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Saying "Alexa, ask [Whatever skill name] to do something" is really unnatural and ruins the whole user experience.
They need sort out the grammar to make it actually feel conversational.
Anecdotally a developer friend of mine strongly suspects, most people, are like him and not actually using these home speakers very much. I’ve been working on a an Audio App that reads any articles to you for iOS/Android and planned to bring it to the Echo and he seems to suggest my efforts are totally wasted. Although their market reach seems to be massive, likely related to their cheap price, not surprised by this…
I'm using the timer, alarm, hue integration for my lights, music and weather. Those are by far my killer features why i use it and why i like it. I haven't looked at any amazon skill store as i don't see any reason for it.
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"You can't actually have a 'slot' which contains a freeform piece of text " What about AMAZON.SearchQuery?
This is the correct solution. The Alexa Skills Kit contains the Amazon.SearchQuery slot which meets your needs, but Lex doesn't. This is one of the two missing slots from Alexa in Lex. If you read articles regarding Lex slots you might get inaccurate info as they are slightly differing products.
However I'm just thinking of getting rid of my Alexa devices anyway - I was discussing political events with my partner last night, spotted the Alexa device light up (I think I said "a letter") and noticed shortly after that I was moderating my speech and not referencing controversial topics. I later just set it on mute.
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> I normally have it on mute because I find it activates and starts recording private conversations. What?!
It can mistrigger on phrases like "take a left on" or "they got a Lexus". My parents have one and get a kick out of the misactivations.
You can at least change Alexa's wake word to a couple other options ("Echo" or "Computer").
It's like saying 'There are 80k mouse enabled apps and no runaway hit'.
What it can do is have an app for nearly anything, though, that makes sense for the form factor. It's on its way. The next step of its evolution is to look at what apps work and what conventions can be pulled from those as a general standard. Users will be much happier when they can nearly instantly download an Alexa enabled interface for an app and have it work intuitively. And this is doubly important for Alexa because there isn't deep feedback like you have with a mouse where you can see the things you aren't doing to gather hints at what's possible -- you just have to know or, at least know how to find the answer, like a command line.
Which gives me an idea 'man for Alexa'. At least we can standardize a help menu.
Alexa is just an input/output device. It is limited, which is OK but that means there will not be a 'runaway hit'. There's just not enough of a surface area for something so comprehensive. It's like saying 'There are 80k mouse enabled apps and no runaway hit'. What it can do is have an app for nearly anything, though, that makes sense for the form factor. It's on its way. The next step of its evolution is to look at…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I normally have it on mute because I find it activates and starts recording private conversations. What?!
It can mistrigger on phrases like "take a left on" or "they got a Lexus". My parents have one and get a kick out of the misactivations.
Alexa is just an input/output device. It is limited, which is OK but that means there will not be a 'runaway hit'. There's just not enough of a surface area for something so comprehensive. It's like saying 'There are 80k mouse enabled apps and no runaway hit'. What it can do is have an app for nearly anything, though, that makes sense for the form factor. It's on its way. The next step of its evolution is to look at…
I like the way you say that. My Google Home is a remote control for my mouth. It's like licking a keyboard one key at a time in the dark. Simple queries are easy, but any non-trivial query just aint't gonna happen at the moment.
My Echo was an interesting novelty at first. But a couple years in now, it is essentially (in order of usefulness): 1. An alarm clock / kitchen timer 2. A thing that tells me the weather report during morning coffee, so I know what to wear 3. A DJ that my kids yell at to play pop music If it died tomorrow, I'd probably just go back to using my phone for these 3 things rather than buy a new one. I can't imagine gettin…
I see the house dj speaker aspect, but why does anyone need the first 2 when their phones accommodate those functions?
We also user audible heavily. The kids live the boxcar children readings.