Alexa templates make it easy to craft your own skills
Amazon says creating a skill with a blueprint is as easy as filling in the blanks.
If you've ever thought to yourself "I wish Alexa can host trivia night" or "I'll bet Alexa can get people to laugh at my lame jokes," then you'll love Amazon's new offering. The e-commerce giant has launched Alexa Skill Blueprints, a collection of templates you can use to create skills without having to code anything. Amazon says you can whip up skills of your own within minutes simply by filling in the blanks. Want Alexa to be in charge of your weekly trivia get-together? Just customize the Q&A template or the multiple choice trivia template with your own questions and responses. You can tweak the baby or pet sitter templates, so that your sitter can ask Alexa for info they might have forgotten. All they need to do is say "Alexa, open My Sitter." The blueprints will also give you a quick way to create a list of your family's inside jokes and even spin an adventure story with a family member as the hero. If you have an exam coming up, you can also create custom flash cards to help you study. You currently have 20 templates to choose from on the Blueprints website, but you can use them as many times as you want. Any skill you conjure up will be available on all Alexa-enabled devices associated with your account. Amazon also says it'll keep adding more templates to keep the collection growing. Unfortunately, you can only access the skill blueprints if you're in the US, and Amazon didn't say whether they'll eventually be available outside the country.
