Pencils? Check. Notebooks? Check. Four mysteriously specific black pens? Check.

But as students return to classrooms with artificial intelligence at their fingertips, they need a few important supplies that cannot be purchased at a store.

In this episode, Mr. Fred explores three skills students need in their digital backpacks: the confidence to solve everyday technology problems, enough healthy skepticism to question polished answers, and the judgment to recognize when AI supports learning and when it quietly replaces it.

You’ll also hear a practical Tech Challenge that turns AI from an answer machine into a learning coach.

It’s 11:47 on a school night. An assignment is due at midnight, the document is still blank, and an AI tool can finish the entire thing in minutes.

Crisis avoided or learning avoided?

As families prepare for another school year, students still need pencils, notebooks, folders, and all the traditional supplies. But succeeding in the age of AI also requires a different kind of preparation.

In this episode of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, Mr. Fred explores three essential additions to the modern student’s digital backpack:

• Digital confidence to organize files, troubleshoot problems, and communicate clearly
• Healthy skepticism when evaluating online and AI-generated information
• Good judgment about when AI supports learning and when students need to work through the challenge themselves

Mr. Fred also considers a better question for parents and teachers to ask, not simply, “Did you use AI?” but, “Did using AI leave you understanding more than when you started?”

Choose something you genuinely want to understand and give an AI tool this instruction:

Then notice what changes when AI acts as a coach instead of an answer machine.

Did it make you think more? Did you understand or remember more afterward?

Try the challenge with your child, your students, or for your own learning and let Mr. Fred know what happened.

Learn more and discover approachable coding and technology resources at GetMeCoding.com.

If this episode made you think, share it with a parent, teacher, or student preparing for the new school year. Follow Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, subscribe to the GetMeCoding YouTube channel, and leave a review to help more curious families and educators discover the show.

AI can help carry a few supplies. Just don’t let it carry the whole backpack.

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On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon.

And then, just a few years later, humanity stopped going.

So what happened?

Did we forget how to get there? Did the technology disappear? And if we could reach the Moon using 1960s technology, why did it take more than 50 years for humans to travel there again?

In this episode of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, Mr. Fred connects the story of Apollo to the new era of Artemis.

We explore why the infrastructure behind Apollo could not simply be restarted, how Artemis is building a new path back to the Moon, what Artemis II accomplished, why Artemis III is an important step even without a lunar landing, and how each mission builds toward what comes next.

Along the way, Mr. Fred also reflects on another July 20 milestone...his birthday...and how both birthdays and space missions can remind us to look back, learn, and ask an important question:

What are we going to do next?

You’ll also hear connections to coding, engineering, experimentation, and the idea that progress often comes from taking what someone else built and carrying the mission forward.

• Why humans stopped traveling to the Moon after Apollo
• Why returning was about more than simply rebuilding old rockets
• How Apollo and Artemis differ
• What Artemis II accomplished
• Why Artemis III is a critical testing mission
• How future Artemis missions could return astronauts to the lunar surface
• What Moon missions can teach kids about coding, engineering, and iteration
• Mr. Fred’s July 20 birthday connection
• A new Tech Challenge: Carry the Mission Forward
• 
  

Longtime listeners may remember Season 1, Episode 2, where Mr. Fred explored the technology behind Apollo 11.

You can also go deeper with Mr. Fred’s GetMeCoding.com article about the Apollo Guidance Computer and his YouTube video explaining the famous 1202 program alarm that appeared during the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

YouTube:

Error Code 1202 Explained

Related GetMeCoding Apollo article (The Apollo 11 Software: 4 Things You Probably Didn’t Know):

https://www.getmecoding.com/the-apollo-11-software-4-things-you-probably-didnt-know/

GetMeCoding:

https://www.getmecoding.com

Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks:

https://www.getmecoding.com/podcast-mr-freds-tech-talks/

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The fastest thing Mr. Fred has ever watched happen had no engine, no wheels, and no wings.

In fact, he never actually saw it happen.

He only pressed a button.

In Season 2, Episode 21 of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, we follow the hidden journey that begins every time you send a message, open a webpage, stream a video, join a livestream, or ask an AI tool a question.

