How to Make Phone Calls From Your Computer

In our new reality, plenty of us are having to get used to working from home, and that often means making and taking calls, depending on your job. If you don't want to have your phone pressed to your ear all day, or you'd rather keep your work on your work machine and your actual life on your phone, you can get those calls done on your laptop or desktop.There are a slew of ways to call someone from your computer, from video-conferencing software like Zoom to a messaging app like Slack, but here we're going to concentrate on calling actual cell or landline numbers from Windows or macOS (and receiving calls, too, in some cases, though that's not always possible).The hardware you needA computer is required, obviously, but it doesn't matter if you use Windows or macOS, a laptop or a desktop. If you're using a Mac and an iPhone, then you know those devices already play together very well, but there are some other options you should know about, too.You can make calls using your computer's built-in mic and speakers, but it's not usually the best experience, with the voices of friends, family, or colleagues booming out and shaking the walls. (Dramatic? Maybe. But it's loud.) The pros use a headset with a mic, which makes your calls sound better and gives you more privacy, too.Any business or gaming headset will do for phone calls. You could buy something like this headset from Amazon for example, or the Elite Pro 2 gaming headset from Turtle Beach, or even a pair of Apple AirPods. For best results, you want a wired USB or 3.5mm audio jack connection, but Bluetooth will work as well, if you're OK with adding some unpredictability into the mix.It's a good idea to make sure your headset of choice is working as intended before you start making important work calls. On Windows, open the Start menu, click the cog icon on the left, then choose System and Sound. You can make sure the right input and output devices are selected, change the volume levels, and test your microphone. Click App volume and device preferences if you want the volume in your calling app to be different from the other apps on your system.If you're using macOS, open the Apple menu, then System Preferences. Click Sound, and on the Input and Output tabs you'll be able to select your headset, check the volume levels, and even adjust the balance of the sound. Pay particular attention to the microphone volume level, because you don't want to deafen the people you talk to.None of this is difficult, and it's worth checking your settings in advance rather than trying to figure them out on a call. To be absolutely sure everything is working correctly, you can always do a test recording via the Voice Recorder app on Windows and QuickTime Player on macOS.The software you needYou a have a lot of options when it comes to making phone calls. If you've got a Mac and an iPhone signed into the same Apple ID, just load up FaceTime for macOS. You can place an audio call to any number from the desktop FaceTime app through your iPhone by typing it in and clicking Audio (or just pick the name of a contact from the list).If you're on Windows, the Your Phone app that's now part of Microsoft's operating system can make calls through a linked Android phone. It's almost as smooth as macOS and an iPhone. Launch the app from the Start menu, switch to the Calls tab, then follow the instructions (you'll also need to get this app on your Android phone).If you don't want to route calls via your phone, Skype is a reliable option, with desktop clients for Windows and macOS. Click here for prices for calling mobiles and landlines; a variety of subscription options are available, and you get 60 calling minutes a month if you're an Office 365 subscriber. Just tap out the number you want to call in the app (head to the program settings and you can set a Caller ID as well).Keku is similar to Skype but runs inside a web browser—again, you can just tap out any number to ring it, and set your Caller ID as needed. Calls to the U.S. are included in your $5/month subscription package, and you can click here to check rates for international calls. Call recording is available, too, if that's something you'd find useful.Google Voice is still around, and if you've signed up for the service then you can make calls to cell phones and landlines through the web interface. Click here to check out international calling rates, or call numbers in the U.S. for free. Aside from being able to make calls from your computer, Google Voice also offers automatic voicemail transcription.Then there's TextNow, which is available through desktop clients for Windows and macOS as well as mobile apps for Android and iOS. You get a free phone number to use, and calls made to landlines and cell phones in the U.S. are free (click here for international rates). Upgrade to a subscription package for more features, including voicemail transcription and the ability to bring your existing cell number over.

Microsoft Your Phone App - Make Cell Phone Calls From Your Desktop or Laptop

Nvidia RTX Super GPUs supercharge gaming laptops: Here's the list so far

Nvidia has taken the covers off of a slew of gaming laptops that come with the "Super" version of the graphics giant's GeForce RTX GPUs. 

Both the GeForce RTX 2080 and GeForce RTX 2070, Nvidia's most powerful graphics cards for laptops, have had the Super treatment, which gives them a performance hike over their vanilla counterparts. Super variants of desktop GeForce RTX graphics cards have been around since last July, bringing more powerful ray-tracing performance to Nvidia's GPU lineup. And now, laptops from the likes of Asus, Razer, Acer and Gigabyte have access to the boosted RTX graphics. 

