Amazon Echo Skills Kit SDK

@carl669 This could absolutely happen, I'm confident. Where are the devs?!

@DaveInSoCal picked it up in the preview days for $99. Just added Dominos and Uber skills, and saw that Woot had one. It's supposed to tell you the deal of the day. These days it probably would rattle on for hours..

@DaveInSoCal I've got one. It is probably the best voice recognition I have encountered. I think it is pretty awesome.

@Sabre99 I agree, though the functionality is still quite limited. It understands everything I say, but I get the same answer every time. 'cant find the answer to the question you asked'.

@DaveInSoCal I have it. don't expect answers beyond easily queried questions (how far is it to the moon? how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?). just ask her for news, weather, and music. also IFTTT triggers (specifically "trigger find my phone" is great).

@DaveInSoCal Here you go.
http://smile.amazon.com/b/?node=14047587011
$89, and now you have a use for all those Bluetooth speakers.

@rockblossom But you need one to order one :)

@sohmageek Well, there's always a catch ...

@rockblossom Ordered one. I'll let you know. Strange though, you can only order one by asking Alexa. You can't just order it online.

@Mehrocco_Mole The Amazon roll-out of the Echo was ... odd. Originally, it was $99, but you had to get put on a waiting list to order it. I said: "Oh, why the hell not." and added myself to the list. Finally got a ship date. Then the ship date moved. Then moved out another 2 months, and I took myself off the wait list. I immediately got an e-mail from Amazon that said (I'm paraphrasing here): "Wait! If you still want the Echo, we will ship it three days from now!" So I said: "Oh, why the hell not." And waited. It did not ship on the day specified, or the day after. So I cancelled the order. And I immediately got an e-mail from Amazon that said (more paraphrasing): "Wait! If you still want the Echo, we will ship immediately and give you $10 back!" So I said: "Oh, why the hell not." And the Echo arrived 2 days later with the remote control. Final cost: $89. And I looked at Amazon and said: "You are one weird company."

And after setting it up, I realized that if I was far enough away from the Echo to need a remote control, I wouldn't be able to hear Alexa answer. The remote now sits at one end of the house, where I only use it (with the "Simon Says" command) to scare the pants off people in my kitchen at the other end of the house.

And now you can order an Echo Dot, but only if you already have an Echo. You have to own one to get one. So I look at Amazon and say: "You are one weird company."

@djslack BTW this was a very cool suggestion! I picked up the Fire TV to check it out as well and no wait on inventory.
The Alexa integration with Fire TV is slightly different. Not always on obviously, you have to press a button the remote to activate Alexa. Also some features are missing, such as Pandora and Kindle integration. Those features might be coming down the road.
Still it was amazing voice recognition quality, and I can get started on testing a Skill right away. Thanks for pointing this out.

@devtony Looking forward to some videos of your work!

@devtony yay! YAY!

@devtony Automated speaker dock purchase perhaps? Be "FIRST Meh" in each and every forum topic without lifting a finger! Cool.
Ooooo... forum stalking. @shawn spreading wisdom? Catch it all! @MrsPavlov posting? Add a "Fuck it" comment for her enjoyment and increase the count.
Oh the possibilities are endless!

@Mehrocco_Mole I love the forum stalking idea. And naturally I think SDF auto-purchase is kind of a must. Probably have to include that as some kind of TOS. "The installer of this skill agrees to automatically purchase a speaker dock on Fridays if offered..."

I'm guessing the first things implemented will be account independent - reading the deal of the day with the price, if it's sold out, reading the story, that kind of thing. However I'm assuming that Meh uses Oauth2 which should make for some easy account integration. That will be fun. :)

@devtony Wow- that's about in my price range. I hope they make it available to all prime members.

No echo? No problem. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-order-an-amazon-echo-dot-without-an-amazon-echo/

@djslack This worked! And I have until the end of March to decide if I really want it. Thanks! And the tap and ask is available for pre-order for $129.

@devtony The Tap has the battery which is why you have to physically tap it to turn on. Battery good for 9 hours of music. More if you leave it in its charging cradle (I assume) The Dot is an Echo without the fancy speaker. It still plugs into the wall and is always on.

@Mehrocco_Mole And you can buy one of these from MorningSave so the Dot looks like an Echo.

@sammydog01 Nope. Going to hardwire it to the stereo and BT it to the Sony Solo. That way the wife gets to keep the Echo in the bedroom.
I noticed that someone sold a Dot on eBay for $150. Hmmm... I did order two of them...

@Mehrocco_Mole Oh yup I got the battery thing reversed. I guess if you want a battery for your Echo (Hmmm, I wonder if this works with the Dot?) you have to go here: https://www.echobattery.com/

I was kind of thinking of tinkering with a battery-powered Echo for flying drones. With my voice. (Alexa, tell drone to ATTACK!)

@devtony But you still need wifi so unless you have a mobile hot spot it won't go too far.

@djslack I'm trying to figure out if the work around was a mistake or a brilliant move by Amazon to get more sales.

@sammydog01

Enjoy her. I ended up cancelling my order for the Dot a few weeks ago since I couldn't justify the order in my mind.

@sammydog01 my dot is sitting on my front porch, waiting for me to get home from work. I hope it's cool.

@djslack It is sooooo cool!

@sammydog01 Can you get Alexa to talk to your smartphone assistant (if you have a device)?

@dashcloud I have no idea. But she plays music for me!