What looks like one simple click sets an incredible process in motion. Information is broken into pieces, labeled, routed through a worldwide network, delivered to the correct destination, and reassembled, often in less time than it takes you to blink.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why information travels in small pieces called packets

• How IP addresses help data find the correct destination

• How routers direct internet traffic from one stop to the next

• Why DNS works like the internet’s phone book

• How shared protocols allow different devices to communicate

• Why the internet can often reroute around slowdowns and failures

• How modern AI still depends on the invisible internet underneath it

Mr. Fred explains it all with couches, pizza deliveries, phone books, traffic directors, struggling Wi-Fi, and blinking routers that are honestly doing their best.

The internet is not magic.

It is an amazing system built by people, and once kids understand that, they can begin to see themselves as builders, problem-solvers, and creators too.

This week’s challenge is to trace the path your data takes across the internet.

Open Command Prompt and enter:

tracert getmecoding.com

Open Terminal and enter:

traceroute getmecoding.com

You will see a list of hops. Each hop represents another step your data takes on its way to the destination.

Try running the command more than once. Compare the number of hops and response times to see whether the route changes.

Parents and educators can ask young learners:

• How many hops did the data make?

• Which hop was the fastest?

• Which one took the longest?

• Did the route change when you tried it again?

• What surprised you most?

You do not need to understand every line.

Curiosity is the win.

Take the traceroute Tech Challenge and share what you discover in the GetMeCoding community or on social media using:

#MrFredsTechTalks

Explore more beginner-friendly coding activities, technology explainers, parent resources, and podcast episodes at:

GetMeCoding.com

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The American Revolution should not have worked.

The British had professional soldiers, experienced commanders, better supplies, and the most powerful navy in the world. The Americans had courage, impossible odds, and something else that helped change history: secret communication.

In this special 250th Fourth of July episode of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, we travel from Revolutionary War spycraft to the little lock icon on your browser. Mr. Fred explores George Washington’s spy network, the Culper Ring, invisible ink, coded numbers, Caesar ciphers, and how those early ideas connect to the encryption protecting your digital life today.

You will learn what encryption is, why it matters, how plaintext becomes ciphertext, and why digital trust is about more than hiding information. It is also about knowing whether a message is private, authentic, and protected from being changed along the way.

This episode also includes a hands-on Tech Challenge where listeners can create their own Caesar cipher message and experience the basic idea behind secret keys and coded communication.

Want to help your kids understand technology instead of just consume it?

Visit GetMeCoding.com for beginner-friendly coding activities, tech explainers, podcast episodes, and resources that help families and educators raise confident digital creators.

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Before Wi-Fi, smartphones, and AI tools that answer in seconds, getting online meant connecting a computer to a modem, plugging into a phone line, and hoping nobody picked up the phone in the other room.

In this episode of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, Mr. Fred continues the From Atari to AI series with Part III: The Doorway Moment.

This time, the story moves from the Timex Sinclair to the Christmas gift that changed everything: the Commodore 64. From there, Mr. Fred shares what it was like to connect through a modem, explore CompuServe, deal with the limits of dial-up, head to college with an IBM PS/2 Model 25, and later discover how digital communication changed the workplace during active duty in the Marine Corps.

Along the way, we pause to explain what a modem actually did, why dial-up made those strange sounds, and how the movie WarGames gave many people a memorable picture of computers talking over phone lines.

But this episode is not just nostalgia.

It is a bridge to today’s AI moment.

Just like dial-up once made computers feel connected to something bigger, AI now feels like another doorway. It is faster, more powerful, and a little unnerving. But the lesson remains the same: tools can help us, but humans still own the judgment, responsibility, and final decision.

Mr. Fred explores:

• How the Commodore 64 became a major step beyond the Timex Sinclair
• What a modem is and why it converted digital data to analog signals and back again
• How dial-up, CompuServe, and phone lines shaped early online experiences
• Why early technology was exciting, limited, and sometimes boring
• What college computing looked like with an IBM PS/2 Model 25 and computer labs
• How active duty introduced lessons about spreadsheets, email, reach, and responsibility
• Why AI feels like another “doorway moment”
• What parents, students, and teachers can learn from earlier technology shifts

If this episode brought back a memory of dial-up, CompuServe, early email, computer labs, or someone yelling for you to get off the phone line, share it with someone who remembers that era too.

