JSJ 274: Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith

JSJ 274: Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance SmithOn today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services![01:00] – Introduction to Terrance SmithTerrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software.[01:30] – Amazon Voice ServiceWhat I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not.[04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything.[05:50] – Skills KitSkills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth.[07:00] – Steps for programmingWith the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service.[10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS LambdaBoilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way.[11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo?At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options.[12:35] – Machine learningThere are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP.[16:40] – Amazon Echo ShowYou have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet.[27:20] – ChallengesThere’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved.[29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device?Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit.[32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server?Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way.[33:10] – MonetizationAmazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list.However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you.[36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughsThe number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options.There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi. If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there.PicksJoe EamesAimee KnightCharles Max WoodTerrance SmithSpecial Guest: Terrance Smith.

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Exploring Vibe Coding and the Future of Product Management with Gunnar Berger - JSJ 690

Exploring Vibe Coding and the Future of Product Management with Gunnar Berger - JSJ 690

In this episode of JavaScript Jabber, I sit down with Amazon product leader Gunnar Berger to dive into the fast-evolving world of vibe coding and how it’s reshaping the relationship between developers and product managers. Gunnar brings a wealth of experience from his years in IT, Citrix, and now Amazon, and shares a unique perspective on how AI tools are changing the way products get built—from idea to prototype.We talk about the shifting role of product managers, how AI is compressing traditional workflows, and what it means for developers, UX designers, and even junior devs entering the industry. From rapid prototyping to AI-assisted documentation, Gunnar opens up about both the opportunities and the challenges this new paradigm introduces. Whether you’re a developer, product manager, or just curious about where AI is taking us, this conversation is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.Links & ResourcesGunnar Berger on LinkedInCloud CodeCursorKiro.devIf you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate, review, and follow JavaScript Jabber on your favorite podcast app. And of course—share it with a friend who’d love to learn more about the future of coding and product management!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

12 Syys 1h 13min

How to Use Web Components, Iframes, and Module Federation for Multi-Framework Apps - JSJ 689

How to Use Web Components, Iframes, and Module Federation for Multi-Framework Apps - JSJ 689

This week on JavaScript Jabber, we dive deep into the challenges and opportunities of mixing and matching frontend frameworks in modern applications. I’m joined by Dan Shapir, Steve Edwards, and our special guest Hadar Geva, CTO and co-founder of Myop.dev. Together, we explore how companies are tackling multi-framework environments, the role of web components and iframes, and why module federation isn’t always as simple as it sounds.We also take a closer look at how AI is changing the way developers and even non-developers generate code, the risks of integrating AI-written components, and strategies for safely managing that code in production. If you’ve ever struggled with legacy frameworks, integrating AI-generated components, or wondered whether web components or local iframes are the better fit—this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.Links & ResourcesMyop.dev – Hadar’s company, building solutions for mixing and managing micro-frontends.Web Awesome – Web components library mentioned during picks.AG Grid – Heavy-duty data grid solution.TanStack Table – Lightweight table solution by Tanner Linsley.ShadCN UI – Component library for modern React apps.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

2 Syys 1h 17min

Why We’re Building the Front End Wrong (and How to Fix It) - JSJ 688

Why We’re Building the Front End Wrong (and How to Fix It) - JSJ 688

In this episode of JavaScript Jabber, I sit down with Delaney Gilliland to dive into why most of us are building the front end wrong—and what a faster, leaner, and simpler alternative could look like. We explore his background in game development and military applications, which gave him a unique perspective on web performance and real-time data challenges. That perspective ultimately led him to create Datastar, a new framework designed to rethink the way we approach front-end development.We talk about the limitations of SPAs, the promise (and pitfalls) of tools like HTMX and Turbo, and how Datastar builds on web standards to deliver speed, efficiency, and simplicity without the baggage of heavy state management. Whether you’re curious about server-sent events, morphing strategies, or just want to see how front-end development could be done differently, this conversation will get you thinking about the future of the web.Links & ResourcesDatastar official sitehttps://x.com/DelaneyGillilanhttps://github.com/delaneyjBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

28 Elo 46min

Vibe Coding: Building Faster with AI-Powered Development - JSJ 687

Vibe Coding: Building Faster with AI-Powered Development - JSJ 687

In this episode of JavaScript Jabber, we dive deep into the world of vibe coding—what it means, how it works in practice, and why it’s changing the way developers build software. I’m joined by Anthony Campolo, who shares his hands-on experience developing AutoShow, an app that automates podcast show notes, using AI-assisted workflows. We talk about how tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini accelerate development, the role of rule files, and the balance between automation and manual QA.Along the way, we explore the impact of LLMs on junior vs. senior developers, how companies are adapting AI-driven coding practices, and whether the future of software development still requires humans in the loop. This conversation blends real-world coding insights, practical tools, and some big-picture questions about where AI is taking the industry.Check out Anthony Campolo here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

