Ultimate Guide to Voice Assistants

It will come as no surprise to those of you reading this (thanks!), that the interest and applications of ‘ ’ is growing rapidly. Amazon Alexa and there is talk around for the next 10,000. I won’t be diving into specifics and discussing issues like . That is not what this post is about. Voice-Assistants recently hit 10,000 skills what will drive adoption retention There are lots of resources & tools, tons of cool products, frameworks, articles and people out there to help you learn about the landscape. 💫 Here are some that I find particularly useful 💫 This post is also on GitHub and open for suggestions, just submit a pull request by VoiceLabs The 2017 Voice Report 🤔 How To Use This : There is very little on the front focusing on Voice-Assistants. does the best one IMO. 📰 News newsletter Matt Hartman ( I’m thinking of starting one too —if you’re interested, sign up below!) : Always interesting to see the companies operating in these spaces. They are broken down into different categories so you can easily jump into ‘Building’, ‘Products’, ‘Analytics’ etc. If you think there are some that need adding, 🍜 Startups tell me here . This is just to outline some companies/funds that are very focused in the space right now. Again, if I’ve missed some worthwhile, 🤑 Funding: tell me here . These are some of the awesome people I follow and have come across. I’ve linked them all, you should check them out. If I’ve missed some worthwhile, you know to 👥 People & Posts: tell me here . Enjoy 😊! 🚀 I’ve launched something: Skills.wtf — A site to find the best Alexa Skills 🚀Also, I’ve added a little note about at the end of this post. A community helping facilitate connections to; an experiment I’m working on - Get a skill made/make skills for people/companies- Find investors active in the field- Intros to other active enthusiasts- Bounce ideas around with others- Advice & mentorship from experienced individuals- Resources and tools to help you build- Discover interesting products and companies 📰 News 🗞 Newsletters _Hearing Voices - This week's news about voice computing apps, delivered directly to your inbox. ..._www.getrevue.co Hearing Voices - Revue The Official Amazon Alexa Developer Newsletter _You have total control over when you want Google Home to respond to your voice commands. Its light states tell you the…_madeby.google.com Made by Google (General Google news + Google Home. Subscribe at bottom of page) 🖥 Websites/Sources _Read writing about Alexa. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about Alexa…_medium.com Alexa - Medium _Read writing about Voice Assistant. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium…_medium.com Voice Assistant - Medium _Read writing about Amazon Echo. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about…_medium.com Amazon Echo - Medium _Read writing about Google Home. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about…_medium.com Google Home - Medium _Read writing about Siri. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about Siri._medium.com Siri - Medium _Read writing about Voice. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about Voice…_medium.com Voice - Medium venturebeat.com VoiceAssistants_on_VentureBeat _The brain behind Amazon's voice powered devices like Echo, FireTV etc._www.reddit.com Amazon Alexa * /r/alexa _r/AmazonEcho is a community centered around the Amazon Echo, or as we like to call her - Alexa. Alexa is designed…_www.reddit.com Amazon Echo | A voice command system that brings the Internet Of Things to your home * /r… _Everything Google Home: tips, bugs, new features, requests, etc._www.reddit.com Everything Google Home * /r/googlehome _WIRED is where tomorrow is realized_www.wired.com VoiceAssistant _Crunch Network Even before smartwatches, I did not wear a watch. I did not buy an Apple Watch or Pebble, despite the…_techcrunch.com Alexa | TechCrunch _Google Home is Google's answer to Amazon line's of voice-powered Echo devices. After announcing Home at its I/O…_techcrunch.com google home | TechCrunch _Learn about Voice applications, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant innovation. A hands-free world is coming, join in!