Building Alexa Skills? Amazon Launches New Site to Help Voice-First Developers

Amazon launched a new website today to help brands and developers build applications, or skills, for Alexa. In other words, it's a good day to go voice-first. "Customers are interacting with technology in the most natural way possible – by talking," Amazon says. "Now is the time to create engaging experiences for your brand." Amazon's Alexa is a digital assistant that lives in Echo, a home appliance, and increasingly in other objects such as robots, toys, smartphones, and cars. It uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing, along with cloud-based connections to hundreds of devices, to help you get information, control your environment, and simplify your life.