One of the most interesting laptops to come with a GeForce RTX Super card is the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15, which not only sports a powerful GPU, but also comes with Intel's new 10th Gen H series processors and two displays. But be prepared to pay for that, as the top-of-the-line model with an RTX 2080 Super will cost a hefty $3,700. 

Speaking of expensive, the next of the standout RTX Super-sporting laptops is the Razer Blade 15. Razer has given its 15-inch, slim, MacBook Pro-esque laptop a refresh, which adds in not only the Super Nvidia graphics in Max-Q guise and Intel's new processors, but has also given the laptop a physical nip-and-tuck. 

The keyboard layout has been changed to improve its arrow key placement, and the 'Advanced' model can be specced with a 300 Hz refresh rate LCD display. (Content creators can opt for an OLED panel instead.) The refreshed Razer Blade 15 goes on sale in May, with prices starting at $1,599. 

Acer has also given its Predator Triton 500 the RTX Super treatment, with its chunky-yet-powerful mainline gaming laptop getting access to the GeForce RTX 2080 Super and the RTX 2070 Super in Max-Q configuration. Again, Intel's 10th generation core processors are part of the mix, along with a 300 Hz refresh rate IPS display. The Predator Triton 500 will be available in May, and will start at $2,199. 

A whole raft of other gaming laptops are also getting the GeForce RTX Super and Intel 10th Gen series spec refresh, including a range of ASUS ROG Strix machines, MSI's GS66 Stealth and GE66 Raider laptops, the Lenovo 7i, and Gigabyte's Aorus 17X, 17G and 15G machines. 

But GeForce RTX graphics can also be harnessed by content creators. As such, Nvidia also revealed that laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 15 will get access to the new Super graphics. MSI's Creator 15 and Creator 17, along with Acer's ConceptD 7 Ezel and Eazel Pro convertible machines, will also incorporate the RTX Super GPUs. 

Expect more gaming and content-creation laptops to come with access to the GeForce Super graphics cards as the year advances. We wouldn't be surprised to see Nvidia announce a Geforce RTX 2060 Super for laptops before too long, as well as reveal its next-generation Nvidia graphics. 

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Lou Cartier: Connecting under stress Part 2 — aligning effort with goals key to working remotely

Greetings, fellow remote workers. 

How are you doing, balancing challenges of the job AND your important relationships? If you are not totally satisfied with your performance or effectiveness, have you gained a foothold?

As noted last week, many of us are engaging co-workers, clients, and group projects from home. We are becoming tech literate, if not fast enough for impatient types like yours truly. 

But we can download the necessary apps, tune into an audio or video conferencing platform from our phone or home computer, and know whom to call if (when) we get stuck, yes?    

If reading this column online, do you recall Paige Cohen's home office adventure with her scene-stealing dog? If not, take a moment right now, for who doesn't learn better when more relaxed and less uptight?  (For newsprint readers, make a note to Google "Harvard Business Review, working from home" and log on later). 

Last week, Aims faculty linked arms to bolster the path along our shared remote adventure, preparing for students coming off extended spring breaks. Hearts and minds are being steeled to engage "online only" teaching and learning through the end of the spring semester … and very likely summer school, as well.

Withal, whether our professional arena be business, education, government, or non-profit enterprise, our collective challenge is to think outside the box, to prioritize. Despite limited time, energy, cash, and self-confidence, we nevertheless must "connect under stress." We must do what we can do.

To work effectively with others, can we acknowledge the difficulty of getting people to pay attention at ANY MEETING, especially tough now that we're not in the same room? "Let's face it," write corporate trainers Justin Hale and Joseph Grenny in a recent HBR article, "most meetings have always sucked because there's often little to zero accountability for engagement."

So how can I — as meeting host or participant — foster greater accountability? 

Let's look at their five rules: 

The 60 second rule

In the first minute of your meeting (or conference call), help participants experience the problem you want them to solve by sharing statistics, anecdotes, or analogies that dramatize the issue … Make sure the group empathetically understands the problem (or opportunity) before you try to solve it. People must know what is expected of them. 

The responsibility rule

The biggest threat to engagement in virtual meetings is allowing team members unconsciously to remain bystanders. Rather than being an "observer," as in a theater, you will be an "actor," as in a gym. Opportunity for everyone to take meaningful responsibility, to stay present, mentally and emotionally, is important. This shows respect, a mark of professionalism.

The nowhere to hide rule

To avoid "diffusion of responsibility," define a highly structured and brief task participants can tackle in small groups (as you might in physical space). Provide a medium to communicate with one another (video conference, Slack channel, messaging platform, audio breakouts). After a short period, have the groups report out.  