_voicelabs.co Blog _multiplex-past, present, future technology research + insights ☂️_readmultiplex.com @ReadMultiplex _Read the latest Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant news, talking about the newest developments in the Voice-First…_voicelabs.co Press Coverage - Voice-First Industry 📜 General news in space (not Voice specific) _Bringing you the latest in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Neurotechnology_inside.com Technically Sentient _Everything about chatbots. From the makers of BotList_botpublication.com BotPublication _Connecting Technology to the Masses_gomainstrm.com GoMainstrm _Chatbots, AI, NLP, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, and more._chatbotsmagazine.com Chatbots Magazine _Edit description_tinyletter.com Locutius - Letters on Conversational Interfaces by Abi Jones _The O'Reilly Bots Podcast covers advances in conversational user interfaces, artificial intelligence, and messaging…_www.oreilly.com O'Reilly Bots Podcast ideas and resources. — curated by the team Messaging Weekly Smooch — Curated by and the team Chatbots Weekly Omar Pera Reply.ai 🍜 Startups 🗣 Platforms _Actions on Google lets developers build experiences for the Google Assistant._developers.google.com Actions on Google | Actions on Google | Google Developers _Find companies with expertise in designing, developing and optimizing Alexa skills, from agencies and development to…_developer.amazon.com Find Experienced Skill Builders and Tools _I'm open-source, which means you can grab my smarts and put it in a device of your own design. Voice enable your fridge…_mycroft.ai Home - Mycroft _Cortana is your personal assistant, always ready to help you in every situation. See what the world's most personal…_www.microsoft.com Cortana - Meet your personal assistant - Microsoft - Global _Siri on Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch lets you use your voice to send messages, make calls, set reminders and more._www.apple.com iOS - Siri - Apple (UK) _Viv is an artificial intelligence platform that enables developers to create an intelligent, conversational interface…_viv.ai Viv 👔 Companies Capito Systems Cognitive Code — Silvia Mindmeld Nuance Verbio ( ) Raven Tech Acq by Baidu Mobvoi ☁️ Cloud Services Amazon Lex Amazon Polly Google Cloud Platform Microsoft Cognitive Services 🛠 Build - SDKs & Frameworks Assist Alexa Skills Kit Pullstring Conversable Bespoken Tools Api.ai for Google Assistant Api.ai for Amazon Alexa Kitt.ai Sayspring Houndify Smartly.ai Gomix IFTTT Mosaic - Extras This post by is a great place to get started: Brian Donohue _Last night betaworks and Amazon hosted the first NYC Amazon Alexa Meetup to bring Alexa owners and enthusiasts together…_medium.com Build your First Alexa Skill AlexaTutorial How to Build your First Amazon Alexa Skill (eBook) by Rocket Insights _Build your first custom skill in just 10 minutes (no programming experience required)._iot-for-all.com Alexa, What’s for Lunch? _At StdLib (“Standard Library”) we allow developers to deploy functions written in Node.js as infinitely scalable API…_hackernoon.com Build an Alexa Skill in 7 Minutes Flat with Node.js and StdLib _Simple builder for Alexa replies._www.npmjs.com alexa-message-builder 💼 Agencies Xandra Assist Rain Mobiquity Matchbox Solstice SciFutures VaynerMedia Witlingo, Inc. AKQA Razorfish Giant Spoon Iconmobile Newscycle Solutions Blink Mindshare TribalScale Volara Vectorform XAPPmedia, Inc. Unified Computer Intelligence Corporation UI Centric Opearlo VocaliD Conversant Labs Future of Voice 📈 Analytics VoiceLabs.co Opearlo Analytics Witlingo, Inc dashbot Botanalytics 🎙 Products Alexa Skills Store App on and iOS Android Unofficial Alexa Skills Store — list of commands that you can ask Google’s voice assistant OK Google Finie 🤖 Hardware Nucleus Jam Voice Ivee Jibo Whyd Kuri Lynx Hello Egg Triby IO Petnet TrackR Musaic Scout Alarm Garageio Toymail ecobee Luma ring Thalmic Labs embodied Owlet Vesper 🤑 Fundraising Alexa Fund Alexa Accelerator, powered by Techstars Lightspeed Ventures Launch Capital NextView Ventures — Betaworks Get Support from the Alexa Team at Betaworks’ Voicecamp _voicecamp is a program for anyone building within the ecosystem of conversational interfaces._betaworks.com voicecamp 💵 Alexa Fund (All the companies announced) Sutro invoxia Petnet Rachio mojio TrackR Musaic Scout Alarm Garageio Toymail Dragon Innovation Kitt.ai ecobee Luma ring Nucleus Defined Crowd Vesper 👥 People & Posts — General Partner . M.G. Siegler GV On Twitter _Vocal computing has a shot at being the next platform — or more — if the big guys don’t screw it up_500ish.com The Voice _“Voice will never be the interaction model,” they say, out loud, to communicate their thoughts._500ish.com Computing in Concert - partner at + runs . Matt Hartman betaworks Hearing Voices Newsletter On Twitter _The rise of services that live in Chatbots, Voice Computing, & Mixed Reality_render.betaworks.com Interfaces On Demand — people-first investor . Sarah Guo Greylock Partners On Twitter _Part 3 in a series on the Conversational Economy_news.greylock.com The Conversational Economy — Voice and the New Era of Multi-Modal Computing — Reporter at TechCrunch. Sarah Perez On Twitter _The next mainstream computing platform may not be bots, AR, or VR, but rather voice-based computing. According to a new…_techcrunch.com 24.5M voice-first devices expected to ship this year, but apps struggle to retain users — vp at . Patrick Montague betaworks On Twitter _Following the success of 2016’s botcamp, betaworks is pleased to announce camps as an ongoing product line. Each year…_render.betaworks.com Announcing Voicecamp — Freelance writer + developer. Owen Williams On Twitter _For decades the technology industry has been chasing the holy grail of computing: natural language conversation. Humans…_medium.com Google Home changed the way I think about voice assistants — CEO Assist. Shane Mac On Twitter _We are excited to announce that the Assist platform is powering one of the first brands on Google Home, Lonely Planet._medium.com Talk to Lonely Planet on Google Home — Senior Product Manager, Intercom. Hugh Durkin On Twitter _When consumer internet arrived in the 1990s, it ushered in a new age of communication. Free internet chat applications…_blog.intercom.com Why voice will be the dominant chatbot interface - Inside Intercom — Partner, . Aaron Batalion Lightspeed On Twitter _When I was a kid, my computer had a SoundBlaster card. If you were a geek like me, you remember editing your autoexec…_medium.com Skate to where the voice is going… — UX / product design . Johna Paolino General Assembly On Twitter _Two Simple User Experience Design Gestures that Delighted a Female User_medium.com Google Home vs Alexa — Trying to build a better company, every day and . Adam Marchick @VoiceLabsCo Kahuna — Co-Founder / EIR @ The Chernin Group. Alexandre Linares @VoiceLabsCo On Twitter _The Voice Report starts with the underlying hardware devices and works its way up the voice-first stack_read.acloud.guru The 2017 Voice Report — CEO and CoFounder, PullString. Prev, Pixar. Oren Jacob On Twitter — Founder + Editor at . Brian Roemmele Multiplex On Twitter _During the early computer era of the 1960s, it was thought there would only be the need for a few dozen computers. By…_techpinions.com There is A Revolution Ahead and It Has A Voice _“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans”–Apple…_medium.com Apple’s Secret AI Technology: Meet Vocal IQ the self learning technology that is a part of Siri2. — Invented the hashtag; X Uber; Xoogler. Chris Messina On Twitter — Director of User Experience . Author of the O’Reilly book Designing Voice User Interfaces. Cathy Pearl @Sense_ly On Twitter _Edit description_www.amazon.com Designing Voice User Interfaces: Principles of Conversational Experiences — Strategically-oriented product design leader . Trip ODell @Amazon On Twitter _Several times a week, my children host an evening dance party in the living room. The playlist features all the modern…_medium.com Velveteen Rabbits: What a Children’s Story Can Teach Us About Computers that Talk. — Co-founder & Partner at NextView Ventures. David Beisel On Twitter _In the three months since I penned my initial blog post on "Ubiquity of Voice and the Venture Opportunity," I've been…_genuinevc.co Charting the Personal Voice Computing Startup Roadmap - GenuineVC Nithya Thadani — CEO of Rain _Last October, New York-based digital agency Rain worked with Campbell's to find a new way to push out the CPG giant's…_www.adweek.com How This Agency Built Its Own App Using Amazon Echo —I’m an Innovation-Obsessed Founder at Mylestone. Dave Balter On Twitter _Why Voice Assistants may be the answer you’ve been looking for._medium.com “Alexa, How Can I Get Unfair Ecosystem Advantage” — Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Jeremy Liew On Twitter _Games have been a killer app for just about every new platform, from PCs to TVs (via game consoles) to Facebook to…_medium.com Games for Alexa — Co-Founder/CEO Siri & Viv Labs. Dag Kittlaus On Twitter _Why Viv is Joining Forces with Samsung_elevate.samsungnext.com The Path to Intelligence Everywhere — Co-founder of . Jan König HashtagNow On Twitter _Thoughts on Designing Seamless Voice Experiences_medium.com Alexa, Please Send This To My Screen 🚀 - A community helping facilitate connections to; I am working on an experiment - Get a skill made/make skills for people/companies- Find investors active in the field- Intros to other active enthusiasts- Bounce ideas around with others- Advice & mentorship from experienced individuals- Resources and tools to help you build- Discover interesting products and companies 👍 Please tap “♥︎” if you found this useful to help others see it too 👾 This post is also on GitHub and open for suggestions, just submit a pull request 👉 Feel free to follow and reach out on Twitter 🙏 Thanks to everyone who looked at this draft very early on! And perhaps I’ll see you all in the newsletter or 😉 Build Voices Side Note: I have ‘borrowed’ this template from which is an awesome post & newsletter I use to learn about Machine Learning. Thanks The Non-Technical Guide to Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Sam DeBrule 🙌