Dot to Dot - the daily 5min Alexa demo show

Also by the great guys at Hugo.fm, today's skill brings us more Christmas cheeer and festive fun in the form of jokes, facts and stories. Are you in the mood yet?

A useful place to explore what you can say to the lovely A-lady is the 'Things to try' tab in the app or website. In there is a section about commands that you can always say to her regardless of what skill you're in (or none) and two top tips are 'Mute/unmute' and 'Repeat'.

Again by those great, great guys at Hugo.fm, this skill is one of approximately half a squllion of different 'Pet My…' skills they've squeezed into the skillstore - but these have a distinctly festive subject that we'll need to look after.

OK guys, just in case the prospect of Christmas makes you want to scream, we've the perfect gift for you today. Scare yourself or your family or friends into the middle of next year with this delayed devilment, and follow it up with a soothing way of waking them up from the coma you've just induced.

By Hugo.fm, today's skill is a really good way to get some hot, hot news from the cold, cold pole. This skill is a must leading up to Christmas for kids of all ages. Having trouble getting the right skill? Simply say "Alexa, ask Santa for some news."

Get a move on with your favourite Gruffalo characters. It's a lovely skill today for all you Gruffalo fans out there - and your kids too!

Fancy warping some voids? You do? Fab!

Aaaah, The Clangers. Who doesn't remember those knitted pink space-pig icons of the 70s? If you don't then you should immediately check them out on Youtube - after you've listened to today's groovy skill, that is.

Summarising what this brilliant skill is all about is blinking hard, so let's let the skillstore do it for us; Where do the world’s smartest people get their ideas? From great books! Blinkist transforms the key ideas of 3000+ bestselling nonfiction books into powerful packs you can listen to in around 15 minutes. Over 10 million users treat us as a companion on the most noble and challenging journey we know: fulfilling human potential. Create your account, and get 1 free title each day with Blinkist’s Free Daily. Don’t have a Blinkist account? You’ll still get free listening access to 3 of Blinkist’s most popular titles. You can also use your Alexa device to create a free Blinkist account and listen to a new, free title each day with the Free Daily. Want more than 1 title a day? Unlock the full Blinkist library of 3,000+ titles with a free, no-commitment 7-day trial of Blinkist Premium. The Blinkist Alexa skill is easy to use, and specially developed to bring the best of Blinkist to Alexa devices.

The A-lady's voice will soon be much more expressive - or developers will have the ability to add extra emotion into her voice in their skills, at least. Let's hear some samples followed by a reminder of the Voice Tester skill which provides samples of the other voices also available to developers.