The MVP rule

"Nothing disengages a group more reliably than assaulting them with slide after slide of mind-numbing data organized in endless bullet points … if your goal is engagement, you must mix facts and stories." Reduce your Power Point deck ruthlessly, the fewer slides the better.   

The 5-minute rule

Never go longer than five minutes (or so) without giving the group another problem to solve or task to tackle. Expect sustained meaningful involvement so participants do not retreat into an observer role. "When that happens, you'll have to work hard to bring them back."

Can we do it?

The business and popular press increasingly report on best practices in remote conferencing, such as distributing an agenda and necessary materials (links) in advance … designating a facilitator, tech support, and note taker … knowing how to mute your audio (to cough or admonish the dog) and your video (bad hair day, and to conserve precious bandwidth).  Good enough, so long as perfection does not become the enemy of the good.

In the physical classroom, I am a stickler about starting and ending on time, so the Tribune's "free-flowing chat" (among news staff on stories under development) that remains alive in the background even when individual reporters are not directly engaged with it intrigues me. 

"People can come and go as they please and get caught up when they return" explains Bobby Fernandez, Growth and Development reporter, "with a 'new messages' indicator for chat messages that other users have sent since I last opened the Zoom application. It's a permanent group chat, so there is no need to recreate the chat each day."

Hmmm.  Stay tuned, students.

Lou Cartier is an adjunct instructor at Aims Community College, independent consultant, and chair of the Local Government and Business Affairs Committee (LGBAC) of the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce. The views and opinions in this column are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of the College or the Chamber.

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‘Dear Computer’: A World Where Computers Email Each Other So You Don’t Need To

Your employees can communicate with your customers and suppliers just great. So why can't your computers do the same?

Imagine you're CTO of a firm with lots of business relationships - any firm, in other words. How many times have you ruminated on the problem of staying in sync with all those other parties?

You have an amazing way of communicating and sharing information with individuals in all the firms you work with; it's called email. Everybody has it, everybody uses it; it just works.

But when you try to communicate and share information with systems in the firms with which you work, it's a nightmare! If you're lucky, there's a domain-specific network you can use, usually controlled by a monopolist who you have to watch like a hawk. Maybe, if you are really lucky, some of your customers or suppliers provide API endpoints you can call. But more often than not, you're reliant on file passing and massively unsatisfactory ad-hoc methods.

Now there is, of course, one obvious solution. Why not just set up a centralised database that you all work from? It could work in principle. But who would run it? Imagine what power a company would have if they ran the database that controlled an entire market!

So that's a non-starter. We simply can't solve market-level problems with a centralised database. Instead, we have to figure out how to connect our existing systems, not introduce some all-seeing panopticon. We somehow need to link these existing systems, which are deployed in a decentralised fashion amongst all the firms in the industry, in much the same way that the people in these firms are linked by email.

Now there are several historical, social and commercial reasons why this is hard and why previous attempts have usually failed. But in this post, I want to look forward. In particular, we can study a small number of motivating examples to show there is a real problem to be solved and then think through how we might, finally, allow machines to 'email' each other, just as easily as humans can:

Importers, exporters, their shippers and their banks often need to exchange information to facilitate the flow of goods and the financing that goes with it. This has been a heavily paper-based environment for as long as anybody can remember. Centralised initiatives have tried to solve this in the past, but the introduction of a new intermediary or service provider has typically resulted in limited take-up: email works so well because there is no "CEO" of the email network and nobody has to pay a per-email fee to send messages. 

Similarly, reinsurance is also a very collaborative, communication-heavy market characterised by wheelbarrow-loads of paper. And, again, centralised initiatives from the past tried and failed to 'digitise' the market. The fear of new intermediaries certainly played a part in their failure, but so did the lack of universality of many approaches. There isn't a different email network for car manufacturers and TV repairers, right? So why should there be different communication networks for computers in different industries?

Sometimes the trick to solving a specialised problem in one industry is to use a common, generic technology that can be used by all industries.

Imagine you were tasked with designing a protocol that enabled computers in different companies to communicate with each other, loosely analogous to how email lets humans do it. What characteristics or capabilities would it need? What problems would it need to solve?

I think the key things are: identity, location, reliable secure messaging, shared business logic and workflow and integration.

Let's take them in turn:

Identity

You don't know anything about your counterparts' IT systems but you at least want to know you're actually talking to the right firm. So, there needs to be some way to address your messages to real-world identities rather than random strings.

Maybe we can build on the existing email naming scheme for this or maybe we need something different, but the solution needs to take into account the fact that computers are unbelievably stupid.

