Dot to Dot - the daily 5min Alexa demo show

It's like Russian dolls where you've lost all but two of them and then turned them into virtual assistants instead of hollow wooden painted skittles. That's exactly what we're dealing with here folks except much more useful (unless you want to play a game of skittles, that is).

Penny Golden ([email protected]) brings us two brilliant flash briefing skills today. The first provides tips of top skills to try, whilst the second simply serves up totally weird stuff...

This is my childhood; Dennis the Menace and Gnasher the dog, Plug, Spotty (was it?) and the other Bash Street Kids. Billy Whizz. Ball Boy. Aaah, those were the days!

With the most minimal of sound effects marring this otherwise magical collection of binary bafflers, today's skill is for everyone who likes being quizzed on Quidditch or harangued on Harry himself. Oh, and Faith to the rescue again.

Today we start with a quick demo of the 'Can I Stream' skill that let's you know which streaming services have what shows. We then ask the A-lady about traffic to local businesses. Don't forget to enter your home address under Settings > Device location.

Penny Golden ([email protected]) brings us all the baseball trivia we could want in a skill with sound effects that, quite frankly, are 'hit out of the park'. Did I make any sense there at all or did I strike out? Or should I be talking about touch-downs? I'm so confused.

Today we cover another skill devised for the Echo Dot for kids but available for everyone. A gentle guided story through Duplo Land - made even better if you have some Duplo and even some kids to hand.

Teri Fisher of the Alexa in Canada podcast joins the gang today - bringing us two groovy local skills; the first with the life-saving low-down on wait times at Albaerta hospitals and the second to book a car with BC's popular car-share service. You can get in touch with Teri on Twitter @DrTeriFisher and @AlexaInCanadaCA.

Another fab listener episode again today - Penny Golden ([email protected]) brings us voices from the past with momentous messages. Want to drop me a demo? Please do to [email protected].