4K Aerial Screensavers for Echo Show

Display over 70 stunning 4K video aerials on your fire tv, echo show, or other Alexa display.

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Inspiration

I was inspired to create a screensaver that is dynamic and creates a nice relaxing atmosphere in my office while I get work done.

What it does

4K Aerial Screensavers allows you to display stunning 4K Aerial videos directly on your Echo Show or Fire TV device.

4K Aerial Screensavers has over 70 different aerial videos, ranging from fly-overs in Los Angeles, New York City, Dubai, and London, to incredible videos from outer space. The skill also plays videos from China, Peru, Greenland, Iceland, London, Dubai, and the Sahara desert.

One of the greatest features of 4K Aerial Screensavers is its ability to play night or day screensavers based on your geographical location if you have purchased the expansion pack. The price is set low at $0.99 for non-prime members and at a much lower discounted rate for prime members.

There is a free version that allows you to play videos, but the playback is limited to one video at a time. You have to relaunch the skill again if you want to play another video.

The paid version allows you to watch 4K aerial screensavers continuously. Another cool version about the expansion pack is that it lets you skip the screensavers by saying “Next” to Alexa. We found that the upgrade was definitely worth it.

How I built it

I built this skill by using Amazon's Alexa Presentation Language (APL). With APL, I created a visual experience for users to display on their Echo show or other device with a display. Users can see and interact with the visuals on supported devices such as the Echo Show, Fire TV, some Fire tablets, and other devices. Users are also able to skip between different aerial videos.

How to use the skill:

For continuous uninterrupted playback, you may need to disable your default screensaver.

Ask Alexa to open Aerial Screensavers, then say "next" at anytime to move onto the next aerial display. You have the option to unlock all 77 aerials with the Screensaver Expansion Pack, which includes all screensavers with continuous playback, day/night support based on your timezone, stunning 4k visual playback, and functionality across all of your Alexa enabled displays.

Note: This skill requires a device capable of video playback in order to function properly. This skill will not work on devices that do not have a display.

Challenges I ran into

One of the challenges I ran into was displaying the video screensavers properly for different devices such as the Echo dot and Echo show. I wanted the visualizations to show properly across all devices. I was able to create different APL profiles depending on the user's target display. Another issue I ran into was getting the videos to play based on the user's region (day or night) and was able to solve that by including some code that grabs the users timezone, then plays a video based off their geographical location.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm proud to have created the first dynamic video screensaver for Alexa!

What I learned

I learned a lot about Alexa Presentation Language during the process of creating this skill and I'm glad I got the chance to implement it. I'm also excited to see where APL goes in the future and to continue implementing it into my skills.

What's next for 4K Aerial Screensavers

At this time I plan to further develop the skill with more videos and content. I also would like to create the option to repeat the same screensaver. In addition, I want to give users the ability to customize the skill more to their liking.

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