foreword

As an Alexa Evangelist, I work hand-in-hand with developers and brands from around the world in creating delightful voice user interfaces (VUIs), and I get to meet a lot of interesting and creative people. They range from novice developers curious about this new trend to seasoned pros with experience in creating Alexa skills. Dustin is not only a pro, he went a step beyond by writing this book. So when he asked me to write a foreword, I happily accepted, as I knew the quality of his work. This is a practical book, and one that you can use to quickly get up to speed on one of the defining technologies of our time. “Defining technologies of our time? Slow down, Max!” you might be thinking—but hear me out.

I grew up surrounded by the marvels of science fiction. My younger years were filled with talking cars and computers that were accessible from anywhere and seemed to know everything. Today, these entertaining fantasies of the past have become reality.

Cloud-based voice services, such as Alexa, are now able to understand us and our endless variety of voices and accents. Now our cars are able to converse with us. We can ask our living rooms to be warmer and our headsets when the next bus is coming. We are living the beginning of an era in which ambient computing will give us easier access to technology from wherever we are.