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I own several Echo devices and programmability of Alexa devices just baffles me. There is still no way for a skill to read notifications. For example - I want

I own several Echo devices and programmability of Alexa devices just baffles me. There is still no way for a skill to read notifications. For example - I want to write a calendar notification app which unifies all calendar events across several sources and there is just no way to do it. It is of course disabled in the name of privacy which I can understand - but I don't understand how I can't enable this for a device that I own from an app I write. Similarly - I was considering getting an Echo Show for keeping a persistent view of my todo list and upcoming things on Echo show. I looked at writing skills for Echo show. Something that should be a webapp that just renders a particular source or something similar. But nope - It just looks hard or impossible.

notyourwork 8y ago
Can you use a mobile app as a conduit? Central server Alexa pushes to and polls from, mobile app similarly but has permissions for calendar to do actual work? I know it’s contrived but seems like a reasonable approach.
fomojola 8y ago
Question: are you trying to read Android notifications? Or perhaps read Alexa notifications? I would think you can pretty easily write a skill to feed you a unified calendar (you'd need to do the calendar unification on your own server, though).
jon-wood 8y ago
The Echo Show is a horrible disappointment. I got one when they were released in the UK because it seemed the perfect thing to keep in the kitchen, but it’s crippled beyond usefulness. My primary use case was going to be watching Netflix with voice control. Netflix has yet to appear on the Show, and because of Amazon’s zealot like insistence that everything be driven by a voice UI there’s no web browser or app support. The thing is clearly running some version of Android, I wish they’d just bite the bullet and throw FireOS proper on there.
- daveguy 8y ago
  That is strange. Especially considering the original echo has a volume ring on the top for manual volume adjustment. I'm surprised the echo show is voice only and doesn't include a touchscreen. Thank you for the heads up.
  - jon-wood 8y ago
    To clarify the Echo Show does have a touch screen, but they may as well have not added it for all the use it provides.
StavrosK 8y ago
It really is too crippled. I wanted to have my various home devices send me notifications (e.g. "3D print finished successfully"), but Alexa just cannot do it. I didn't even want it to spontaneously start saying things, flashing the light until I said "what's up, Alexa?" or something would be great, but nope, nothing. I really hope Snips catches on, as it's much, much more hackable.

notyourwork 8y ago

Can you use a mobile app as a conduit? Central server Alexa pushes to and polls from, mobile app similarly but has permissions for calendar to do actual work? I know it’s contrived but seems like a reasonable approach.

fomojola 8y ago

Question: are you trying to read Android notifications? Or perhaps read Alexa notifications? I would think you can pretty easily write a skill to feed you a unified calendar (you'd need to do the calendar unification on your own server, though).

jon-wood 8y ago

The Echo Show is a horrible disappointment. I got one when they were released in the UK because it seemed the perfect thing to keep in the kitchen, but it’s crippled beyond usefulness. My primary use case was going to be watching Netflix with voice control. Netflix has yet to appear on the Show, and because of Amazon’s zealot like insistence that everything be driven by a voice UI there’s no web browser or app support. The thing is clearly running some version of Android, I wish they’d just bite the bullet and throw FireOS proper on there.

daveguy 8y ago
That is strange. Especially considering the original echo has a volume ring on the top for manual volume adjustment. I'm surprised the echo show is voice only and doesn't include a touchscreen. Thank you for the heads up.
- jon-wood 8y ago
  To clarify the Echo Show does have a touch screen, but they may as well have not added it for all the use it provides.

StavrosK 8y ago

It really is too crippled. I wanted to have my various home devices send me notifications (e.g. "3D print finished successfully"), but Alexa just cannot do it. I didn't even want it to spontaneously start saying things, flashing the light until I said "what's up, Alexa?" or something would be great, but nope, nothing. I really hope Snips catches on, as it's much, much more hackable.