To delight and educate kids, Sesame Workshop launched an Alexa skill that features Elmo, one of Sesame Street’s most famous characters. Now, with a parent’s consent, kids can say, “Alexa, Ask Sesame Street to call Elmo” and start engaging with the Muppet character via voice.

Since we introduced Echo Show, developers have been optimizing their Alexa skills to create experiences that deliver new ways for customers to interact across voice and graphical user interfaces. Follow our tips to avoid common certification issues on Alexa skills intended for Echo Show.

Developers can earn money for the most engaging Alexa skills across more skill categories. Each month, developers of eligible skills with the highest customer engagement in the US, UK, and Germany are paid by Amazon. 

With the release of the Echo Show, you can complement your voice user experiences with visuals. In this post, we’ll cover scenarios where you want to offer a list of options on Echo Show using one of the list templates.

Nestlés' GoodNes skill is accompanied by a unique GoodNes visual guide, which connects to consumers’ web browser on their computer or tablet to offer what Nestlé calls a “visual voice browsing” experience.

Today, we’re excited to announce we’re teaming up with Galvanize to train Alexa developers across the US in 2017. Galvanize will bring Alexa skills workshops to seven locations starting in August.

The Royal Opera House skill for Alexa delivers performance information whenever customers ask. Customers can simply say, “Alexa, ask the Royal Opera House what’s on this weekend,” and Alexa responds with the information customers need to plan ahead for shows.

One of the top drivers of negative feedback on skills is account linking. This is not surprising since it is one of the more complex features to implement. We have attempted to distill the feedback into a set of best practices.

The opportunity lies not in the individual devices but in creating seamless experiences for homeowners, says Bethesda Systems President Jon Stovall.

We are happy to announce that lock control and query capabilities are now also available to developers building skills for the UK.

In just weeks, Brookfield Residential built a fully-functional, Alexa-powered model home in its newest subdivision.

When designing your skill to work on Echo Show, choose one of the available templates based on the interaction pattern you plan to use. Each template maps to a pattern or scenario for an optimal customer experience.

Today we are excited to introduce entertainment capabilities as part of the Smart Home Skill API. Now customers can easily control cloud-connected TVs, AV Receivers, IR Hubs and even connected speakers without invoking a specific skill.

Today we announced that we now enable companies to control entertainment devices with the Smart Home Skill API in the Alexa Skills Kit. Here is an overview of how to connect your TVs, AV Receivers, IR Hubs, and even connected speakers to Alexa.

We designed Echo Show so that the screen augments and enhances what skills offer to customers. You can complement your skill interactions with imagery, blocks of text, video, list navigation and selection, touch input, and more.