The Alexa Show

EP135: THE ALEXA SHOW Today’s episode is all about the voice-activated personal assistant, Amazon Alexa. Episode Summary: What is Amazon Alexa and how does it work? What can Alexa do? What are Amazon Skills & Flash Briefings? How do you get your podcast on Alexa devices?

Episode Summary: A deep dive into Amazon Alexa — how the voice assistant works, what it can do, how Amazon Skills and Flash Briefings function, and how to get a podcast onto Alexa devices via TuneIn.

What You’ll Learn

What Amazon Alexa is, how it works, and what the Echo and Echo Dot devices do
The range of things Alexa could do in 2018: Q&A, streaming, smart home control, shopping
What Amazon Skills and Flash Briefings are, and how to create one for your podcast
How to get a podcast listed on Alexa devices via TuneIn

Pro tip for podcasters and livestreamers: mute the microphone on top of an Echo or Dot before recording — the button turns the ring red and stops Alexa from responding, which matters a lot when recording a podcast episode that keeps saying her name.

What Is Amazon Alexa, and How Does It Work?

Alexa is a cloud-based, voice-activated virtual assistant Amazon launched in 2014. The two most popular devices at the time were the Echo ($99, tall cylinder shape) and the Echo Dot ($50, hockey-puck shaped). Alexa uses AI to listen, understand, and answer most questions, with capabilities always updating automatically. You wake her by saying her name, then speak your request — she’s always on and always listening. Settings are managed through the iOS or Android app.

Origin of the name: “Alexa” was chosen partly because the hard “X” consonant is easier to recognize accurately, and partly as a nod to the ancient Library of Alexandria — reportedly also inspired by Star Trek’s computer voice system. If “Alexa” happens to be your name or a household member’s, the wake word can be changed.

What Can Alexa Do?

Questions and answers — much like Siri or Google.
Streaming — radio, Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, podcasts, even bedtime stories.
Productivity and tasks — alarms, timers, to-do lists, calendar checks, kitchen measurement conversions.
Information and news — weather, news, sports scores.
Calling — voice or message other Alexa device owners.
Smart home control — lights, thermostats, and other compatible devices.
Fun and games — jokes, songs, puns, trivia-style games like Jeopardy.
Shopping — order directly from Amazon (and, in some markets, Domino’s, Uber, or Starbucks), with parental/household restrictions available.

Amazon Skills and Flash Briefings

Amazon Skills expand what Alexa devices can do — think of them like iPhone apps, with thousands already available from third-party developers, enabled through the Alexa app or Amazon’s website.

Flash Briefings are a special type of Skill delivering short news and information updates from sources including blog and podcast RSS feeds. Once enabled, a listener can simply ask Alexa for their flash briefing, or bundle it into a “Routine” alongside their to-do list, calendar, and weather.

How to Make a Flash Briefing

This isn’t a full tutorial, just a starting point. Podcasters already have the easiest path — a Flash Briefing can be built directly from an existing podcast RSS feed. Sign up for an Amazon Developer account; Amazon provides tutorials to walk through the process. The RSS feed must be valid and served over secure HTTPS.

RSS Feed Issues and How to Fix Them

Mike’s own RSS feed was rejected on the first attempt — here’s what happened and how it got resolved:

Your RSS feed must be secure (HTTPS), or Amazon rejects it outright.
Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates didn’t work for Flash Briefings at the time — despite being a free, popular way to add HTTPS to a WordPress site, Let’s Encrypt wasn’t on Amazon’s accepted certificate list.

Workaround for Powerpress users on Let’s Encrypt: create a mirror of the RSS feed using Blubrry’s Podcast Mirror service.

Mike’s actual fix: since his media files were hosted on Libsyn, he used the Libsyn RSS feed instead — which didn’t have the “s” at the end of http:// by default — and simply added the “s” manually to make it https:// before submitting it to the Flash Briefing application. That resolved the rejection and the Flash Briefing went live.

How Do You Listen to Podcasts on Alexa?

Simply say “Alexa, play Mike Murphy Unplugged on TuneIn” and Alexa pulls up the latest episode. You can rewind, fast-forward, and pause, or browse and play from the Alexa phone app.

What is TuneIn? TuneIn was the default podcast directory on Alexa at the time — a free internet radio and podcast directory, similar to iTunes, Stitcher, or Spreaker. Spotify and iHeartRadio also served up podcasts on Alexa.

How to Get Your Podcast Into the TuneIn Directory

Search TuneIn first — many shows are already listed automatically. If not, submit your RSS feed through TuneIn’s broadcaster form. A real person processes the request, so allow a day or two before following up.

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