bjnord

bjnord

Build Talking Apps for Alexa: Device setup (chapter 1)

@habuma Hello: The only Alexa device I have is my Kindle Fire, which has the Alexa app installed. I can say “Alexa” to it and do the usual things (“What time is it?” etc.). It’s linked to my personal Amazon account (e.g. I can see all my Kindle books). I was able to create my Amazon Developer account (linked to that same personal Amazon account), do the “ask new” and customizations etc., and then do the “git push” to deploy.

I can see “starport-75” Skills on the Alexa web console, and I can interact with it just fine on the web. But when I tell the Kindle Fire “Alexa, open star port seventy five” she says “OK” and then opens an app called “Star Sport & Sub” in the app store.

My question is how I troubleshoot this. How do I see what devices I own that are associated with my Amazon developer account, which should be able to use skills I deploy? How would I associate a device with my Amazon developer account if it isn’t already? etc. I poked around on both sides and I can’t see anyplace to see or make the association.

Thanks,
Brent

Marked As Solved

habuma

habuma

Author of Build Talking Apps for Alexa

That’s a really good question…one that I’m going to attempt to answer (but may fail to adequately address). While I have SEVERAL Alexa devices in my house (and even a handful that I carry around with me), I do not own a Kindle Fire, so my experience with that particular device will be entirely speculation.

Assuming that your Kindle Fire is associated with the same Amazon account that you developed and deployed the skill with, it SHOULD just work. But, I can see a few gotchas that might prevent it from working.

When you asked Alexa to open “Star Port Seventy Five”, she may have misheard what you said as something else that (at least to Alexa) sounded like “Star Sport & Sub”. After all, those two things are named such that they sound similar. Moreover, the Kindle Fire doesn’t quite have the same level of sophisticated array of microphones that a real device would have, so the likelihood of being misheard is greater.

One thing you might try doing is going into the Alexa Companion app or https://alexa.amazon.com and go to the “Skills” section. From there find the “Star Sport & Sub” skill and disable it. This will give you a slightly better chance of hitting the right skill the next time you try.

If you’re still struggling, you could try changing the skill’s invocation name to something completely different to see if you have better luck.

Of course, it might also be that the device isn’t associated with the same account that the skill was deployed with. So, as you asked, how can you know? The best way to find out, I’d think, is to sign into https://alexa.amazon.com or into the companion application on iOS or Android and go to the “Devices” section (on the website, I think it’s under “Settings” if I recall correctly). Be sure to sign into the Alexa website or companion app with the same credentials as you signed into developer.amazon.com when setting up the ASK CLI. If the Kindle Fire is listed, then it’s probably a matter of Alexa mishearing what you said. If the Kindle Fire isn’t listed, then that device must be associated with some other account.

One other thing: You say that the only Alexa device you own is the Kindle Fire, but you could have a few others you didn’t think about. If you have the Alexa companion app installed on your phone, it can also be used as an Alexa device. If you have an Apple Watch or iPhone, you can also install Voice in a Can and use it as an Alexa device. I’ve also tinkered a little with an app called Ally for iOS which turns your phone into an Alexa device. And then there’s the Developer Console, which gives you the chance to speak to Alexa (or type at her if you prefer) that serves as a device.

Also Liked

habuma

habuma

Author of Build Talking Apps for Alexa

Awesome! So glad to here that you sorted it out!

Testing-wise (and automated testing notwithstanding), I tend to test my skills using whatever Echo device is nearby. While you don’t need a real device to test, there’s nothing nearly as rewarding as hearing the results on a real device. I also frequently use the Alexa app on my phone if I don’t have a device nearby (such as when I’m away from home). In short, it sounds like you’ll be able to test with the Kindle Fire, but if you continue to enjoy this kind of thing, I’d recommend a small investment in an Echo Dot or some other device.

Where Next?

Popular Pragmatic Bookshelf topics Top

abtin
page 20: … protoc command… I had to additionally run the following go get commands in order to be able to compile protobuf code using go...
New
ianwillie
Hello Brian, I have some problems with running the code in your book. I like the style of the book very much and I have learnt a lot as...
New
jdufour
Hello! On page xix of the preface, it says there is a community forum "… for help if your’re stuck on one of the exercises in this book… ...
New
raul
Hi Travis! Thank you for the cool book! :slight_smile: I made a list of issues and thought I could post them chapter by chapter. I’m rev...
New
jskubick
I’m under the impression that when the reader gets to page 136 (“View Data with the Database Inspector”), the code SHOULD be able to buil...
New
adamwoolhether
I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, but I’m unable to have to containers successfully complete the Readiness/Liveness checks. I’m im...
New
New
s2k
Hi all, currently I wonder how the Tailwind colours work (or don’t work). For example, in app/views/layouts/application.html.erb I have...
New
gorkaio
root_layout: {PentoWeb.LayoutView, :root}, This results in the following following error: no “root” html template defined for PentoWeb...
New
dachristenson
@mfazio23 Android Studio will not accept anything I do when trying to use the Transformations class, as described on pp. 140-141. Googl...
New

Other popular topics Top

PragmaticBookshelf
Take your Go skills to the next level by learning how to design, develop, and deploy a distributed service. Start from the bare essential...
New
AstonJ
Or looking forward to? :nerd_face:
498 13326 269
New
dasdom
No chair. I have a standing desk. This post was split into a dedicated thread from our thread about chairs :slight_smile:
New
PragmaticBookshelf
From finance to artificial intelligence, genetic algorithms are a powerful tool with a wide array of applications. But you don't need an ...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Learn different ways of writing concurrent code in Elixir and increase your application's performance, without sacrificing scalability or...
New
Maartz
Hi folks, I don’t know if I saw this here but, here’s a new programming language, called Roc Reminds me a bit of Elm and thus Haskell. ...
New
New
sir.laksmana_wenk
I’m able to do the “artistic” part of game-development; character designing/modeling, music, environment modeling, etc. However, I don’t...
New
AstonJ
If you’re getting errors like this: psql: error: connection to server on socket “/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432” failed: No such file or directory ...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Explore the power of Ash Framework by modeling and building the domain for a real-world web application. Rebecca Le @sevenseacat and ...
New

Sub Categories: