion
- Stable Diffusion (English WikiPedia)
- China’s most advanced AI image generator already blocks political content (ArsTechnica, 14 Sept 2022)
- Locally sourced: you can now run Stable Diffusion AI art generation on your M1 Mac (CDM, 13 Sept 2022) - https://diffusionbee.com/
- Stable Diffusion Walkthrough (Marcus Wetherell)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Online Safety Tip
- Jason: Seat Guru
Episode 269: 7 September 2022
- Apple -- OMG APPLLLEEEE!
- The things that matter from Apple’s fall 2022 event (Wirecutter, 7 Sep 2022)
- The iPhone 14 can connect to satellites for emergency SOS features (Engadget, 7 Sept 2022)
- She Had an AirTag in Her Lost Luggage. It Led Police to a Baggage Handler’s Home (NYTimes, 19 Aug 2022, Gift Link)
- Apple Macbook Air M1 Vs Macbook Air M2: Which Should You Buy? (Reviewed; 2 September 2022)
- New ‘Low Power Mode’ coming to Apple Watch Series 4 and later with watchOS 9 (9 to 5 Mac; 7 September 2022)
- Can you really survive college with just a Chromebook? (Android Central; 27 July 2022)
- Turns out, the 12th-gen Intel Core i3 is an absolute performance monster in Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 6 September 2022)
- Privacy / Surveillance
- Tech tool offers police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’ (AP, 2 Sept 2022)
- Irish regulators fine Instagram a record $402 million for violating EU teen privacy rules (USA Today; 5 September 2022)
- You’re being tracked through your email. Here’s how to stop it. (Vox; 3 September 2022)
- VR / AR / Metaverse
- The US Army could soon be equipped with Microsoft Hololens (TechRadar Pro, 5 Sept 2022)
- Media Literacy
- Illinois high school students to receive media literacy instruction this year (CBS News, 22 Aug 2022)
- The Marine Corps wants to develop media literacy training. It won’t be easy (Military Times, 1 Aug 2022)
- Crypto
- Troubled Crypto Broker Voyager Digital to Auction Off Assets Next Week (DeCrypt, 7 Sept 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Mark Cuban Cost Plus Pharmacy
- Wes: WiseStamp Email Signature Management - My Creative Type Quiz (via Adobe) - KiwiFarms PSA thread
Episode 268: 31 August 2022
- Apple
- What To Expect From Apple’s Iphone 14 Event (The Verge; 24 August 2022)
- Does Apple’s ‘Far out’ invite artwork hint at iPhone 14 features? Here are some guesses (9 to 5 Mac; 24 August 2022)
- Apple Self Service Repair program now extended to M1 MacBook models (9 5o 5 Mac; 22 August 2022)
- iFixit: Self Repair Program actually makes M1 MacBooks less repairable (9 to 5 Mac; 24 August 2022)
- Acer’s first Vero Chromebook is repairable, upgradeable, and eco-conscious (9 to 5 Google)
- Google will modify search algorithms to tackle clickbait (The Guardian; 19 August 2022)
- Google refuses to reinstate man’s account after he took medical images of son’s groin (The Guardian; 22 August 2022)
- Here’s an early look at Google’s Chrome browser PWA store (About Chromebooks; 22 August 2022)
- How we're improving search results when you use quotes (Google Blog; 4 August 2022)
- Google Photos is getting a movie maker and upgraded video editor (Chrome Unboxed; 27 July 2022)
- Google Docs getting edit notifications that alert you to additions and removals (9 to 5 Google; 19 July 2022)
- Google Fiber isn’t dead, it’s expanding (The Verge; 11 August 2022)
- Google Play Store replaces app permissions with developer-reported information (Verge, 17 Jul 2022)
- Can you really survive college with just a Chromebook? (Android Central; 27 July 2022)
- Google Doodle: Teen's Award-Winning Art Is All About Self-Care (CNet, 17 Aug 2022)
- Google Search Is Quietly Damaging Democracy (Wired, 16 Aug 2022)
- Social Media
- How to remove Facebook posts from your feed without also losing all of your friends (The Verge; 24 August 2022)
- What the Twitter Whistleblower Report Means for Elon Musk (TIme)
- Twitter’s whistleblower problem is way bigger than Elon Musk’s bot complaints (Vox; 23 August 2022)
- Tech Correction
- University can’t scan students’ rooms during remote tests, judge rules (The Verge; 23 August 2023)
- Period and pregnancy tracking apps have bad privacy protections, report finds (The Verge; 17 August 2022)
- Influencers are out—authenticity is in (Fast Company; 15 July 2022)
- Connectivity
- Starlink and 5G joining forces? SpaceX and T-Mobile holding Starbase event Thursday (Space Explored; 24 August 2022)
- T-Mobile and SpaceX Starlink say your 5G phone will connect to satellites next year (The Verge; 25 August 2022)
- Privacy
- FCC Wants to Know if US Carriers Are Exposing Users' Geolocation Data (PC Magazine; 20 July 2022)
- If the Metaverse Is Left Unregulated, Companies Will Track Your Gaze and Emotions (Time; 20 June 2022)
- New Firefox privacy
- Livestreamed carnage: Tech's hard lessons from mass killings (AP News, 17 May 2022)
- The Metaverse in 2040 from Pew Research Center (30 June 2022)
- Scanning students' rooms during remote tests is unconstitutional, judge rules (NPR, 26 Aug 2022)
- Workplace surveillance: how your boss is spying on you (NPR, 24 Aug 2022)
- A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal (NYTimes, 21 Aug 2022)
- NFTs
- NFT copyright is still a total mess, says report (The Verge; 22 August 2022)
- More than $100m worth of NFTs stolen since July 2021, data shows (The Guardian; 24 August 2024)
- Hardware
- Yes, inflation has come for tech products, too (The Verge; 18 Augsut 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
- Wes: Bulk Edit (Google) Calendar Events - NASA Artemis Wallpaper - “The Facebook Election” on Land of the GIANTS Podcast
Episode 267: 17 August 2022
- Apple
- Use iMac as monitor: How to create a Mac to Mac, PC to Mac, or iPad to Mac setup (9 to 5 Mac; 4 July 2022)
- Apple Planning to Hold iPhone 14 Event on September 7 (Verge, 17 Aug 2022)
- Tech Correction
- The Trouble With Zooming Forever (The Atlantic; 14 July 2022)
- Security
- Hackers are finding ways around multi-factor authentication. Here's what to watch for (ZDNet; 16 August 2022)
- Update Zoom for Mac now to avoid root-access vulnerability (ArsTechnica; 15 August 2022)
- The Hacking of Starlink Terminals Has Begun (10 August 2022)
- One of 5G's Biggest Features Is a Security Minefield (Wired, 9 Aug 2022)
- Privacy
- We live in notification hell (The Verge; 5 August 2022)
- Misc
- Russia Says It Will Quit the International Space Station After 2024 (NY Times, 26 Jul 2022)
- 'Mystery rocket' that crashed into the Moon baffles NASA scientists (Chron, 29 Jun 2022)
- The Jan. 6 hearings are tailor-made for social media – that doesn’t mean they’re reaching a wide audience (The Conversation, 17 Jun 2022)
- Cracker Barrel leaders understand an often-forgotten truth of the internet (Washington Post, 9 Aug 2022)
- A New Jailbreak for John Deere Tractors Rides the Right-to-Repair Wave (Wired, 13 Aug 2022)
- Video Conferencing
- Better background blur for web-based video calls is in the works (Chrome Unboxed; 24 June 2022)
- https://classroom.github.com/
- Cryptocurrency
- Crypto Crash Widens a Divide: ‘Those With Money Will End Up Being Fine’ (NYTimes, 29 Jun 2022) - Gift Link
- Computer Science in Schools
- A who’s who of CEOs is begging every school to teach computer science (The Verge; 13 July 2022)
- Podcast World
- Podcast Guests Are Paying Up to $50,000 to Appear on Popular Shows (Bloomberg; 3 August 2022)
- Spotify adding podcast creation tool to its mobile app (9 to 5 Mac; 1 July 2022)
- Hardware
- Pros and cons of buying a budget laptop (Windows Central; 5 July 2022)
- Why can't premium Android phones last as long as Amazon Kindles? (Tech Radar; 6 August 2022)
- Anker Charger
- Geeeeek of the Week
- Wes: Warning about Influencer Andrew Tate
- Jason:
Episode 266: 10 August 2022
- ChromeOS 104 rolling out and introducing new features (Chrome Unboxed; 5 August 2022)
- ChromeOS personalization and productivity features announced (Chrome Unboxed; 27 July 2022)
- Chrome OS 105 partial split windows and multitasking button details (About Chromebooks; 11 July 2022)
- Microsoft
- Game-changer for Excel: Free AI bot creates any Excel formula you need (Boy Genius Report; 31 July 2022) https://excelformulabot.com/
- Microsoft seeks testers for its Family Insider program (ZDNet; 30 June 2022)
- AdDuplex: Windows 11 market share climbs to 23% (MS PowerUser; 30 June 2022)
- Office Insiders can now try 3 new PowerPoint features for better slide customization (MS Poweruser; 4 July 2022)
- Microsoft enters the final test phase for Windows 10 22H2 before it's ready to rollout (ZDNet; 28 July 2022)
- Social Media
- Twitter raises its Blue subscription price (MS PowerUser; 29 July 2022)
- Privacy
- Google, like Amazon, will let police see your video without a warrant (Verge, 27 July 2022)
- Amazon Handed Ring Footage to Police Without User Consent (Time; 13 July 2022)
- Security
- T-Mobile agrees to pay customers $350 million in settlement over massive data breach (CNN, 25 July 2022)
- Tech Correction
- He surveyed 8,600 Americans about political violence. The results are beyond scary (LA Times, 21 July 2022)
- Media Literacy
- One of the best Google search hacks is getting even better (The Verge; 4 August 2022)
- Nearly half of Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram for search instead of Google, according to Google's own data (Insider; 13 July 2022)
- Future… ugh
- The future of cars is a subscription nightmare (The Verge; 13 July 2022)
- Meta's New AI Chatbot Loves Anti-Racism and Mean Girls (Gizmoto; 6 August 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Ad Observatory (details)
- Jason: Kible
Episode 265: 20 July 2022
- Connectivity
- The FCC authorizes SpaceX’s Starlink system to be used on vehicles in motion (The Verge; 30 June 2022)
- T-Mobile 5G home internet reaches 5 million new addresses in the middle of the country (The Verge; 30 June 2022)
- Social Media
- Jason’s Twitter Hack
- The TikTok ‘blackout challenge’ has now allegedly killed seven kids (The Verge; 7 July 2022)
- TikTok resists calls to preserve Ukraine content for war crime investigations (Ars Technica, 15 Jul 2022)
- TikTok can’t stop users from doxxing the Supreme Court (ArsTechnica, 29 Jun 2022)
- NetFlix
- Netflix’s ad-supported tier won’t have everything at launch (The Verge; 19 July 2022)
- Netflix subscriber count in the US and Canada dropped by 1.3 million over the last three months (The Verge; 19 July 2022)
- Here’s what Netflix execs think about the Netflix problem (Vox; 20 July 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Adobe Digital Summit
- Wes: the (Mis)Information Game, a social-media simulation (via @/UlliEcker)
Episode 264: 6 July 2022
- Hangouts on Android and iOS stops working for many (9 to 5 Google; 4 July 2022)
- Google Docs adding built-in eSignature system to Workspace Individual (9 to 5 Google; 30 June 2022)
- New Chrome OS 105 feature could boost Chromebook battery life (About Chromebooks; 5 July 2022)
- Apple
- ‘Altered Carbon’ actor Hannah Rose May shares recent AirTag tracking experience (9 to 5 Mac; 5 July 2022)
- 5 Places to Put an Apple AirTag That You Never Thought About (cNet; 5 July 2022)
- Digital Markets Act passes, could force Apple to allow competing app stores, and more (9 to 5 Mac; 5 July 2022)
- Security
- TikTok commits to changes to avoid App Store ban (1 July 2022)
- Malware-Infested Word Documents Are Arriving in Email Inboxes (Tech.Co; 8 June 2022)
- Senators Urge FTC to Investigate TikTok Over Chinese Access to User Data (PC Magazine, 6 July 2022)
- Leak of California gun owners’ private data far wider than originally reported (Guardian, 30 June 2022)
- Schools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings (NYTimes, 6 July 2022)
- https://www.gaggle.net/
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Image Candy and USB-C to USB-A adapter
- Jason: Magic Keyboard of iPad
Episode 263: 29 June 2022
- Security
- An FCC commissioner calls on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, saying it's a national security risk (Business Insider, 28 Jun 2022)
- Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China (BuzzFeed News, 17 June 2022)
- EdTech Correction?
- Edtech Should Be More Evidence-Driven (EdSurge; 3 June 2022)
- Chromebooks have become the Swiss Army Knife of computing (Chrome Unboxed; 21 June 2022)
- Chromebooks get these 7 new Chrome OS 103 features (About Chromebooks; 28 June 2022)
- Google Forms gains more fonts and styling options (Chrome Unboxed; 22 June 2022)
- https://mrchromebox.tech/
- Apple
- 15 Years Ago Today, the iPhone Went On Sale (MacRumors, 29 Jun 2022)
- Avoiding USB-C on iPhones may get harder for Apple as Brazil considers mandate (ArsTechnica, 29 Jun 2022)
- Rabbit Hole Tech Correction
- Our Data Is a Curse, With or Without Roe (New York Times; 29 June 2022)
- Social Media
- Twitter tests 'notes' feature with 2,500 word limit (BBC News; 23 June 2022)
- Twitter Write: Notes (Official Twitter support page)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Project Hail Mary
- Wes: Reflections on Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy (Part 1) and Primecuber (video)
Episode 262: 15 June 2022
- Tech Correction
- Facebook Is Changing Its Algorithm To Take On Tiktok, Leaked Memo Reveals (The Verge; 15 June 2022)
- Big Tech Is Hoarding the Data that Humanity Needs to Thrive (Time Magazine’s 2030 Issue)
- Bill Gates says NFTs are ‘100 percent based on greater fool theory’ (The Verge; 15 June 2022)
- Elon Musk is wrong: research shows content rules on Twitter help preserve free speech from bots and other manipulation (The Conversation, 9 May 2022) - Contrast to this
- A court just blew up internet law because it thinks YouTube isn’t a website (The Verge; 13 May 2022)
- Facebook, AI, and a less friendly news feed (Columbia Journalism Review, 5 May 2022)
- Despite the Epic v. Apple battle, Fortnite is officially back on the iPhone (ArsTechnica, 5 May 2022)
- Chrome OS will mimic Windows 11 with Partial Split Chromebook windows (About Chromebooks; 9 June 2022)
- Google Docs and Drive getting a better, simpler sharing UI (9 to 5 Google; 10 June 2022)
- Google Drive finally adds support for common keyboard shortcuts (XTA Developers, 30 May 2022)
- Google Keep will soon let you change the font size of your notes (CHrome Unboxed; 15 June 2022)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft starts automatically redirecting Internet Explorer users to Edge (The Verge; 25 June 2022)
- Apple
- e-Ink iPhone display could combine Apple quality with near-zero impact on battery life (9 to 5 Mac; 17 May 2022)
- Apple Products Set to Use Common Charging Point After EU Deal (Time Magazine; 7 June 2022)
- First M2 benchmarks show speed boost over original M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro (9 to 5 Mac; 15 June 2022)
- Exclusive: New entry-level iPad to pack A14 chip, 5G, and USB-C connectivity (9 to 5 Mac; 14 June 2022)
- Stage Manager controversy won’t go away, and Apple can still fix it (9 to 5 Mac; 14 June 2022)
- Software
- Adobe Photoshop on the web will soon be free for everyone (Chrome Unboxed; 15 June 2022)
- https://studentauthors.casady.org/image-editing
- Geek of the Week
Episode 261: 8 June 2022
- Tech Correction
- I tried to read all my app privacy policies. It was 1 million words. (WaPo; 31 May 2022)
- Supreme Court blocks Texas social media moderation ban (The Verge; 31 May 2022)
- Remote learning apps shared children’s data at a ‘dizzying scale’ (Washington Post, 24 May 2022)
- It's Time to Bring Back the AIM Away Message (Wired; 31 May 2022)
- Security and Privacy
- LastPass’ mobile app offers access to your desktop vault without a master password (The Verge; 6 June 2022)
- Apple
- Apple WWDC 2022: the 16 biggest announcements (The Verge; 6 June 2022)
- How the M2 MacBook Air compares to the latest MacBook Pros (The Verge; 6 June 2022)
- Recap WWDC22’s biggest hits via Sketchnotes (CultOfMac, 7 Jun 2022)
- Google Anywhere School!
- Google is updating three popular classroom tools ahead of the 2022-23 school year (Chromebook Classroom; 7 June 2022)
- Ukraine / Russia War
- Russian TV, online platforms hacked with antiwar message on Victory Day (Washington Post, 9 May 2022) - gift link
- Geeeeek of the Weeeekkkk!
