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Programming

Amazon Opens Up Echo's Alexa To Developers 26

Posted by samzenpus from the talk-to-the-speaker dept.
mikejuk writes: Amazon announced Echo, a wireless speaker with a built-in, voice-controlled, personal assistant called Alexa last year. Now it appears Alexa will no longer be tied exclusively to Echo. Amazon has announced that the Alexa Voice Service (AVS), the cloud-based service behind Echo, is being made available for free to third party hardware makers who want to integrate Alexa into their devices. To propel developers and hardware manufacturers interest in voice technology and their adoption of Alexa, Amazon has also announced a $100 Million Alexa Fund, open to anyone, startups to established brands, with an innovative idea for using voice technology.
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Amazon Opens Up Echo's Alexa To Developers More

Amazon Opens Up Echo's Alexa To Developers

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  • The only thing that's amazing about this is that I got email spam about this new "development possibility" before the story was even on slashdot (yes, I have bad spam filters). It's so ridiculous how companies apparently think that it's ok to send unsolicited email just because my address shows up on google play for an android app. Avoid at all cost is therefore my take-away.

    • It's so ridiculous how companies apparently think that it's ok to send unsolicited email just because my address shows up on google play for an android app.

      That's not how it works, it's both better and worse than that. Odds are, they bought a list from someone who swore up and down that the list was legit, and they carefully avoided finding out anything bad about the list provider so that they would have plausible deniability on their side. The list is often of such low quality that it actually has to be cleansed of a significant percentage of non-valid addresses, but hey, do that and use it, because you like having a job, right?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You're an android developer, you probably just signed up for it while you were high.

    • "It's so ridiculous how companies apparently think that it's ok to send unsolicited email just because my address shows up on google play for an android app."

      If you use your real email address for something you don't want any email from, you should be on Digg instead of here.

  • $100 Million to listen to us. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    So amazon is spending $100 Million put mics in peoples houses and stream them the audio? Then they just need to have an AI edit it into E-Books and they will get their investment back!

  • That name sounds Russian - are we sure this isn't recording stuff for the KGB?

    (Of course for national security we wouldn't mind if it was just sending info to the NSA/FBI/CIA)

  • Premium spyware (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I remember those times where the spooks came to your flat to install expensive listening-in equipment while you were away (perhaps in an "appointment with the police"? Or perhaps just shopping).

    They did that on their own fucking money.

    Today folks *pay* for this kind of equipment *out of their own purses*, and the spooks are not the only ones listening in.

    What the fuck has happened here? Somehow Aldous Huxley was right.

    • Today folks *pay* for this kind of equipment *out of their own purses*, and the spooks are not the only ones listening in.

      You mean like a combination microphone/speaker/gps/internet traffic monitor you carry around with you all day long every day? Like that kind of equipment? The echo is tame in comparison.

  • I've been using and abusing Alexa for months now and find it more and more useful. They add features constantly.

    • I'm glad for you. I tried Amazon Fire TV stick and it sucks pretty bad - making me suspicious of Amazon's competence at software. Didn't even try Echo.

  • anyone remember that old three stooges skit where curly dresses up like a maharaja, speaking gibberish to moe and moe 'translates'?

    it would be too funny to hack one so that you would say 'Maha?" and it would respond "Aha!" and then spurt out some curly-like gibberish.

    that's about all I can think of to make the 'echo' useful.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JimMcc ( 31079 )

      Oh for mod points. You sir would get a +1 funny.

      You're thinking is along the lines of my desire to own the Heathkit robot when it first came out. I wanted one with the "arm" so I could program it to chase the cats around the house all the while yelling out "Danger Will Robinson. Danger!"

  • Echo's voice recognition is good, but the intelligence behind it just isn't there yet. I'm curious if the SDK for it will mean more usability, but for now it's (for the most part) an audio streamer, timer, clock, and shopping list maintainer...

  • So many people here keep complaining about Amazon's ulterior motive to plant mics in your home and spy on you. The only thing they care about is to sell you more music/books/movies/stuff. In fact, it is against their business interest to do anything funny.

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