I built a similar app for Chicago's CTA trains, called CTA Tracker. There seem to be train tracker apps for most major cities, since they're easy to implement and legitimately useful.
Developing for the Amazon Echo
11–17 of 17 posts
Re: Developing for the Amazon Echo
#12Great write up.
I wonder how developers can actually profit from developing apps for echo
Re: Developing for the Amazon Echo
#13damn, this changes a lot. I was scared of Amazon Echo (or any other retailer's product) listening to me 24/7, but I guess it can't be avoided
Why would you be scared? The keyword(s) is processed locally, and it only sends the request following the keyword over the wire. If they tried anything fishy, such as sending everything it hears over the wire, then they would be outed within a day.
Re: Developing for the Amazon Echo
#14You definitely can get an Alexa skill off the ground without using Lambda, but there are a lot of little details with their authentication to work out. I'd highly recommend one of the libraries that are out there: Go - https://github.com/mikeflynn/go-alexa/tree/master/skillserve... (full disclosure: I created this one) Offical Java SDK - https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-sk... Node - https://w…
Thanks
Shameless plug for my node skills framework[1] if you want something a little more flexible than alexa-app. Has express support as well[2].
[1] https://www.github.com/nickclaw/alexa-ability [2] https://www.github.com/nickclaw/alexa-ability-express-handle...
Re: Developing for the Amazon Echo
#15damn, this changes a lot. I was scared of Amazon Echo (or any other retailer's product) listening to me 24/7, but I guess it can't be avoided
Why would you be scared? The keyword(s) is processed locally, and it only sends the request following the keyword over the wire. If they tried anything fishy, such as sending everything it hears over the wire, then they would be outed within a day.
It also makes a sound (tho not by default) and lights up whenever it's listening.
Re: Developing for the Amazon Echo
#16You definitely can get an Alexa skill off the ground without using Lambda, but there are a lot of little details with their authentication to work out. I'd highly recommend one of the libraries that are out there: Go - https://github.com/mikeflynn/go-alexa/tree/master/skillserve... (full disclosure: I created this one) Offical Java SDK - https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-sk... Node - https://w…
Clojure examples also:
https://github.com/blandflakes/echo-stopwatch
using:
https://github.com/blandflakes/echo-chamber-template
Re: Developing for the Amazon Echo
#17This article sums up my recent experience trying to get a skill published. It was slightly frustrating to receive multiple rejection emails, but at least the responses were detailed and helpful.
While building some skills for fun, I also made some gulp tasks for locally testing skills and deploying the code to your lambda. https://github.com/tmcleroy/alexa-skills