We get away with taking a lot of risks around identity in the regular email space because there are humans at each end of the connection who can be trained to figure out when they're not talking to whom they should be or to detect when something isn't quite right. For example, even if you know that Bill Gates's email address at Microsoft was billg@microsoft.com, most people would be rightly suspicious if they ever received an email from that address. But when you take humans out of the loop, what are you supposed to do? How is one of your computers supposed to know that? Even with emails we see a huge amount of fraud and error.

A stronger identity scheme is probably required. It's tempting to say the public key infrastructure that protects the Web could help here but given the value that could be transacted over such a global network we should probably be pretty picky about which Certificate Authorities we trust and in which contexts. And it goes without saying that there should be no commercial entity with the power to deny access to such a network; allocation of names should work akin to something like how ICANN manages the DNS system.

Location

We also need the ability to locate services operated by our peers. Given that nobody knows better than your peer what services they offer, what protocols they support and how to find them, the solution should probably support some sort of "Peer Information" – or 'PeerInfo' – object concept: some authenticated way for a participant on the network to 'assert' things about themselves - "here's what I offer; here's how to find me" - and the authentication of that data structure should be strongly tied to the identity layer above.

Asynchronous Secure Messaging

Now it gets interesting. One of the amazing things about email is its asynchronous nature. I can send an email to you without needing you to be online – or even needing your company's email server to be operating 24/7. It will eventually be delivered.

We need the same thing for machines, and we also need to make sure it is secure. If one of my machines is sending a message to one of yours, it needs to be encrypted under a key that only your organisation has access to. So, we need something like the old MQ systems of the 2000s, that linked together machines inside companies, but toughened up and secured so they can be deployed across the howling prairie of the internet.

Shared Business Logic and Workflow

Imagine we've achieved all of the above. What should happen when a machine in somebody else's firm receives a message from mine? With email, it's easy. Some human reads it and figures out what to do.

That's fine for email.

But humans are clever, and machines are stupid.

For 'email for machines', we're going to need to tell the computers what to do. And, if this is going to work without adult human supervision, we probably need a way to write business logic that encodes some sort of business process, for example, the process for agreeing an invoice or updating details on an insurance policy. This code will look a bit like an application and also a bit like a workflow… multiple firms would need to deploy code that can work with other firms' computers running similar code but for any given interaction each firm's role would probably be slightly different.

So, we need some sort of application that can be distributed between participants in a business process, that is easy to write and which both captures business logic but also process and workflow logic.

Integration

Finally, we need a way to connect these 'email for machine' systems back to the existing systems inside each firm. We need to be able to automatically integrate with these existing systems.

Good news… Email for machines exists today!

This combination of institutional-grade identity management; self-sovereign service advertisement; secure asynchronous messaging; shared business and flow logic; and integration capabilities is the essence of what you need to link applications in different firms together.

And the interesting thing is: it already exists. 

You might know it by its more common name: Enterprise Blockchain.

Those of us working on blockchains in business contexts don't always talk about it this way: but this is what's going on at the heart of many of the projects we're working on.

If I look at a lot of the places where enterprise blockchains being deployed, a key part of the value being added depends on their ability to provide a neutral, shared, non-exclusionary, reliable substrate for 'email' between machines.

After all, if you couldn't ensure the right firms received the right information at the right time and that they were going to process it in the way you expected, none of the transformational benefits I so often write about could possibly be achieved.

Some platforms take this further than others, of course. The platform I helped design, Corda, has a particular focus on fusing identity, routing, asynchronous secure messaging and common business logic between firms, but we're not alone. These things may not sound earth-shattering but maybe that's the point: none of us claim to be magicians; all of us in this space are just trying to do old fashioned engineering, focused on solving market-level problems.

Do all enterprise blockchains work the same way?

In time, I suspect they will. Indeed, there are efforts in the Ethereum community, for example, to add support for some of these concepts to the enterprise variants of the platform over time. Baseline is one example - it's pretty early days but there are lots of very similar concepts there to those I outlined above.

But that triggers an interesting question. Imagine we ended up with feature parity between Corda, Ethereum, Fabric and all the others. What would happen then?

I suspect we'd then see the ages-old "consensus conundrum" rear its ugly head again!

The "consensus conundrum" is that you need to think about how transactions are processed and confirmed on the networks to which you deploy your applications because "finality" is a slipperier topic than any of us would like.

For example, imagine you'd deployed an "email for machines" solution that utilised a permissionless underlying blockchain for its transaction processing, and you'd been using it during the recent convolutions in the market owing to the current health crisis. Would a multi-hour backlog have been acceptable?

We wouldn't accept multi-hour delays for emails between people, and nobody is going to accept it with email for machines.

So, as ever, focus on your requirements, and match the technology to the problem to be solved.

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