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Third-Party Skills In addition to the standard abilities that smart speakers have, most of these platforms allow third-party developers to create additional functionality.44 Amazon was the first to do this, and they called these “skills.” Google followed, calling these “actions.” Alexa Skills Alexa has the most skills by far, over 30,000 at the time of this writing. New skills are being developed all the time, and the number is growing quickly, increasing from just over 5,000 skills in 2016 to over 30,000 by March 2018.45 There are a wide variety of skills available. You can browse them on Amazon’s website in the menu option Alexa Skills, or in the Alexa app on your mobile device, under Skills. There are skills for everything from calling an Uber to reading a customized bedtime story to your child. Skills are available in the following categories: • Business and finance • Communication • Connected car • Education and reference • Food and drink • Games, trivia, and accessories • Health and fitness • Home services • Kids • Lifestyle • Local • Movies and TV • Music and audio • News • Novelty and humor • Productivity • Shopping • Smart home • Social • Sports • Travel and transportation What Is Voice-First Computing? 9