Amazon Echo or Echo Dot owners will soon be able to control a number of video streaming services using Alexa, Amazon's voice-enabled smart virtual assistant.
Earlier this year, Dish introduced a hands-free TV feature that allowed users to control their DVR using only Alexa, letting them search for shows, load apps, and more by barking commands at their Echo or Echo Dot.
Amazon Outs Video Skill API
Now, Amazon is opening up that functionality to all developers, which will make it possible for video streaming companies to develop their apps to support Alexa voice control going forward.
"Companies can now teach Alexa how to interface with their video content and services. This means you can build experiences that allow your customers to easily find and consume video content without invoking a specific skill," announced Amazon in a blog post.
For instance, users can ask Alexa to play a specific movie without mentioning a particular video streaming site or service. Thanks to the new Video Skill API, Alexa will be able to determine what devices users have and which services they're subscribed to. Developers can then design skills around this ecosystem, making their applications integrate directly with Alexa's video capabilities, which in turn will enable users to control their content without even clicking anything or lifting a finger.
It's a pretty useful skill in theory. Of course, developers have to take advantage of it first to truly hone its potential. Getting to control your content by searching for shows using your voice and asking your smart virtual assistant to play certain content is hardly a technological leap — in fact, why wasn't this available in the first place? At least, though, it's finally here.
How It Works
For Amazon Echo owners, it's as easy as saying "Alexa, find dramas" or "Alexa, tune to HBO." They'll be able to see the commands fulfilled on their preferred video streaming devices, explains Amazon.
The company says that a number of companies are already using the Video Skill API, including Dish, YouView, and Netgem. Other developers who may be interested in getting started with the skill should head over to Amazon's getting started blog to read and familiarize themselves with the process and mechanisms.
Amazon is increasingly exerting its efforts to make Alexa the world's best digital assistant. Most recently, the company beefed up the assistant's wake word engine, making sure that Alexa only responds when customers actually call her, preventing it from waking up from accidental triggers.
But more than anything, Amazon wants to share its technology with other developers, giving them tools and developer kits that have been crucial in making Alexa great. For instance, Amazon outed its far-field voice recognition technology to third parties just this past April.
"Since the introduction of Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, device makers have been asking us to provide the technology and tools to enable a far-field Alexa experience for their products."
So it did.
Thoughts about Amazon opening up its Video Skill API to other developers? What features do you think could this API bring into the fore? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
