Two Voice Devs
Episodes
Episode 168 - Defining Retrieval Augmented Generation
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What started as a casual conversation between Mark and Allen turned into a brief exploration of what Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) means in the...
Episode 167 - What Does Bard Have to Say to Devs?
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, before Google's annual hardware event, Allen teased part of his prediction about Google Assistant and Bard. This week, we'll show t...
Episode 166 - What's Next at Google Cloud Next 2023
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Google Cloud Next conference is a massive display of the latest technologies and products available from Google Cloud - from AI to Zero-Trust solu...
Episode 165 - Speaking of LLMs and Alexa...
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mark shares the exciting news that Amazon Alexa will soon have a #VocieFirst #ConversationalAI LLM chat mode! While Allen agrees that this is very exc...
Episode 164 - VOICE + AI 2023 Recap
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Noble and Allen take a look back at our experiences at this years VOICE + AI conference. What were the big topics being discussed? The amusing moments...
Episode 163 - Using Google's MakerSuite PaLM API for Analytics
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Allen and guest host Linda have a wide ranging conversation, from Linda's career path and her experiences as a Google Developer Expert for Google ...
Episode 162 - Previewing Voice+AI 2023
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We're just days away from the annual VOICE+AI conference, hosted this year in Washington, DC. Both Allen and Noble will be speaking (and hosting a...
Episode 161 - LangChain JS + Matching Engine = ?
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Allen and Mark revisit a conversation from episode 146 where they discovered Google had a Vector Database. Now, several months later, Allen has done s...
Episode 160 - So You Downloaded an LLM. Now what?
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This seems like an easy question, right? If you want to do #ConversationalAI or #GenerativeAI on your own machine with a model such as Llama 2, you ca...
Episode 159 - What's New With APL 2023.2?
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon has made some changes to the Alexa Presentation Language, dubbing this version 2023.2, and Allen is a bit confused about what these updates bri...
Episode 158 - Picture an Embedding, If You Will
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the neat features we've seen come out of the #GenerativeAI and #ConversationalAI explosion recently has been the attention being paid to te...
Episode 157 - Three Years... and Still Going!
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three years of Two Voice Devs! There's no doubt that the #VoiceFirst industry has changed over that time, with the rise of #GenerativeAI and #Conv...
Episode 156 - Go with the Dialogflow CX Flow
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest Host Xavier Portilla returns to chat with Allen about some of the latest additions to Dialogflow CX. New system functions make some of the proce...
Episode 155 - New Alexa Slot Type is Wild!
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest host Xavier Portilla joins Allen to take a look at a new slot type that the Alexa team has in public beta. How can this new type be used? How do...
Episode 154 - The Philosophical Developer
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest Host Leslie Pound joins Allen to discuss her perspective on software development and #GenerativeAI and how, rather than trying to translate our ...
Episode 153 - Between Fuzzy and Discrete With LLMs
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Noble Ackerson returns to discuss about a recent presentation that Allen made to the Google Developer Group NYC chapter where he illustrates how #Gene...
Episdoe 152 - What's the Intent of OpenAI Functions?
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Allen is joined by Noble Ackerson to discuss the latest feature that OpenAI has included with it's GPT models. Functions provide a well defined wa...
Episode 151 - Requiem for Conversational Actions
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Google completed the "sunset" of Conversational Actions for the Google Assistant. Mark and Allen discuss the ups and downs of Act...
Episode 150 - Another Look Backwards and Forwards
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Another milestone episode! Mark and Allen take advantage of the event to look back at our predictions from episode 100, look back at how #VoiceFirst d...
Episode 149 - Recent Projects: Cards and Chains
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's been a busy week! What have we been up to? Mark has released a new set of cards that summarize and illustrate different AI concepts. Called &...
Episode 148 - AI Voodoo With Vodo Drive
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
SO MUCH packed into this episode! Recently, Allen participated in a hackathon sponsored by VoiceFlow, and he used the opportunity to explore ways that...
Episode 147 - Google AI/O 2023 Recap
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's Google I/O time again! And although Allen couldn't attend in person, he and Mark review the latest announcements relevant to #VoiceFirst ...
Episode 146 - Visions of Vector Databases
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We've touched on the use of vector databases as we've started to explore how LLMs and conversational AIs can be useful, but what are they and ...
Episode 145 - Alexa Widgets are Here!
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Long teased, the ability for developers to create Alexa Widgets is finally generally available! Mark, an Alexa Champion, has had access for a while no...
Episode 144 - Experiments With LangChain (Part 2)
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We're still exploring what LangChain can do, and this week we dive into a tutorial put out by the Voiceflow team that discusses some ways that it ...
Episode 143 - Experiments With LangChain (Part 1)
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past few weeks, Mark and Allen have been playing with LangChain and OpenAI, exploring where #ConversationalAI and #VoiceFirst design intersec...
Episode 142 - More From APL 2023.1
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The latest update for the Alexa Presentation Language, APL 2023.1, has been out for a little bit, and Mark and Allen already discussed one of the bigg...
Episode 141 - Workin' on the LangChain (Part 2)
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest host Noble Ackerson returns to tie all the pieces of LangChain together and help Allen understand what it does, why it is an increasingly valuab...
Episode 140 - ChatGPT Plugins (and Voice Agents?)
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With the announcement last week that ChatGPT will soon be supporting plugins, Mark and Allen explore what this means for developers, particularly deve...
Episode 139 - Workin' on the LangChain (Part 1)
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Allen has been trying to get into building apps that include LLMs, and has been hearing a lot about the LangChain library. But trying to understand it...
Episode 138 - Time After Time
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Daylight Saving Time ending in the US last weekend, Mark and Allen figured it would be a good... time... to take a look at what date and time fea...
Episode 137 - Analytics and BigQuery
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Google's Universal Analytics sunsetting, everyone is looking at what other tools are available to record user activity in our skills and chatbots...
Episode 136 - What To Do With Stuff That's New
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We've been exploring some new tools, concepts, and libraries - Mark has been looking at tools to do Named Entity Recognition, while Allen has been exp...
Episode 135 - Simple STT with Picovoice and Leopard
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you're working on a #VoiceFirst application that requires Speech to Text in a controlled environment (for example, on an embedded device or in a me...
Episode 134 - All About (Speech) Mark
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of our favorite #VoiceFirst features (and not just because of the name) has come to Alexa! Allen and Mark (the real Mark) discuss the new onSpeech...
Episode 133 - Dialogflow Deeper Dive
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our previous episode, Allen and Mark talked about the differences between Dialogflow ES and CX and how both had a notion of front-end integrations....
Episode 132 - Discussing Dialogflow
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many #VoiceFirst developers know of Dialogflow as a Natural Language Understanding (NLU) system. But is there more to it? Mark and Allen discuss what'...
Episode 131 - Going Google for the Chat API
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know Google Chat has an API? That you can build bots for? And that it can even integrate directly with Dialogflow, PubSub, or Google's App Scr...
Episode 130 - Must Check Microsoft Chatbots
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How is a chatbot different from what we usually think about in the #VoiceFirst world? There are parallels, so Mark discusses some of his recent explor...
Episode 129 - Wondering About Alexa Widgets
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More third party widgets are becoming available for Amazon Alexa, so Mark takes the opportunity to share what he can about how widgets work, how they ...
Episode 128 - Looking Forward to 2023
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As we kick off the new year, Allen and Mark look ahead at what's coming (or what we *hope* is coming) in the #VoiceFirst world this year. From Amazon ...
Episode 127 - Looking Back at 2022
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the end of 2022 looms, Mark and Allen look back at some of the highlights of the show, of #VoiceFirst development, of working with Amazon Alexa and...
Episode 126 - The Twelve Days of Voice-mas
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wishing you the warmest of holiday seasons from all of us at Two Voice Devs and the #VoiceFirst Community Choir. Featuring Jeff Blankenberg Maaike Co...
Episode 125 - Chatting About (and With) ChatGPT
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The biggest buzz the past few weeks have been about ChatGPT from OpenAI, with some folks in the #VoiceFirst community pondering how this is going to c...
Episode 124 - On the Downside
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The tech industry isn't always full of better and better things happening. Sometimes... there are setback, reassignments, poor sales, and layoffs. The...
Episode 123 - About App Actions
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As Google has been sunsetting conversational actions, they've been ramping up with support for the new App Actions for Google Assistant. Mark and Alle...
Episode 122 - Once Again, Our Thanks
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We'd like to extend our thanks to so many people in the #VoiceFirst community, our jobs, our family... and you, our listeners.
Episode 121 - Why Voice Isn't a Stretch With VoicePT
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark sits down with Brett Adler, developer of the award winning VoicePT skill, to discuss his background in software development, low code and no code...
Episode 120 - Live and In Person at VOICE22
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When you're seeing each other for the first time in 3 years, you make it an event! That's what Mark and Allen recently did when they met up at the 202...
Episode 119 - Reading Alexa's Signature
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Not every technology we deal with in Voice is a #VoiceFirst technology, sometimes we need some "adjacent" skill. This week, Mark discusses some recent...