- Jason: NeverSSL
- Wes: NASA Firsts! Kahoot! and Twitter Data Dash
Episode 260: 1 June 2022
- Tech Correction
- Leaked Facebook document shows the company has no idea how to manage user data (9 to 5 Mac; 26 April 2022)
- Researcher Says Her Avatar Was Raped on Meta's Metaverse Platform (Business Insider, 30 May 2022)
- A`mazon
- Amazon finally brings USB-C to its most affordable Android tablet, the $60 Fire 7 (9 to 5 Google; 18 May 2022)
- Theeeee Fuuutttuuurrreeeee
- Elon Musk reportedly declares remote work ‘no longer acceptable’ at Tesla (The Verge; 1 June 2022)
- Apple
- iOS 16 features: Here’s what we know so far ahead of WWDC (9 to 5 Mac; 31 May 2022)
- Apple discontinues iPod touch, ending 20 year run of iconic ‘iPod’ brand (9 to 5 Mac; 10 May 2022)
- The three reasons MacBook Pro workers broke out of plant and fought with guards (9 to 5 Mac, 9 May 2022)
- Apple is reportedly testing iPhones with USB-C (The Verge; 13 May 2022)
- Google is combining Meet and Duo into a single app for voice and video calls (The Verge, 1 Jun 2022)
- Chromebooks will now tell you when you're using the wrong USB-C cable (The Verge, 27 May 2022)
- Media Futures
- Oddly enough, The Weather Channel makes for a pretty great streaming service (The Verge; 30 May 2022)
- App World
- Abandoned apps policy could see one-third of apps removed from App Store and Google Play (9 to 5 Mac; 13 May 2022)
- WEB3 / Cryptocurrency
- The Wikimedia Foundation has stopped accepting cryptocurrency donations (The Verge, 1 May 2022)
- Cautionary Tales from Cryptoland (Harvard Business Review, 10 May 2022)
- AI
- Podcast Episode: Teaching AI to Its Targets (EFF, 3 May 2022)
- Accused of Cheating by an Algorithm, and a Professor She Had Never Met (NYTimes, 27 May 2022)
- Misc
- This Is the Space Station China is Building to Challenge the US (Yahoo Finance, 29 May 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: WiteBoard
- Wes: [VIDEO] Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs and Ezra Klein’s Podcast Interview with Dan Olson
Episode 259: 18 May 2022
- Google and Google IO
- Immersive view coming soon to Maps — plus more updates (Google Blog, 11 May 2022)
- Have more natural conversations with Google Assistant (Google Blog, 11 May 2022)
- ChromeOS 101 has finally arrived (Chrome Unboxed; 10 May 2022)
- Hands-on with the awesome new Chromebook Screencast feature [VIDEO] (10 May 2022)
- Acer Chromebook Spin 14 (12th Generation i5)
- HP 13.5 2:1 X360 Chromebook: $550
- Tech Correction
- Self-driving car pulled over in San Francisco, confounding police. 'Ain't nobody in it.' (USA Today; 13 April 2022)
- Students 'catfish' high school teacher to get inappropriate photos, deputies say (NBC Montana; 4 May 2022)
- Elon Musk says $44 billion Twitter deal can't proceed until CEO proves the platform has fewer than 5% fake accounts (Business Insider India, 17 May 2022)
- Privacy
- Your online behavior and location are shared with advertisers 747 times a day – report (9 to 5 Mac; 17 May 2022)
- Jumbo Privacy: withjumbo.com
- Geek ‘o the Week
- Jason: Google Flights
- Wes: Site Kit by Google for WordPress and visualizing ERCOT struggles and Akinator
Episode 258: 4 May 2022
- Apple
- I converted my iPad into a Mac, and now I love it (Digital Trends; 9 April 2022)
- Apple iOS privacy clampdown 'did little' to reduce tracking (The Register; 8 April 2022)
- Rumored new MacBook Air design could be a doubly clever move by Apple (9 to 5 Mac; 13 April 2022)
- Google Docs’ updated tables are designed for project management (The Verge; 3 May 2022)
- YouTube fully rolls out Super Thanks, here’s how to enable it for your channel (9 to 5 Google; 26 April 2022)
- Google Docs is reorganizing and shrinking toolbar menus on the web (9 to 5 Google; 26 April 2022)
- Google previews I/O 2022 schedule, ‘What’s new’ keynotes, and sessions (9 to 5 Google; 28 April 2022)
- Google fires another AI researcher who reportedly challenged findings (updated) (Engadget, 2 May 2022)
- Microsoft
- Windows 11 is getting a big security upgrade — may require OS reinstall (Tom’s Guide; 7 April 2022)
- Could Windows 12 become Microsoft’s first cloud-based operating system? (Tech Radar; 11 April 2022)
- Tech Correction
- Elon Musk, Twitter’s next owner, provides his definition of “free speech” (ArsTechnica, 28 Apr 2022)
- Personal Technology
- Talking Tech says goodbye (for now): Talking Tech podcast (Brett Molina, Talking Tech Podcast from USA Today, 3 April 2022)
- LEGO Is Headed To The Metaverse With Epic Games (SlashGear, 7 April 2022)
- TurboTax forced to stop misleading “free, free, free” ads and pay back $141M (ArsTechnica, 4 May 2022)
- T-Mobile 5G Home Internet promises $50/month lifetime rate, $20 off for phone subscribers, covering fees for switchers (9 to 5 Mac; 4 May 2022)
- Privacy
- Mental health apps have terrible privacy protections, report finds (The Verge; 2 May 2022)
- What Your Period Tracker App Knows About You (Consumer Reports, 28 Jan 2020)
- Data Broker Is Selling Location Data of People Who Visit Abortion Clinics (Motherboard, 3 May 2022)
- Why You Should Buy the Dumbest TV You Can Find (LifeHacker; 8 April 2022)
- Creator World
- Facebook is shutting down its podcast platform after less than a year (The Verge; 3 May 2022)
- Misc
- Spiritual hustlers are all over social media. Don't let them scam you. (Mashable, 21 April 2022)
- Lawsuits against Alex Jones are a new strategy in curbing conspiracy theories (Grid News, 23 April 2022)
- Buying Wordle brought ‘tens of millions of new users’ to The New York Times (The Verge; 4 May 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: How to view your internal Chrome OS engagement metrics (About Chromebooks)
- Wes: Podcast - Teaching About Conspiracy Theories And Media Literacy and Google’s Teachable Machine
Episode 257: 27 April 2022
- Apple
- Apple’s AirTags keep being tagged in domestic abuse cases (Digital Trends; 8 April 2022)
- Apple’s DIY repair service is now available in the US (The Verge; 27 April 2022)
- Here’s what the updated Apple Studio Display webcam looks like (The Verge; 27 April 2022)
- Google files trademark for ‘Pixel Watch’ ahead of device’s launch (9 to 5 Google; 22 April 2022)
- Google files trademark for Pixel Watch name (Verge, 22 April 2022)
- Google may now remove search results that dox you (The Verge; 27 April 2022)
- Access
- Ohio State University ends program to give iPads to new students (9 to 5 Mac; 27 April 2022)
- Tech Correction
- The Senate bill that has Big Tech scared (Wired, 9 April 2022)
- Chuck Schumer “Working Closely With Senator Klobuchar” to Whip Votes for Antitrust Bills (Intercept, 27 April 2022)
- Twitter and Elon Musk
- Elon Musk and the $43 billion bid: all of the updates about his takeover of Twitter (The Verge)
- Trump says he won’t leave Truth Social, despite Musk’s Twitter takeover (The Verge; 25 April 2022)
- Elon Musk, Twitter’s next owner, provides his definition of “free speech” (ArsTechnica, 27 April 2022)
- Ukraine - Russia War
- Russia Is Being Hacked at an Unprecedented Scale (Wired, 27 April 2022)
- Ghost: The New Kamikaze Drone Ukraine Will Use to Battle Russia in Donbas (1945, 22 April 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Chinese Balcony Drone Threat and Podcast478: Updates and Classroom Favorites
- Jason: https://www.resilio.com/
Episode 256: 13 April 2022
- What US libraries let you borrow Chromebooks with internet hotspots? (9 to 5 Google; 4 April 2022)
- Who are the teens suddenly choosing Android over iPhone? (ZDNet; 7 April 2022)
- YouTube announces new “Subtitle Editor” role to collaborate on video captions (Chrome Unboxed; 12 April 2022)
- HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook Enterprise shows up with a $2,165 price tag (About Chromebooks; 10 April 2022)
- T-Mobile resurrects Google Photos' unlimited storage, with a catch (Engadget, 12 April 2022)
- Privacy
- Your digital footprints could help hackers infiltrate computer networks (The Next Web; 9 April 2022)
- DuckDuckGo’s privacy-centric browser arrives on Mac (The Verge; 12 April 2022)
- You agreed to what? Tax sites want your data for more than filing (The Washington Post; 12 April 2022)
- TurboTax and H&R Block have spent years making Tax Day miserable (MSNBC; 15 April 2021)
- Ukraine Russia War
- The Kremlin tries to stifle Radio Free Europe — and its audience surges (Washington Post, 27 March 2022)
- President Zelensky commends Meta for Info War acts
- How War in Ukraine Roiled Facebook and Instagram (NY Times, 31 March 2022)
- Photographer Maksim Levin’s work in Ukraine – in pictures (Guardian, 3 April 2022)
- Creatin’
- New Adobe Creative Cloud Express Perk lets you create logos, flyers, and more on your Chromebook (Chrome Unboxed; 3 April 2022)
- Misc
- The New York Times would really like its reporters to stop scrolling and get off Twitter (at least once in a while) (Nieman Labs, 7 April 2022)
- Geek of the Week!
- Jason: Canva Design Skills for Students (Canva)
- Wes: [VIDEO] tutorial: Using Jamboard with Google Classroom (14 min)
Episode 255: 6 April 2022
- Tech Correction
- Twitter is adding an edit button (The Verge; 5 April 2022)
- Elon Musk tweeted his way onto Twitter’s board — now what? (The Verge; 5 April 2022)
- Elon Musk giving 'serious thought' to build a new social media platform (Reuters, 26 March 2022)
- Trump's Truth Social app branded a disaster (BBC News, 3 April 2022)
- Elizabeth Warren’s plan to break up Big Everything (Recode; 5 April 2022)
- Get your facts straight with new Google Search fact-checking features (Chrome Unboxed; 31 March 2022)
- How Activists Use Social Media for Good -- and You Can Too (cNet; 5 April 2022)
- Your Digital Footprint: It's Bigger Than You Realize (cNet; 4 April 2022)
- Opinion: Enough failures. We need a federal privacy law. (Washington Post, 30 March 2022)
- Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok (Washington Post, 30 March 2022) - Post Reports
- Microsoft
- Windows 11’s refreshed File Explorer gets tabs, favorites, and a new homepage (The Verge; 5 April 2022)
- Windows 11’s new meeting features improve eye contact, framing, and background blur (The Verge; 5 April 2022)
- You can finally set Chrome as your default browser on Windows 11 with one click again (Chrome Unboxed; 1 April 2022)
- Google Docs will start nudging some users to write less dumbly (The Verge; 1 April 2022)
- Google Docs to get Grammarly-like features in selected Workspace and EDU tiers (Chrome Unboxed; 1 April 2022)
- Google Docs gets expanded Markdown autocorrect support (Chrome Unboxed; 30 March 2022)
- Chrome’s Side Panel receiving private notes, Reader Mode to be renamed “Read Anything” (Chrome Unboxed; 5 April 2022)
- Google Meet will open the flood gates later this year with new YouTube live streaming feature (Chrome Unboxed; 31 March 2022)
- New Google 'highly cited' label focuses on tackling misinformation, highlighting original reporting (Mashable, 31 March 2022)
- Google Meet gets in-meeting reactions, PiP, end-to-end encryption and more (TechCrunch, 31 March 2022)
- Tales from Family IT Support
- Changes to how file downloads are handled in Firefox version 98 (Mozilla Support Blog)
- Misc
- What we can learn from people who take the Flat Earth theory seriously (Grid News, 4 April 2022)
- Geek of the Week:
- Jason: 30+ Web-Based Alternatives to Traditional Desktop Apps for Chromebooks and PCs (HowToGeek)
- Wes: Preparing Book Creator eBooks to Print on Lulu.com (19 min)
Episode 254: 30 March 2022
- ChromeOS
- Chrome OS virtual desks are getting a useful upgrade (About Chromebooks; 24 March 2022)
- Cameyo introduces PWA Windows apps for Chrome OS (Chrome Unboxed; 23 March 2022)
- Chrome OS: “A better Linux than Linux” so you can forget about Windows (Tech Radar; 18 March 2022)
- How to identify images in Chrome using Google Lens (Chrome Unboxed; 23 March 2022)
- Chrome for Mac, Windows, & CrOS add Side Panel for accessing bookmarks, Reading List [U] (9 to 5 Google; 25 March 2022)
- Spotify might soon bypass Android billing, but Google’s still getting paid (The Verge; 24 March 2022)
- Microsoft
- Windows 11 version 22H2: Everything we know about Microsoft's next big OS update (Windows Central; 23 March 2022)
- Microsoft Surface Laptop Se Review: Just Get A Chromebook (The Verge; 25 March 2022)
- Apple
- Apple is reportedly planning a 15-inch MacBook Air (The Verge; 25 March 2022)
- Russia/Ukraine
- Russia is risking the creation of a “splinternet”—and it could be irreversible (Technology Review; MIT Technology Review; 17 March 2022)
- The rise of the Twitter spies (Washington Post, 23 March 2022)
- The world holds its breath for Putin's cyberwar (Politico, 23 March 2022)
- With small, portable weapons, Ukraine's fighters keep Russia (NPR, 19 March 2022)
- How War in Ukraine Roiled Facebook and Instagram (NY Times, 30 March 2022)
- Supply Chains
- The neon shortage is a bad sign (Recode; 18 March 2022)
- Tech Correction
- TikTok faces investigation into its impact on young people’s mental health (The Verge; 8 March 2022)
- Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok (Washington Post, 30 March 2022)
- WithFed Up Google, Conspiracy Theorists Turn to DuckDuckGo (The New York Times; 23 February 2022)
- The free speech search engine that never was (Recode; 16 March 2022)
- TikTok shares your data more than any other social media app — and it's unclear where it goes, study says (CNBC MakeIt, 8 Feb 2022)
- That broken tech/content culture cycle (Tactical Tech, 9 Feb 2022)
- How Apple, Not Government, Became Tech’s Biggest Regulator (Sway Podcast, 21 March 2022)
- Lawsuit Highlights How Little Control Brokers Have Over Location Data (The Markup, 21 March 2022)
- Misc
- Space Force Gets Roughly 40% Increase in Biden Request (Defense One, 28 March 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Margaret Atwood on Stories, Deception and the Bible (Ezra Klein Podcast)
- Jason: NCCE 2022 Early Bird Pricing Ends THURSDAY!
Episode 253: 23 March 2022
- I prefer the phone version: The underwhelming state of Google’s first-party tablet apps on Android (9to5Google, 14 March 2022)
- How to Make Your Android Tablet a Laptop Replacement (How to Geek; 10 March 2022)
- Lacros in Chrome OS 100 is a pretty capable Chromebook experience (About Chromebooks; 1 March 2022)
- Google will test letting Android developers use their own billing systems, starting with Spotify (The Verge; 23 March 2022)
- Apple
- Mac Studio teardown reveals potentially upgradeable SSD storage (The Verge; 19 March 2022)
- 40+ iOS 15.4 changes and features – hands-on with everything new for iPhone and iPad [Video] (9to5Mac, 15 March 2022)
- Apple iPad Air (2022) Review: It’s The Nice One (The Verge; 16 March 2022)
- Updated Mac Mini Still Coming With M2 and M2 Pro Chips (Mac Rumors; 9 March 2022)
- Creating
- TechScape: want to ‘be your own boss’ online? Here’s why it’s not so simple (The Guardian; 16 March 2022)
- Flickr forever: Creating the safest, most inclusive photography community on the planet. (Flickr Blog, 17 March 2022)
- Vimeo is telling creators to suddenly pay thousands of dollars — or leave the platform (Verge, 15 March 2022)
- Vimeo: “We are a B2B solution, not the indie version of YouTube.” (YM Cinema Magazine, 17 March 2022)
- Connectivity
- T-Mobile’s new prepaid $10 per month Connect plan is its cheapest yet (The Verge; 23 March 2022)
- Media Literacy
- How Wikipedia gets to define what’s true online (Prospect, 3 March 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: How to Fix the Internet with EFF and What Does Scratch Mean To You?
- Jason: How to Use Google Drive’s New Search Tools (Wired, 6 March 2022)
Episode 252: 16 March 2022
- Google shuts down YouTube Vanced, a popular ad-blocking Android app (ArsTechnica, 14 March 2022)
- Google Docs update lets you draft emails and send them to Gmail with a click (The Verge; 16 March 2022)
- Chrome for Mac achieves highest Speedometer score to date, beating Safari [U: More details] (9 to 5 Google; 15 March 2022)
- New Google Classroom features include some advanced “Google magic” (Chrome Unboxed; 16 March 2022)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is testing a Windows 11 desktop watermark for unsupported hardware (The Verge; 22 February 2022)
- Clipchamp is Microsoft’s new video editing app for Windows 11 (The Verge; 9 March 2022)
- Ukraine War News
- Facebook removes ‘deepfake’ of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy (Verge, 16 March 2022) - s/o @Durff
- TikTok temporarily bans new video creation in Russia (Verge, 6 March 2022)
- Russian propaganda on Ukraine's non-existent 'biolabs' boosted by U.S. far right (NBC News, 14 Mar 2022)
- Harvard internet whiz, 19, creates website connecting Ukrainian refugees with hosts (The Times of Israel, 4 March 2022)
- Activists are reaching Russians behind Putin’s propaganda wall (ArsTechnica, 13 March 2022)
- A pro-Russia propaganda campaign is using over 180 TikTok influencers to promote the invasion of Ukraine (Media Matters, 13 March 2022)
- Russia’s disinformation machinery breaks down in wake of Ukraine invasion (Wired / ArsTechnica, 12 March 2022)
- Ukraine: Spam website set up to reach millions of Russians (BBC, 12 March 2022)
- The White House is briefing TikTok stars about the war in Ukraine (Washington Post, 11 March 2022)
- Anonymous releases 364,000 files about Russia's censorship of invasion (UPI, 11 March 2022)
- SpaceX taunts Russia at launch: 'Let the American broomstick fly' (Business Insider, 10 March 2022)
- Smart Whatever / IoT
- The average person doesn’t have a chance with the smart home (Tech Crunch; 18 February 2022)
- Geek of the Week
Episode 251: 9 March 2022
- Apple
- OMG NEW APPLE STUFFFFF
- Everything announced at the Apple 2022 'Peek Performance' event (Mashable; 8 March 2022)
- Comment: AirTag scare stories may have actually done more good than harm (9 to 5 Mac; 23 February 2022)
- Apple’s new strategy is to give — not tell — users what they want (The Verge; 9 March 2022)
- Apple explains why the M1 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio is two pounds heavier (The Verge; 9 March 2022)
- How the M1-powered iPad Air compares to other iPad models (The Vergel 9 March 2022)
- The 27-inch iMac has been discontinued (The Verge; 8 March 2022)
- Google shares grand vision of tablets surpassing laptop sales, ‘tablet-first’ Android apps, more (9 to 5 Google; 9 March 2022)
- Hands-on with the ‘new Gmail view’ web redesign: Sidebar woes, chat bubble default, custom themes (9 to 5 Google; 2 March 2022)
- Chromebook owners will get to disable automatic Chrome OS updates. YES! (About Chromebooks; 3 March 2022)
- Social Media
- I’m a creator. You’re a creator. We’re all creators! (Vox, 22 Feb 2022)
- Metaverse vs. employment law: The reality of the virtual workplace (ArsTechnica, 21 Feb 2022)
- Ukraine War
- Several Western news organizations suspend operations in Russia (NY Times, 4 March 2022)
- https://twitter.com/cliffordlevy/status/1501215382698405893 (8 March 2022)
- The war in Ukraine is keeping Chinese social media censors busy (ArsTechnica, 6 March 2022)
- Elon Musk: “High” probability of Russian attacks on Starlink in Ukraine (ArsTechnica, 5 March 2022)
- Geeeeek of the Weeeek!
- Wes: Democracy Report 2022
- Jason: https://mrchromebox.tech/
Episode 250!: 2 March 2022
- ChromeOS Flex!
- Chrome OS Flex is an ideal off-ramp for millions of PCs that can’t run Windows 11 (Ars Technica, 16 February 2022)
- I Ran Chrome OS Flex on the MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) (Mac o’Clock; 27 February 2022)
- Chrome OS Flex on Mac Review + Setup (Mac Research)
- You Can Use Same Management License
- Apple
- Discussion: Here’s why Apple should (still) make a 16-inch MacBook Air (9 to 5 Mac; 23 February 2022)
- Apple Event: March 8th
- Here’s everything Apple could announce at its March 8 ‘Peek performance’ special event (9to5Mac, 2 March 2022)
- Why a Mac Mini Pro would be such a game-changer (Digital Trends; 22 February 2022)
- CyberSecurity
- These are the 20 most common passwords leaked on the dark web — make sure none of them are yours (CNBC; 27 February 2022)
- CISA Issues “Shields Up” Warning About Russian Cyber Attacks (Forbes; 25 February 2022)
- Software
- 7 of the Best Evernote Alternatives (and Why You Should Finally Switch) (Lifehacker; 25 February 2022)
- Ukraine - Russia War
- Twitter Accounts Sharing Video From Ukraine Are Being Suspended When They’re Needed Most (The Verge; 23 February 2022)
- Why a Russian Invasion of Ukraine Would Be a Big Test for Google Maps (Time Magazine; 15 February 2022)
- Ukraine’s Volunteer ‘IT Army’ Is Hacking in Uncharted Territory (Wired, 27 Feb 2022) - “Google Form Sign-Up”
- RT America ceases productions and lays off most of its staff (CNN Business, 3 March 2022)
- We Have Never Been Here Before (NYT OpEd by Tom Friedman, 25 Feb 2022)
- Daniel Funke, USA Today, Out of Context Twitter Thread
- Russia will get hit hardest in cyberwar over Ukraine, expert says (VentureBeat, 25 Feb 2022)
- Differences in Media Coverage (Russia vs The World)
- Miscellaneous
- Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints (NYTimes, 19 Feb 2022)
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: @HumaneTech_ [PODCAST] episode “How Science Fiction Can Shape Our Reality” interview with Kim Stanley Robinson - March Mammal Madness
- Jason: NCCE Registration Open NOW!
