At Develop Denver this past week, Code Talent held a contest--Pitch on a Post Card: The Amazon Echo Contest. Participants pitched a feature for the Amazon Echo leveraging the Alexa Skills Set. The feature did not have to be built. Ideas were judged on usefulness, creativity, and complexity. First place received a brand new Amazon Echo, second place received a Code Talent gift box and a $40 Starbucks gift card, and third place received a Code Talent gift box. With over 35 submissions, here were our top 3:
First Place: Dan Andrade
Feature: "Alexa, I'm Drunk"
The winning feature was called "Alexa, I'm Drunk," pitched by Dan Andrade. While drinking and getting ready for a night out, tell Alexa, and she will put on your favorite playlist, remind you to hydrate, and block your ability to call your ex's and co-workers. Once you stumble home, Alexa will order your favorite takeout food, get Netflix ready to binge watch your favorite show, and turn on the "do not disturb" feature on your phone. The next morning, Alexa will start the coffee maker, and remind you to check your bank balance.
Dan said about the contest:
I'm so happy to have an Echo in my gadget collection now! I've been nerding out all weekend about it and excited to see if I can bring my winning idea to life. Now hopefully that means I wouldn't need to use the "Alexa, I'm drunk" feature that often, but it was still fun dreaming it up nonetheless for those special occasions. Thank you all at Code for the opportunity!
Dan Andrade is the web designer over at RTD, and after going to Develop Denver last year he said he couldn't dare pass up the opportunity to go again this year--so he bought his ticket the day they went on sale.
What is your involvement in the Denver tech community?
"I absolutely love the tech community we have here in Denver. There are always interesting meetups, talks, and classes available to join and I try to make it a habit to get out to as many as I can. When I'm not learning, I'm creating and doing my best to collaborate with all of the amazing talent we have here in Denver."
Favorite part about Develop Denver?
"The people and the variety of topics to choose from. Not only did I get my design fix during the 2 day extravaganza but I walked away feeling inspired to create something new entirely. I'm gonna take a stab at making my own home a bit smarter and having Alexa now on my side, it will make it that much easier!"
Second Place: Will Klein
Feature: Alexa track & remind
In second place Will Klein pitched a feature for Alexa that would track when you did something, and remind you when to do it again. Tell Alexa when you take medicine/breastfeed or bottle feed your baby, etc. and Alexa will keep track of when you did that task. For example, tell Alexa when you take Advil. Later in the day if you want to take more Advil, you can ask Alexa what time you took it to see if you can take more. You can also set reminders for Alexa to tell you when it's "due" again.
Will Klein is the Director of Engineering at Crownpeak, which involves growing and building the company's engineering teams. He is also a co-organizer for ReactJS Denver as well a frequent at other Denver meetups.
Why did you attend Develop Denver?
"I attended Develop Denver to hear new ideas and build lasting relationships with other community members. I also had the chance to share my own story as a talk on Friday afternoon, My Five Biggest Failures in Software. Being close to home, my family was able to attend and be part of my talk.
I held my daughter for a story to remind everyone that life comes before work, not the other way around. We all need to decide what's most important to us, and make sure we find work that supports those values."
Third Place: Brandon Miller
Feature: Learn a Language
Brandon Miller, who is a product designer at iTriage, pitched a feature for Alexa to help the user learn a language. He wrote, "slowly, Echo will respond/take commands using another language of your choice, helping you learn use of the language in a natural way."
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone for entering the contest! We had a blast looking through all the creative ideas pitched at Develop Denver!