Episode 118 - Voicing Thoughts on Glass' Future
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Allen may be well known for coordinating his wardrobe with his Google Glass, but he's also as passionate about Glass as he is about Voice. With recent...
Episode 117 - VOICE22 Perspectives and Presentations
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Now that Mark and Allen have returned from #VOICE22, they take a look at what the summit was like a share a bit about their presentations. Allen talks...
Episode 116 - Spreadsheet Voodoo with Vodo Drive
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What does it feel like to talk with a spreadsheet? That's the core question behind Vodo Drive (pronounced like "to-do"), one of Allen's big projects f...
Episode 115 - Author! Author!
07 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do you learn new skills in the #VoiceFirst arena? How do you share what you've learned with others? A week before the Voice Summit, Mark and Allen...
Episode 114 - Rules And Regulations (Part 2)
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
No matter if you're building an app for the iPhone or Android, a Google Action, or an Amazon Alexa Skill, there are guidelines that you need to follow...
Episode 113 - Rules And Regulations (Part 1)
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
No matter if you're building an app for the iPhone or Android, a Google Action, or an Amazon Alexa Skill, there are guidelines that you need to follow...
Episode 112 - Beyond the Assistants: Getting Input
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you're building your own #VoiceFirst app outside the assistants, you'll also need to think about how you get input from people. Fortunately, there ...
Episode 111 - Beyond the Assistants: Sending Output
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Not every assistant needs to be part of Amazon Alexa or the Google Assistant. What if you're developing your own voice assistant? How do you take care...
Episode 110 - Building a Jovo Plugin
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark's been on a roll recently, converting many of the utilities he's built as part of writing Amazon Alexa Skills and Google Assistant Actions into o...
Episode 109 - Verify and Verify Again
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Making sure our #VoiceFirst applications are written securely and use secure components is important. And when one of those components has a security ...
Episode 108 - It's a Developer Challenge!
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Allen and Mark chat about the Amazon Alexa Skills Challenge: Aging & Engaging event that is currently in progress that offers cash prizes to devel...
Episode 107 - Skill, Book, and Handle
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest Host Craig Walls joins Allen to discuss his latest book on #VoiceFirst development for Amazon Alexa, Build Talking Apps for Alexa, as well as wh...
Episode 106 - Supporting Open Source: Sanity and Jovo
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark goes over the latest open source package that he's developed with his company, RAIN, for the #VoiceFirst community. This allows developers to bui...
Episode 105 - What's New From Alexa Live 2022
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Amazon Alexa ran their annual developer event, Alexa Live, where they showcased a number of new #VoiceFirst features for Alexa. Mark and Al...
Episode 104 - Two Years, Two Voice Devs
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's our Second Anniversary show! In addition to a few kind words from our friends, Mark and Allen celebrate by sharing what goes on behind the scenes...
Episode 103 - You Get A Badge! And You Get A Badge!
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Open Source components can be incredibly useful when building your #VoiceFirst Skill or app. Allen asks Mark about his latest Open Source project, Bad...
Episode 102 - Iterating Intents Intentionally
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Based on a question from StackOverflow, Allen and Mark explore the question about how to handle a #VoiceFirst scenario where the user needs to provide...
Episode 101 - What Have You Learned This Week?
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With Mark and Allen's plans to explore some new tools and features for #VoiceFirst developers, we discuss what we've been playing with for the past we...
Episode 100 - Looking Back, Looking Forward
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the occasion of our 100th episode, and with big changes in the #VoiceFirst industry from Google and beyond, Mark and Allen take a moment to look ba...
Episode 99 - APL: What's New in 2022?
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon has introduced an update to the Alexa Presentation Language, which allows #VoiceFirst developers to create more dynamic visuals. Mark and Allen...
Episode 98 - Gaming and Gates
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Based on a question from Will Rongholt, Mark and Allen discuss different approaches to implementing a #VoiceFirst game for Alexa skills or Actions on ...
Episode 97 - Jovo Community Plugin Tools (Part 2)
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As we do #VoiceFirst development for platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Actions on the Google Assistant, we often find patterns in how we should inter...
Episode 96 - Jovo Community Plugin Tools (Part 1)
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As we do #VoiceFirst development for platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Actions on the Google Assistant, we often find patterns in how we should inter...
Episode 95 - Google I/O 2022 Recap
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of year again! Google I/O! When Google rolls out the latest tools and products for developers and everyone else to use. While Allen cou...