Episode 249: 16 February 2022
- Tech Correction
- Does banning extremists online work? It depends. (Re/Code; 3 February 2021)
- TikTok says it will strengthen policies in effort to prevent spread of hoaxes and dangerous challenges (CNN Business; 8 February 2022)
- TikTok is thinking about letting its creators charge subscription fees (The Verge; 20 January 2022)
- Facebook Has a Superuser-Supremacy Problem (The Atlantic, 10 Feb 2022)
- Microsoft
- Windows 11’s first big update arrives with Android apps, taskbar changes, and more (The Verge; 15 February 2022)
- Chrome OS Flex brings the Chromebook experience to PC and Mac for free (Chrome Unboxed; 15 February 2022)
- Google Drive’s new filters that make search easier are rolling out to everyone (The Verge; 15 February 2022)
- Google Docs getting AI-generated summaries, collaborative email templates, and more (9 to 5 Google; 15 February 2022)
- Gmail’s redesign is rolling out now for regular Google Account users and here’s how to use it (Chrome Unboxed; 14 February 2022)
- YouTube video streaming now using A.I. that mastered chess and Go (Fortune, 11 Feb 2022)
- Apple
- I Used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS Tracker to Watch My Husband’s Every Move (The New York Times; 11 February 2022)
- An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking (Apple Newsroom; 10 February 2022)
- Apple launches AirTags and Find My detector app for Android, in effort to boost privacy (CNet; 13 December 2021)
- Meta / Facebook
- Facebook renames its News Feed to just 'Feed' (Yahoo Finance, 15 Feb 2022)
- Peter Thiel to Exit Meta’s Board to Support Trump-Aligned Candidates (The New York Times; 7 February 2022)
- Security
- No, that email from Equifax is not a scam. You are entitled to free credit monitoring for four years. (Washington Post, 11 Feb 2022)
- Senators: CIA has secret program that collects American data (Washington Post, 11 Feb 2022)
- Misc
- Justice Dept. Seizes $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin and Arrests Married Couple (NY Times, 8 Feb 2022)
- How a Butterfly Refuge at the Texas Border Became the Target of Far-Right Lies (NY Times, 6 Feb 2022)
- The hacked account and suspicious donations behind the Canadian trucker protests (Grid News, 8 Feb 2022)
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: Search Smarter by Dorking (Exposing the Invisible) and Tag-a-Doc
- Jason: 5 Free Online Video Editors Without Watermarks or Other Hidden Limitations (Make Use Of; 11 February 2022)
Episode 248: 9 February 2022
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Surface Laptop SE vs Chromebooks: A limited but capable competitor (About Chromebooks; 7 February 2022)
- Apple
- Every M1 Mac is due for a 2022 refresh with faster M2 chip, new designs (MacWorld; 8 February 2022)
- Apple will introduce new iPhone, iPad on March 8 (ArsTechnica, 7 Feb 2022)
- Tech Correction
- Meta’s threat to close down Facebook and Instagram in Europe backfires as EU leaders embrace shutdown: ‘Life would be very good without’ (City AM; 9 February 2022)
- Facebook loses users for the first time in its history (The Washington Post; 2 February 2022)
- FB Stock (Google)
- Spotify - Rogan
- The Spotify-Rogan saga highlights the distinction between publishers and platforms (Tech Crunch; 9 February 2021)
- Spotify to Pull Neil Young’s Music After Artist’s Objections to Joe Rogan (Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan 2022)
- Spotify Publishes Content Guidelines in Response to Rogan Kerfluffle
- Everything you need to know about the bill that could blow up the app store (The Verge, 9 Feb 2021)
- LumaFusion, a popular video editor on iOS, is coming to Android in the ‘first half’ of 2022 (9 5o 5 Google; 9 February 2022)
- Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra's massive screen makes it basically an Android laptop (CNet; 9 February 2022)
- Chrome OS 98 Offers A Screen Capture Update, A New Virtual Desk Shortcut, And More (Chrome Unboxed; 8 February 2022)
- Reports Of Declined Chromebook Shipments Disregard The Bigger Picture (Chrome Unboxed; 1 February 2022)
- Google still thinks 3 years of updates provide a ‘great experience’ ahead of cutting off Pixel 3 (9 to 5 Google; 25 January 2022)
- YouTube CEO: More Creators Are Making At Least $10K a Year (Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan 2022)
- Security
- Google account hacks drop 50% for 150 million who got 2-factor login (CNet; 8 February 2022)
- Hacker Circulates Fake, Malware-Laden Windows 11 Installer (PC Magazine; 9 February 2022)
- Russia could cyberattack Ukraine — again — and disrupt the entire world (NPR, 29 Jan 2022)
- Phishing Simulation Study Shows Why These Attacks Remain Pervasive (Dark Reading, 7 Feb 2022)
- Media Literacy
- Search Smarter by Dorking (Exposing the Invisible)
- My Gentle, Intelligent Brother Is Now A Conspiracy Theorist And His Beliefs Are Shocking (Huffington Post, 21 Jan 2022)
- Privacy
- Lawmakers call on feds to drop Clearview AI facial recognition contracts (Verge, 9 Feb 2022)
- IRS stops requiring selfies after facial recognition system is widely panned (ArsTechnica, 7 Feb 2022)
- Health sites let ads track visitors without telling them (ArsTechnica, 7 Feb 2022)
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: Teach With Chrome Series by @GoogleForEdu (free online learning starts Feb 22! - “Coded Bias” Netflix documentary - Control-F Project
- Jason: Vista Create
Episode 247: 26 January 2022
- Microsoft
- Windows 11 SE laptops arrive to take on Chromebooks in schools (The Verge; 18 January 2022)
- Privacy
- Google abandons FLoC, introduces Topics API to replace tracking cookies (The Verge; 25 January 2022)
- IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access (Krebs on Security, 19 Jan 2022)
- IRS Will Require Facial Recognition Scans to Access Your Taxes Online (Gizmodo, 19 Jan 2022)
- ID.me does use facial recognition to match against databases, CEO admits (Verge, 26 Jan 2022)
- Tech Correction
- Google lists how US antitrust bills could impact Search, Gmail, and other products (9 to 5 Google; 18 January 2022)
- The Old Internet Shows Signs of Quietly Coming Back (Cheapskate’s Guide; 24 January 2022)
- Apple and Google split with startups over antitrust bill (The Verge; 18 January 2022)
- Meta is testing a new meta privacy control center across apps (TechCrunch; 7 January 2022)
- This legislation could force Apple and others to make their terms of service actually readable (9 to 5 Mac; 13 January 2022)
- After years of threats, Congress finally unleashed its subpoena power on Silicon Valley (Washington Post, 14 Jan 2022)
- Should bad science be censored on social media? (BBC News; 19 January 2022)
- One Year After the Jan. 6 Attack, Parler's CEO Grapples With Big Tech and Trump (NYTimes Kara Swisher, 6 Jan 2022)
- OAN panics as DirecTV drops network, asks viewers to find “dirt” on AT&T chairman (ArsTechnica, 20 Jan 2022)
- YouTube CEO hints at potential NFT features (The Verge; 25 January 2022)
- Google Docs now lets you create ‘Confidential,’ ‘Draft,’ and other text watermarks (9 to 5 Google; 24 January 2022)
- Adaptive Charging will extend your Chromebook’s longterm battery life – coming soon to Chrome OS (9 to 5 Google; 24 January 2022)
- Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying for Workspace this year (9 to 5 Google; 19 January 2022)
- Google is building an AR headset (Verge, 20 Jan 2022)
- Security
- DHS warns of potential Russia cyberattacks amid tensions (CNN, 24 Jan 2022)
- Misc
- ‘Bodyright’ campaign launched, to end rise in gender-based violence online (UN News, 2 Dec 2021)
- NFT art sales are booming. Just without some artists' permission. (NBC News, 10 Jan 2022)
- Here’s what happens every minute on the internet in 2021 (World Economic Forum, 5 Aug 2021)
- Emirates, Air India, and others cancel flights due to AT&T and Verizon’s 5G rollout (Verge, 19 Jun 2022)
- To my surprise and elation, the Webb Space Telescope is really going to work (ArsTechnica, 25 Jan 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Get updates on your “expired” Chromebook
- Wes:Clarksville EdTech Conference, January 29, 2022 (free)
Episode 246: 19 January 2022
- Apple
- The iPhone 14 Is Unlikely to Be Portless, Here's Why (Mac Rumors; 8 January 2022)
- Report: Apple Headset not an ‘all-day device,’ creating a metaverse ‘off limits’ (9 to 5 Mac; 9 January 2022)
- Model shares warning after she says a stranger used an Apple AirTag to track her (CBS; 10 January 2022)
- Smaller Mac Pro with Apple Silicon to join Mac mini refresh in 2022 (Apple Insider; 2 January 2022)
- Should AirTags get lost over safety concerns? A better solution can be found (9 to 5 Mac; 17 January 2022)
- Mediatek’s New Kompanio 1380 Arm Processor Is Really, Really Fast [Video] (Chrome Unboxed; 19 January 2022)
- HP Unveils “Fortis” Brand For Blended Learning With Two Chromebooks In Tow (Chrome Unboxed; 18 January 2022)
- Meta… I guess?
- Walmart is getting serious about the metaverse (The Verge; 16 January 2022)
- How will Facebook keep its metaverse safe for users? (Financial Times, 12 Nov 2021)
- Facebook patents reveal how it intends to cash in on metaverse (Financial Times, 17 Jan 2022)
- Tech Correction
- Democrats unveil bill to ban online ‘surveillance advertising’ (The Verge; 18 January 2021)
- Apple and Google split with startups over antitrust bill (The Verge; 18 January 2022)
- Meta is testing a new meta privacy control center across apps (TechCrunch; 7 January 2022)
- We're Spending a Third of Our Waking Hours Staring at Our Phones (PC Magazine; 12 January 2022)
- This legislation could force Apple and others to make their terms of service actually readable (9 to 5 Mac; 13 January 2022)
- After years of threats, Congress finally unleashed its subpoena power on Silicon Valley (Washington Post, 14 Jan 2022)
- Should bad science be censored on social media? (BBC News; 19 January 2022)
- The true cost of Amazon’s low prices (Recode, 13 Jan 2022)
- Media Literacy
- A New Use For AI: Summarizing Scientific Research For Seven-Year-Olds (The Verge; 18 January 2022)
- Health / Wellness
- Welltory packs a lot of science into its app to measure your stress levels (TechCrunch, 8 Aug 2017)
- The U.S. Digital-Contact-Tracing Debacle (The Atlantic, 6 Jan 2022)
- Security
- Albuquerque Schools Cancel Classes After Cyber Attack (Government Technology; 13 January 2022)
- Cyber attack in Albuquerque latest to target public schools (AP, 14 Jan 2022)
- Schools Want Transparency as Finalsite Recovers from Hack (Government Technology; 13 January 2022)
- Misc
- ‘Bodyright’ campaign launched, to end rise in gender-based violence online (UN News, 2 Dec 2021)
- NFT art sales are booming. Just without some artists' permission. (NBC News, 10 Jan 2022)
- Here’s what happens every minute on the internet in 2021 (World Economic Forum, 5 Aug 2021)
- Emirates, Air India, and others cancel flights due to AT&T and Verizon’s 5G rollout (Verge, 19 Jun 2022)
- Geek of the Week!
- Jason: https://www.podchaser.com
- Wes: OneTab and Moonrise Podcast (Washington Post)
Episode 245: 12 January 2022
- IOT
- Apple glasses could adjust lenses to match user's prescription (Apple Insider; 11 January 2022)
- Windows
- Windows 11 at First Glance: Here Are the First 10 Things You Should Do After Installing the New OS on Your PC (Tech Times; 4 January 2022)
- Windows 11 could soon run better on less powerful hardware (Tech Radar; 7 January 2022)
- Here are the Chromebooks and big Chrome OS news from CES 2022 (CNET; 6 January 2022)
- Public Service Announcement: G Suite File Stream Now Allows Personal Gmail Accounts To Sync Drive With Their Pc Or Mac (Chrome Unboxed; 3 October 2020)
- Live Translated Captions Are Now Able In Google Meet To Reduce Language Proficiency Barriers (Chrome Unboxed; 12 January 2022)
- After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful (ArsTechnica, 10 Jan 2022)
- A Google Street View car spotted a missing criminal and it led to an arrest (Mashable, 8 Jan 2022)
- Security’ish
- Forced by shortages to sell chipless cartridges, Canon tells customers how to bypass DRM warnings (BoingBoing; 8 January 2022)
- 6 Common Password Manager Mistakes That'll Risk Your Security (Make Use Of; 1 February 2021)
- T-Mobile begins blocking iPhone users from enabling iCloud Private Relay in the US (9 to 5 Mac, 10 Jan 2022)
- The FTC Wants Companies to Find Log4j Fast. It Won't Be Easy (Wired, 10 Jan 2022)
- CISA director says the LOG4J security flaw is the “most serious” she’s seen in her career (CNBC, 16 Dec 2021)
- Hotel chain converts Windows PCs to Chrome OS using CloudReady after ransomware attack (9to5Google, 7 Jan 2022)
- CES
- Samsung just made the TV disappear (Protocol, 4 Jan 2022)
- Censorship / Content Moderation
- Amazon agreed to allow only five-star reviews for Xi’s book in China (The Times, 22 Dec 2021)
- Twitter 'permanently suspends' Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal account (NBC News, 2 Jan 2022)
- The trouble with Roblox, the video game empire built on child labour (The Guardian, 9 Jan 2022)
- "Tech Won't Save Us" Podcast Episode: "How Roblox Exploits Children w/ Quintin Smith" https://pca.st/vk0h73a7
- Scalability
- White House to launch COVID test-ordering site ‘by this weekend,’ reports say (The Verge; 12 January 2022)
- Misc
- Hotel chain converts Windows PCs to Chrome OS using CloudReady after ransomware attack (9to5 Google, 7 Jan 2022)
- Geeeeekkkk of the weeeeekkkkk!
- Wes Milkshake App (example) and: Infinite Painter (iOS & Google Play)
- Jason: DD-WRT
Episode 244: 5 January 2022
- Subscribe to our SubStack Newsletter: edtechsr.substack.com
- Privacy
- DuckDuckGo is working on a privacy-focused desktop browser (The Verge; 21 December 2021)
- Two California teachers were secretly recorded speaking about LGBTQ student outreach. Now they’re fighting for their jobs (San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Dec 2021) - PDF version
- Americans widely distrust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram with their data, poll finds (Washington Post, 22 Dec 2021 - gift link!)
- Security
- Host Google Meet meetings with up to 500 participants (Google Workspace Blog, 16 Nov 2021)
- Chrome Users Beware: Manifest V3 is Deceitful and Threatening (EFF, 9 Dec 2021)
- Google Assistant gets rid of 'Your News Update' audio digest (9to5Google, 5 Nov 2021)
- Seriously, Affordable Chromebooks Are Getting Really Good [Video] (Chrome Unboxed; 19 June 2021)
- Google Announces Major Improvements To Android Better Together At CES 2022 (Chrome Unboxed; 5 January 2022)
- Apple
- Podcasting
- Podcasters Are Letting Software Pick Their Ads — It’s Already Going Awry (The Verge; 4 January 2022)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://www.mapcrunch.com/
- Wes: James Webb Telescope Wonder Links and Why fascism in America isn't going away (Vox)
Episode 243: 29 December 2021
- Security
- Unusual Attempted Login Activity: How LastPass Protects You (LastPass Blog; 28 December 2021)
- LastPass confirms credential stuffing attack against some of its users (THe Record; 28 December 2021)
- LastPass says no passwords were compromised following breach scare (The Verge; 29 December 2021)
- 6 things in cybersecurity we didn’t know last year (Tech Crunch; 29 December 2021)
- Um, what?
- Alexa told a child to do potentially lethal ‘challenge’ (The Verge; 28 December 2021)
- AirTags
- Infrastructure
- 'The cloud' may be great but it's also horribly broken (Android Central; 18 December 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Tech Won. Now What? (New York Times; 23 December 2021)
- Judge tears apart Texas social media law for violating First Amendment (ArsTechnica, 2 Dec 2021)
- Russia fines Google $100 million for not removing banned content (Axios, 24 Dec 2021)
- Apple
- 5 ways Apple will radically transform the MacBook Air next year (MacWorld; 19 December 2021)
- Apple sued for terminating account with $25,000 worth of apps and videos (ArsTechnica, 23 April 2021)
- Google Voice now lets you set custom rules for phone calls (The Verge; 21 December 2021)
- Google Assistant gets rid of 'Your News Update' audio digest
- Privacy
- DuckDuckGo is working on a privacy-focused desktop browser (The Verge; 21 December 2021)
- Two California teachers were secretly recorded speaking about LGBTQ student outreach. Now they’re fighting for their jobs (San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Dec 2021)
- Americans widely distrust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram with their data, poll finds (Washington Post, 22 Dec 2021 - gift link!)
- Misc
- 'WhereIsWebb' by @nasa shows the status of Webb on its journey to L2 orbit (NASA)
- CES 2022 looks doomed as Google, GM, Lenovo and Waymo pull out (Protocol, 22 Dec 2021)
- Amazon agreed to allow only five-star reviews for Xi’s book in China (The Times, 22 Dec 2021)
- Geek of the Week:
- Wes: Xway web design software (Wes’ archived sites) - Social Media Stories, Instagram Reels & Mojo Videos
- Jason: https://coffitivity.com/
Episode 242: 15 December 2021
- Security
- Kamala Harris is right to be wary of Bluetooth headphones (cNet; 8 December 2021)
- Apple AirTags become useful tool for Canadian carjackers (cNet; 8 December 2021)
- Apple releases Android app to help find sneaky AirTags (The Verge; 12 December 2021)
- LastPass working on a ‘delightful’ mobile app as it becomes an independent company (9 to 5 Google; 14 December 2021)
- ‘The Internet Is on Fire’ - Java framework security flaw / issue (Wired, 10 Dec 2021) - Daily Mail clickbait
- Connectivity
- How to solve the rural-urban digital divide (High Country News; 6 December 2021)
- Privacy
- Follow Up: Life360 makes millions selling location data, and it’s about to buy Tile (The Verge; 9 December 2021)
- Hardware
- Follow Up: What’s the best student laptop? We asked students (The Verge)
- Software
- Adobe launches Creative Cloud Express, a new app that simplifies its powerful editing tools (The Verge; 13 December 2021)
- Pixlr Photo Editing Web App Gains Pen Pressure, More Exciting Features For 2022 (Chrome Unboxed; 7 December 2021)
- Apple
- Here’s why you should update your iPhone to iOS 15.2 (9 to 5 Mac; 13 December 2021)
- How secure is a Chromebook after it stops getting Chrome OS updates? (About Chromebooks; 14 December 2021)
- Chrome OS 98 adds Chromebook snooping detection to watch your back (About Chromebooks; 8 December 2021)
- Windows/Microsoft
- Your Windows 11 upgrade is ready. Should you do it? (CNet; 12 December 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Face Computers Are Coming. Now What? (New York Times; 11 December 2021)
- Media Literacy
- Birds Aren’t Real, or Are They? Inside a Gen Z Conspiracy Theory (New York Times; 9 December 2021)
- Geek of the Week!
- Jason: New York Times Best of 2021
- Wes: Storyteller’s Summit by National Geographic: Jan 26-28, 2022 and Google Canvas
Episode 241: 8 December 2021
- Privacy
- The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users (The MarkUp, 6 Dec 2021)
- There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data (The MarkUp, 30 Sept 2021)
- AI
- The movement to hold AI accountable gains more steam (ArsTechnica, 5 Dec 2021)
- China
- Why Peng Shuai Has China’s Leaders Spooked (NYTimes OpEd by Leta Hong Fincher, 2 Dec 2021)
- Beijing Silenced Peng Shuai in 20 Minutes, Then Spent Weeks on Damage Control (NY Times, 8 Dec 2021)
- Russia
- A shadow war in space is heating up fast (Washington Post OpEd by Josh Rogin, 30 Nov 2021)
- The Tech Correction/Social Media
- Instagram says it’s working a new chronological feed option, could launch in early 2022 (9 to 5 Mac; 8 December 2021)
- Twitter will now let you pay to undo tweets and read ad-free news in the US (The Verge; (9 November 2021)
- Instagram plans to bring back chronological feed next year, top exec says (CNN Business; 8 December 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft’s new Office UI is now rolling out to everyone (The Verge; 2 December 2021)
- Microsoft’s new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome (The Verge; 8 December 2021)
- Big Data and Schools
- Here’s how Google’s experimental 3D telepresence booth works (The Verge; 2 December 2021)
- Chrome OS 96 rolling out: Camera tweaks, Nearby Share in Android apps, more (9 to 5 Google; 30 November 2021)
- Apple
- Epic v. Apple ruling put on hold after appeals court grants a stay (The Verge, 8 Dec 2021)
- Misc
- Emails show what happened before Missouri gov. falsely called journalist a “hacker” (ArsTechnica, 3 Dec 2021)
- Microsoft Makes Breakthrough in the Quest to Use DNA as Data Storage (Gizmodo, 2 Dec 2021)
- Ye Ole Geek o thy Week
- Jason: Scribble Maps from Richard Byrne
- Wes: [PODCAST] Predicting the Future Is Possible. ‘Superforecasters’ Know How. (Philip Tetlock and Julia Galef on The Ezra Klein Podcast, by NY Times)
Episode 240: 1 December 2021
- Gift Ideas by Jason
- Anker Accessories - https://amzn.to/31lS8m5
- Speaker Products
- For Your Apple Peoples - High End Apple Audio
- Great Stocking Stuffers
- Gift Ideas by Eric
- Upgrade your desk workspace
- Blue Microphones Compass Premium Tube-Style Microphone Broadcast Boom Arm with Blue Yeti Mic ($199)
- Phive LED Task Lamp, 20 Watt Super Bright Desk Lamp with Clamp ($70)
- ComfiLife Anti Fatigue Floor Mat ($40)
- Amazon Basics Single Computer Monitor Stand – Height Adjustable Desk Arm Mount ($30) *this model currently unavailable but is linked to similar items, also consider a dual monitor stand
Other ideas
- Noun Project Subscription (educators $20 for one year)
- Book - How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure by John Rocco ($16 hardcover)
- BONUS - Short video resources from author John Rocco - great for classroom use
- Lego Spike Prime Set ($340)
- Gift Ideas by Wes
- X iRig Mic 2 ($130)
- X NEEWER Adjustable Microphone Suspension Boom Scissor Arm ($10)
- NYT Wirecutter Gift Guides
- X YubiKey 5Ci FIPS ($90)
- X USB Data Blocker (4 pack, $11)
- 6’ Amazon Basics Double Braided Nylon Lightning to USB Cable ($16.50)
- X ThermoPro TP03 Digital Instant Read Meat Thermometer ($15)
- 65W USB-C Laptop Charger ($17.50)
- X ESR Pencil Holder Compatible for Stylus ($10)
- LED Ring Light 10" with Tripod Stand ($20)
- Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5th Gen Refurb, 6-Inch ($50, but not on Amazon now)
- X BioLite Firepit ($200)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: https://camelcamelcamel.com/
- Eric: Clip to Comic App - create cartoon like versions of your photos, good for sharing class photos if you don’t have permission to post student faces
- Wes: Teaching About “Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories” and Web Literacy
Episode 239: 17 November 2021
- Apple
- Apple will soon send parts and tools to users who want to repair their phones (ArsTechnica, 17 Nov 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Facebook Whistleblower Testifies Before 'Grand Committee On Disinformation'; Which Includes Countries That Lock People Up For Criticizing The Gov't (Tech Dirt, 16 Nov 2021)
- How Facebook Is Stoking a Civil War in Ethiopia (Vice, 8 Nov 2021)
- Meta Goes Into Lockdown (The Verge; 16 November 2021)
- Security
- Hackers backed by Iran are targeting US critical infrastructure, US warns (ArsTechnica, 17 Nov 2021)
- Securing your digital life, the finale: Debunking worthless “security” practices (ArsTechnica, 17 Nov 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft blocks EdgeDeflector to force Windows 11 users into Edge (The Verge; 15 November 2021)
- How to set Google Chrome as your default browser on Windows 11 (9 to 5 Google; 17 November 2021)
- Google details Chrome OS long-term support (LTS) enterprise channel that updates every six months (9 to 5 Google; 16 November 2021)
- Chrome/Edge policy will allow admins to block viewing page source code, aimed at edu (9 to Google; 11 November 2021)
- Crazy New Google Meet Backgrounds Fix Your Lighting In Real-Time To Make It Seem Like You’re Actually There (Chrome Unbox; 17 November 2021)
- Chrome 96 Rolls Out With A Slew Of Security Updates (Chrome Unboxed; 17 November 2021)
- With Lacros Inbound, Chrome Os Separates System Flags From Browser As Standalone App (Chrome Unboxed; 16 November 2021)
- Social Media
- YouTube co-founder predicts ‘decline’ of the platform following removal of dislikes (The Verge; 17 November 2021)
- Spotify is acquiring an audiobook company (The Verge; 11 November 2021)
- Hardware
- The global chip shortage is a nightmare before Christmas (The Verge; 11 November 2021)
- Metaverse
- Sundar Pichai thinks of the metaverse as more immersive computing with AR (9to5Google, 17 Nov 2021)
- Misc
- Trouble aboard the space station sent astronauts fleeing for safety for the second time this (Washington Post, 16 Nov 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Secure Password Generator
- Wes: Earth View from Google Earth (free Chrome extension) and CellCase Vintage Retro 3.5mm Telephone Handset iOS Microphone ($11)
Episode 238: 10 November 2021
- Apple
- Why the best iPad app for handwritten notes is going freemium (Fast Company; 1 November 2021)
- Social Media (articles in italics were discussed last week)
- The Facebook Papers: What you need to know about the trove of insider documents (NPR; 25 October 2021)
- Facebook’s Lost Generation (The Verge; 25 October 2021)
- How to Fix Social Media (Wall Street Journal, 29 Oct 2021)
- Media-Making about Social and Political Issues Builds Confidence in Teens (Circle, 28 Oct 2021)
- When Kilauea Erupted, a New Volcanic Playbook Was Written (NY Times, 9 Nov 2021)
- Facebook bets its future on the metaverse (NPR, 8 Nov 2021)
- Facebook’s ‘meta-existential’ pivot for survival (TechCrunch, 7 Nov 2021)
- [VIDEO] Update to YouTube’s Dislike Count (YouTube, 10 Nov 2021, 3 min)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft’s new $249 Surface Laptop SE is its first true Chromebook competitor (The Verge; 9 November 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube lose nearly $10bn after iPhone privacy changes (Financial Times, 31 Oct 2021)
- Instagram is testing a Take a Break feature (The Verge; 10 November 2021)
- Google is now requiring 2-Step Verification (2SV) for many more accounts [Updated] (9 to 5 Google; 3 November 2021)
- Chromebook sales are plummeting ahead of Black Friday (Tech Radar; 1 November 2021)
- Change my mind: Detachable Chromebooks are better mobile computers than any iPad (Android Authority; 31 October 2021)
- Google Chrome will soon be able to take and edit screenshots straight from the desktop browser (9 to 5 Google; 10 November 2021)
- Google Docs rolling out file review & approval system to Workspace tiers (8 November 2021)
- Connectivity
- Biden’s “historic” $65 billion broadband plan approved by Congress (ArsTechnica, 8 November 2021)
- Media Literacy
- 38% of US adults believe government is faking COVID-19 death toll (ArsTechnica, 9 Nov 2021)
- Right-wing operatives deploy massive network of fake local news sites to weaponize CRT (Popular Information, 8 Nov 2021) - lateral reading to WikiPedia
- Security
- Security software company McAfee acquired for $14 billion (Verge, 8 Nov 2021)
- Home IoT
- Google Renames Smart Home Initiative, Now Officially Called Google Home (CE Pro, 25 Oct 2021)
- Misc.
- Millions of college students use Chegg, which professors say enables cheating – and possibly blackmail (USA Today, 9 Nov 2021) - source tweet
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: YouTube Copyright School (4.5 min)
- Jason: Paws meet machine learning with Pet Portraits (Google Blog)
Episode 237: 3 November 2021
- Apple
- macOS Monterey is now available to download (The Verge; 25 October 2021)
- You Don't Need the New MacBook Pro (LifeHacker; 19 October 2021)
- Apple seems to have forgotten it built a notch in the MacBook Pro (The Verge; 27 October 2021)
- Google Drive for desktop updated with full Apple M1 Mac support (9 5o 5 Google; 22 October 2021)
- macOS Monterey Update Blamed for Bricking Older Macs (Tom’s Hardware; 1 November 2021)
- iMovie no longer supports sharing to iMovie Theater (Apple Support)
- Tech Correction
- You can now ask Google to remove images of under-18s from its search results (The Verge; 27 October 2021)
- Facebook changes its company name to Meta (CNN; 29 October 2021)
- Mark Zuckerberg Sets Facebook on Long, Costly Path to Metaverse Reality
- Why Republican Ken Buck Believes in Antitrust and Doesn’t Believe in the ‘Big Lie’ (Kara Swisher NYT, 25 Oct 2021)
- Google will make it easier to separate your work and personal life on Android (The Verge; 21 October 2021)
- Microsoft
- This new Microsoft PowerToy will fix one of the most annoying bits of multi-screen working (Tech Radar; 22 October 2021)
- Microsoft working on Windows 11 SE and low-cost Surface Laptop to take on Chromebooks (The Verge; 26 October 2021)
- 11 Worst Features of Windows 11 and How to Fix Them (Tom’s Hardware; 31 October 2021)
- Software
- Adobe Photoshop officially comes to the web today w/ public beta, works on Chromebooks (9 5o 5 Google; 26 October 2021)
- Geeks of the Week
- Jason: Mindful Schools
- Wes: Meet Artemis Team Member Kayla Barron (3 min NASA video) and “Online Influencers and Social Media”
Episode 236: 20 October 2021
- Apple
- OMGGGGG New Apple Stuffffff
- The 8 biggest announcements from Apple’s Unleashed event (The Verge; 18 October 2021)
- Trying to Understand Why The Apple Music Voice Plan Exists (MacObserver, 20 Oct 2021)
- macOS Monterey is officially launching on October 25th (The Verge; 18 October 2021)
- The biggest announcements from Google’s Pixel 6 event (The Verge; 19 October 2021)
- Support For Chrome Apps On Chrome Os Has Been Extended Through 2025 (ChromeUnboxed; 15 October 2021)
- Chrome OS 94 Introduces More Human-Sounding Voices For Select-To-Speak (ChromeUnboxed; 15 October 2021)
- Google Assistant Is Tired Of Being Cursed Out, Asks Politely To Be Treated Better (ChromeUnboxed, 18 Oct 2021)
- Security and Privacy
- Third-party health apps are vulnerable to hacks, report finds (The Verge; 18 October 2021)
- Google: We're sending out lots more phishing and malware attack warnings - here's why (ZDNet; 15 October 2021)
- Hardware
- Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink (Bleeping Computer; 16 October 2021)
- Social Media
- Teen Girls Are Developing Tics. Doctors Say TikTok Could Be a Factor (Wall Street Journal; 19 October 2021)
- Instagram Struggles With Fears of Losing Its ‘Pipeline’: Young Users (NY Times, 16 Oct 2021)
- What would an effective social-media regulator look like? (Columbia Journalism Review, 13 Oct 2021)
- Revealed: Facebook’s Secret Blacklist Of “Dangerous Individuals And Organizations (The Intercept, 12 Oct 2021)
- Former President Trump will be launching a new social network named "TRUTH Social."
- AI
- Sorry former Pentagon expert, but China is nowhere near winning the AI race (The Next Web, 15 Oct 2021)
- Miscellaneous
- Confused governor says looking at webpage's HTML is criminal hacking (Mashable, 14 Oct 2021)
- [VIDEO] LIVE: Lava from Spain's Cumbre Vieja volcano spreads on La Palma island with no end in sight (Reuters on YouTube, 20 Oct 2021)
- Drone operator will try to rescue dogs from Spanish volcano (Reuters, 19 Oct 2021)
- A Russian spaceship pushed the space station out of position again (Business Insider, 15 Oct 2021)
- Geek o the Week
- Wes: Babbage and the Dancer (Or, Can You Fall in Love With a Robot?) (Wonderland Podcast, 16 Aug 2016) and ooo for Web and NYT Invite Only Audio app
- Jason: https://sortmylist.com/
Episode 235: 13 October 2021
- Apple
- Apple tries to block Epic’s court win before it takes effect on December 9 (ArsTechnica, 11 Oct 2021)
- Apple announces October 18th event after months of Mac rumors (The Verge; 12 October 2021)
- Google’s Pixel Fall Launch event: Here’s what to expect on October 19 (Digital Trends; 11 October 2021)
- Samsung announces Unpacked 2 event for Wednesday Oct 20th, right after Apple and Google (The Verge, 12 Oct 2021)
- Chromebook myths continue because of articles like this (About Chromebooks; 10 October 2021)
- Pixel 6 series will allegedly get 4 major Android updates alongside extended security patches (9 to 5 Google; 13 October 2021)
- Nokia T20 Android tablet launches under $250 w/ 3 years of updates promised (9 to 5 Google; 6 October 2021)
- Adobe Acrobat extension for Chrome, Edge gets a PDF editor (9 to 5 Google; 12 October 2021)
- Google countersues Epic Games for 'willfully' breaching Play Store contract w/ Fortnite stunt (9to5Google, 12 Oct 2021)
- Social Media
- Twitter will now let you remove followers without blocking them (TechCrunch, 12 Oct 2021)
- Hardware
- Pandemic-related supply issues send US PC market into decline (ArsTechnica, 11 Oct 2021)
- Things that Make You Go Hmmmmm….
- Americans Live on the Internet But Don't Know Much About It (PC Magazine; 6 October 2021)
- AI
- U.S. Has Lost AI Race to China, According to Former Software Chief at Pentagon (Slate, 11 Oct 2021)
- Ex-Air Force Tech Boss Eviscerates Pentagon For Already Losing The AI Race Against China (The Drive, 13 Oct 2021)
- Tech Correction
- This Is the White House's Plan to Take on Facebook (Time, 11 Oct 2021)
- 1 Billion TikTok Users Understand What Congress Doesn’t (The Atlantic; 10 October 2021)
- Space
- NASA Confirms What They Suspected About Jezero Crater on Mars All Along (Science Alert, 8 Oct 2021)
- The first Arab mission to Mars is delivering some interesting science (ArsTechnica, 11 Oct 2021)
- Misc
- It’s Time to Stop Talking About “Generations” by Louis Menand (The New Yorker, 11 Oct 2021) - Listen on Audm
- Geek of the Week:
Episode 234: 6 October 2021
- Google Search’s Next Phase: Context Is King (The Verge; 29 September 2021)
- YouTube deletes RT′s German YouTube channels after COVID misinformation strike (DW News, 28 Sept 2021)
- New Google Calendar shortcut lets you quickly create meeting notes in Docs (9 to 5 Google; 5 October 2021)
- Smaller Icons And Folders Give The New Chromebook Launcher An Air Of Maturity (Chrome Unboxed; 5 October 2021)
- Microsoft
- How to upgrade to Windows 11 without waiting in line (The Verge; 4 October 2021)
- Planning to upgrade to Windows 11? A checklist before you do (The Verge; 4 October 2021)
- Microsoft Surface Pro 8 Review: The Best Of Both Worlds (The Verge; 5 October 2021)
- Social Media
- Facebook is back online after a massive outage that also took down Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus (The Verge; 5 October 2021)
- More than social media: The WhatsApp outage affected small businesses worldwide (NPR, 6 Oct 2021)
- 9 Horrifying Facts From the Facebook Whistleblower's New 60 Minutes Interview (Gizmodo; 3 October 2021)
- Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen: The 60 Minutes Interview [VIDEO] (60 Minutes, 4 Oct 2021)
- Everything You Need To Know From The Facebook Whistleblower Hearing (The Verge; 5 October 2021)
- The World Thought This Cheer Mom Created a Deepfake to Harass Her Daughter’s Rival—but the Real Story Is Way More Confusing (and Bizarre) (Cosmopolitan, 21 Sept 2021)
- How to Deal With the Dark Side of Social Media: Advice on helping faculty and staff members who have become the targets of internet trolls. (Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 Sept 2021)
- Why You’re Not Safe on Facebook and Instagram (And How to Protect Yourself if You Use Them) (Mental Health Update; 5 October 2021)
- Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen tells lawmakers that meaningful reform is necessary ‘for our common good’ (Washington Post, 5 Oct 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: T-Mobile Google Drive Plan
- Wes: Audm - Listen to Longform Journalism You Don’t Have Time to Read - https://shop.projectn95.org - Hope Haley on YouTube
Episode 233: 29 September 2021
- Apple
- Apple updates free Keynote, Pages and Numbers iWork apps to take on Microsoft Office (CNet; 28 September 2021)
- Apple’s software update lets users create burner email addresses — here’s how to do it (CNBC; 27 September 2021)
- Opinion: Focus is the most important feature in iOS 15; here’s how I’m using it (9 5o 5 Mac; 25 September 2021)
- iPhone 13 Pro Max sets record in smartphone battery stress test, with almost ten hours of continuous use (9 to 5 Mac; 24 September 2021)
- Apple iPhone 13 Review: The Most Incremental Upgrade Ever (The New York TImes; 21 September 2021)
- Amazon
- Everything to know about 3 new Amazon devices unveiled on Tuesday (Fortune, 28 Sept 2021)
- Social Media
- A teenager on TikTok disrupted thousands of scientific studies with a single video (Verge, 24 Sept 2021)
- The Tech Correction™
- “Climate Change Disinformation Is Spreading Rapidly” on Facebook (Mother Jones; 20 September 2021)
- Facebook to testify on kids' safety as lawmakers probe a whistleblower’s revelations (The Washington Post; 23 September 2021)
- What Our Research Really Says About Teen Well-Being and Instagram (Facebook PR; 26 September 2021)
- How the Enlightenment Ends (Henry Kissenger in The Atlantic, June 2018)
- The Metamorphosis (Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher in The Atlantic, August 2019)
- Fallout begins for far-right trolls who trusted Epik to keep their identities secret (Washington Post, 25 Sept 2021)
- There’s no escape from Facebook, even if you don’t use it (Washington Post, 29 August 2021)
- Privacy and Security
- The NSA and CIA Use Ad Blockers Because Online Advertising Is So Dangerous (Motherboard; 23 September 2021)
- Portpass app may have exposed hundreds of thousands of users' personal data (CBC News, 28 Sept 2021)
- Electronic Frontier Foundation will deprecate HTTPS Everywhere plugin (ArsTechnica, 27 Sept 2021)
- EU warns Russia over cyberattacks ahead of German elections (AP, 24 Sept 2021)
- Opinions about this? www.xposedornot.com
- You Should Use Your iPhone's New Built-in Two-Factor Authentication (LifeHacker, 23 Sept 2021)
- Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones (BBC News, 22 Sept 2021)
- Privacy Reset: A guide to the important settings you should change now (Washington Post, 23 Sept 2021)
- How to AVOID a Facebook Hack (Wes’ Substack newsletter, 27 Sept 2021)
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: [VIDEO] How AI Shapes Our Human Future (Eric Schmidt, 19.5 min) - Transcript titled “Misinformation Is About to Get So Much Worse” AND NASA’s Artemis Rover to Land Near Nobile Region of Moon’s South Pole (2:45 video)
- Jason: A Pocket Notebook Is the Best Productivity Booster (LifeSavvy; 20 September 2021) and Darknet Diaries Podcast
Episode 232: 22 September 2021
- Apple
- Poll: What’s your favorite feature of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15? (9 to 5 Mac; 22 September 2021)
- [PODCAST] Our Favorite iOS 15 Features - Focus Modes, FaceTime Links, Safari redesign, iCloud+, and more (iOS Today on TwIT, 21 Sept 2021)
- 36 of the Best New iOS 15 Features for iPhone (Lifehacker, 15 Sept 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Leaks just exposed how toxic Facebook and Instagram are to teen girls and, well, everyone (The Guardian; 18 September 2021)
- Facebook VP disputes report claiming the platform knows about multiple flaws it doesn’t fix (The Verge; 18 September 2021)
- Texas sued over terrible social media law (The Verge; 22 September 2021)
- No More Apologies: Inside Facebook’s Push to Defend Its Image (NY Times, 21 Sept 2021)
- Google is getting caught in the antitrust net (ArsTechnica, 18 Sept 2021)
- The Facebook Files (Wall Street Journal, 17 Sept 2021) - Live Q&A Video
- [PODCAST] “The Past and Future of Big Tech” by Scholars Strategy Network (@NoJargonPodcast)
- What Does Facebook Mean When It Says It Supports “Internet Regulations”? (The MarkUp, 17 Sept 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Surface event: Surface Pro 8, Surface Laptop Studio and more announced today (cNet; 22 September 2021)
- How to preorder all of the new Surface hardware (The Verge; 22 September 2021)
- Work-Life Balance
- Why you need a personal laptop (The Verge; 18 September 2021)
- Space
- Chinese astronauts return after 90-day mission to space station (Reuters, 17 Sept 2021)
- A Tour of China’s Future Tiangong Space Station (NY Times, 22 Sep 2021)
- NASA Artemis Program Videos
- Geek of the Week
Episode 231: 15 September 2021
- OMG NEW APPLE STUFF
- Apple’s iPhone 13 event: the 8 biggest announcements (The Verge; 14 September 2021)
- Where are Apple’s new Macs? Here’s what we’re still expecting Apple to announce this year (The Verge; 14 September 2021)
- Apple is releasing iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 on September 20th (14 September 2021)
- Here’s how iPhone 13 battery life compares to iPhone 12 and 11 (9 to 5 Mac; 14 September 2021)
- Report: iPhone owners more likely to sell or trade in their old devices than Android users (9 to 5 Mac; 13 September 2021)
- Other Apple News
- Epic vs. Apple ruling revealed: Apple must allow App Store devs to redirect users to other payment systems (9 TO 5 Mac; 10 September 2021)
- The Epic v. Apple ruling could put a serious dent in Apple’s $19 billion App Store business (The Verge; 10 September 2021)
- The future of the App Store depends on the difference between a ‘button’ and an ‘external link’ (The Verge; 10 September 2021)
- Epic will appeal the Epic v. Apple decision (The Verge; 10 September 2021)
- Apple Issues Emergency Security Updates to Close a Spyware Flaw (New York Times; 13 September 2021)
- Google’s custom Chromebook CPUs could come as soon as 2023 (THe Verge; 1 September 2021)
- YouTube lowers subscriber requirement needed to unlock Community posting to 500 (9 to 5 Google; 10 September 2021)
- Chrome OS may include native Chromebook recovery software, no USB needed (About Chromebooks, 14 Sept 2021)
- On Google’s Sandbox/FLoC Proposal: Comments Submitted to UK-CMA (Digital Life Initiative at Cornell, 3 Sep 2021)
- Microsoft
- What to expect from Microsoft’s Surface event (The Verge; 13 September 2021)
- Microsoft accounts can go passwordless, making “password123” a thing of the past (ArsTechnica, 15 Sept 2021)
- Podcasting
- Comment: Spotify is focused on podcasts, but its app falls short for power users (9 to 5 Mac; 12 September 2021)
- Misc
- Screencastify Makes Video Quizzes Easier with Interactive Questions Feature (Eric Curts, 12 Sept 2021)
- Dast ist Geek of the Week!
