Tag: technology

How Do I: create Alexa Skills

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Earlier, I talked about how I use Amazon Alexa in my home.

This month, I launched my third Alexa Skill. You can add these to your [daily] “flash briefing” if interested.

An Alexa Skill is what Amazon calls a voice-enabled app to provide verbal content on demand.

Alexa Skills take little to no coding to create.

As a consumer or user of Amazon Alexa, an Alexa Skill can be found and enabled on alex.amazon.com as a part of Flash Briefing (think of it as a series such as a news feeds you customize to receive in audio form) or as a single on-demand app that informs you by hearing what says. News, sports scores, tips and weather updates are common content supplied as an Alexa Skill, but there are many more Skills available.

As an Alexa Skill creator/designer, anyone can go to developer.amazon.com/alexa to create and test an Alex Skill with little to no coding involved. There is a step by step instructions to:

You get to add what the user would request and receive.

If you want an even easier way to create an Alexa Skill that is less nerdy, take a look at getstoryline.com

Criteria and approval of an Alexa Skill is pretty easy within a day or so.

Here are the first three Alexa Skills I created which are available if you have an Alexa Device:

Another DAM Podcast

Blockchain Billions

User Adoption

These Alexa Skills are three of my most popular podcasts and if you enable them as part of your Flash Briefing, you will not miss any future episodes of these podcasts.

For more on marketing Alexa skills, take a look at alexabusinessmarketing.com

Start building a first voice app today.

 

 

How do I: Check wifi

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We all use wifi. Some countries believe access to it is actually a civil right.

Ever wonder how to find a wifi hotspot in any area?

Try http://google.com/maps and search for “free wifi near me”

How do you check the strength of the wifi signal?

You can run a free test to measure the strength of any internet connection including wifi by visiting http://speedtest.net

Speedtest  has an app too.

Tech Lecture on 2/28: How artificial intelligence can help you today

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As part of a monthly tech lecture series, we will be starting with How Artificial Intelligence can help you today

This lecture will take place Wednesday, February 28, 2018 from 5 pm to 6 pm at the Bluffton Community Library

tech lecture AI poster

 

Starting Tech Lectures in Q1 2018

Launching a new series of technology lectures in 2018…

Where?

These live presentations with Q&A will take place at the Bluffton Community Library free of charge, open to all who wish to attend in person. They will be 1 hour in duration.

When and what topics?

Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 5pm – How artificial intelligence can help you today

Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 6pm – Bitcoin and blockchain explained

Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 4pm – Crowdfunding your own project

Want more?

What tech topic would you like to hear about? Let us know.

 

 

 

Tools I Use: digital mind mapping

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Ryan Holiday explains “The Notecard System: The Key For Remembering, Organizing And Using Everything You Read.”

This system may work in the physical world (I respect that if you need everything to be physical for some reason).  I see all this possible as a digital mind map to minimize duplication (it is just a link or lines drawn to the same dot), less rewriting, simpler organization that travels with you anywhere and easier categorization for those comfortable using digital tools.

I find it interesting to watch people squirm while I explain how I do this using digital tools as they still have a reluctance (resistance) in giving up their legacy methods using paper due to their own comfort zones. If they don’t want to change and get out of their own (way) comfort zone, it is their own problem to solve.

I prefer tools and information to follow me anywhere/anytime rather than going to where it is all physically located in order to review/iterate it. Especially since new ideas are fleeting, need to be captured (vs. vanish with memory) and get linked to other ideas/needs at some point.

Yes, one of the tools I use is digital mind mapping. Not on a paper, but rather fully editable ideas. I find it a good tool for forming and dissecting ideas. Before creating an outline for a book, I start with a mind map. As I continue existing projects, I mind map them.

Mind mapping helps create dots (ideas) and connect those dots (drawing lines/relations) such as:

  1. keywords/keyphrases
  2. related articles (links)
  3. related images (links to drawings, photos, infographics whether they are mine in Google Drive or from the internet)

Then, it becomes clearer to see what gaps are there and which gaps you want to fill.

Once you are comfortable with scope (self-imposed limits) of ideas you want to cover (and what you don’t want to cover), it is easier to form an outline for writing a book.

I also use mind mapping to cover who and what topics I have covered with my podcast interviews and what I want to do in the future.

Here is a list of mind mapping tools you can use (free or paid). I happen to use Mind Meister.

And that is how I use mind mapping. How do you use mind mapping?

Need help with tools like this for your business?

Questions?