PullString is closing their IDE 😲

Really interesting and kinda shocking piece of news for you today, guys.

One of the most successful conversational platforms PullString has just announced that they’re closing their IDE for text-based applications from December 1, 2017.

“The explosion of voice-first devices, combined with our history in voice-based computer conversation, has led us to devote all our product development efforts towards building the best authoring tools for voice-based skills and applications moving forward”.

Yea, it’s really happening.

Read more about that here: https://www.pullstring.com/blog/pullstrings-voice-first-future

Hey bot makers,

Who likes conferences? I mean, bot conferences? 🤖

I kicked some serious asses to get a 40% discount for ChatbotConf 2017 in Vienna (Oct 17) for our community.

So if you'll have a chance to visit sunny Vienna in October, use the code below to grab the discount.

IMPORTANT: it’s valid till Sep 24, so you have 4 days to make a decision.

PROMO CODE: botfans2017

❤️

I wrote a lot about voice.

Let’s start building.

Here’s an official guide from Brian Donohue that covers all steps of creating a bot for Amazon Alexa.

In this masterpiece, Brian provides the slides with a bit of color so other Alexa enthusiasts would be able to build their own skills.

The guide is 33-pages long (oh, man!) and featured with screenshots and useful links to code samples.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-AOkCqVOaygdf4K3a-nOPyu_YderyAcCgCqqgCAyd-U/edit

P.S. How do you like my new Alexaman suit? :)

Have you seen my yesterday's post about building a skill for Alexa?

Yes, that 33 pages guide which takes 5 hours to go through.

You can do that in 30 seconds without coding.

Here’s a short teaser of something we’re working on right now.

Apple Homepod will be released in December 2017

So, Apple is improving Siri to be able to handle people’s requests via Homepod.

With iOS 11 Siri has gained more than a dozen new features:
1. Syncs across devices
2. On-the-spot translation
3. Personal DJ
4. More expressive voice
5. More personal financial services
6. QR codes for payments and sharing social media accounts
7. Productivity apps and lists
8. Personalized suggestions
9. QuickType
10. AppleWatch with Siri

That’s a really huge update, take a look at the full version notes here: https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/23/ios-11-everything-apple-added-to-siri/

Google is planning to release a new miniature version of its Google Home smart speaker.

At $49, the speaker will compete directly with Amazon’s Echo Dot, which is also sold for about $50.

It comes as no surprise, but price is the number one determinant of why consumers buy a smart speaker.

Like the Echo Dot, the speaker will be plugged into the wall, rather than featuring rechargeable batteries.

Smart and pretty expected move from Google 👍

Their only option with Google Home for 130$ was a pretty big barrier for most of the people in comparison with 49$ price for Echo Dot from Amazon.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/19/google-home-mini-will-reportedly-sell-for-49/

HubSpot acquired Motion.ai

I know that I’m kinda late with this piece of news, but I still want to post it here.

“We see this as the big evolution that’s happening in marketing automation,” HubSpot chief strategy officer Brad Coffey said.

“What email is to marketing automation, we believe messaging is to bots and Motion.ai.”

The Motion.ai platform can currently be used to create bots for Slack and Facebook Messenger, and for chat on websites.

Motion.ai currently offers about a dozen templates for bots that do things like handle FAQs or surveys, but Coffey is particularly interested in improving the handoff between a bot and a human in conversations.

That’s a very interesting case - kinda first acquisition of a bot building platform. More to come.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/20/hubspot-acquires-motion-ai-to-launch-marketing-bot-platform/

Amazon has just launched a new version of Echo

Amazon introduced a second-generation version of the Echo today with a dedicated bass tweeter and a modified, shorter design.

The new device looks to be about half the size of the original Echo, is cloth-covered, and goes on sale today for $99.

The company is also selling a three-pack for the first time, offering multi-room audio for the price of $50 per device.

Multi-room audio has been a major request of Echo users nearly since its inception.

The introduction of audio that can stream to multiple devices simultaneously means that Echo now poses a direct competitive threat to Sonos.

It will also offer a low-cost alternative to Apple’s forthcoming HomePod.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/27/amazon-new-echo/

Amazon is on fire today!

5 new devices and a couple of huge partnerships announced.

I’ve just collected all the info available right now to the article below.

Go read it, I’ll add more latest info in real-time.

https://medium.com/@MaximAbramchuk/amazon-new-alexa-powered-products-and-partnership-with-bmw-a6ebecb5a206

Have you seen today’s news? Voice is gonna be huge!