- Wes: PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification with @KQED - "Why Care about Privacy & Surveillance Capitalism?"
- Jason: Download Your Twitter Data!
Episode 230: 9 September 2021
- How to install and use Google’s new Cursive app for Chromebooks (About Chromebooks; 31 August 2021)
- Opinion: Google Needs To Fix Android App Auto-installs When Logging Into A New Chromebook (Chrome Unboxed; 25 August 2021)
- Germany reportedly pushing EU to require 7 years of updates on Android, iOS devices (9 to 5 Google; 5 September 2021)
- Google’s note taking web app, Cursive, can be used on any Chromebook (XDA Developers, 6 Sept 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Brings Reading Progress to Teams (Thurrott; 24 August 2021)
- Microsoft is threatening to withhold Windows 11 updates if your CPU is old (THe Verge; 28 August 2021)
- Apple
- Apple Event Coming September 14, 2021: Use Twitter to Get the LiveStream Link (Apple on Twitter)
- Apple announces first states to adopt driver's licenses and state IDs in Wallet (Apple Press Release, 1 Sept 2021)
- Connectivity
- Cost of $499 Starlink terminal set to plunge (MS Power User; 29 August 2021)
- Starlink currently makes 5000 dishes a week, plans to boost this by “multiples” later this year (MS Power User, 8 Sept 2021)
- Hardware
- Analyst: Chipset Shortage Now Affects 'Everybody But Apple' (PC Magazine; 23 August 2021)
- Software
- Norton and Avast are merging into an $8 billion antivirus empire (The Verge; 11 August 2021)
- Security’ish
- Apple says Arizona and Georgia will be first to add state IDs to iPhones (The Verge; 1 September 2021)
- Logitech’s Bolt USB dongle bolsters encryption for its new wireless mice and keyboards (The Verge; 1 September 2021)
- AI
- Facebook apologises after algorithm puts 'primates' label on video of black men (Sky News, 4 Sept 2021)
- Media Literacy
- Racism, Islamophobia and conspiracy theories among extremist views witnessed in classrooms, study (Independent, 6 Sept 2021)
- Wes’ “Fruit Loop Conspiracy Theories” Media Literacy Unit
- Research
- Stop Source-Shaming: Acknowledge Wikipedia in the research process (American Libraries Magazine, 1 Sept 2021)
- Social Media
- Twitter opens Super Follow subscriptions for some creators (Engadget, 1 Sept 2021)
- Geek of the Week:
- Wes: Angry Planet Podcast: Space: Final Frontier or Billionaires Playground and how-i-experience-web-today.com
- Jason: SleepWatch
Episode 229: 25 August 2021
- Back to School!
- 7 of the Best Lower-Cost Tech Essentials for Broke College Students (LifeHacker; 17 August 2021)
- Microsoft
- Windows 11 Insider Preview ISO download is out: Here's how to do a clean install of Microsoft's new OS (PC Gamer; 20 August 2021)
- Windows 11 Will Make It Harder To Switch Default Browsers (Geeky Gadgets; 20 August 2021)
- Microsoft wants Chrome OS users running Office web apps, not Android apps (The Verge; 25 August 2021)
- The Googles
- YouTube will force creators to use 2-step verification on Google accounts starting this year (9 to 5 Google; 24 August 2021)
- Google Meet now warns when your device is causing an echo (9 to 5 Google; 23 August 2021)
- YouTube’s monetization program now has 2 million creators, paid $30 billion over last three years (9 to 5 Google; 23 August 2021)
- A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps (ArsTechnica, 25 Aug 2021)
- "Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective" https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1430232016994328586
- Apple
- Apple Education launches #MadeOniPad challenges (9 to 5 Mac; 23 August 2021)
- Steve Jobs’ signed Apple II manual fetches $787k at auction, business card sells for $13k (9 to 5 Mac; 20 August 2021)
- Software
- New LibreOffice 7.2: More Office compatibility, but enterprise really should pay up (ZDNet; 20 August 2021)
- Digital Citizenship
- Go Ahead. Ignore That Email. (Bloomberg Opinion; 19 August 2021)
- Podcasting
- Joe Rogan, Confined To Spotify, Is Losing Influence (The Verge; 25 August 2021)
- Media Literacy
- Fact Check-Image of three women walking behind a man in chains is digitally altered (Reuters Fact Check, 17 Aug 2021)
- FCC seeks $5M fine for robocalls telling Black people that voting helps “the man” (ArsTechnica, 25 Aug 2021)
- Security
- SIM-Swap: What Is It and What Does It Have to Do With the T-Mobile Breach? (Tag24, 24 Aug 2021)
- T-Mobile data breach and SIM-swap scam: How to protect your identity (CNET, 22 Aug 2021)
- Hackers stole millions of Social Security numbers from T-Mobile. What should you do? (Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug 2021)
- T-Mobile's Account Takeover Protection service
- The Weekly Geeky
- Wes: Video: Section 230 Song With Lyrics - The Good Fight S05E03 (The Engineer’s Perspective) - The Social Dilemma documentary free on YouTube through Sept 30th
- Jason: Common Sense Education
Episode 228: 18 August 2021
- Google is Building a Campus Just for Hardware (Thurrott.com; 9 August 2021)
- Google makes Meet moderation easier by allowing up to 25 people to co-host (Engadget; 13 August 2021)
- Microsoft
- Windows 11 download: How to get Microsoft's free update (if you're eligible) (CNet; 17 August 2021)
- Okay, Zoomer!
- Zoom’s new focus mode could keep students from distracting each other (The Verge; 11 August 2021)
- Security
- Night Terrors: Ransomware Campaigns Are Exploiting PrintNightmare (PC Magazine; 14 August 2021)
- T-Mobile investigating report of customer data breach that reportedly involves 100 million people (The Verge; 15 August 2021)
- T-Mobile confirms data breach affects over 47 million people (Engadget, 18 Aug 2021)
- Podcasting
- Apple’s Attempt At Podcast Subscriptions Is Off To A Messy Start (The Verge; 18 August 2021)
- Social Media
- Widely Viewed Content Report: What People See on Facebook (Facebook)
- ‘Likes’ and ‘shares’ teach people to express more outrage online (Yale News, 13 Aug 2021)
- [PODCAST] Holding Tech Accountable: An interview with Roger McNamee (The Sunday Show, 15 Aug 2021)
- As vaccine mandates spread, protests follow — some spurred by nurses (NBC News, 11 Aug 2021)
- Crypto & NFTs
- [PODCAST] Why Crypto Matters with Eswar Prasad (Open Mind Podcast, 9 August 2021)
- Free Clipart of a Cartoon Rock Is Selling for $300,000 as NFTs (Motherboard, 17 Aug 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Chromebook App Hub from Google
- Jason: How to Use Your Browser's 'Reader Mode' to Actually Read What You Click (Lifehacker; 13 August 2021)
Episode 227: 11 August 2021
- Chrome OS 92 Stable update arrives: Here’s what you need to know (Updated) (About Chromebooks; 2 August 2021)
- What Happens When A Chrome OS Device Is No Longer Supported? (Chrome Unboxed; 3 August 2021)
- “Cursive” - A handwritten Notes App is a Google Chromebook-exclusive Competitor to OneNote (Chrome Unboxed, 11 Aug 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is testing a ‘Super Duper Secure Mode’ for the Edge browser (MS Power User; 5 August 2021)
- Apple
- Apple’s New ‘Child Safety’ Initiatives, and the Slippery Slope (Daring Fireball; 6 August 2021)
- Apple VP acknowledges concerns about new scanning feature in internal memo (The Verge; 6 August 2021)
- El Tech Correction
- Facebook shut down political ad research, daring authorities to pursue regulation (Mashable; 8 August 2021)
- Facebook Boots NYU Disinformation Researchers Off Its Platform And Critics Cry Foul (NPR, 4 Aug 2021)
- “People do not trust that Facebook is a healthy ecosystem” (Recode; 6 August 2021)
- Facebook is rebuilding its ads to know a lot less about you (The Verge; 11 August 2021)
- Security
- New bipartisan Senate bill takes aim at Apple and Google's app store dominance (CNN Business; 11 August 2021)
- Hackers siphon $600 million in digital tokens, crypto network says (ArsTechnica, 11 Aug 2021)
- Consumer Savvy
- You Don’t Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (Wirecutter from the New York Times; 4 August 2021)
- Deep Fakes / Digital Ethics
- A Powerful New Deepfake Tool Has Digitally Undressed Thousands Of Women (Huffington Post, 10 Aug 2021)
- Opinion | Is Ken Burns Taking Up Too Much Space? He Doesn’t Think So (NY Times Podcast “Sway” with Kara Swisher, 2 Aug 2021)
- Connectivity
- AT&T delays 500,000 fiber-to-the-home builds due to severe fiber shortage (ArsTechnica, 11 Aug 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Chirp Audio Books
- Wes: “This is why we can’t have nice things by @veritasium and EasyRes for MacOS
Episode 226: 4 August 2021
- It is Google’s World…
- Google Meet is now a simple PWA on Mac, Windows, and Chrome OS (9 to 5 Google; 30 July 2021)
- The Day the Good Internet Died (The Ringer; 21 July 2021)
- Google’s Tensor chip is only the first step toward truly great Pixel phones (The Verge; 4 August 2021)
- Google’s Native Office Editing Becomes More Native – Directly Opens Links, Skips The Preview (Chrome Unboxed; 2 August 2021)
- Google introduces new Chrome, YouTube defaults for education accounts (The Tribune, 30 June 2021)
- Safer learning with Google for Education (Google Education Blog, 29 June 2021)
- Control access to Google services by age (Google Support article)
- Manage your organization's YouTube settings
- Add YouTube video approvers for your organization (Google Support article)
- Apple
- M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Displays Randomly Cracking for Users (iPhone Hacks; 30 July 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is pushing Chromebooks to run Office on web? Not exactly. (About Chromebooks; 29 July 2021)
- PWA resources
- https:// emojipedia.org/
- Microsoft is ready to rent Windows 365 cloud PCs for as little as $20 per month (The Verge; 2 August 2021)
- Security
- Don't let your browser autofill your passwords — here's why (Tom’s Guide; 29 July 2021)
- Can You Trust Have I Been Pwned? (Make Use Of, 24 July 2021)
- The Tech Correction
- Smartphone gaming can be harmful for some seeking relief from boredom (University of Waterloo; 21 July 2021) (--- Actual study)
- How TikTok’s algorithm works: A fascinating and disturbing analysis (9 to 5 Mac; 28 July 2021)
- COVID
- To Fight Vaccine Lies, Authorities Recruit an 'Influencer Army' (NY Times via Yahoo News, 2 Aug 2021)
- Big tech companies are at war with employees over remote work (ArsTechnica, 1 Aug 2021)
- You’re going to be asked to prove your vaccination status. Here’s how to do it. (Washington Post, 3 Aug 2021)
- Space
- It Was His Day Off. Then the Space Station Went for a Spin (NY Times, 2 Aug 2021)
- Nauka module’s near miss raises concerns about future of space station (ArsTechnica, 2 Aug 2021)
- Geeeeek of the Week!
- Wes: "Google Classroom August 2021: Updates & Tips" (Slides 18 & 19 on YouTube access restrictions for students) and “More YouTube Restriction Options for Schools”
- Jason: Geo FS -- onlight flight simulator
Episode 225: 28 July 2021
- Media Literacy
- Majority of Covid misinformation came from 12 people, report finds (The Guardian, 17 July 2021)
- Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming (NY Times, 25 July 2021)
- Privacy
- QR Codes Are Here to Stay. So Is the Tracking They Allow (New York Times; 26 July 2021)
- This outed priest’s story is a warning for everyone about the need for data privacy laws (Recode, 21 July 2021)
- Apple
- iOS 14.7 lets you change iPhone app icons. Here's how to make your home screen 'aesthetic' (cNet; 25 July 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Edge 92 starts rolling out to mainstream users (ZDNet; 22 July 2021)
- Classroom adapts for the future of learning and teaching (Google Blog; 22 July 2021)
- YouTube’s newest monetization tool lets viewers tip creators for their uploads (TechCrunch, 20 July 2021)
- Google is finally doing something about Google Drive spam (ArsTechnica, 23 July 2021)
- Google pushed a one-character typo to production, bricking Chrome OS devices (Ars Technica; 22 July 2021)
- Social Media
- Clubhouse is now out of beta and open to everyone you (TechCrunch, 21 July 2021)
- Twitter is shutting down Fleets on August 3, citing low usage (TechCrunch, 14 July 2021)
- How Facebook let fake engagement distort global politics: a whistleblower's account (Guardian, 12 April 2021) via Your Undivided Attention (9 July 2021)
- Twitter for iOS begins testing dislike button for some users (9to5Mac, 21 July 2021)
- Twitter shares a first look at the ‘big overhaul’ coming to TweetDeck (The Verge; 20 July 2021)
- Food for Thought
- A Defunct Video Hosting Site Is Flooding Normal Websites With Hardcore Porn (Motherboard; 22 July 2021)
- Upcoming Virtual PD
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: Present at NCCE 2022! - Gravy Podcast on Prison Food
- Wes: Google’s Paint with Music and Digital Learning Activities with Google Drawings and Twitter Bookmarks
Episode 224: 21 July 2021
- Apple
- The Best iPad Drawing Apps (That Aren't Adobe Fresco) (Lifehacker; 30 June 2021)
- FTC unanimously adopts Right to Repair policy to reduce restrictions from manufacturers like Apple (9to5Mac, 21 July 2021)
- Zoom will get a more functional app for Chromebooks next week; PWA will be in Play Store (9 to 5 Google; 26 June 2021)
- Education Chromebooks getting PIN logins as Google Classroom adds roster import, more (9 to 4 Google; 22 June 2021)
- YouTube will make Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 private next month (9 to 5 Google; 23 June 2021)
- Here’s why I can’t pick the best Chromebook (About Chromebooks, 8 July 2021)
- Culture War
- The MAGA-targeted “Freedom Phone” has a breathtaking amount of red flags (ArsTechnica, 20 July 2021)
- New Florida law doesn't require university students, faculty and staff to register political views (PolitiFact, 25 June 2021)
- Twitter suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for spreading covid-19 misinformation (Washington Post, 20 July 2021)
- Social Media
- Twitter May Start Labeling Your Tweets Based on How Wrong You Are (Gizmodo, 31 May 2021)
- Right or Left, You Should Be Worried About Big Tech Censorship (EFF; 16 July 2021)
- Twitter for iOS begins testing dislike button for some users (9to5Mac, 21 July 2021)
- New Media
- Popular Podcast App Pocket Casts Joins Automattic (The WordPress Blog; 21 July 2021)
- Privacy
- From Macy’s to Albertsons, facial recognition is already everywhere (Recode; 19 July 2021)
- COVID
- Alarming number of Americans think vaccines contain microchips to control people (The Hill, 19 July 2021)
- ‘Facebook isn’t killing people’: Biden softens his attack over vaccine misinformation. (NY Times, 19 July 2021)
- Majority of Covid misinformation came from 12 people, report finds (The Guardian, 17 July 2021)
- A federal judge upholds Indiana University’s vaccination requirement for students (NY Times, 20 July 2021)
- The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal masking in schools this fall (NY Times, 19 July 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: How You Wound Up Playing ‘The Oregon Trail’ in Computer Class (Smithsonian Magazine; 22 July 2021)
- Wes: My 2021 #digiURI Conference Twitter Moment
Episode 223: 14 July 2021
- Apple
- The Best iPad Drawing Apps (That Aren't Adobe Fresco) (Lifehacker; 30 June 2021)
- Security
- Is Audacity Really Spyware? (Lifehacker; 6 July 2021)
- Ransomware shows the power and weakness of the web (ZDNet; 11 July 2021)
- How a smart home could be at risk from hackers (Which?; 2 July 2021)
- Microsoft warns of Windows ‘PrintNightmare’ vulnerability that’s being actively exploited (The Verge; 2 July 2021)
- Tech Correction
- YouTube recommendations serve up most videos viewers wish they'd never seen, study says (CNet; 7 July 2021)
- Is This the Big Tech Breakup We've Been Waiting For (NYT Sway Podcast, 17 June 2021)
- France fines Google $593 million for not negotiating ‘in good faith’ with news publishers. (NY Times, 13 July 2021)
- What Trump's Facebook, Google and Twitter lawsuits really mean for his campaign (MSNBC, 9 July 2021)
- Opera becomes first alternative Android browser optimized for Chromebooks (ZDNet; 4 July 2021)
- Zoom will get a more functional app for Chromebooks next week; PWA will be in Play Store (9 to 5 Google; 26 June 2021)
- Education Chromebooks getting PIN logins as Google Classroom adds roster import, more (9 to 4 Google; 22 June 2021)
- YouTube will make Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 private next month (9 to 5 Google; 23 June 2021)
- Here’s why I can’t pick the best Chromebook (About Chromebooks, 8 July 2021)
- Microsoft
- Windows 11?
