Dot to Dot - the daily 5min Alexa demo show

This skill supplies the BBC History Magazine's decidedly brief biographies of historical figures - including Henry VIII, Adolf Hitler, Queen Victoria, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Tutankhamun, Cleopatra, Napoleon Bonaparte, Catherine the Great, Anne Frank, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Anne Boleyn, William I, Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II

Probably one of the most sophisticated skills of its kind I've seen to date, this one truly is an interactive adventure in a class of it's own. If you like all that role-play rigmarole, why not give this one a subterranean stab to see if you like it.

Hmmm. I may not be recommending today's skill particularly to pacify your pooches during an on-going onslaught of nearby fearsome neighbourhood fireworks this bonfire night, but the general idea of masking massive explosions with music is a sound one (nice).

Good old Aunty Beeb has updated her superb skill to serve up more news stories that include optional dollops of additional detail on each and every story. Excellent.

Developer of 'The Zoo Game' and 'Silly Stories', Jamie Reeve (on LinkedIn by same) has come on board to bring us an additional demo today of a new, spooky story in his superb skill to terrify your children this Halloween night. Nice.

A nice skill to scare or delight trick or treaters at your door tonight. I'm a bit slow on the up-take, which is why I don't twig that the treat is whatever you give the successful trickers that have scared the witch half out of her wits. You'll see what I mean.

Today's spooky skill is guaranteed to freak out your friends and family to the fullest - or your money back. You have been warned. It's really creepy right up until she gives the whole game away. You'll see.

Drew Cosgrove of Animal Letters fame (@DrewCosgrove on the Twitters) alerted me to a new skill of his called 'Stinky Pinky'. Funnily enough we covered a similar skill called 'Hinky Pinky' many moons ago, but this one has groovy sound-effects. Nice.

Part of the extensive 'Sleep Sounds' range, Arabian Music brings us an authentic rendition of music from the Middle-East so evocative of those fabled nights. Settle down on your favourite cushions, cross your legs, grab the classic set of stories and enjoy the aural ambience provided by this skill. If you haven't got a genie then you'll have to see to the camels yourself before turning in and turning out the lamp.

So we've made it to 1000! Thanks for sticking with it guys. Today we go back to the skill covered in episode #1 when we were all a bit younger, Brexit was still only a freshly minted nightmare and doors were well and truly magic… Hope you like the new intro, sounds and podcast artwork. The latter is thanks to Faith who has asked me to say that her professional services are available at very reasonable rates. And, as always, I'd really appreciate your demo contributions to help us get through the next 1000 episodes; please send 'em to [email protected].