tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18261610298784352712024-03-13T01:33:47.141-07:00Amazon Alexa SkillsAmazon Echo & Alexa
Krzysztof Willmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17577628346598707101noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826161029878435271.post-30981259579992809962016-08-24T10:48:00.000-07:002016-08-24T11:23:43.184-07:00Amazon Echo's Music Streaming Service <h2 style="text-align: center;">
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Amazon Echo's Music Streaming Service</h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1XMfZsNYYFifXzAuXPKVo3OKbhG-A3Mo0wu1D0U5hukUHIvJyhyLgCEViZr47sFk4nB8-NKorUPI0UeNTM6kAerU8JRy0oSrBFqzXCYcgd_uDD1cO5bKK4LMkrBD0a2raHO46EAnlKs/s1600/clef-799256_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1XMfZsNYYFifXzAuXPKVo3OKbhG-A3Mo0wu1D0U5hukUHIvJyhyLgCEViZr47sFk4nB8-NKorUPI0UeNTM6kAerU8JRy0oSrBFqzXCYcgd_uDD1cO5bKK4LMkrBD0a2raHO46EAnlKs/s320/clef-799256_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/clef-music-lines-notenblatt-799256/">Pixabay</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There have been talks that Amazon wants to release a stand-alone music streaming service, but it's their <a href="http://hubpages.com/technology/Amazon-Echo-In-depth-User-Review-of-Alexa"><b>Amazon Echo</b></a> owners that may benefit the most. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-could-launch-cheap-music-streaming-service-for-the-echo-only/">Amazon could launch cheap streaming music-streaming service for the Echo only</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It appears that their original idea of releasing their own music service will still stick, but now they want to expand that idea with an additional tier:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: large;"><b>$5 per month ad-free streaming option for Echo users only </b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-size: large;"><b>$10 per month ad-free streaming option for any device</b></span></li>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These two tiers would expand on Amazon's own Prime music and make getting an annual Prime membership worthwhile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Their current streaming service could also use the catalog boost.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How Would It Benefit Echo Users? </span></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTHIPirOZMGNN_q9cwGM_A5t9F6ECy1rzqWuUrKa1LcUlt-Lj-EdfNQS5Cwbxt_7uDht2wtRSqMKSFMV_pFi4PI9JZqKUyDA3PZnZ99O0FmvjpEy_tREgvm6hKpmsFOqZ6-pfRE_Jlio/s1600/25219116374_d567611979_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTHIPirOZMGNN_q9cwGM_A5t9F6ECy1rzqWuUrKa1LcUlt-Lj-EdfNQS5Cwbxt_7uDht2wtRSqMKSFMV_pFi4PI9JZqKUyDA3PZnZ99O0FmvjpEy_tREgvm6hKpmsFOqZ6-pfRE_Jlio/s320/25219116374_d567611979_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/131292477@N08/25219116374/in/photolist-EqwyFh-HGuDE7-HGuD3W-GVArPT-HRgfMD-s64bQr-HRgg8t-HRgfUn-HRgg38-qrKFKV-aEpN4T-8cXFvp-q96BLz-dJEWe8-5BEQu-9qoAj1-dAi7pp-r4fNrM-dYLney-Hq36PK-dYLngj-h4CMxQ-r46KfR-dYEELa-5W2Pu6-F5cFMj-dYEEAF-dYLn7s-dYLn57-7FU1z4-dYLndd-dYEEJx-dYLnp5-dYEEse-dYEEHr-dYEEqT-dYLnn5-dYEEC8-dYLnvs-GZbBCY-GZ5DY1-GZ5F3A-GBVc59-GZ5Dks-9VepYJ-GZ5DtU-GZ5Eeb-GC1MwA-GZ5EFo-GZ5Dxm">Flickr</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If Amazon can snag deals with major music labels, then their new service would not only be cheaper than other competitors (Apple Music, Spotify), but it would breathe new life into the Echo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Amazon Echo products have been doing well, but they need that marketing push that a powerful streaming service could provide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This would benefit users because they'd have all the smarts of the Echo hardware and a cost-efficient music-streaming service to boot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Would It Challenge Competitors?</span></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6mqESIbTY2a41KZW2O-GCVLzjqbRcUQdHve9LViPOkHU5xGzk0d1JpZLpr0QgTaob94qBkLmhtOT5Nn37IzuopqHiqXfz28g_18pkrk6wyQKtiH8nnyZBT2nI_eb7XEucvePRkCQiJc/s1600/2117106319_1436691c04_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6mqESIbTY2a41KZW2O-GCVLzjqbRcUQdHve9LViPOkHU5xGzk0d1JpZLpr0QgTaob94qBkLmhtOT5Nn37IzuopqHiqXfz28g_18pkrk6wyQKtiH8nnyZBT2nI_eb7XEucvePRkCQiJc/s320/2117106319_1436691c04_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jooon/2117106319/in/photolist-4e5HX6-5RSLU9-oQih4g-83Qrw6-avPTyn-5UHByT-7E6ZqH-7BSCrM-5xme8Z-9jUx1M-bmbvmf-bmbuid-bz6o6c-5KECBn-bz6oKi-bmbuUm-bmbvVq-obNfGJ-bz6pzv-bmbv7d-bmbu2q-bz6nH4-bmbtL9-bz6mwT-bmbtPo-bmbuHo-bmbwdu-bmbvZu-bmbu5N-bmbvBS-bz6oiT-bmbwhE-57B7we-bmbwzS-bz6pJz-bmbtXw-bz6pDF-bz6pka-bz6pgt-bmbuCu-bz6mMp-bz6n42-bmbwuC-bz6nTa-bz6ooM-bmbuxf-bmbwYq-bz6otT-5RNs6r-bmbw9m">Flickr</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Again this would all depend on who Amazon can get on board, but consumers have been waiting for less expensive music offerings for years now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Amazon's Prime ecosystem already gives members far more bang for their buck than any other service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/30/business/media/music-streaming-guide.html?