Alexa - first steps ..

Now as Alexa is here, it is time to see what can be done with it. There are many tutorials - I have picked  Developing Alexa Skills, a series of six videos.

The first step is to understand what an Alexa skill is. There is the skill service, which handles events triggered when interaction with the Alexa device.The skill interface links spoken words (sample utterances) to events.

New skills make Alexa smarter (and increase the value of the platform for Amazon). Skills get an anonymized token which they can use to identify users over time. So far the platform seems not to allow the access of actual user data.

A key feature of voice first services is the availability of context - context comes from the passed interactions but also from the environment. Typically a person only speaks out those things which are not obvious to the listener. 

Another interesting aspect is that the answers need to be short and snappy. While there is a tendency in ui's to render a lot of cool views and graphics, this does not work with voice. Also lists, which work well on visual ui's are not really a great choice for voice ui's.

An interesting question is how voice authentication will be solved. Currently device is there an reacts to all people talking to it. There is the option to switch profiles ... but in order to move towards a personal assistant it will be required to have a solid but hopefully transparent authentication system.

Voice first - Alexa and Dot arrive

Alexa arrived Wednesday and started to engage with the family after a short acclimatisation where she was introduced to the local WiFi (this was a little bit harder than it could be due to the fact that Alexa is not yet officially supported in Switzerland). Dot, her smaller brother arrived together with her and found a friend in a Logitech Boombox.

First impressions:

• Voice recognition is excellent - both in English as well as in German.
• The interaction is intuitive, very intuitive
• Alexa is immediatly accepted 
• The app which allows customisation and also the skills do not yet unleash the full potential

The potential is huge - no doubt. Yes, there are things which work better on a conventional device today. We are by now used to browse through large lists and alike. With voice there is the need to move a few steps further - understand the meaning of a question in the context and provide a tailored and short but meaning full answers.

Alexa today can be compared with the Netscape navigator - an early browser which was key for the evolution of browser technology and the web.