Voice In Canada Flash Briefing #260

Hey, it’s Teri here with your flash briefing for November 5th. And today, I’ve got some really cool news for you about Alexa. As you know, up until now, when you talk to Alexa, and you want to set a reminder, you have to explicitly set that reminder yourself. There is no way, at least until now, that a skill could automatically give you a reminder. So I’m going to give you an example; a flight lands, and you want to know when that flight lands.

There is no way for Alexa or the skill to initiate that interaction between you and Alexa because you haven’t started a conversation with Alexa by saying the wake word. Well, Amazon just announced a huge game changer in their development possibilities for people that are creating skills, and what they have said is that they have just released something known as their Amazon Alexa reminders SDK.

Alexa can initiate the conversations with you about certain reminders.

Voice in Canada Flash Briefing Quote 260

What is that? Basically, this now allows skill developers to set up their skills so that if you give permission to the skill (that’s the key. You have to get permission), but if you give permission to the skill, the skill can then automatically initiate the conversation. So again, that flight example, if you give permission to, for example, the Kayak skill, then when a flight arrives, Alexa can automatically alert you that that flight has arrived. Another good example is the official NHL skill. This now will allow Alexa, if you give permission, to tell you 30 minutes before your favorite team steps on the ice.

So, I think this is really cool. This is gonna open up a huge amount of functionality with Alexa, and this is something that has really been lacking, and this is actually gonna be a game changer I think, because now, instead of you just having to initiate the conversations, if you give permission, again, that’s the key. Alexa can initiate the conversations with you about certain reminders. So, what do you think about that one? Let me know. I’d love to hear your feedback on this. I think it’s great and it won’t be long before Alexa is giving us some really valuable reminders. Have a great day.

Useful Resources

Listen on your Echo Device! Easy as 1-2-3!

Voice in Canada Skill Logo1. Open your Alexa app and click on the Menu button > Settings > Flash Briefing.
2. Click on “Add Content” and search for “Voice in Canada”.
3. Click on “Voice in Canada” and the Enable button.

Alexa, what are my flash briefings?

Alexa, what’s in the news?

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