Remember This Number

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  The age of the panicked pen hunt has finally ended. Alexa, Remember This Number!

Inspiration

I thought long and hard about how Alexa might be used as a life hack. I was looking for common situation that everyone has been through that Alexa would be able to solve. Then it hit me! That moment when you need to take down a phone number, but just for a minute or so. Long enough to type it into phone, tell it to someone on the other line or any number of reasons. The results of this situation is a moment that almost immediately turns into a frenzied panic into a junk drawer looking for a pen, followed by a maddening "get me something to write on!" mission. Or the also very common, "Hey Bob, remember these four numbers for me. Okay? Ready?!" I was inspired to utilize Alexa and Amazon's built slot variables to life hack this problem out of existence once and for all.

What it does

With Remember This Number you can ask Alexa to temporally (numbers are only stored for the duration of the session) store a phone number, that can be called back when you are ready to use it. To use the skill you simply say "Alexa, remember this number". Alexa will then ask you for the phone number you wish to have her remember. She will read the phone number back to you and begin waiting with your number on the ready. When you are ready to have her read the number back, say "Alexa, what's my number". Done, just like that... a century old problem solved in a sentence. Alexa, remember this number.

How I built it

To build this skill I used http://www.GetStoryLine.com . Lucky for me they had just added the ability to utilize all of Amazon's many predefined slot values. Most of the process was spent figure out how to make the skill flow in as natural way as possible. Configuring the PhoneNumber slot was practically seamless using StoryLine. With a little thinking on my toes, I decided to use a 90 second silent SSML audio file to create waiting period when Alexa is remembering the phone number. I also added more SSML to have Alexa say the final phone number a little bit slower for the user.

Challenges I ran into

This was the first skill I have ever developed that utilized slot variables. I had thought about using them in a few of my earlier skills, but hadn't invested the time to work out the concepts. As I mentioned, I was lucky that StoryLine had just added the feature to their development system. This doesn't mean that there weren't some bugs to work out. I was having issues at first when I added the "wrong number" feature to the skill. I did not realize that if the user was going to give another phone number, I would need to create another variable.

I also needed to figure out a way to keep Alexa waiting with the phone number that would work smoothly. After playing around with a few different possible options, I decided on the 1 min 30 sec SSML silent audio file. From there all I needed to do was add a "keep remembering" option when the minute and a half was up. I was happy with how it turned out, and I love how Alexa's light stays blue as she waits for the "What's my number" command.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I wanted this skill to provide a core fundamental function, in a simple and logical way. When I first began thinking of how Alexa might be used as a Life Hack, I knew I wanted my skill to be an easy solution to a common everyday problem, not a solution looking for a problem to solve. From the natural invocation (Alexa, remember this number), to the streamlined conversation and skill functionality...I am proud of how I accomplished that.

What I learned

When developing this skill I learned how to use slot variables. I also learned how to utilize SSML sounds as extended "waiting periods" to give Alexa a commands, as well using SSML to slow down Alexa's speech.

What's next for Remember This Number

I would like to see "Remember This Number" in all available Alexa countries when possible. I might also create more "Remember This ______ " skills in the future.

Built With

• amazon-phonenumber-slot
• ssml-audio-files
• www.getstoryline.com