Two Voice Devs
Episodes
Episode 68 - My First Steps in Voice
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is difficult to believe that the Google Home launched just over 5 years ago, and Alexa just celebrated its 7th birthday. Allen reminisces about his...
Episode 67 - Pre PostAPL Posting, Posted Post PostAPL
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ever have an idea that you just can't shake? Mark had an idea for an APL processor based on the PostCSS processor, but it wasn't quite working out the...
Episode 66 - Cheering Up Designing Speech Markdown
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes you get into a funk, and you need a little bit of self-care to just deal with a week. Maybe you like talking to a friend when you're in that...
Episode 65 - Widgets and Other Wonders
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen continue talking about the most recent hardware announced from Amazon and how this may mark a change, for both Alexa and the Google Ass...
Episode 64 - Hardware: Building It and Buying It
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark is joined by fellow Alexa Champion Darian Johnson to talk about Darian's various hardware projects, from a smart mirror to an Enterprise computer...
Episode 63 - Back to (APL) Basics
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon has been going all-in with Alexa Presentation Language recently, and Mark has been taking a deeper dive into it and working on some custom comp...
Episode 62 - ˈfoʊnimz ænd mɔr
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
That's "Phonemes And More", as in the SSML Phoneme tag, and some other tags that are now available for the Google Assistant. Allen and Mark discuss ho...
Epsiode 61 - Picture Plus
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark has updated his Picture Guesser skill with some new features, and he and Allen discuss what went into these new features. What developer componen...
Episode 60 - Put More Pep In Your Prompt
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do your messages and prompts to your users just drone on and on? Are people begging your voice agent to stop talking and get back to work? Do you fall...
Episode 59 - Count to Five
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by a design presented at VoiceLunch US/Canada, Mark and Allen discuss how we would implement the design - consisting of keeping a "score" abo...
Episode 58 - Everything's Pretty Routine
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Both the Google Assistant and Alexa have routines - ways you can create your own phrases to do things. But what do developers need to do to make routi...
Episode 57 - Who Ya Gonna Call?
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most voice skills and actions will need to work with a database or contact another service, and the most common way to do that is with an API. Web API...
Episode 56 - The Unhappy Path
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Conversations don't always go to plan, and your conversation designers may specify how to handle error recovery. But what are the basic tools we have ...
Episode 55 - I Have A Little List
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When we have a list of information to display on the web or on a mobile device, there are a variety of tools that we can use to manage that list. But ...
Episode 54 - Of the World
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, Amazon announced the latest class of Alexa Champions, and Google announced the first GDEs for a new project category. Outstanding achievemen...
Episode 53 - What's coming soon? Alexa Live Review
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At "Alexa Live" last week, Amazon bombarded us with a pile of new features that developers will soon be able to take advantage of. Mark and Allen talk...
Episode 52 - The Anniversary Show!
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen, with a little help from our friends, celebrate one year of Two Voice Devs by looking back at some of the things that have stood out fo...
Episode 51 - Deprecation Station
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Things change, sure, but what happens when the platform you've developed for deprecates and removes a feature you were using? How do you adjust? Allen...
Episode 50 - "Hey Google, Talk to Two Voice Devs"
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our 50th episode! Amazing! Thank you everyone who has been part of this along the way. We figured this would be a golden opportunity to launch an Acti...
Episode 49 - Ready for Release
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You've designed the conversations, you've written the code, everything is tested. You can release your skill or action now publicly, right? Well, not ...
Episode 48 - To Bixby and Beyond!
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Roger Kibbe guest hosts, along with Mark, to discuss what he does as a Developer Evangelist for Samsung's Bixby, how Bixby is different, wh...
Episode 47 - Lessons Learned the Hard Way
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Experience helps you to not make mistakes. But how do you get experience? By making mistakes. And between Mark and Allen, they've made plenty of mista...
Episode 46 - Hey Google, Show Me The Money
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eventually you're going to want to monetize your Google action and one way to do that is through in-Action transactions. Mark and Allen go over the di...
