Drew Cosgrove's guest appearances

Drew Cosgrove

Voice in Canada Podcast

Voice in Canada Briefcast

Jen Lehner

Andrea Jones

David Ciccarelli

Celine Lee

Andrew Wilson

Jeff Adams

Emerson Sklar

Heidi Culbertson

Nick Schwab

Adva Levin

Pete Erickson

Doug Schumacher

Amy Stapleton

Steven Arkonovich

Dave Isbitski

OwlTail

In this episode, Teri welcomes Drew Cosgrove, an Amazon Alexa Games developer and publisher.Welcome, Drew!Drew spent 25 years in IT but felt he needed to get back to coding, the love of which had drawn him to technology in the first place. When Amazon introduced Echo in the UK, he was a senior IT architect and he knew he’d found just the opportunity he needed to sharpen his skills, and build a rewarding new career as a voice developer. Working in management felt like he was getting farther away from what he really loved to do, so he began looking for a way to get back to his technical roots, and that’s when Alexa appeared.He actually did far more than revive his coding skills; he left the corporate world to work for himself as an Alexa skills developer. In under two years, he has published 30 engaging game skills for Alexa in several languages, attracting over 65,000 active monthly users. As the winner of multiple prizes in the UK’s monthly Alexa contest, Cosgrove says building skills for Alexa has changed his life.BackgroundHe used to work with O2, the UK mobile phone company, and then worked as an IT consultancy before becoming a full-time Alexa skills developer.He creates his games independently and some of his skills are top ranked in Canada.His Top SkillsFeel the Pressure is one of his Alexa Games that are very popular in Canada.Another one is Animal Letters, and this one is never really finished because he keeps improving and changing it by adding more animals, sound effects, and more functionality.He also keeps improving on Feel the Pressure and it has different voices depending on the location, for example, the voice is different in the UK than it is in the US.Developing Skills and the Associated ChallengesThe first challenge he didn’t realize when he started was speech recognition. The technology is much better now than it was in the past, but it’s not perfect. When it works, it’s magical, but when it doesn’t work, it’s terrible.When someone speaks to a smart speaker and it doesn’t understand them, it can be frustrating, and that concerned Drew a lot because his Alexa games rely heavily on speech recognition.A huge amount of his efforts go towards ensuring that he compensates for any speech recognition issues. He does that through a lot of testing.Making Money in the SpaceAlexa developers have two ways of making money, namely, by being rewarded by Amazon or through in-skill purchases.The Amazon rewards program does not apply to skills that are available in Canada.In-skill purchases is where users pay a small fee to use a skill. Some of Drew’s skills go for 99 cents. Users can also buy some functionalities.List of resources mentioned in this episodeThe Comprehensive Flash Briefing Formula CourseAnimal LettersFeel the PressureThe Daily QuestionDrew's Email - Animal.Letters@Gmail.comDrew on TwitterOther useful resources:Voice in Canada: The Flash BriefingComplete List of Alexa CommandsAlexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in CanadaTeri Fisher on TwitterAlexa in Canada on TwitterAlexa in Canada Facebook PageAlexa in Canada Community Group on FacebookAlexa in Canada on InstagramPlease leave a review on iTunesShopping on Amazon.ca Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Teri welcomes Drew Cosgrove, an Amazon Alexa Games developer and publisher.Welcome, Drew!Drew spent 25 years in IT but felt he needed to get back to coding, the love of which had drawn him to technology in the first place. When Amazon introduced Echo in the UK, he was a senior IT architect and he knew he’d found just the opportunity he needed to sharpen his skills, and build a rewarding new career as a voice developer. Working in management felt like he was getting farther away from what he really loved to do, so he began looking for a way to get back to his technical roots, and that’s when Alexa appeared.He actually did far more than revive his coding skills; he left the corporate world to work for himself as an Alexa skills developer. In under two years, he has published 30 engaging game skills for Alexa in several languages, attracting over 65,000 active monthly users. As the winner of multiple prizes in the UK’s monthly Alexa contest, Cosgrove says building skills for Alexa has changed his life.Background<ul><li>He used to work with O2, the UK mobile phone company, and then worked as an IT consultancy before becoming a full-time Alexa skills developer.</li><li>He creates his games independently and some of his skills are top ranked in Canada.</li></ul>His Top Skills<ul><li>Feel the Pressure is one of his Alexa Games that are very popular in Canada.</li><li>Another one is Animal Letters, and this one is never really finished because he keeps improving and changing it by adding more animals, sound effects, and more functionality.</li><li>He also keeps improving on Feel the Pressure and it has different voices depending on the location, for example, the voice is different in the UK than it is in the US.</li></ul>Developing Skills and the Associated Challenges<ul><li>The first challenge he didn’t realize when he started was speech recognition. The technology is much better now than it was in the past, but it’s not perfect. When it works, it’s magical, but when it doesn’t work, it’s terrible.</li><li>When someone speaks to a smart speaker and it doesn’t understand them, it can be frustrating, and that concerned Drew a lot because his Alexa games rely heavily on speech recognition.</li><li>A huge amount of his efforts go towards ensuring that he compensates for any speech recognition issues. He does that through a lot of testing.</li></ul>Making Money in the Space<ul><li>Alexa developers have two ways of making money, namely, by being rewarded by Amazon or through in-skill purchases.</li><li>The Amazon rewards program does not apply to skills that are available in Canada.</li><li>In-skill purchases is where users pay a small fee to use a skill. Some of Drew’s skills go for 99 cents. Users can also buy some functionalities.</li></ul>List of resources mentioned in this episode<ul><li><a href="FlashBriefingFormula.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Comprehensive Flash Briefing Formula Course</a></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Cosgrove-Animal-Letters/dp/B01N2ML4V5" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Animal Letters</a></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Cosgrove-Feel-The-Pressure/dp/B073TJZ9XS" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Feel the Pressure</a></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Cosgrove-The-Daily-Question/dp/B07SH6F6T8" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Question</a></li><li>Drew's Email - Animal.Letters@Gmail.com</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/drewcosgrove" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Drew on Twitter</a></li></ul>Other useful resources:<ul><li><a href="https://alexaincanada.ca/flash-briefing/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Voice in Canada: The Flash Briefing</a></li><li><a href="https://alexaincanada.ca/alexa-commands-complete-list/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Complete List of Alexa Commands</a></li><li><a href="https://alexaincanada.ca/devices/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in Canada</a></li><li><a href="http://twitter.com/drterifisher" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Teri Fisher on Twitter</a></li><li><a href="http://twitter.com/alexaincanadaca" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alexa in Canada on Twitter</a></li><li><a href="http://fb.com/AlexaInCanada" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alexa in Canada Facebook Page</a></li><li><a href="https://alexaincanada.ca/community" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alexa in Canada Community Group on Facebook</a></li><li><a href="http://instagram.com/alexaincanada" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alexa in Canada on Instagram</a></li><li><a href="http://alexaincanada.ca/itunes" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Please leave a review on iTunes</a></li><li><a href="http://amzn.to/2DGEHfh" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Shopping on Amazon.ca</a></li></ul> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Alexa Games in Canada with Drew Cosgrove

May 12, 2020 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 12, 2020 Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Drew Cosgrove on the Podcast