Episode 94 - Multivocal + CMS = ?
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With a basic understanding of how multivocal helps you create a configuration-driven #VoiceFirst app, Allen and Mark discuss how a configuration-drive...
Episode 93 - Configure Conversations? Multivocal!
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Allen has been talking about multivocal for years, but what is it, and what does it do for developers? He and Mark talk about some of the underlying c...
Episode 92 - AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Functions
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, AWS announced that their Lambda functions could now be invoked directly via HTTP, rather than having to go through another AWS service to ac...
Episode 91 - Bringing the Voice CMS to Sanity
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the last episode, Mark demonstrated some of his work on Jovo that would lead towards a #VoiceFirst CMS integration, and Allen commented "now all yo...
Episode 90 - How Jovo Works (With a CMS)
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ever have one of those weekends where you have a programming idea, and you just can't get it out of your head, so you decide to code it? We all have! ...
Episode 89 - Dealing With Databases
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Based on a question from Dana Gibson, Mark and Allen discuss some of the complexities when it comes to building Actions on Google for Assistant or Ale...
Episode 88 - OAuth Weirdness, Wisdom, and Woes
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An important feature in Account Linking with both Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant is how they both integrate with existing authorization systems...
Episode 87 - Voice Content Management Systems (Part 3)
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With another week to ponder the implications (and implementation), Mark and Allen are both pretty excited to discuss some thoughts around what a #Voic...
Episode 86 - Voice Content Management Systems (Part 2)
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Allen and Mark continue their conversation about Content Management Systems in a #VoiceFirst world and how developers could use a CMS to both simplify...
Episode 85 - Voice Content Management Systems (Part 1)
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to #VoiceFirst applications, we often say that "content is king". But creating great conversations are also part of the content, and req...
Episode 84 - Building a Chat App With Voice?!?!
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What #VoiceFirst technology would we use to build an Alexa Skill or Google Assistant Action that allows us to chat with our friends? That's the questi...
Episode 83 - Invocations Start It Up
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Let's get this #VoiceFirst app going! Mark and Allen chat about some of the complexities when it comes to starting your Google Assistant Action or Ale...
Episode 82 - What Is Modality?
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Frequent listener JT asked us to explain what "modality" means. Good question, JT! Allen and Mark tackle the question to try and explain it, how it is...
Episode 81 - HTTP For You And Me
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen take a look at one of the foundational technologies for Alexa Skills and Google App Actions (and all of the modern web) - HTTP. Althoug...
Episode 80 - An Introduction to App Actions
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark is joined by guest host Eliza Camber, an Android developer and Google Developer Expert for the Google Assistant, to discuss what App Actions for ...
Episode 79 - Voice At The Drive-Through
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Voice AI technology is popping up in all sorts of different places, but one place that has gotten lots of news recently has been seeing #VoiceFirst pr...
Episode 78 - When Things Go Wrogn
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ever have one of those days (or weeks) as a developer where things don't just go wrong, they go badly wrong? Allen and Mark talk about some of their w...
Episode 77 - A Day In The Life Of A Developer
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen discuss what being a senior Software Developer looks like, for them, on a day-to-day basis, and compares how it may differ for #VoiceFi...
Episode 76 - File Access Frustrations
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A surprising amount of major #VoiceFirst development requires accessing other resource files your Alexa skill or Google Assistant action may need. Fro...
Episode 75 - LIVE!
09 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen are joined by friends from around the world via Twitter Space in a live episode to discuss what 2021 looked like for Amazon Alexa and A...
Episode 74 - And a Partridge In a Pear Tree
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Holidays, everyone! Mark and Allen take a quick look back to see what gifts the #VoiceFirst developer community has gotten for Amazon Alexa and ...
Episode 73 - Getting the Team Back Together
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While your first experiments with #VoiceFirst development may be a solo project, bigger and more elaborate projects will be done as part of a team. Wh...
Episode 72 - Terminology (Part 2)
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen continue their dive into some of the words we use as we develop #VoiceFirst. In this episode: Jovo Multivocal ASR NLP NLU In...
Episode 71 - Terminology (Part 1)
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We use a lot of strange terms in the #VoiceFirst world, so Mark and Allen start diving into some of what them mean and what they mean to us as develop...
Episode 70 - A Moment of Thanks
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We just want to take a moment to thank members of the #VoiceFirst community, those who make developing for Alexa and the Google Assistant better, and ...
Episode 69 - An Intent by Any Other Name
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of an Intent in the #VoiceFirst world seems straightforward - it is what a user is trying to express. But how Amazon Alexa has implemented...