And it’s the perfect timing to unveil something we’re working on.

It’s called Storyline, and it’s a web-based platform that helps non-tech people create Alexa apps without coding.

I truly believe in this community and I’m super excited to give you early access to it.

You can sign up here, we’ll send demo access later this week: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/storyline

Happy botting! ❤️

1500 members!! Thank you so much everyone 🤖🔥

“Getting started with conversational design can be a bit overwhelming”

It really is.

When you’re starting the design you have to have a robust process in mind.

Here's a great guide on that.

Yogesh Moorjani divided the conversational design process into 6 simple steps:
- User intents
- Key user inputs
- Play assistant
- Design flow
- The noscript
- Bring it all together

And covered all them with illustrations and detailed explanation.

Read this, take notes, and bookmark it, it’ll save you time & money in the future.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iHFObs70NjiE3JjCtce2kl5DcUFAC0KwIs2mlpqk3JE/edit#heading=h.2xsrlih9mtgs

Slack has released a new feature in their bot platform called Dialogs.

Dialogs are new interactive modals that can capture multiple pieces of information and send them directly to your app.

You can use them to build a robust form inside Slack, or simply collect a single line of text.

A single dialog can accomplish what used to mean directing someone into a separate browser window, or engaging them in back-and-forth interactions within a Slack channel.

You could build an app that lets people file a help desk ticket, complete a survey, manage approvals, take attendance, assign project management tasks, and much more.

It’s awesome to see that Slack is not trying to rely fully on the NLP interface which is not perfect for most of the tasks 👍

https://medium.com/slack-developer-blog/building-more-intricate-workflows-in-slack-with-dialogs-74f122ed887c

Hey guys, it’s time for #botoftheweek.

Our bot today is kinda usual - it has no task or problem to solve.

It’s a multiplayer strategy game on Telegram called Idle Town.

And these guys already have more than 60k users with about 2k of them playing daily.

Read my review below to find out more.

Or you can test the bot here: @IdleTownBot

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-5wPfzEI-qHH6UsZEVF9XAlLc3yvha1Y8pk1XbBGXi0

BotCube is at Alexa Dev Day in San Francisco today. Come say hi if you're there too. Would love to chat!

Slack is partnering with Oracle to offer business bots

Slack Technologies has secured a partnership with Oracle to integrate the tech giant's enterprise software products into the popular workplace messaging app.

The partnership will allow workers to use Slack as the interface for Oracle's sales, human resources and business software.

Workers will be able to ask questions such as "how many vacation days do I have left this year?" and instantaneously receive a response from an Oracle chatbot.

The partnership between the two companies came about after Slack secured the tech giant as a customer.

At Oracle, there are 30,000 workers who actively use Slack for work.

Oracle is currently developing these chatbots, and they will begin to roll out to Slack and Oracle users within the next two quarters.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/03/slack-oracle-partnership-will-offer-new-in-app-business-bots.html

Google has finally released 2 new smart speakers 🔥

1. Google Home Mini
It’s a smaller version of its flagship smart speaker, to compete with Amazon Echo Dot.

The device will retail for $49.

Home Mini will be available in the U.S. as well as United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, and Australia.

2. Google Home Max
It’s a big, premium smart speaker for $399 available in December.

While the Home Mini is gonna compete with the Echo Dot and low-cost smart speakers, the Home Max will compete directly with high-end smart speakers like products from Sonos, recently unveiled Echo Plus, and Apple’s HomePod.

“Max is more than 20 times more powerful than Google Home, so it will fill any room in your house with great sound”.

More info about Home Mini: https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/04/google-unveils-home-mini-smart-speaker-for-49-to-challenge-amazons-echo-dot/
More info about Home Max: https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/04/google-unveils-home-max-for-399-coming-to-the-u-s-in-december/

Apple acquires init.ai

Earlier this week, a small startup called Init.ai announced that it soon would be discontinuing its service.

The team was (according to a notice on the site) “joining a project that touches the lives of countless people across the world.”

They are becoming a part of the group working on Siri.

To be clear, this is not a straight acquisition, but more of an acqui-hire, so Apple didn’t have a comment to offer along the lines of the one it made last week.

Huge news for all the bot space 💪🏻

https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/04/apple-acqui-hired-the-team-from-messaging-assistant-init-ai-to-work-on-siri/