_r=0"><b>Apple Music, Spotify and a Guide to Music Streaming Services</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If members and Echo users only had to pay an extra $5 per month to get what competitors like Spotify offer, then it would move Prime forward. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For now we'll have to wait and see what happens, but you can attest that it does make buying the Amazon Echo a little bit sweeter. </span></div>
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Krzysztof Willmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17577628346598707101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826161029878435271.post-11237342023626942772016-08-22T13:40:00.001-07:002016-08-24T11:25:03.535-07:00Most Useless Amazon Alexa Skill? <br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What's the Most Useless Amazon Alexa Skill?</span></b></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0cY0IZEmt_e0fUI0heOCKVv-kOUzAaHkOx5CDk7hcIUUIC2lfS1M6xru9lrpdShMPARG2Htx9ZA4_SEPEOxqfX84P0t4PBl9cGKCSnSl1QSmDNnqq_PQkLlZxwAj12qugiYgp_wG6AM/s320/calculator-428294_640.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/calculator-the-hand-calculate-count-428294/">Pixabay</a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0cY0IZEmt_e0fUI0heOCKVv-kOUzAaHkOx5CDk7hcIUUIC2lfS1M6xru9lrpdShMPARG2Htx9ZA4_SEPEOxqfX84P0t4PBl9cGKCSnSl1QSmDNnqq_PQkLlZxwAj12qugiYgp_wG6AM/s1600/calculator-428294_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">There are <a href="https://turbofuture.com/consumer-electronics/The-20-Best-Amazon-Echo-Skills-in-the-Alexa-App" target=""><b>1000's of Amazon Alexa skills</b></a> for your Echo devices, but one skill is particularly useless in what it does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That dishonor goes to the <span style="font-style: italic;"><u>"Calculator"</u> </span>skill, which simply doesn't make any sense to perform.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">According to this skill, these are the following tasks it can do:</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Standard addition and subtraction </b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Multiplication and division </b></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And that's it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">You can't perform advanced mathematical equations like square roots, decimals, fractions, or other operations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But hey at least it tried right....Nope! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I will give the skill credit that it generally does what's intended, but again what's the point?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Your Echo devices, by default, can already solve basic mathematical equations without a needless application. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So you may ask yourself, maybe there's more to it and that more things are coming right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Well when I looked up the skill's description in the Alexa app, it stated that more features were coming, but this application has been out for several months. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">How long could it possibly take to add in a few more features? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Applications like these are partly why the <i><b>"1000's of available Alexa skills" is very misleading</b></i>.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In reality, there are only a few dozen that actually come in handy on a daily basis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In the link at the top of the post, I highlighted what I believe are the 20 best Amazon Alexa skills you can find right now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And those few good ones are real gems that anyone with an Echo product needs to look into, and they make it easy to distinguish the useful from the nonsensical. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But regardless of how pointless some skills are, I think it's a good thing that we're constantly adding more abilities to the Amazon Echo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Let's just hope that Amazon decides to throw out the completely nonessential as its arsenal continues to grow. </span></div>
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Krzysztof Willmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17577628346598707101noreply@blogger.com0