And if you are raising or teaching kids in this AI moment, visit GetMeCoding.com for more coding ideas, family-friendly tech guidance, and resources to help kids become creators, not just consumers.

https://www.getmecoding.com

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In Part 1 of From Atari to AI, we talked about Atari, arcades, joysticks, cartridges, and the magic of playing the game.

But in Part 2, something changes.

This episode is about the moment technology stopped being something we only played with and became something we could create with.

Mr. Fred shares memories of learning to program on the Timex Sinclair 1000, receiving a BASIC programming book from one of his mother’s coworkers, building a text adventure game with a friend, saving code on cassette tapes, and later experiencing the Apple IIe in a high school computer science classroom.

Along the way, we explore why that blinking cursor mattered so much.

A game console said, “Here is the game. Play it.”

A computer said, “Here is the machine. Tell it what to do.”

That shift from player to maker is at the heart of this episode and at the heart of GetMeCoding.

In this episode:

• The difference between playing a game and programming a machine
• Why the blinking cursor felt like an invitation
• Memories of the Timex Sinclair 1000
• Learning BASIC from an old-school programming book
• Building a text adventure game on Saturday mornings
• Saving code on cassette tapes
• The Apple IIe and turtle graphics in high school
• Why coding helps kids build confidence, patience, and problem-solving skills
• This week’s screen-free Tech Challenge: Be the Computer

Whether you grew up with BASIC, Apple IIe, cassette tapes, or you are simply curious about how we got from early home computers to today’s AI tools, this episode is a fun look back at the moment many of us realized:

Technology was not magic.

It was something people made.

And maybe we could make something too.

Be the Computer

One person acts as the programmer.

The other person acts as the computer.

The programmer gives step-by-step instructions for a simple task, such as drawing a square, walking across the room, stacking cups, or making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The computer can only do exactly what the programmer says.

No guessing.

No filling in the blanks.

Then debug the instructions and try again.

It is a fun, screen-free way to teach sequencing, precision, debugging, and computational thinking.

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Before smartphones, apps, YouTube, and AI chatbots, there was a box connected to the family television, a joystick with one button, and a generation of kids discovering that technology was not just something you watched.

It was something you controlled.

In Part 1 of the From Atari to AI series, Mr. Fred goes back to the moment technology first came home. From saving quarters for Atari 2600 cartridges at Kmart to the glowing magic of mall arcades like Aladdin’s Castle, this episode explores how early games and shared tech experiences sparked curiosity, pattern recognition, problem-solving, and a lifelong love of learning.

This is not just nostalgia. It is the beginning of a bigger story about how kids move from playing with technology to wondering how it works — and eventually learning how to build with it.

In this episode, Mr. Fred talks about:

• The Atari 2600 and how it changed the family living room
• Why early video games were simple but powerful learning experiences
• The social magic of arcades like Aladdin’s Castle
• How games like Pac-Man and Galaga taught pattern recognition and strategy
• Why every generation has a “gateway technology”
• How curiosity can move kids from consumers to creators
• This week’s Tech Challenge: The First Tech Wow

If you grew up with Atari, arcades, early video games, or simply want to help kids understand technology instead of just consume it, this episode is for you.

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There is a funny thing we do with our phones.

We back up everything.

Photos. Videos. Contacts. Documents. Messages. Voice memos. The random screenshots we forgot we even took.

But Memorial Day asks us to think about a different kind of memory.

Not the kind stored in the cloud.

The kind we carry.

In this special Memorial Day episode of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, Mr. Fred takes a respectful pause to reflect on the meaning of the day. He explains the important difference between Armed Forces Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day, and why Memorial Day is specifically set aside to remember those who died while serving our country.

As a former Marine officer and the father of an active duty Marine officer, Mr. Fred shares how service, sacrifice, and remembrance are deeply personal.

This episode also brings in a meaningful technology connection. In an age where we can scan letters, preserve old photographs, digitize records, and share family stories across generations, technology gives us powerful tools to help preserve the legacy of the fallen.