Episode 45 - Alexa, Show Me the Money
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eventually you're going to want to monetize your Alexa skill, and one way to do that is through In Skill Purchases (ISP). Mark and Allen go over the d...
Episode 44 - Promises, Promises
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Now that Google I/O has been completed, Allen and Mark discuss what new features have been delivered for the Google Assistant... and what has just bee...
Episode 43 - "Live" From Mountain View, California
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week is Google I/O, where Google regularly takes the opportunity to release what's new and coming "soon" in the Google ecosystem. Mark and Allen ...
Episode 42 - All Onboard!
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 38, we talked about the general process about handling users when they start our skill or action. But what do we do in the specific case of...
Episode 41 - Bug Hunting
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do your skills or actions work on the first try? Of course they don't! That's why we have to find good methods of tracking down and squishing those bu...
Episode 40 - Be... Your... Best!
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a lot of ways, #VoiceFirst development is like any other programming. But not quite. There are always some good things we need to remember as we bu...
Episode 39 - Voice Wants You!
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've gotten a number of questions about developers from other fields getting started in voice. What do Ilarna and Allen think about that? Can it be d...
Episode 38 - Hello, Greetings, and/or Salutations
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Make sure you get your conversation off to a good start with a good welcome message. While you'll rely on your conversation designer to make it sound ...
Episode 37 - Count on It!
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Keeping count of things, how often a user has asked for help or visited your skill/action, can be a useful tool conversation designers want. But how c...
Episode 36 - Pete and Repeat
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Implementing "repeat" is one of the Intents that the review teams from both Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant require. But they don't really give ...
Episode 35 - Gaming the System
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Did you notice that Mark was nominated for a Project Voice award for game development? To celebrate, we chatted about the tools he used to create his ...
Episode 34 - Voice your HTML
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We complete (for now!) our review of display technologies for voice. Mark dove into a project using Vue and Web API for Games for Alexa, and he compar...
Episode 33 - Presenting: APL!
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Allen has some questions about the Alexa Presentation Language (APL), so who better to ask than one of the contributors to apl.ninja, Stuart Pockingto...
Episode 32 - Intents? Events? Don't be tense!
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of built-in Intents do Alexa and the Google Assistant provide to developers directly? How do they differ from each other, and what kind of p...
Episode 31 - Speedy Service with a Smile
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Five to seven seconds. That's how long you have for your Alexa Skill or Google Assistant Action to reply to a request from the user. And while that do...
Episode 30 - What CAN you do?
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We received a question from Rebecca Evanhoe asking if there was a way to determine the features of our assistant device for a conversation. Mark and A...
Episode 29 - Analytics Buffet with a side of Performance
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Following on from our previous episode about debugging, Allen and Mark discuss the related topics of analytics. Although there are tools from Alexa an...
Episode 28 - Bug Busters!
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Debugging is the bane of most developers, but it can be particularly tricky when it comes to voice - between the remote nature of it and the rapid res...
Episode 27 - Guests, Games, and Gap Years
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For our first guest host, we're thrilled to welcome Ilarna Nche! She chats with Allen about how she got started developing with voice, some of her ins...
Episode 26 - Canvasing Smart Displays
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Allen thinks that the Interactive Canvas feature on the Google Assistant is one of the best technologies it supports, but Mark has a few questions abo...
Episode 25 - What's New With You Two?
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Breaks are good times to get some coding done, so what have Allen and Mark been up to recently? Turns out, there are some updates with Speech Markdown...
Episode 24 - Looking Forward: 2021
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! At least we hope it is. Mark and Allen take a glimpse at the year ahead and discuss what we hope the new year will look like for voice...
Episode 23 - Looking Back: 2020
31 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With 2020 finally coming to a close, Allen and Mark look back at the past year - both personally and professionally.
Episode 22 - All I Want For Christmas is a New Release
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! Mark was busy working on his new game, Snatch Words, and Allen provided some help getting it working wit...
Episode 21 - Getting the Game On
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you played Snatch Word or Cross Talk yet? Mark and Allen chat about what it's taken to get their recent games developed and a bit about the under...
Episode 20 - Dialogflow and DynamoDB
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mark is getting ready to release his new game, Snatch Word, but there are a couple of details to work out. So he and Allen chat about what it's taking...
Episode 19 - Oh Say Can You CMS
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We often talk about skills and actions being "all about the content", but how do we manage that content if its so important? In a content management s...
Episode 18 - Thank YOU!
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the US, today is Thanksgiving. Allen and Mark would like to thank all of you for watching and listening, but also some people who have meant so muc...
Episode 17 - Byte by Byte Putting it Together
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Building for voice is more than writing a simple program and you're done. A good voice skill or action has many components that work together. Mark an...
Episode 16 - One Little Spark of Inspiration
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Even before you start with a blank editor, you're faced with coming up with the idea. When it comes to Voice - what inspires us? Allen and Mark talk a...
Episode 15 - The Times They Are A-Changin'
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With all the confusion about Daylight Saving Time transitions finally behind us, Mark and Allen discuss all sorts of ways to handle time on Alexa, the...
Episode 14 - The Past is Prolog
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Where we are now has been shaped by our past. In light of this, Allen and Mark discuss how we got to this moment. What technologies and jobs have we h...
Episode 13 - The Right Tool For the Job
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen discuss the tools they use to build Skills and Actions, and some of the tricks to make a developer's life a little easier and more prod...
Episode 12 - One new feature list just going up, and one even longer going down
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when new features are released? Why, Mark and Allen break into song! And discuss the latest new features developers for Alexa and Google ...
Episode 11 - Where to Read the Friendly Manual
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Google Assistant Console: https://console.actions.google.com/ Main docs page: https://developers.google.com/assistant Codelabs: http...
Episode 10 - Top 10 Torments
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For our milestone episode we wanted to change it up a little. So we present our Top Ten issues that we see with the major platforms as developers.
Episode 10 Teaser
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We have something special planned for our 10th episode! Curious what it might be?
Episode 9 - The Missing Account Linking
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Authentication and Authorization are some of the more difficult concepts that most developers end up having to deal with at some stage. Mark and Allen...
Episode 8 - Permit Me, Please
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As developers, the more information we can get about people talking with our skills or actions, the better the conversation will be. But privacy is a ...
Episode 7 - A different Type of show
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We never know where our conversations go, sometimes. This time, Mark and Allen chat about Intents, Slots, Types, Entities, Parameters, and the whole c...
Episode 6 - Do you see what I hear?
03 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Just because our skills and actions are Voice First doesn't mean they are voice Only. Alexa and the Google Assistant have a long history of supporting...
Episode 5 - Outages and contexts and storage, oh my!
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Did you notice some Actions were having problems last week? Allen and Mark certainly did! So this week, we're talking about what seems to have caused ...
Episode 4 - Tracking the Wily Audio
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In an audio-first environment, you want to sound like a movie or TV soundtrack... but with interaction and dynamic responses. With Google's flavor of ...
Episode 3 - Open Source Projects
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We both have open source projects that we contribute to in the voice community. We talk about our two top ones, Speech Markdown and Multivocal, what t...
Episode 2 - Conversations
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Allen chat about tools we use to build conversations for Alexa and the Google Assistant. Ranging from new tools, such as Alexa Conversations ...
Episode 1 - Action Links and Quick Links
01 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Learn about Action Links for Google Assistant and Quick Links for Amazon Alexa. A comparison of the features for each voice assistant platform. ...
Episode 260 - Turn Your AI Agent into a Voice Agent With Microsoft Foundry
01 Jan 1970
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Tucker explores Microsoft Azure's "Voice Live" feature within the newly rebranded Microsoft Foundry. He demonstrates how to take a ...
Episode 261 - The Great Holid-AI Rebus Battle
01 Jan 1970
Contributed by Lukas
Get ready for the ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN of holiday cheer and artificial intelligence! In this SPECIAL HOLIDAY EPISODE, Mark and Allen aren't just exch...