"Christmas Jukebox": a new Alexa skill

I've created another Alexa skill: "Christmas Jukebox". This free skill plays some Christmas songs.

You can try it out using an Alexa device (such as a phone using the Amazon Shopping app for Android or iOS, or using a dedicated Echo device [Echo, Echo Dot, etc.]), say something like "Alexa, open Christmas Jukebox". Unfortunately, I don't think the simulator website (https://echosim.io/) supports this skill.

If you want to hear another song, you can say "Alexa, play Next" to go to the next song (it seems to work best when issuing the "play next" command before the current song has completely ended).

I have about seven songs in the skill now. I hope to add more in the coming weeks.

If you like the Christmas Jukebox, please share it with your friends and rate the skill in the store. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions (you can comment below). I'd be happy to consider song requests, but due to copyright concerns (I don't know what it'd take to get permission to use copyrighted song), I'll only be adding songs which are in the public domain (such as songs published before 1923).

See also a related post about my last Alexa skill: https://olioengr.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-to-try-bible-people-in-6-easy-steps.html

How to Try Bible People in 6 Easy Steps

There are only a few days left for my skill to reach the goal of 100 unique users. (A developer perk is at stake here!)

According to the metrics page that I have access to as the developer, it looks like over 70 people have tried out the skill since it was certified by Amazon twenty-something days ago. I'm encouraged that so many people have tried the skill already! I'd like to thank everyone that has already tried out the skill! (Amazon counts users, but I don't know who they are.) 

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or (hopefully constructive) criticism. In addition to improving my existing skills, I also plan to create new skills in the future.

If you haven't tried the Bible People skill yet, you can read my last blog post or follow these instructions that I made:

Have you tried the "Bible People" Alexa skill yet?

I recently created an Alexa skill called "Bible People". Thank you if you've already tried it out!

I'm planning on putting more names into the skill to add more variety to the quizzes and allow more people to be looked-up (the skill has a quiz mode and a look-up mode). The sky's the limit! You can give me suggestions by commenting on this post or contacting me via social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).

If you haven't tried using the skill yet, it's definitely not too late. Here are some tips:

• You'll need to have an Amazon account to use Alexa. Amazon doesn't charge you to set up an Amazon account. (Amazon only charges you if you start buying stuff from them.)
• If you have a smartphone or a tablet that uses either a flavor of Android or Apple software (such as an iPhone or iPad), you might be able to install the "Amazon Shopping" app (which is free). Once you get the app installed, you just click on the microphone icon (you'll need to give permission to the app to use your phone's microphone) and say "open Bible People".
• If you're more traditional (like me) and you have a laptop or desktop computer, you can use the simulator website (you would need a microphone hooked up to the computer).
• The easiest way to use Alexa is to use a dedicated Alexa-enabled device. (But those cost money and it might not be practical to get a dedicated device in your house just to try out my skill.)
• If you want to try to use the skill, but you're running into issues using on of these avenues, just let me know because I'd like to provide assistance.

Amazon's Alexa developer promotion from last month included a challenge to reach 100 unique users. How close is my "Bible People" skill to reaching the 100 unique user goal for its first month? Amazon gave me a "metrics" page to see how many people have been using the skill. It's hard for me to tell for sure. I might be halfway there. Or maybe I'm getting close to halfway there. (I've definitely been making progress, though I'm not sure what aggregation I'm supposed to use for their 100-unique user goal.) So feel free to tell a friend today if you like the skill or think they might be interested.

Amazon has another Alexa developer promotion for October, so I'm thinking about creating a new skill this month. I'm accepting suggestions if you have an idea for my next skill!

"Bible People": a new Alexa skill

I recently published an Alexa skill called "Bible People". This skill lets you take a quiz about people in the Bible or ask for information about a particular person. I'm a big fan of the Bible, and my hope is that this skill would promote Bible knowledge.

I had fun developing the skill, and I'm curious what other people think about it. You can comment on this blog post or post a review in the Alexa skill store. If you'd like to suggest that you friends and family try the skill, I'd appreciate the endorsement.

Alexa is Amazon's digital assistant technology (similar to how Apple has Siri, Microsoft has Cortana, etc.). You might already have an Alexa-enabled device (or you might have a device that could access Alexa with a little effort):

• Alexa can be used from a dedicated device (such as an "Echo" or "Echo Dot" device from Amazon).
• You can also use Alexa from an Android or iPhone device by installing the "Amazon Shopping" app (Google Play store; iTunes store). Once you install the app, you can click on the microphone button at the top to talk to Alexa (such as, "tell me a joke" or "launch Bible People" if it's enabled).
• On a desktop (or laptop), you can use the Echosim.io website. Similar to the phone app, you'll need to click on the microphone button.

If you have an Alexa-enabled device, you'd need to enable the skill first. You can enable my skill by visiting the Alexa website (or if you have the Alexa app on your phone, you can search for "Bible People" by OlioEngr Development). To use the app, you would tell the device "Alexa, launch Bible People."

Besides "Bible People", I've released three other Alexa skills:

• Element Quiz ("Alexa, open Element Quiz.")
• Ice-Breaker Topics ("Alexa, open Ice Breaker Topics.")
• Fun Words ("Alexa, open Fun Words")