InfoQ released an Alexa Flash briefing that reads aloud the latest tech-news available on InfoQ.com.
Although many InfoQ readers look daily at the InfoQ website in order to stay up to date with the latest developments in technology, there are also alternative methods to reading available. The newest addition is available via installing the InfoQ headlines skill on your Alexa enabled device. This flash briefing skill gives you an update on the latest trends in software, and summarizes the content into a briefing less than two minutes in length.
The skill is available wherever Amazon has English Alexa skills:
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMWGNNL
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinch-of-intelligence-InfoQ-Headlines/dp/B07KMWL7QH
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Pinch-of-intelligence-InfoQ-Headlines/dp/B07KMZ22ZH/
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Pinch-of-intelligence-InfoQ-Headlines/dp/B07KMWKFQ9/
India: https://www.amazon.in/Pinch-of-intelligence-InfoQ-Headlines/dp/B07KMXK1NC
The skill will soon be available in Japanese and French-speaking countries.
Smart speaker usage
Smart speaker usage in homes is increasing, especially during the holidays where the Alexa app was the most downloaded app in the app store. A question that remains is how many people will use smart speakers as their source for their daily news. In a research conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, only 18-21 percent of smart speaker owners listen daily to a newsfeed. Reuters also listed several complaints regarding news on smart speakers, of which the length of a flash briefing was a particular issue that arose. This is why InfoQ's flash briefing is short and information-rich: it keeps you up to date in less than two minutes.
Creating your own flash briefing skill
Amazon made it easy to create skills for their Alexa platform: they can live as serverless Lambda functions. Flash briefings can also be hosted as RSS feed and will be converted to speech using Amazon's text to speech engine. To create your own flash briefing skill one can follow the tutorial Amazon made, together with the tutorial on how to host your skill as a Lambda function.