- Microsoft announces Windows 11, with a new design, Start menu, and more (24 June 2021)
- Here’s everything Microsoft is removing from Windows 11 (The Verge; 24 June 2021)
- Windows 11 will create heaps of needless trash (Noah Bailey Blog; 27 June 2021)
- Did Microsoft make the right choice with Amazon's Appstore for Windows 11? (Android Police; 27 June 2021)
- The Pentagon cancels its $10 billion JEDI cloud-computing contract (NYTimes, 6 July 2021)
- COVID
- 6 Things About Remote Learning Teens Actually Loved (and Should Be Here to Stay) (Parents, 8 July 2021)
- The post-COVID stickiness of hybrid school (Axios, 8 July 2021)
- Social Media
- TikTok will automate video removals for nudity and violence (Engadget, 9 July 2021)
- Ye ‘Olde Geek ‘o the Week
- Jason: Simple Note
- Wes: [VIDEO] The Biggest Myth In Education (@veritasium, 9 July 2021)
Episode 222: 9 June 2021
- Reminder: Cisco says computer chip shortage to last six months (BBC; 25 April 2021)
- Apple
- Everything Apple announced in its WWDC 2021 keynote: iOS 15, macOS Monterey, more (9 to 5 Mac; 7 June 2021)
- iPadOS 15: You can now build apps on the iPad, and ship to the App Store (9to5Mac, 7 June 2021)
- Tech Correction
- TikTok privacy policy now says app will collect ‘faceprints and voiceprints’ (9 to 5 Mac; 4 June 2021)
- Google-backed study says newspaper revenues declined due to loss of classified print ads (9 to 5 Google; 3 June 2021)
- Connectivity
- 15% of US adults are now mobile-only internet users – Pew Research (9 to 5 Mac; 4 June 2021)
- FCC Finalizes $7 Billion Connectivity Fund: What Districts and Vendors Need to Know (EdWeek Market Brief, 12 May 2021)
- Privacy
- Apple announces AirTag privacy improvements, Android app coming this year (9 to 5 Mac; 3 June 2021)
- I sent an AirTag to North Korea, Tim Cook and Elon Musk! (MegaLeg via YouTube; 1 June 2021)
- Social Media
- In Response to Oversight Board, Trump Suspended for Two Years; Will Only Be Reinstated if Conditions Permit (Facebook Press Release; 4 June 2021)
- Nigerians can now be prosecuted for sending tweets following ban on Twitter (CNN, 5 June 2021)
- Browser Wars
- Apple teams up with Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft to improve universal web browser extensions (9 to 5 Mac; 4 June 2021)
- New Firefox!
- Security
- Hackers Breached Colonial Pipeline Using Compromised Password (Bloomberg; 4 June 2021)
- FBI Director Compares Ransomware Challenge to 9/11 (WSJ; 4 June 2021)
- Shameless Commerce
- Amazon Prime Day set for June 21 and 22 (CNBC; 2 June 2021)
- Geeky of the Weeky
- Wes: ArcGIS StoryMaps (via Carla Bishop) and River Runner (via @cogdog) and Minecraft “Curse Binding Enchantment”
- Jason: Digital Learning Annual Conference, Next Week… Online!
Episode 221: 2 June 2021
- Apple
- Apple's macOS is sub-par for security, Apple exec Craig Federighi tells Epic trial (The Register; 20 May 2021)
- Apple iMac M1 Review: The All-in-one For Almost Everyone (The Verge; 18 May 2021)
- iPadOS 15 wish list for improving iPad quality of life sans Mac (9 to 5 Mac; 30 May 2021)
- The next Mac mini: Smaller, speedier, and more expansive (MacWorld; 31 May 2021)
- Should you buy the Apple Watch Series 3 in 2021? Here’s how it stacks up (9 to 5 Mac, 2 June 2021)
- Chrome 91 Has Up To 23% Faster Performance As A Result Of Its New Javascript Compiler (ChromeUnboxed; 28 May 2021)
- Huawei officially replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android (ArsTechnica, 2 June 2021)
- Google Photos unlimited storage ends June 1 — How to get the most out of free and paid tiers (9 to 5 Google; 28 May 2021)
- Privacy/Tech Correction
- Really Great Twitter Post - Robert Reeve
- Deepfake Maps Could Really Mess With Your Sense of the World (Wired; 28 June 2021)
- Amazon devices will soon automatically share your Internet with neighbors (Ars Technica; 29 May 2021)
- 'Apple is eating our lunch': Google employees admit in lawsuit that the company made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private (Business Insider; 28 May 2021)
- Social Media
- Twitter Confirms Plans for 'Twitter Blue' $2.99 Monthly Subscription Service (Mac Rumors; 27 May 2021)
- SEC struggling to rein in Elon Musk’s tweets, letters reveal (ArsTechnica, 2 Jue 2021)
- Donald Trump has shut down his blog (The Verge; 2 June 2021)
- Connectivity
- Charter charges more money for slower Internet on streets with no competition (ars Technica; 27 May 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Dr. Fryer: “New Laptop without Tears” (33 min)
- Dr. Neiffer: The best MacOS utility apps: 6 amazing tools and tweaks (Digital Trends; 31 May 2021)
Episode 220: 26 May 2021
- 12 Google Workspace updates for better collaboration (Google Blog; 18 May 2021)
- Create and import documents that contain images above or behind text in Google Docs (Google Workplace Update Blog; 24 May 2021)
- Google rediscovers RSS: tests new feature to ‘follow’ sites in Chrome on Android (The Verge; 20 May 2021)
- Google is officially releasing its Fuchsia OS, starting w/ first-gen Nest Hub (9 5o 5 Google; 25 MAy 2021)
- Linux Leaving Beta In Next Chrome Os Update And That’s A Big Deal (Chrome Unboxed; 24 May 2021)
- 7 Key Things We Learned From Google I/O For Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 22 May 2021)
- Security
- Why Are Remote Workers More Likely to Fall for Viruses and Scams? (Make Use Of; 23 May 2021)
- Password Managers: You're Doing It Wrong (PC Magazine, 21 May 2021)
- Apple’s head of software admits Macs have an unacceptable amount of malware (CNBC, 19 May 2021)
- The Ransomware Task Force - Scripps Health, REvil Hacks Quanta Computer, Emotet Botnet, QNAP (Security Now, 5 May 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft is finally retiring Internet Explorer in 2022 (The Verge; 19 May 2021)
- Microsoft teases a ‘next generation of Windows’ announcement ‘very soon’ (The Verge; 25 May 2021)
- Hardware
- What’s the best student laptop? We asked students (The Verge; 21 May 2021)
- USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops (The Verge; 25 May 2021)
- Social Media
- Florida governor signs law to block ‘deplatforming’ of Florida politicians (The Verge; 24 May 2021)
- Facebook’s empty promise of hiding “Likes” (Recode; 26 May 2021)
- Russia gives Google 24 hours to delete banned content (Reuters, 24 May 2021)
- Inside the Decision on Trump’s Facebook Fate (NYTimes Kara Swisher Podcast “Sway,” 7 May 2021)
- Privacy
- We Found Joe Biden’s Secret Venmo. Here’s Why That’s A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone (BuzzFeed News; 14 May 2021)
- This picture of cheese helped send a man to prison for 13 years (The Verge; 24 May 2021)
- Too Bad, Zuck: Just 4% of U.S. iPhone Users Let Apps Track Them After iOS Update (Gizmodo,
- Democracy and Tech
- I Thought My Job Was To Report On Technology In India. Instead, I Got A Front-Row Seat To The Decline Of My Democracy. (Buzz Feed News, 11 April 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Apple’s new Privacy advertisement (YouTube) and wheelofnames.com and DigLitCon (June 4 - $25)
- Jason: Canva Pro is Free for Teachers and deelac.com
Episode 219: 12 May 2021
- Apple
- This 3D-printed Apple TV Remote case features a dedicated slot to attach an AirTag (9 to 5 Mac; 11 May 2021)
- I Mailed an AirTag and Tracked Its Progress; Here’s What Happened (Intego; 11 May 2021)
- Epic v. Apple keeps coming back to the gap between ignorance and inconvenience (The Verge; 11 May 2021)
- Should you be worried about AirTag hacks? Here’s what you should know (9 to 5 Mac; 12 May 2021)
- Microsoft reportedly shelves Windows 10X, its Chrome OS competitor (The Next Web)
- Google will soon switch on two-factor authentication by default (The Verge; 6 May 2011)
- What to expect from Google I/O 2021: Assistant, Android 12, and ‘Material NEXT’ (9 to 5 Google; 10 May 2021)
- Google Is Rolling Out A Big Update To Speed Up Google Docs Rendering For Everyone (Chrome Unboxed; 12 May 2021)
- Microsoft
- OneDrive is getting long overdue casting support (Android Police; 9 May 2021)
- Hardware
- There’s no place for expensive laptops with 8GB of RAM anymore (Tech Radar; 9 May 2021)
- Connectivity
- FCC approves $7 billion to get better equipment to remote learners (The Verge; 11 May 2021)
- This Is A Map Of America’s Broadband Problem (The Verge; 10 May 2021)
- Low-income households can now apply for a $50 monthly discount for internet (New York Times; 12 May 2021)
- Security
- There’s a better way to protect yourself from hackers and identity thieves (ReCode; 6 May 2021)
- Biden signs executive order aimed at strengthening US cybersecurity (CNet, 12 May 2021)
- Gas prices climb past $3 a gallon amid pipeline cyberattack, driver shortage (CNet, 12 May 2021)
- Emotet malware nukes itself today from all infected computers worldwide (Bleeping Computer, 25 April 2021)
- Opinion: Cyberattack on Scripps Health has scary, broad implications (San Diego Tribune, 7 May 2021)
- Apple’s Ransomware Mess Is the Future of Online Extortion (wired, 23 April 2021)
- Ransomware demands up by 43% so far in 2021, Coveware says (CyberScoop News, 27 April 2021)
- Social Media
- Facebook moderator: ‘Every day was a nightmare’ (BBC News; 12 May 2021)
- Twitter is killing Nuzzel and it's ok if you have no idea what that means (Android Police, 6 May 2021)
- A ‘beautiful’ female biker was actually a 50-year-old man using FaceApp. After he confessed, his followers liked him even more. (Washington Post, 11 May 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Why Amy Klobuchar just wrote 600 pages on antitrust (ArsTechnica, 9 May 2021)
- Misc
- Elon Musk says Bitcoin no longer accepted for Tesla purchases (Mashable, 12 May 2021)
- Geek o’ the Week!
- Wes: Lesson Ideas and Tips for Language Teachers using Scratch, Minecraft and more!
- Jason: Amazing implementation of Minecraft: Good Trouble Lessons Live @ NCCE with Felisa Ford and Natasha Rachell
Episode 218: 5 May 2021
- BREAKING:
- Facebook ban on Trump upheld by Facebook Oversight Board, but decision opens door to his possible return (USA Today, 5 May 2021)
- Trump ban: Republicans threaten to break up Facebook after Oversight Board decision (Fox News, 5 May 2021)
- Video: 'Nightmare situation for Facebook': What the Trump ruling means (CNN, 5 May 2021)
- Security
- Dell security flaw from 2009 affects 'hundreds of millions' of PCs: How to fix it (PC Magazine; 5 May 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Signal Tries to Run the Most Honest Facebook Ad Campaign Ever, Immediately Gets Banned (Gizmodo; 4 May 2021)
- Another study suggests that Apple’s Night Shift doesn’t work (9 to 5 Mac; 5 May 2021)
- Apple
- How to Set Up Every iOS 14.5 Feature Worth Knowing About (LifeHacker; 5 May 2021)
- AirTag review: An easy-to-use item tracker empowered by a network of a billion iPhone users (9 to 5 Mac; 4 May 2021)
- I tracked my kid with Apple's Airtags to test its privacy features (CNN; 5 May 2021)
- As Epic case begins, senior Google engineer undermines one of Apple’s arguments (9 to 5 Mac; 3 May 2021)
- The Epic vs. Apple Hearing Is Already a Disaster (Gizmodo, 3 May 2021)
- Latest data proves that Chromebook sales have exploded during the pandemic (Android Police; 5 May 2021)
- Essential Politics: The first 100 days can define a president. Here’s how the internet saw Biden and Trump (Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2021)
- Social Media
- Clubhouse Is Losing Steam (Gizmodo; 3 May 2021)
- Donald Trump’s ‘social media platform’ has launched and it’s just a blog (The Verge; 4 May 2021)
- Facebook encourages iOS 14.5 users to enable tracking so its apps remain ‘free of charge’ (9 to 5 Mac; 2 May 2021)
- Comment: Facebook has changed my mind on App Tracking (9 to 5 Mac; 5 May 2021)
- Facebook and the Normalization of Deviance (New Yorker, 2 May 2021)
- Twitter begins to show prompts before people send 'mean' replies (NBC News, 5 May 2021)
- Misc
- As Cars Go Electric, China Builds a Big Lead in Factories (NY Times, 4 May 2021)
- Harvard scientists create gene-editing tool that could rival CRISPR (Engadget, 1 May 2021)
- The Army's Night Vision Goggles Make the Battlefield Look Like a Video Game (Popular Mechanics, 28 April 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason Hacker News
- Wes: Celebrating May the 4th in a Galaxy Far, Far Away and Star Wars 1978 Remix (Lubbock, Texas)
Episode 217: 28 April 2021
- Tech Correction / Privacy
- At Supreme Court, Mean Girls Meet 1st Amendment (NPR Morning Edition; 28 April 2021)
- ACLU Urges U.S. Supreme Court To Protect Students’ First Amendment Rights When They’re Out Of School (ACLU Penn; 28 April 2021)
- I found your data. It’s for sale. (Washington Post, July 2019)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Teams usage jumps to 145 million daily active users (The Verge; 27 April 2021)
- Apple
- Here’s the nuclear option to opt out of tracking on iOS (ReCode; 26 April 2021)
- Why Apple’s latest gadget is catching the attention of antitrust regulators (ReCode; 21 April 2021)
- Apple reinforces that App Store was built to protect users as trial against Epic approaches (9 to 5 Mac; 27 April 2021)
- Facebook now has to ask permission to track your iPhone. Here’s how to stop it. (Washington Post, 26 April 2021)
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai Teases ‘significant Product Updates And Announcements’ Ahead Of Google I/O (Chrome Unboxed; 28 April 2021)
- ChromeOS 90 Released: 5 New Chrome OS 90 Features Visualized In A Video Walk-Through (ChromeUnboxed; 24 April 2021)
- Google banks big in Alphabet’s post-pandemic-peak Q1 2021 earnings (The Verge; 27 April 2021)
- Roku may lose YouTube TV as negotiations with Google break down [Update: Google statement] (9 to 5 Google; 26 April 2021)
- Google Meet for Android, iOS adds ‘limit data usage’ mode that also saves battery life (9 to 5 Google; 22 April 2021)
- First Look: Tiger Lake Chromebook Benchmarks Reveal Monstrous Gains (Chrome Unboxed; 26 April 2021)
- Google Has a Secret Blocklist that Hides YouTube Hate Videos from Advertisers—But It’s Full of Holes (The MarkUp, 8 April 2021)
- Connectivity
- BREAKING NEWS: It's official, Montana has the worst internet service in the nation (Great Falls Tribune via Senator Jon Tester)
- SpaceX wins approval for lower Starlink orbits, overcoming rival objections (The Verge; 27 April 2021)
- Podcasting
- Spotify counters Apple with new podcast subscriptions feature, but without in-app purchase support (9 to 5 Mac; 27 April 2021)
- Misc
- After years as a meme, ‘Disaster Girl’ takes control of her image — with a hefty payoff (Herald Sun, 27 April 2021)
- Inventive grandson builds Telegram messaging machine for 96-year-old grandmother (Verge, 26 Apr 2021) - thread
- Geeks of the Week
- Wes: Doge Miner 2
- Jason: Mighty Deals
Episode 216: 21 April 2021
- Security
- FBI Accesses Computers Around Country to Delete Microsoft Exchange Hacks (Motherboard; 13 April 2021)
- Half a billion Facebook users' information posted on hacking website, cyber experts say (CNN, 5 April 2021)
- What actually happened with Facebook’s massive 533M record leak (The Next Web, 6 April 2021)
- Google is cracking down on apps that can see your device’s installed apps (Android Authority; 7 April 2021)
- Geico data breach exposed customers’ driver’s license numbers for more than a month (The Verge; 19 April 2021)
- THE Tech Correction
- A Global Tipping Point for Reining In Tech Has Arrived (The New York Times; 40 April 2021)
- Social Media
- Just say no: negativity is secret of political tweet success, study finds (The Guardian; 13 April 2021)
- A 23-Year-Old Coder Kept QAnon Online When No One Else Would (Bloomberg, 14 April 2021)
- By bearing witness — and hitting ‘record’ — 17-year-old Darnella Frazier may have changed the world (Washington Post, 20 April 2021)
- Apple will allow Parler to return to the App Store (The Verge; 19 April 2021)
- When the Capitol Was Attacked, Wikipedia Went to Work (Washington Monthly, 4 Feb 2021)
- [VIDEO] "Wikipedia at 20 - Reflections on Past, Present & Future." (6 April 2021)
- Apple: OMG NEW APPLE STUFFFFFFFFF!
- Apple officially unveils redesigned iMac with Apple Silicon inside (9 to 5 Mac; 20 April 2021)
- M1 iMac Tidbits: Storage up to 2TB, RAM up to 16GB, base model trade-offs, Touch ID keyboard (9 to 5 Mac 2021)
- Apple announces new iPad Pro with M1 chip, Thunderbolt, 5G, XDR display (9 to 5 Mac; 20 April 2021).
