EdTechSR Ep 349 Surveillance in the Classroom

Check out our Episode 349 from April 9, 2025! (Although this episode published instantly to YouTube, we are late getting this posted on edtechSR.com and our Substack…) Here are all the links we discussed in the show:

1. New Google Workspace Tools (Google Blog; 26 March 2025)

2. Gmail’s new AI search now sorts emails by relevance instead of chronological order (TechCrunch; 20 March 2025)

3. NotebookLM Now with Mind Maps (X)

4. Gemini with Deep Research, Updated, Free!

5. OpenAI rolls out image generation powered by GPT-4o to ChatGPT (The Verge, 25 March 2025)

6. Our Family: Ghibli Style

7. No elephants: Breakthroughs in image generation (Ethan Mollick, 30 March 2025)

8. The new best AI image generation model is here: say hello to Reve Image 1.0! (Venture Beat; 25 March 2025)

9. https://preview.reve.art/

10. Ideogram 3.0!

11. New 4o Image Model from OpenAI

12. US authors’ copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft combined in New York with newspaper actions (Guardian, 4 April 2025)

13. cursivetechnology.com: Cursive is an authorship-first approach to writing. We bring complete transparency to the full writing process validating student work through their own effort & typing behavior.

14. Weekly cyberattacks on UK by pro-Russian and pro-Palestinian hackers (The Times, 6 April 2025)

15. New federal data thrWeekly cyberattacks on UK by pro-Russian and pro-Palestinian hackerseats demand new mitigation technologies (Federal News Network, 9 April 2025)

16. Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch (AP, 9 April 2025) – references a keylogger for all students!

17. Take It Down Act nears passage; critics warn Trump could use it against enemies (ArsTechnica, 9 April 2025) – Critical Letter

18. The speech police: Chairman Brendan Carr and the FCC’s news distortion policy (ArsTechnica, 7 Apr 2025)

19. Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Why Regulate AI? – Fact Checking (Previously) Invisible History

20. Jason’s Geeks of the Week: OpenRouter.ai … so much free access! - msty.app

Here are the links which made our show notes Google Doc, but we didn’t have time to discuss:

1. Groq and PlayAI just made voice AI sound way more human — here’s how (VentureBeat; 26 March 2026) PlayAI Announcement

2. Mistral AI drops new open-source model that outperforms GPT-4o Mini with fraction of parameters (VentureBeat; 17 March 2025)

3. Krisp is using AI to help Indians sound like Americans on calls (TechCrunch; 26 March 2025)

4. manus.im: Manus is a general AI agent that turns your thoughts into actions. It excels at various tasks in work and life, getting everything done while you rest.

5. Europe, Meet Your Newest Assistant: Meta AI (Meta PR)

6. Meta spotted testing AI-generated comments on Instagram (TechCrunch; 21 March 2025)

7. Claude Searches the Web Now

8. ShotTracker embraces AI to improve coaching products, reach fans with monetizable assets (Sports Business Journal, 26 March 2025)

9. OpenAI to start testing ChatGPT connectors for Google Drive and Slack (TechCrunch; 17 March 2025)

10. Will the future of software development run on vibes? (ArsTechnica, 5 March 2025)

11. Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent

12. Google changes Chrome extension policies following the Honey link scandal (The Verge, 11 March 2025)

13. Gemini can now turn your Google Docs into podcasts (The Verge, 9 April 2025)

14. Council becomes the first in Scotland to blanket ban mobile phones in classrooms (Scottish Sun, 4 April 2025)

15. Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow (Freedom of the Press Foundation, 18 March 2025)

16. The Ed. Dept. Axed Its Office of Ed Tech. What That Means for Schools (EdWeek, 18 March 2025)

EdTechSR Ep 349 Surveillance in the Classroom (CC BY 4.0) by Wesley Fryer