22 Elo 1h 11min

The Next Wave of Dev Tools: AI Assistants and JavaScript Workflows - JSJ 686

The Next Wave of Dev Tools: AI Assistants and JavaScript Workflows - JSJ 686

In this episode of JavaScript Jabber, we sit down with Vinicius Dallacqua, a seasoned software engineer with a passion for performance and developer tooling. Vinicius shares his journey from coding in central Brazil with limited connectivity to building cutting-edge tools like PerfLab and PerfAgent. We dive into the intersection of AI and DevTools, exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming performance debugging, web development workflows, and even the future of browsers.We also tackle the big questions: How do developers avoid bias when building in high-performance environments? What role will agentic browsers play in the evolution of the web? And how can AI-powered DevTools lower the barrier for developers intimidated by performance profiling? If you’re curious about the future of frontend performance, DevTools, and AI-driven development, this conversation is packed with insights.Links & ResourcesPerfLab – Performance tooling platformPerfAgent – AI-powered DevTools assistantVinicius Dallacqua on X (Twitter)Paul Kinlan’s AI Focus – Essays on AI and the webPerfNow Conference – Leading performance conference in AmsterdamBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

14 Elo 1h 6min

Inside VueConf: Nuxt 4, AI in Development, and the Future of Vue with Erik Hanchett - JSJ 685

Inside VueConf: Nuxt 4, AI in Development, and the Future of Vue with Erik Hanchett - JSJ 685

In this episode of JavaScript Jabber, we welcome back Erik Hanchett, Senior Developer Advocate at AWS, to dive into his experience at VueConf. From the energy of the Vue community to lightning talks on AI and Nuxt updates, Erik shares his insights on where Vue is heading and why in-person conferences are still so valuable for developers. We also explore the balance between “vibe coding” and spec-driven development, plus Erik introduces us to Amazon Q CLI and its powerful MCP integrations for smarter AI-assisted coding.Along the way, we discuss the evolving state of Vue, the rise of Nuxt 4, Evan You’s projects (including Vite and RollDown), and how Amplify is simplifying full-stack app development on AWS. Whether you’re a Vue developer, curious about AI in frontend workflows, or just want to catch up on what’s happening in the broader JavaScript ecosystem, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.🔗 Links & ResourcesAmazon Q Developer CLI on GitHubAWS Amplify DocumentationCommit Your Code ConferenceErik Hanchett on X (Twitter)Program With Erik YouTube ChannelBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

8 Elo 58min

Running Doom in TypeScript’s Type System with Dimitri Mitropoulos - JSJ 684

Running Doom in TypeScript’s Type System with Dimitri Mitropoulos - JSJ 684

What if I told you someone managed to run Doom inside TypeScript’s type system? Sounds insane, right? That’s exactly what our guest Dimitri Mitropoulos did—and in this episode, we dive deep into the how, the why, and the mind-bending implications of this ambitious project. From type-level programming to the philosophical limits of Turing completeness, this is an episode that pushes the boundaries of what you thought was possible in JavaScript.We talk about how the TypeScript type system evolved to become Turing-complete, how Dimitri pulled off this seemingly impossible feat, and why “Doom-complete” might just be the new gold standard for computational capability. Along the way, we touch on functional programming, generics, recursion, and even some Lambda Calculus. It’s part computer science theory, part coding madness, and 100% geeky goodness.Episode Highlights[3:05] – Dimitri explains how a simple thought experiment turned into a year-and-a-half-long obsession[8:40] – The origins and significance of Turing completeness in type systems[14:15] – Why running Doom in TypeScript is more about proving limits than just showing off[19:55] – What it means to run programs inside the type system vs. TypeScript code itself[27:10] – ASCII art as output, functional recursion for game state, and hover-over frames in your editor[35:30] – How ignorance, determination, and obsession fueled the completion of the project[45:20] – Personal insights: balancing family, burnout, and passion while chasing an impossible dreamLinks & ResourcesDimitri MitropoulosMichigan TypeScript YouTube Channel – Dimitri's channel featuring the projectType Challenges by Anthony Fu – Advanced TypeScript exercisesSquiggleConf – The TypeScript-focused conference Dimitri co-foundedJosh Goldberg – TypeScript expert and co-organizer of SquiggleConfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

1 Elo 1h 18min

Preact, Performance, and the Future of Lightweight Frontends with Ryan Christian -JSJ 683

Preact, Performance, and the Future of Lightweight Frontends with Ryan Christian -JSJ 683

In this episode of JavaScript Jabber, we sit down with Ryan Christian, a core maintainer of Preact, to talk all things lightweight, performant, and practical in the JavaScript world. If you’ve ever wondered what makes Preact tick, why it continues to gain traction, and how it compares to the heavyweight champ React—this episode is for you.We get into the nitty-gritty of what separates Preact from React, not just in size but in philosophy. Ryan sheds light on how Preact is engineered for performance, why it's not just a “React clone,” and how its compatibility layer makes it easy to drop into existing projects. Plus, we explore signals, class components, and what the upcoming Preact v11 has in store.Episode Highlights[1:23] - Meet Ryan Christian: Preact core maintainer and open-source champion[4:10] - What is Preact, and how does it stack up against React?[10:15] - Preact’s tiny footprint and why size still matters[14:47] - Widgets, adoption, and why Preact powers ~6% of major sites[20:01] - Understanding Preact’s compatibility layer (PreactCompat)[25:40] - Hooks, signals, and modularity: build what you need, nothing more[31:10] - Why Preact won’t follow React into full-stack territory[37:22] - Server components, suspense, and what Ryan recommends instead[43:35] - Frameworks that pair well with Preact: Astro, Fresh, and Remix[47:55] - Sneak peek at Preact v11 and why it sticks with “classic” React experience🔗 Links & ResourcesPreact Official WebsiteAstroFresh by DenoRemixJason Miller’s VTalk on Signals (referenced)Google CrUX Report – for framework usage statsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/javascript-jabber--6102064/support.

23 Heinä 1h 7min

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