- Apple officially unveils AirTag item tracker (9 to 5 Mac; 20 April 2021)
- Apple will let podcasters sell subscriptions and keep a cut for itself (Recode; 20 April 2021)
- The Podcast War Has Begun (Gizmodo, 20 April 2021)
- Connectivity
- Elon Musk says Starlink internet service should be ‘fully mobile’ by the end of this year (The Verge; 16 April 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Edge ‘performance mode’ takes the load off of your CPU and RAM, saves battery (9 to 5 Google; 19 April 2021)
- Google World
- 2 New Mediatek Chromebooks On The Way From Lenovo (Chrome Unboxed; 20 April 2021)
- New ‘documents’ Tab In Google Photos Could Mean More For The Future Of Your Drive Storage (Chrome Unboxed; 19 April 2021)
- Your Adblocker May Be Responsible For Screwing Up Your Google Docs (Chrome Unboxed; 15 April 2021)
- Random
- Dogecoin is on a run, has escaped the yard, and is headed to the moon (The Verge; 16 April 2021)
- ‘Ye ‘Olde Geek of the Week
- Jason: Sell your old tech before buying new stuff! https://swappa.com/ and https://www.gazelle.com/
- Wes: A TiLT Webinar with Dr Wes Fryer: “Lesson Ideas and Tips for Language Teachers using Scratch, Minecraft and more!” (April 24 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm London Time - 9:30 - 10:30 am US Central Time)
Episode 215: 14 April 2021
- Google Search now prioritizing in-depth research when ranking product reviews (9 to 5 Google; April 8 2021)
- AMD Ryzen Chromebooks Suffering Massive Slow-downs When Not Plugged In (ChromeUnboxed; 14 April 2021)
- Chrome 90 Should Make Your Video Calls A Bit Smoother (ChromeUnboxed; 14 April 2021)
- Google Lens expands beyond mobile and comes to desktop web with OCR in Google Photos (9 to 5 Google; 11 April 2021)
- Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know. (EFF, 20 March 2021) and amifloced.org
- Google’s FLoC Is a Terrible Idea (EFF, 3 March 2021)
- Microsoft
- Why Microsoft Just Spent $20 Billion on a Company You've Never Heard Of (Inc; 14 April 2021)
- Apple
- Apple officially announces Spring Loaded event for April 20th (The Verge; 13 April 2021)
- New iPad Mini, iPad Pro, iPhone SE, AirPods, AirPods Pro for 2021: Apple Rumors Are Flying (PC Magazine; 14 April 2021)
- New iPad Pro still coming soon but supply could be short, says Bloomberg (The Verge, 12 April 2021)
- Tim Cook: Epic wants to turn the App Store into a ‘flea market’ (9 to 5 Mac; 12 April 2021)
- You can now run Windows 10 on Arm on Apple’s M1 Macs (The Verge; 14 April 2021)
- Connectivity
- The FCC wants you to test your internet speeds with its new app (The Verge; 12 April 2021)
- Follow Up: Five things to consider before you sign up for T-Mobile Home Internet (The Verge 13 April 2021)
- How to Expand Home Internet Connectivity for K-12 Students Over the Long Haul (EdWeek, 10 March 2021)
- Articles that Jason Thinks Wes Would Like
- A new era of innovation: Moore’s Law is not dead and AI is ready to explode (SiliconAngle; 10 April 2021)
- Misc
- Who will deal with your online presence when you die? How to create a ‘digital will’ (Guardian, 10 April 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: [VIDEO] Which Backyard BBQ Smoker / Grill Should I Buy?! (37 min)
- Jason: https://www.remove.bg/ - Quick and Dirty Background Eraser for Images
Episode 214: 7 April 2021
- Social Media
- Twitter’s disappearing tweets, called Fleets, are now available for everyone (The Verge, 17 Nov 2020)
- Twitter’s Jack Dorsey Sells First Tweet as Non-Fungible Token (Rolling Stone, 22 March 2021)
- Jack Dorsey sells his first tweet ever as an NFT for over $2.9 million (CNBC, 22 March 2021)
- Tech CEO says Twitter needs to go ‘all in’ on subscriptions (Market Watch, 22 Feb 2021)
- Twitter Won't Let National Archives Repost Trump's Tweets (Gizmodo, 7 April 2021)
- Copyright / Fair Use
- Supreme Court Hands Google A Win Over Oracle In Multibillion-Dollar Case (NPR, 5 Apr 2021)
- Pandemic Related
- Chip shortage shows no signs of abating, may drag into 2022 (ArsTechnica, 6 April 2021)
- Space
- NASA's Ingenuity helicopter survives first freezing night on Mars (CNN, 5 April 2021)
- I Asked the Head of Space Force What the Agency Has Done for Me Lately (NYTimes - Kara Swisher, 8 March 2021)
- Russia continues discussions with China on lunar exploration cooperation (SpaceNews, 4 April 2021)
- LG Had Few Smartphone Hits, But It’ll Still Be Missed (The Verge; 5 April 2021)
- Google I/O returns this May — but as a virtual event (The Verge; 7 April 2021)
- Google Forms To Autosave Response Progress Across Devices Because It Just Makes Sense (Chrome Unboxed; 2 April 2021)
- Google Workspace Users Get Deadline For Storage Restrictions Extended (ChromeUnboxed; 5 April 2021)
- Apple
- Hands-on: Here’s how iPhone battery recalibration works in iOS 14.5 (9 to 5 Mac; 1 April 2021)
- Connectivity / Digital Divide
- T-Mobile announces widespread launch of consumer Home Internet service (CNET, 7 April 2021)
- Biden’s Plan to Fix America’s Internet (The New York Times; 2 April 2021)
- Misc
- The carbon footprint of creating and selling an NFT artwork (Quartz, 26 March 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: LineageOS
- Wes: New York Times "The Daily" podcast episode, "The Beauty of 78.5 Million Followers"
Episode 213: 31 March 2021
- Breaking News! Google cancels April Fools
- Infrastructure
- Biden plans to connect every American to broadband in new infrastructure package (The Verge; 31 March 2021)
- AT&T lobbies against nationwide fiber, says 10Mbps uploads are good enough (arsTechnica; 29 March 2021)
- Security
- Firmware attacks are on the rise and you aren't worrying about them enough (ZD Net; 31 March 2021)
- Hardware
- Apple supplier Foxconn warns that component shortages will last until 2022 (The Verge; 30 March 2021)
- Tech Correction
- When we can’t even agree on what is real (Harvard Gazette; June 2020)
- Amazon driver quits, saying the final straw was the company's new AI-powered truck cameras that can sense when workers yawn or don't use a seatbelt (Business Insider; 19 March 2021)
- Amazon is asking drivers to sign a ‘biometric consent’ form — or lose their jobs (The Next Web, 24 March 2021)
- Privacy And Ads In Chrome Are About To Become Flocing Complicated (The Verge; 30 March 2021)
- Parler explains 'free speech' to angry users after sharing Capitol riot posts with the FBI (Mashable, 28 March 2021)
- If Mark Zuckerberg won’t fix Facebook’s algorithms problem, who will? (Recode / Vox, 26 March 2021)
- Mark Zuckerberg proposes limited 230 reforms ahead of congressional hearing (The Verge, 24 March 2021)
- March Madness’ish
- ‘Greatest product of all time’ bracket: Google Search beats Windows in finals [Updated] (9 to 5 Google)
- Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to long-term Android support (arsTechnica; 25 March 2021)
- Google Meet’s free ‘unlimited’ calls will continue until June (The Verge; 31 March 2021)
- The Current State Of USI Pens On Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 30 March 2021)
- Google Drive Adds New Search Operators To Make Finding Specific Files Much Easier (Chrome Unboxed; 26 March 2021)
- Misc
- Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Manhattan May Never Be the Same (NY Times, 29 March 2021)
- 12 people are behind most of the anti-vaxxer disinformation you see on social media (Mashable, 24 March 2021)
- Russia turns away from NASA, says it will work with China on a Moon base (ArsTechnica, 9 March 2021)
- Who Owns the Moon? (The New Yorker, 17 June 2019)
- Geeeek of the Weeekkkk!
- Wes: “When The Mob Comes” by Lyz Lenz (@lyzl)
- Jason: Not Heading To Paris This Summer? The Louvre Has Digitized 482,000 Artworks (NPR News; 30 March 2021); https://collections.louvre.fr/
Episode 212: 24 March 2021
- Security
- Man Loses $560,000 in Bitcoin Scam From Fake Elon Musk Account (Entrepreneur, 18 March 2021)
- Covid: White hat bounty hackers become millionaires (BBC News, 10 March 2021)
- How China’s attack on Microsoft escalated into a “reckless” hacking spree (MIT Technology Review, 10 March 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Google slams Microsoft for trying ‘to break the way the open web works’ (The Verge, 12 March 2021)
- Trump Teases Starting His Own Social Media Platform. Here's Why It'd Be Tough (NPR, 24 March 2021)
- Why Trump’s social media network will be an epic failure (The Next Web, 23 March 2021)
- The Problem With Clubhouse (Vice, 10 Feb 2021)
- Ousted CEO Matze sues Parler, claims board robbed him of millions (ArsTechnica, 24 March 2021)
- Twitter creates an entity in Turkey to obey a social media law (Engadget, 20 March 2021)
- Sedition Hunters Perp Sheet (working with FBI & law enforcement to identify January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrectionists)
- Social Media
- Facebook is working on a version of Instagram for kids under 13 (The Verge; 18 March 2021)
- Privacy
- Amazon is asking drivers to sign a ‘biometric consent’ form — or lose their jobs (The Next Web, 24 March 2021)
- Microsoft
- Windows 10 is getting new File Explorer icons as part of a visual overhaul (The Verge, 24 March 2021)
- Happy (official) 10th birthday, ChromeOS!
- Google rubs it in with new Photos collection of all the pints you once enjoyed (The Verge; 24 March 2021)
- Lenovo launches four new Chromebooks aimed squarely at the education sector (9 to 5 Google; 24 March 2021)
- Fuchsia Friday: Google is preparing for Fuchsia’s first developer releases (9 to 5 Google; 19 March 2021)
- Google Chat Adds Granular Notification Controls So You Can Reclaim Your Sanity (Chrome Unboxed; 24 March 2021)
- Automotive
- With a Blockbuster Week, VW Has Ignited a New Phase in the Electric War (The Mobilist, 19 March 2021)
- Magna to Apple: We Can Build Your Car (Motortrend, 22 March 2021)
- The Future of Work
- Microsoft to start reopening headquarters on March 29th, with hybrid workplace focus (The Verge; 22 March 2021)
- 10 ways office work will never be the same (Recode; 23 March 2021)
- Geek of the Week
Episode 211: 3 March 2021
- Apple
- The M1 Mac write issue: What's going on with Apple's SSDs? (ZDNet; 1 March 2021)
- Apple Launches Service for Transferring iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos (MacRumors, 3 March 2021)
- Arizona advances bill forcing Apple and Google to allow Fortnite-style alternative payment options (The Verge; 3 March 2021)
- All 270 US Apple Stores are open for the first time since March 2020 (9 to 5 Mac, 1 March 2021)
- Microsoft
- What’s New in Microsoft Teams for Education (Microsoft Blog; 2 March 2021)
- Security
- Cyber CEO: Next war will hit regular Americans online (Axios; 28 February 2021)
- Privacy
- Google promises it won’t just keep tracking you after replacing cookies (The Verge; 3 March 2021)
- How One State Managed to Actually Write Rules on Facial Recognition (NY Times, 27 Feb 2021)
- Why hot new social app Clubhouse spells nothing but trouble (Guardian Op-Ed, 20 Feb 2021)
- Clubhouse in China: Is the data safe? (Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center, 12 Feb 2021)
- A Clubhouse Explainer: What Educators Should Know About the New Audio Chat App (EdWeek, 1 March 2021)
- Duck Duck Go Privacy App
- The case for expensive Chromebooks (About Chromebooks; 25 February 2021)
- 10 years of Chromebooks and people still don’t know what they’re capable of (About Chromebooks; 19 February 2021)
- Google is making it easier to swap between user profiles in Chrome (The Verge; 2 March 2021)
- Family Link App from Google - Discussion of the App in 18 Feb 2021 “Learning with Google” Event
- Social Media
- The most engaging political news on Facebook? Far-right misinformation. (Protocol, 3 March 2021)
- Conspiracy Theories Spread Rapidly Because Of Trump, Social Media, Experts Say (NPR, 2 Mar 2021)
- Capitol Police Warn of March 4 Threat Amid New QAnon Conspiracy Theories (NY Times, 3 March 2021)
- Disinformation experts aren’t happy about the trailer for HBO’s QAnon series (The Verge, 29 Feb 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Klobuchar calls on Congress to get serious on tech reform (The Verge; 1 March 2021)
- COVID-19 vaccine is tough to find unless you're an internet genius with broadband (cNet; 3 March 2021)
- Freedom of Expression
- Student Surveillance Vendor Proctorio Files SLAPP Lawsuit to Silence A Critic (EFF, 23 Feb 2021)
- China Imposes New Rules to Restrict Independent Online Content Creators (Variety, 23 Feb 2021)
- Climate Change and Energy
- Turn off that camera during virtual meetings, environmental study says (Purdue University News, 14 Jan 2021)
- Firms backed by Robert Downey Jr. and Bill Gates have funded an electric motor company that slashes energy consumption (TechCrunch, 3 March 2021)
- Misc
- A 'space hurricane' hovered above the North Pole for about 8 hours, study says (USA Today, 2 Mar 2021)
- Artificial intelligence research continues to grow as China overtakes US in AI journal citations (Verge, 3 March 2021)
- A 3,000-Year-Old Painter’s Palette from Ancient Egypt, with Traces of the Original Colors Still In It (Open Culture, 18 Jan 2021)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Student Created Picture Books by Casady School Class of 2021 Seniors
- Jason: Today I learned the iPhone’s excellent document scanner can be controlled from a Mac (The Verge; 1 March 2021)
Episode 210: 24 February 2021
- Breaking News: Fry’s Electronics is shutting its doors for good (The Verge; 24 February 2021)
- Connectivity
- Elon Musk says Starlink internet speeds will double to 300Mbps this year (The Verge; 22 February 2021)
- I signed up for T-Mobile's $50 unlimited home internet service. Here's what happened (cNet; 24 February 2021)
- Supervised YouTube for older kids and teens coming soon (9 to 5 Google; 24 February 2021)
- Chrome OS screen recording tool coming in March, 40 education Chromebooks set for this year (9 to 5 Google; 17 February 2021)
- Learning with Google 2021 Discussion of Rostering & LMS Gradebook Sync (46 min, 8 sec)
- 50+ New Google for Education Features (Eric Curts, 22 Feb 2021)
- Apple
- M1 Mac owners are experiencing extremely high SSD writes over short periods of time, likely thanks to aggressive swap (Linus Tech Tips Forums; 17 February 2021)
- New malware found on 30,000 Macs has security pros stumped (Ars Technica;
- 22 February 2021)
- Microsoft
- Windows 10: If you haven't tried these 3 new features, you're missing out (cNet; 20 February 2021)
- Social Media
- Analysis of February 2021 Twitter Takedowns (Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center, 23 Feb 2021) - @noupside tweet
- Al Jazeera to launch rightwing media platform targeting US conservatives (The Guardian, 23 Feb 2021)
- Tech CEO says Twitter needs to go ‘all in’ on subscriptions (Market Watch, 22 Feb 2021)
- Privacy
- Why hot new social app Clubhouse spells nothing but trouble (Guardian Op-Ed, 20 Feb 2021)
- Clubhouse in China: Is the data safe? (Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center, 12 Feb 2021
- Security
- China Hijacked an NSA Hacking Tool in 2014—and Used It for Years (Wired, 22 Feb 2021)
- Tech Correction
- The worldwide web as we know it may be ending (CNN Business; 24 February 2021)
- The Capitol Attack, Impeachment and GameStop Make it Clear: 2021 Is Shaping Up to Be the Year of the Moderator (Time; 29 January 2021)
- UPDATE: Facebook reverses ban on news pages in Australia (BBC News; 23 February 2021)
- Changes to Sharing and Viewing News on Facebook in Australia (Facebook Blog, 22 Feb 2021)
- Misc
- Researchers invent new gene-editing tool (Phys.org, 23 Feb 2021)
- Chinese ambassador denounces pending vote by Canadian MPs on Uighur genocide (Winnipeg Free Press, 20 Feb 2021)
- @mmitchell_ai’s essay on the Google AI Firing of @timnitGebru https://twitter.com/mmitchell_ai/status/1357819673455202304
- The Great Battery Convergence: 2025 Is Set to Be a Transformative Year for EVs (The Mobilist, 19 Feb 2021)
- BEFORE AND AFTER: Satellite captures Texas power outage from space (KXAN News, 18 FEb 2021)
- Ye ‘Ole Geek of Thy Week
- Jason: New York Public Library Digital Collections
- Wes: Podcast “Land of the Giants: the Google Empire”
Episode 209: 17 February 2021
- Breaking News: A peek at what’s next for Google Classroom (Google; 17 February 2021)
- More options for learning with Google Workspace for Education (Google; 17 February 2021)
- Google rebrands G Suite for Education to Google Workspace for Education (The Verge; 17 February 2021)
- Mac market share grew significantly last year, but Chromebooks pulled ahead (9 to 5 Mac; 17 February 2021)
- Chrome OS 88 adds native device performance monitoring to Chromebooks (About Chromebooks; 11 February 2021)
- Google bringing Material Design to the web in a significant way with WordPress plugin (9to5Google, 16 Feb 2021) - download from WordPress.org
- Privacy
- Tracker pixels in emails are now an ‘endemic’ privacy concern (ZDNet; 17 February 2021)
- Security
- LastPass’ free tier will become a lot less useful next month (The Verge; 16 February 2021)
- Owner of app that hijacked millions of devices with one update exposes buy-to-infect scam (ZDNet; 17 February 2021)
- Apple
- Microsoft’s new Office app now available on iPad (The Verge; 16 February 2021)
- First Apple Silicon optimized malware discovered in the wild (9 to 5 Mac; 17 February 2021)
- Connectivity
- WHY INTERNET ACCESS IS A HUMAN RIGHT – AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT (University of Virginia; 5 February 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Facebook will block Australian users and publishers from sharing news links in response to new bill (The Verge; 17 February 2021)
- Facebook’s Australian media ban is taking down official government pages (The Verge; 17 February 2021)
- Parler is back online after a month of downtime (The Verge; 15 February 2021)
- Billionaires See VR as a Way to Avoid Radical Social Change (Wired, 15 Feb 2021)
- Nevada Bill would allow tech companies to create governments (AP News, 3 Feb 2021)
- Podcasting
- The podcast wars will come down to ad tech, not exclusive content (The Verge; 17 February 2021)
- Snowmaggedon
- How can Texas avoid another massive power shutdown? Here are a few ideas (Dallas Morning News, 17 Feb 2021)
- Texas produces more power than any other state. Here's why it went dark anyway (CNN, 16 Feb 2021)
- Geek of the Week!
