Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant
developed by Amazon, used in Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Echo
Look, Amazon Tap and Echo spot. These devices connect to the voice-controlled
intelligent personal assistant service which responds to the name
"Alexa". This "wake word" can be changed by the user to
"Amazon", "Echo" or "Computer".
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It is capable of voice interaction, music
playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, playing audiobooks, streaming
podcasts, and providing real-time information like weather, traffic, news,
etc.,. Alexa can also control several smart devices. Users can extend the Alexa
knowledge by adding apps called "skills". We can control these skills
by using Alexa app on any devices.
It was introduced
in the United States of America on November 2014 with limited version, later
June 2015 released full version. It was released in the UK on September 2016;
later in October 2016 it extended its services to Germany & Australia. In
2017 it was introduced in the India, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and other 38
countries.
Alexa
Skill Developers:
Amazon also introduces developer portal
for talented genius, who can add their own apps and skills. Alexa team will
review your skills and certify for public access. Based on the highest customer
engagement, developers are rewarded by cash every month and they will be
notified when their skill eligible for the same. They have several categories
like Education, Food, Games, Trivia & Knowledge, Health & fitness,
Kids, Lifestyle, Music& Audio, and Productivity. Developers can make a
skill based on the location specific like US, UK, etc., As of now Alexa allows
only English(US), English(UK), English(Australia), English(Canada), English(India)
and Japan & German languages.
Amazon Developer Services is a suite of
tools and services that enable a developer to build, test and sell applications
and games in the Amazon App Store. Amazon Developer Services includes software
development kits for building apps for Android or iOS mobile
devices, multiple platform engines, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Alexa-enabled devices, PC and Mac.
AWS
Promotional credits:
Amazon encourages developer with one year
free access for the development environment within their free tier limit. If
their free tier limits exceeds they can apply for AWS promotional credits. If
you have published one or more Alexa skills you are eligible to receive a $100 AWS promotional credit and can also receive $100 per month in AWS promotional credits if you incur AWS usage charges for your skill.
Alexa developers can build and host most
Alexa skills for free using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Many Alexa skill
developers currently take advantage of the AWS Free Tier, which offers one
million AWS Lambda requests and up to 750 hours of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
(Amazon EC2) compute time per month at no charge. However, if developers exceed
the AWS Free Tier usage limits, they may incur AWS usage charges each month.
