[Ads-l] "skill"= online access to a corporate service

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

This use of "skills" began as a technical term for the Alexa voice
service of Amazon, I believe. Programmers who wish to extend the
capabilities of Alexa typically need to learn about the Alexa Skills
Kit (ASK). Interestingly, the "skills" term is succeeding. It has been
generalized and is now being applied to Google's voice assistant and
to Apple's voice assistant Siri.

Alexa Skills Kit
Give Your Vision a Voice and Reach More Customers
https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit

[Begin excerpt]
Tens of thousands of developers have built skills using the Alexa
Skills Kit (ASK), a collection of self-service APIs, tools,
documentation, and code samples. With ASK, anyone can leverage
Amazon’s knowledge in voice design to build quickly and easily. Start
building today to reimagine your customer experience for voice and
reach customers where they are.
[End excerpt]

What are Amazon Alexa Skills?
There's an Alexa Skill for almost every need. Here are just a few dozen.
Julia Tell
August 24 2017
https://www.gearbrain.com/what-are-amazon-alexa-skills-2471456002.html

Amazon's Alexa is the voice-activated, interactive AI bot, or personal
assistant, that lets people speak with their Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and
other Amazon smart home devices. . . . But Alexa Skills are apps that
give Alexa even more abilities, letting her speak to more devices even
websites.

The 50 most useful Alexa skills
Make Alexa even more powerful with these third-party skills.
BY TAYLOR MARTIN FEBRUARY 9, 2019 4:00 AM PST
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-echo-most-useful-alexa-skills/

The 35 Best Google Assistant Skills
by MONICA CHIN & MIKE PROSPERO Apr 25, 2019, 10:36 AM
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/917-best-google-assistant-skills.html


10 Siri Skills that Make Running Your iPhone Easier
ByMark O'NeillLast Updated on January 24, 2019
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/10-siri-skills-run-iphone-easier/

Garson

On Tue, May 14, 2019 at 5:27 PM Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From a membership renewal letter from the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
>
> >>>>>
> P.S. Ask Alexa to "Open Philadelphia Museum of Art" to plan your next visit
> and renew your membership (Member through Keystone levels only). Our new
> skill is available on Amazon Echo and via the free Alexa mobile app.
> <<<<<
>
> "Member through..." means the offer applies to only the three lowest
> levels: Member @$75/year, Member Plus @$125/yr, and Keystone @$250/yr.
>
> Does anyone see this as falling within the customary semantic range of
> "skill"?
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org