- Wes: Doodle for Google! 1 More Week to Submit “I am STRONG because…)
- Jason: How to get more space in your Google storage (The Verge; 17 February 2021)
Episode 208: 11 February 2021
- Tech Correction
- Facebook will test cutting back on political posts in the News Feed (The Verge; 10 February 2021)
- Why social networks need better blocking tools (The Verge; 10 February 2021)
- How the Covid-19 pandemic broke Nextdoor (Recode; 9 February 2021)
- Twitter says Trump ban is permanent – even if he runs for office again (Guardian, 10 Feb 2021)
- Fox News asks for Smartmatic lawsuit over election-rigging claims to be dismissed (Reuters, 8 Feb 2021)
- Twitter’s Jack Dorsey wants to build an app store for social media algorithms (Verge, 9 Feb 2021)
- The $2.7 Billion Case Against Fox News (NY Times - The Daily, 5 Feb 2021)
- Klobuchar targets Big Tech with biggest antitrust overhaul in 45 years (ArsTechnica, 5 Feb 2021)
- Apple
- New North Dakota bill would force Apple to allow alternative app stores and payment systems (The Verge; 10 February 2021)
- Facebook is finally banning vaccine misinformation (Recode; 8 February 2021)
- PSA: Upgrading a Mac to macOS Big Sur without enough space can result in data loss (9 to 5 Mac, 8 February 2021)
- ‘Freezeframe’ is a new Mac app coming later this year that lets you intelligently save and share workspaces (9 to 5 mac; 8 February 2021)
- How Educators are Using the Exclusive Social Media App Clubhouse (EdSurge, 8 Feb 2021)
- The Googles
- Google Chrome Will No Longer Support Dusty Old Computers From The Mid-2000s (Chrome Unboxed; 9 February 2021)
- Google Is Improving Performance For Meet And Zoom On Chromebooks (Chrome Unboxed; 4 February 2021)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft has a new password security tool you need to check out (Boy Genius Report; 8 February 2021)
- Privacy
- Comment: I’ve used DuckDuckGo as my search engine for a year, and here’s what I learned (9 to 5 mac; 9 February 2021)
- This hugely popular screenshot app is a privacy nightmare (Wired; 8 February 2021)
- Google Effort to Kill Third-Party Cookies in Chrome Rolls Out in April (PCMag, 25 Jan 2021)
- Google’s next big Chrome update will rewrite the rules of the web (Wired; 2 February 2021)
- Security
- Hacker modified drinking water chemical levels in a US city (ZDNet, 8 Feb 2021)
- How the United States Lost to Hackers (NY Times, 6 Feb 2021)
- Connectivity
- ISPs step up fight against SpaceX, tell FCC that Starlink will be too slow (ArsTechnica, 9 Feb 2021)
- From Myanmar to Kashmir, Unrest Is Met With Internet Blackouts (Voice of America News, 5 Feb 2021)
- Space
- UAE “Hope” probe successfully reaches Mars, two more following shortly (ArsTechnica, 9 February 2021)
- Mars madness! China, UAE to reach the Red Planet this week ahead of epic NASA rover landing (Space.com, 8 Feb 2021)
- Geeks of the Week
- Wes: AI 'resurrects' 54 Roman emperors, in stunningly lifelike images (LiveScience, 28 Sept 2020)
- Jason: My favorite book is coming out with a second edition! Why Don’t Students Like School
Episode 207: 3 February 2021
- 5G/Connectivity
- So You Got A 5g Phone, But Is Your Plan Ready? (The Verge; 27 January 2021)
- Apple
- Tim Cook condemns Facebook business model, says valuing engagement over privacy leads to ‘polarization’ and ‘violence’ (9 to 5 Mac; 28 January 2021)
- Tim Cook keynote on privacy from the CPCD conference (YouTube, 29 Jan 2021)
- Jason Snell’s Apple in 2020 Report
- Apple planning to release ‘iCloud Passwords’ Chrome extension for Windows (9 to 5 Google; 27 January 2021)
- Google apps will stop using tracking ID that would require upcoming iOS 14 permission prompt (9 to 5 Google; 27 January 2021)
- Older Apple TV will require AirPlay for YouTube video playback starting next month (9 to 5 Mac; 3 February 2021)
- macOS Big Sur 11.3 brings two small changes to improve using iPad apps on M1 Macs (9 to 5 Mac; 3 February 2021)
- Apple Planning Blood Sugar Sensor For 2021 Watch (MacWorld UK, 25 Jan 2021)
- Google Meet’s new ‘green room’ lets you do an audio / video pre-check (The Verge; 2 February 2021)
- Canalys: 2020 Chromebook sales skyrocket. Here’s why that’s good for the long term (About Chromebooks; 29 January 2021)
- Australian prime minister says Bing could replace Google (ABC News, 1 Feb 2021)
- Microsoft's Bing ready to step in if Google pulls search from Australia, minister says (The Guardian, 1 Feb 2021)
- Privacy
- Google’s next big Chrome update will rewrite the rules of the web (Wired; 2 February 2021)
- Security
- Adobe Flash Player Shutdown Caused 'Chaos' for Chinese Railroads for Over 20 Hours (Tech Times, 25 Jan 2021)
- South African government releases its own browser just to re-enable Flash support (ZDNet, 26 Jan 2021)
- Podcasting
- Joe Budden is bringing his podcast to Patreon (The Verge; 3 February 2021)
- Tech Correction
- TikTok will now warn you about videos with questionable information (The Verge; 3 February 2011)
- Facebook Home to Militant ‘Patriot Party’ Movement (Tech Transparency Project, 2 Feb 2021) - Campaign for Accountability on WikiPedia
- Parler Wasn’t Hacked, and Scraping Is Not a Crime (LawFare, 1 Feb 2021)
- Geeeeeeek of the Week!
- Wes: Wes on WT Social (Jimmy Wales’ new social platform - learn more via Ethan Z) and Chrome Music Lab and Ground News
- Jason: Stack Social
Episode 206: 27 January 2021
- Connectivity
- CenturyLink, Frontier missed FCC broadband deadlines in dozens of states (Ars Technica; 22 January 2021)
- A big hurdle for older Americans trying to get vaccinated: Using the internet (Recode; 27 January 2021)
- New default video playback option in Google Slides (GoogleNewsApp, 14 Oct 2020)
- Google Drive File Stream adding M1 Mac support in April, Backup and Sync already updated (9 to 5 Google; 22 January 2021)
- Apple’s M1 Chip Has Us Very Excited For A Google Arm Processor [Video] (Chrome Unboxed; 24 January 2021)
- Chromebooks Will Be Getting A Qr Code Scanner In Chrome OS 89 (Chrome Unboxed; 27 January 2021)
- Chrome Is Finally Rolling Out The Ability To Hide Your Notifications While Screen Sharing (Chrome Unboxed; 27 January 2021)
- Google Classroom Was Down And Out, Giving Students An Excuse To Avoid Turning In Their Homework (Chrome Unboxed; 22 January 2021)
- Google Workspace Status Dashboard
- Apple
- Apple knows dropping the iPhone Lightning port would create 'unprecedented amount of electronic waste' (ZDNet; 22 January 2021)
- Living with a MacBook Air (M1) (PC Magazine; 25 January 2021)
- Tech Correction
- Twitter launches 'Birdwatch,' a forum to combat misinformation (NBC News, 25 Jan 2021)
- Join Birdwatch: twitter.com/i/birdwatch/about
- Birdwatch User Guide
- Biden’s Commerce nominee backs changes to Section 230 (The Verge; 26 January 2021)
- Social justice groups warn Biden against throwing out Section 230 (The Verge; 27 January 2021)
- Three Steps to Fight Online Disinformation and Extremism (Defense One - Peter Singer, 24 Jan 2021)
- [PODCAST] “Reflection and Insurrection” (You Are Not So Smart, 25 Jan 2021)
- Geek of the Week:
- Wes: Video - Genome Editing with CRISPR-Cas9 (McGovern Institute at MIT, Nov 2014)
- Jason:
- Reminder: The Best Standing Desk Is Actually a Workbench Meant for the Garage (New York Magazine; 22 January 2021)
- Come to NCCE 2021! https://ncce.org/conference2021/
Episode 205: 20 January 2021
- Connectivity
- 3Mbps uploads still fast enough for US homes, Ajit Pai says in final report (Ars Technica; 20 January 2021)
- As Ajit Pai exits FCC, Charter admits defeat on petition to impose data caps (ArsTechnica, 19 Jan 2021)
- Information Literacy
- The Paradox of Abundance (David Perell)
- Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher (The Economist; 9 January 2021
- Microsoft
- Microsoft says now is the time for all firms to embrace open source (Tech Radar; 19 January 2020)
- Windows 10X is now Microsoft’s true answer to Chrome OS (The Verge; 14 January 2021)
- Security and Privacy
- Google reveals sophisticated Windows and Android hacking operation (ZDNet; 12 January 2021)
- What happens when a Chrome extension with 2m+ users changes hands, raises red flags, doesn't document updates? Let's find out (The Register; 7 January 2021)
- Security
- What Is Google Dorking And How To Use It (Gizmodo; 19 January 2020)
- Tech Correction / Social Media
- Platforms are cracking down hard on political misinformation, but it’s still easy to find (Recode; 20 January 2020)
- Why right-wing extremists’ favorite new platform is so dangerous (Recode; 20 January 2021)
- What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol (ProPublica, 17 Jan 2021)
- Parler’s amateur coding could come back to haunt Capitol Hill rioters (ArsTechnica, 12 Jan 2021)
- How to Talk with a Conspiracy Theorist: What the Experts Recommend (Open Culture, 13 Jan 2021)
- Platform ban of Trump and Parler raises questions about speech and power (Columbia Journalism Review, Mathew Ingram, 14 Jan 2021)
- How Blocking Trump Puts the Future of the Internet at Risk (The Information, 12 Jan 2021) - summary tweet
- Facebook’s Pre-Inauguration Preparations (Facebook, 11-16 Jan 2021)
- Hardware
- Goodbye and good riddance to the 16:9 aspect ratio (The Verge; 19 Jan 2021)
- Mobile
- Why Cell Networks Cut Out at the US Capitol Riot (PC Magazine; 7 January 2021)
- Geek of the Week:
- Wes: "Learning with Google" Conference (Feb 17-18, 2021) & Wes’ GigaOM Vets Twitter List & Great use of Twitter by Biden Inauguration Team
- Jason: A Visit From The Zune Squad (The Verge; 20 January 2021)
Episode 204: 13 January 2021
The Prediction Show!
Jason’s Predictions
- Distance learning will continue to grow as a viable option for students that want or need that model after the pandemic.
- Intel will continue to lose market share to ARM-based processors and AMD processors. A whole new generation of devices will appear, prioritizing long battery life and speedy, responsive interfaces.
- The Technology Correction will continue, but, without the guidance of regulation. Trump’s ban on most social media platforms will push some conversations ahead.
- The pandemic will diminish its impact, but, video conferencing and doing some personal and professional connections will continue with technology.
- Using the Internet for information will become more complicated, as more and more alternative platforms develop. The information landscape requires persistent information education in schools.
Wes’ Predictions
- US / China Relations and Technology: Deployment of 5G networks and infrastructure will exacerbate technology interoperability issues and force nations to choose Chinese or US/European network infrastructure solutions. Response of Biden administration to Chinese security threats will reveal the validity / sincerity of security threats
- The Tech Correction: A constituency and agenda will coalesce further around regulation and limitations of social media companies, increasing liability and extending mandated collaboration standards and requirements for content moderation / censorship (like the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism - GIFCT)
- Media Literacy: Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories will continue to be weaponized to subvert democratic governments, teachers will be asked to address these issues through civics education. COVID Vaccination efforts worldwide will be significantly impeded by anti-vax misinformation
- Security: Hacks, identify theft, ransomware and password breaches will continue to increase in frequency and magnitude: Password security, MFA and password managers will continue to grow in importance
- Google in Education: Google will continue to bifurcate its educational services offerings with paid and free tiers (following GSuite Enterprise for Education)
- Rise of China and Chinese AI: China will continue to increase its influence on international technology standards committees and conferences, Chinese AI will surpass US / Western AI (in part) because of the scope and lack of limits on national surveillance programs / safety / human rights limits
- ET Disclosure: High level, credible former global leaders will continue to discuss and push for ET disclosure (NBC News Dec 2020 Israeli Space Security Chief, NYT Dec 2017 Navy Airmen, US Space Force Guardians, Stars and Stripes, Dec 2020)
- BYOD / 1:1: High Schools will continue to favor BYOD over school-issued 1:1 computing devices, both in public as well as independent / private schools
Other news:
- Information Literacy
- The Paradox of Abundance (David Perell)
- Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher (The Economist; 9 January 2021
- Security and Privacy
- Google reveals sophisticated Windows and Android hacking operation (ZDNet; 12 January 2021)
- Ex-Apple engineer: Apple’s ‘Privacy Nutrition Labels’ have a fatal flaw (Fast Company; 11 January 2021)
- What happens when a Chrome extension with 2m+ users changes hands, raises red flags, doesn't document updates? Let's find out (The Register; 7 January 2021)
- Tech Correction / Social Media
- Uganda Blocks Facebook Ahead of Contentious Election (NY Times, 13 Jan 2021)
- Facebook shuts government-linked accounts (BBC News, 11 Jan 2021)
- Online Extremism
- Op-Ed: For right-wing extremists, this was a victory (DFR Lab, Emerson T Brooking, 7 Jan 2021)
- Mobile
- 2021 could be the year smartphone prices are finally kept in check (Android Authority; 10 January 2021)
- Why Cell Networks Cut Out at the US Capitol Riot (PC Magazine; 7 January 2021)
https://www.loc.gov/collections/panoramic-maps/about-this-collection/
Geeks of the Week:
- Wes: [PODCAST] Larry Brilliant and Peter Hotez: Vaccinating Our Way Out of the Pandemic (World Affairs Podcast, 12 Dec 2020)
Episode 203: 30 December 2020
- Big Picture
- The Case for ‘Edtech Minimalism’ in an Age of Distance Learning (Ed Surge; 16 December 2020)
- Follow Up
- Boston Dynamics robots take over the dance floor in latest video (The Verge; 29 December 2020)
- Copyright/Open Culture
- January 1st brings public domain riches from 1925 (Internet Archive Blog; 15 December 2020)
- Microsoft
- Microsoft may be developing its own in-house ARM CPU designs (Ars Technica; 18 December 2020)
- Gmail and other Google Workspace apps will stop supporting Internet Explorer 11 in 2021 (9 to 5 Google; 8 December 2020)
- Microsoft’s new password manager works across Edge, Chrome, and mobile devices (The Verge; 16 December 2020)
- The 3 Best Hidden Feature Flags In Chrome Os 87 You Should Try (Chrome Unboxed; 21 December 2020)
- Can you trust the Google Play Store? (Panda Security; 16 December 2020)
- 28 Browser Extensions Found Stealing Data in Chrome and Edge (Tech Dator; 17 December 2020)
- Apple
- Making the Grade: Apple Silicon in K-12 represents one of the biggest upgrades since the first laptop (9 to 5 Mac; 19 December 2020)
- 8GB vs 16GB RAM for M1 MacBook, How Much do You Need? (Lisa @ Mobile Tech Review; 22 December 2020)
- Connectivity
- The stimulus bill includes a “historic” provision to expand broadband internet access (Vox; 23 December 2020)
- Verizon’s nationwide 5G can be slower than its LTE network, tests show (The Verge; 22 December 2020)
- Tech Correction
- The year we gave up on privacy (ReCode; 23 December 2020)
- Inside the Whale: An Interview with an Anonymous Amazonian (Logic Magazine, 20 Dec 2020)
- Security
- How Russian hackers infiltrated the federal government (Recode; 19 December 2020)
- Podcasting
- Amazon buys Wondery, setting itself up to compete against Spotify for podcast domination (The Verge; 30 December 2020)
- Media Literacy
- Monitoring COVID-19 vaccine safety means sorting signal from noise (The Verge; 23 December 2020)
- Even If It's 'Bonkers,' Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories (NPR, 30 Dec 2020)
- Covid: 'How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda' (BBC News, 9 Dec 2020)
- The casualties of this year's viral conspiracy theories (BBC News, 25 Dec 2020)
- Space
- 2020: At Least It Was Good For Space Exploration? (NPR Short Wave, 28 Dec 2020)
- China’s Chang’e-5 Probe Drops Off Moon Samples at the Climax of a Historic Mission (Universe Today, 16 Dec 2020)
- Feast your eyes on the space rocks Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission harvested from asteroid Ryugu (TechCrunch, 28 Dec 2020)
- Watch the 'Seven Minutes of Terror' Awaiting NASA's Perseverance on Its Martian Descent (TechCrunch, 24 Dec 2020)
- Drones
- How one drone pilot got slapped with $182,000 in fines from the FAA (DP Review, 26 Dec 2020)
- Drone Industry on Fire After Us Blacklists Dji Over Chinese Government Ties (The Drone Girl, 23 Dec 2020)
- In 2023, you won’t be able to fly most drones in the US without broadcasting your location (The Verge, 28 Dec 2020)
- Misc
- How China Lost Patience With Jack Ma, Its Loudest Billionaire (Bloomberrg, 22 December 2020)
- What is neuromorphic computing? Everything you need to know about how it is changing the future of computing (ZDNet, 8 Dec 2020)
- Geek of the Week
- Wes: Fryer & Ward Family Recipes: food.wesfryer.com
- Jason: https://archive.org/
Episode 202: 16 December 2020
- 2020
- The Webcam Is The Gadget Of The Year (The Verge; 14 December 2020)
- 2021 Will Launch the Platinum Age of Piracy (Wired, 12 Dec 2020)
- Gmail was messed up for a ‘significant’ number of users today (The Verge; 15 December 2020)
- Google acquires Neverware, a company that turns old PCs into Chromebooks (The Verge; 16 December 2020)
- Google acquires Neverware, the company that brings Chrome OS to older laptops with CloudReady (About Chromebooks 15 Dec 2020)
- Every new feature and improvement we've found in Chrome OS 87 (Android Police; 8 December 2020)
- Google Is Working On User-customized Keyboard Shortcuts For Chrome (ChromeUnboxed; 7 December 2020)
- Migrate From Google Cloud Print With These 12 Alternatives (Chrome Unboxed; 7 December 2020)
- AI, Bias and Racism
- More than 1,200 Google workers condemn firing of AI scientist Timnit Gebru (The Guardian, 4 Dec 2020)
- We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says. (MIT Technology Review, 4 Dec 2020)
- Timnit Gebru: Google and big tech are 'institutionally racist' (BBC News, 14 Dec 2020)
- “I started crying”: Inside Timnit Gebru’s last days at Google—and what happens next (MIT Technology Review, 16 Dec 2020)
- YouTube and Streaming
- Did you know: The most popular music streaming platform isn’t Spotify (Android Authority; 6 December 2020)
- YouTube touts 40M active gaming channels with 100B hours of watch time in 2020 (9 to 5 Google; 8 December 2020)
- 2020 Was The Year Of The Twitch Streamer (The Verge; 16 December 2020)
- Apple
- Facebook attacks Apple in full-page newspaper ads over ad-tracking (9 to 5 Mac; 16 December 2020)
- Firefox’s latest update brings native support for Apple’s Arm-based Macs (The Verge; 16 December 2020)
- Microsoft releases native Office apps for M1 Macs (Computerworld; 15 December 2020)
- Cydia sues Apple alleging its App Store has a monopoly (The Verge; 10 December 2020)
- Latest iOS update shows all the ways Facebook tracks you. There are a lot. (Mashable, 16 Dec 2020)
- This Week in Tech Episode 800
- Six Colors by Jason Snell (@jsnell)
- Security
- Hacked, Again (The Daily Podcast via The New York Times, 16 Dec 2020)
- FireEye Discovered SolarWinds Breach While Probing Own Hack (Bloomberg 14 Dec 2020)
- What We Do and Don’t Know About the Massive Federal Government Hack (Slate, 16 Dec 2020)
- SolarWinds hackers have a clever way to bypass multi factor authentication (ArsTechnica, 14 Dec 2020)
- Israeli Phone-hacking Firm Claims It Can Now Break Into Encrypted Signal App (Haaretz, 14 Dec 2020)
- Pay2Key Ransomware Joins the Threat Landscape (Security Boulevard, 30 Nov 2020)
- Cyber Incident Response - Pay2key - December 2020 (OP Innovate, 16 Dec 2020)
- Tech Correction
- Roger McNamee on disinformation’s spread: Everyone is ‘isolated in their own Truman Show’ (NBC Universal via Yahoo News, 12 Dec 2020)
- From hate speech to nudity, Facebook's oversight board picks its first cases (Reuters, 1 Dec 2020)
- The Weekly Geek
- Wes: downdetector.com - Search if a password has been pwned
- Jason: T-Mobile introduces its first 5G hotspot and a 100GB standalone plan for $50 (The Verge; 10 December 2020)
Episode 201: 9 December 2020
- Breaking News: The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp (The Verge; 9 December 2020)
- Broadband Equity: SpaceX gets $886 million from FCC to subsidize Starlink in 35 states (Ars Technica; 7 December 2020)
- Apple
- Apple announces $549 AirPods Max noise-canceling headphones, coming December 15th (The Verge; 8 December 2020)
- Security / Privacy
- Premiere security firm FireEye says it was breached by nation-state hackers (ArsTechnica, 8 Dec 2020)
- Cloudflare, Apple, and others back a new way to make the Internet more private (ArsTechnica, 8 Dec 2020)
- Is Windows Defender Good Enough to Protect Your PC by Itself? (PC Magazine; 30 November 2020)
- Your Password Isn’t Safe, Neither Is Typical Multi-Factor Authentication, Microsoft Warns (Forbes; 14 November 2020)
- Apple Released App Privacy Labels
- App privacy details on the App Store (Apple)
- Apple’s privacy labels are coming to all apps, including its own (The Verge; 9 December 2020)
- How to keep the smart speaker you got for the holidays and still keep some of your privacy, too (Recode; 9 December 2020)
- RIP Flash: Adobe just released the last Flash update ever (The Verge; 9 December 2020)
- Tech Correction / Section 230
- The Children of Pornhub (NYTimes OpEd, 4 Dec 2020)
- Pornhub limits uploads and disables downloads after New York Times exposé (The Verge, 8 Dec 2020)
- Geek of the Week
- Jason: https://incompetech.com/ Kevin MacLeod’s Excellent Royalty Free, Open Source Music
- Wes: Discussing “IRL Online” with the #digiURI Media Club (by Wes) and Gosund Mini WiFi Outlet (Amazon)
Podcast icon by “Simple Icons” on the Noun Project.
This Google Doc is embedded on the EdTech Situation Room Links page.