But technology cannot remember for us.

It can store the data.

It can preserve the record.

But only we can preserve the meaning.

This Memorial Day, may we pause, remember, and carry forward the stories of those who never came home.

In this episode:

• The difference between Armed Forces Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day
• Why Memorial Day is a solemn day of remembrance
• A personal reflection from Mr. Fred as a former Marine officer and military dad
• How technology can help preserve military stories, photos, letters, and records
• Why digital archives matter, but human memory matters more
• A simple Memorial Day tech tip for families, students, and educators

Use technology this Memorial Day to remember someone specifically.

Look up the story of someone from your town or region who gave their life in service. Search a local memorial. Scan an old photo. Preserve a letter. Record a family story. Help make sure their name and sacrifice are not forgotten.

If this episode helped you pause and remember, please consider sharing it with someone else who may need that same pause this Memorial Day.

You can also visit GetMeCoding.com for more episodes, resources, and reflections on technology, learning, and the world our kids are growing up in.

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It was finals week. Students were trying to submit work, check grades, finish projects, and prepare for graduation.

Then Canvas, the learning management system used by many schools and universities, became part of a major cybersecurity story.

In this episode of Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks, Mr. Fred breaks down the recent Canvas breach and uses it as a teaching moment for students, parents, educators, and anyone who uses email, school platforms, or online accounts.

But this episode is not just about hackers or software.

It is about the human side of cybersecurity.

Mr. Fred shares how students and faculty experienced the confusion in real time, how communication from schools and vendors mattered, and why stress, urgency, and uncertainty can make people more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

He also shares something personal: during the same stressful environment, he fell for what appeared to be a phishing email that looked legitimate and seemed connected to a real student issue.

That is the heart of this episode.

Cybersecurity is not always a high-tech movie scene. Sometimes it is an email. Sometimes it is a nervous student. Sometimes it is a rushed decision. Sometimes it is realizing that even people who teach cybersecurity can get caught when the story feels believable.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What happened with the Canvas cybersecurity incident
• Why social engineering is so effective
• How phishing emails use urgency, trust, and timing
• Why AI may make scam messages more convincing
• Why we should avoid speculation while still understanding the risks
• What students, parents, teachers, and families can do to stay safer
• How to use the “pause test” before clicking, entering a code, or approving a request

This week’s Tech Challenge is the Social Engineering Audit: find one suspicious email, inspect it carefully, and look for signs of urgency, fear, curiosity, or pressure without clicking anything.

If this episode helps you think differently about cybersecurity, share it with a student, parent, teacher, coworker, or anyone who has ever clicked something a little too fast.

And as always:

Keep learning. Keep questioning. And keep building.

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What does it look like when someone has spent decades writing real software, then walked into a classroom to help the next generation figure it out? In this episode, Mr. Fred sits down with a longtime colleague, Dr. Hal Smith, a professor of Information Sciences and Technology, former software developer at Raytheon, and yes, a ukulele player, for one of the most honest and wide-ranging conversations the show has had yet.

Dr. Hal traces his journey from a Cub Scout field trip to a power facility, where a computer playing Hangman lit a spark, to programming on a Timex Sinclair, learning Basic in a Cornell enrichment class, and eventually writing missile guidance algorithms in Tucson, Arizona. He talks about what industry taught him that no textbook could, including the time he had to debug a compiler and the time he built a globe display for a ground-based radar tracker from scratch.

But this conversation goes deeper than origin stories. Mr. Fred and Dr. Hal dig into the real challenges of teaching software development today: the students who arrive expecting to build video games by week two, the disconnect between how young people experience technology and what a first-semester class actually looks like, and why the elegance of code still matters even in an age of AI.

They also tackle the big questions parents and students are asking right now. Should kids learn to code? Are we too late? What does AI mean for the future of software development? And is curiosity something that can be taught, or does it have to be sparked?

This one runs longer than a typical episode, and every minute is worth it. Whether you are a parent wondering where to start, an educator trying to keep up with a world that will not slow down, or a curious person who has always wondered how the tech around you actually works, this conversation is for you.

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