If you are on the fence about buying an Amazon Echo or Amazon Tap you are in luck. Amazon has launched Echosim.io, a website where you can interact with with a virtual Amazon Echo and all you need to get started is a microphone.
I think developers will dig the fact that this plugin has Alexa Voice Service integration and it allows you to integrate Alexa’s built-in voice capabilities into your connected products. Carve your own little corner in IoT with a speaker and mic, a microcomputer, and the self-service tools at developer.amazon.com. What would you do with Alexa and a Raspberry Pi?
Getting started with this website is dead simple. It will ask you what microphone to use and just click on the default one your PC. Click and hold the microphone button and speak a command. For example, say “Alexa, what’s the weather today?” When you let go of the button, Echosim.io processes and responds to your voice command – give it a try.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
