EdTechSR Episode 366: 10 Year Anniversary!

What this episode covers

Welcome to episode 366 (“10 Year Anniversary”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 7, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) celebrate the podcast’s 10th anniversary, reflecting on their journey since their first episode in January 2016. In this episode, they dive into the latest happenings in educational technology, media literacy, and more. Topics include highlights from CES 2026, notable innovations in AI, and discussions on smart home technology. Plus, they explore exciting new integrations from Google and Apple, challenges in intellectual property with AI-generated content, and innovative classroom technology. Tune in for a decade of EdTech insights and future trends! Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links. Chapter Markers: 00:00 Welcome to EdTech Situation Room 00:11 Celebrating 10 Years of EdTech Situation Room 01:01 Meet the Hosts: Jason and Wes 01:38 Kicking Off the New Semester 02:31 Exploring CES 2026 Highlights 03:39 AI Innovations at CES 2026 10:35 Smart Home Technology and Personal Projects 14:37 Deep Dive into CES Trends and AI 28:19 Lego’s Smart Bricks and Future of Coding 29:43 The Pebble Watch Revival 32:21 The Pebble Ring: A New Innovation 33:28 White House January 6th Website 34:50 Media Literacy and AI Fact-Checking 38:07 Google’s Gemini and Apple’s AI Strategy 40:33 AI-Generated Infographics and Copyright Issues 50:24 Geeks of the Week and Final Thoughts 52:27 Automation Tools for Productivity 🔗 Links We Discussed * CES 2026 New Products: iPolish - Nodi Flip - Bloomin8 E-Ink Canvas * Video: The Shocking AI Reveals That Stunned CES 2026 (Day 1) (AI Revolution, 7 Jan 2026, 13 min) * Video: New OpenAI GUMDROP AI Device Turns ChatGPT Physical (AI Revolution, 4 Jan 2026, 11 min) * Gemini Deep Research CES Update * LEGO introduces its first ‘smart brick’ which reacts to children’s movements in real time (Daily Mail via MSN; 5 January 2025) * Pebble seeks to remedy the wearable industry’s original sin (Engadget; 6 January 2026) * Pebble Is Making a $75 Smart Ring (Wired; 9 December 2025) * White House publishes website that rewrites history of Jan. 6 attack (Washington Post, 6 Jan 2026) * White House X post on Jan 6 website * Whitehouse Jan 6 website: www.whitehouse.gov/j6/ * Gemini SIFT Superprompt chat log * Jason’s Geek of the Week: n8n * Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Media Literacy Roundup - 5 Jan 2026 - Smart Home Tips from Wes - PixStar Digital Picture Frame - StartPage 🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss * Alaska’s court system built an AI chatbot. It didn’t go smoothly. (NBC News, 3 Jan 2026) * Create with unlimited generations using Google Gemini 3 (Nano Banana Pro) in Adobe Firefly (Adobe Blog, 20 Nov 2025) * Google’s New Image Tool Looks Too Real. Here’s Why That’s A Problem (The Blueprint Brief; 8 December 2025) * NanoBanana has an IP Problem: NotebookLM Slides/Infographics * Teamsters Unveil New Substack Newsletter to Break Through Traditional Media (The Hill, 8 Dec 2025) * AI and Social Media Literacy Essential for Safe Ecosystem (Bernama, 27 Dec 2025) * Berlin power outage highlights German vulnerability to sabotage (BBC, 7 Jan 2026) * You may soon be able to change your Gmail address (TechCrunch, 28 Dec 2025) * “Yo what?” LimeWire re-emerges in online rush to share pulled “60 Minutes” segment (ArsTechnica, 23 Dec 2025) * FCC’s import ban on the best new drones starts today (ArsTechnica, 23 Dec 2025) Episode 366 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! (Note the landscape version is shorter because ‘filler words’ were removed in post-production using Descript.com.) Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe