preface

I remember a discussion I had with my coworkers not long after I got my Amazon Echo. I had been lucky and bought one on a whim when Amazon first announced the device, and I didn’t have to wait months like many of my colleagues did. I told them it was pretty great, but it wasn’t perfect. “You’re used to waiting for a computer to start listening to you. With the Echo, you almost have to train yourself to speak naturally.” That’s right. Amazingly, the problem was that it worked too well. I, of course, wanted to extend this thing and bring my own spin to it. I had to wait a few months, but eventually Amazon brought “skills” to Alexa. I dove right in, at that time building exclusively for my own benefit.

Google’s announcement of the Google Home device was welcome news, too. I rely on so many Google products day-to-day. My music provider of choice is Google Play Music, my wife and I chat during the day on Hangouts, I use Google Calendar, and more. My interest was strong enough that I flew to the United States just to pick up a device. (Well, that and to see my then girlfriend, now wife, who was still living in Brooklyn.) Of course I was going to start building Actions for the Assistant, too.