Tuesday, September 22^nd

Stay on the Right Side of Child Protection Law

Did you know there are federal regulations around the online collection of data from children? Did you know they apply to mobile apps and games? Our guest blogger Andrew Smith, Director of Developer Education at AgeCheq, explains the law and what it means to you.

Wednesday, September 23^rd   

Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick Coming to Japan

We launched the next generation of Amazon Fire TV—the new Amazon Fire TV with support for 4K Ultra HD, and the new Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote in Japan.

Sunday, September 13th

Announcing Dedicated Game Development and Amazon Alexa Sessions at AWS re:Invent 2015

We announced new tracks of content for mobile gamedevs as well as Amazon Alexa in the new #IoT track. We will be highlighting what partners like Capital One and BMW have built with Alexa as well as a two-hour hand-on workshop where you can learn how to build Skills for Alexa on real devices.

Monday, September 14^th   

Introducing the Appy Pie App Challenge

We announced the Appy Pie App Challenge, which rewards developers for submitting their apps and games built using Appy Pie to the Amazon Appstore.

Tuesday, September 15^th

Dev Chat: Q&A Session With Ministry of Sound

We released a new episode of Dev Chat, where we talk with Ministry of Sound about their experience developing an app for Fire TV.

Wednesday, September 16^th

Petnet is the Latest Alexa Fund Recipient

We announced that Petnet is the latest recipient of funding from the Alexa Fund. Petnet is the creator of the SmartFeeder, an app-enabled intelligent feeding appliance, which allows pet owners to manage and tailor feeding times and portions to ensure overall health and well-being.

Announcing Marmalade for Amazon SDK

Marmalade launched the Marmalade for Amazon SDK. Marmalade is the first cross-platform solution to implement support for Amazon Underground APK management, including single click publishing, to simplify publishing apps to both Underground and the Amazon Appstore.

Amazon Mobile Ads API and iOS 9 App Transport Security

We covered how to ensure your iOS app continues to work with ads served by the Amazon Mobile Ad Network by implementing the new iOS9 App Transport Security.

Thursday, September 17^th

Introducing the New Generation of Amazon Fire Tablets and Fire OS 5

We introduced all-new Fire tablets, including a new 7” tablet that sets an entirely new standard for a tablet under $50. The new Fire tablets are designed from the ground up for entertainment with a 7”, 8” or 10” display, an incredibly thin and light design, quad-core processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, and up to 128GB of expandable storage.

Introducing the New Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Gaming Edition – Powered By Fire OS 5

We introduced the next generation of Amazon Fire TV—the new Amazon Fire TV with support for 4K Ultra HD, and the new Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote. Both are available for pre-order today and begin shipping in October.

Wednesday, September 9th

Announcing Amazon Cloud Drive Channel in IFTTT

We announced Amazon Cloud Drive has published its IFTTT channel. IFTTT stands for “If This Then That”, and it provides a simple way to automate interactions between your favorite apps.

Announcing Three New Stops for the Alexa Roadshow: Seattle, London and Berlin

We announced new stops for Alexa Roadshow in Seattle, London and Berlin. The Alexa Roadshow is a free event that provides hands on experience building voice drive experiences on Amazon Echo using AWS Lambda and the Alexa Skills Kit.

Thursday, September 10^th   

Converting Your Game from Freemium to Amazon Underground

We covered Amazon Underground and what you need to do in order to submit your existing apps.

Tuesday, September 1^st

Get Your Premium Apps and Games Ready for Amazon Underground in These Four Steps

We covered the recent launch of Amazon Underground and four things you need to do in order to submit an existing premium game.

Wednesday, September 2^nd    

Dev Chat: Alex Drizen from Androidslide Talks About Amazon Underground

In the latest edition of Dev Chat we talked with Alex Drizen, CEO and Founder of Androidslide, about his experience with Amazon Underground.

Friday, September 4^th

New Alexa Episode on the AWS Podcast

In the latest episode of the AWS Podcast, Chief AWS Evangelist Jeff Barr and I talked about Amazon Alexa, the Alexa Skills Kit and creating new skills with the AWS Lambda compute service.

Announcing New Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Features: Account Linking and Service Simulator

We launched two new Alexa Skills Kit features: Account Linking and Service Simulator. Account Linking allows customers to easily link their accounts with yours and the Service Simulator makes it simple to test your skill directly from the developer console.

Monday, August 24^th

Tuesday on Twitch: We Discuss Twitch Community Building with the Makers of Choice Chamber

Developer Evangelist, Paul Cutsinger, announced he would be interviewing Michael Molinari, founder of Studio Bean and Choice Chamber.

Wednesday, August 26^th   

Amazon Underground – Where Apps, Games & In-App Items Are #ActuallyFree. They Play, We Pay, You Win

We launched Amazon Underground in the USA, UK, Germany, and France. With Amazon Underground’s monetization approach, Amazon pays you for every minute a customer uses your Amazon Underground app ($0.002/minute at launch), and customers pay nothing.

Thursday, August 27^th

Making Money with Amazon Underground

We shared some Amazon Underground scenarios to get a sense of how the numbers might look for your own apps. We look at monetization over an entire year, showing how each user continues to contribute to your Amazon Underground revenue for as long as they are active.

Amazon Announces the Next Alexa Fund Recipients: Musaic and Rachio

We announced two new recipients of the Alexa Fund, Musaic and Rachio, who join the seven previously funded companies announced in June.

Friday, August 28^th

Amazon Underground —Here’s What People are Saying About It…

We shared press reviews of Amazon Underground as well as customer reviews of Amazon Underground premium titles.

Monday, August 17^th

Announcing the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV

We announced developers can now sign up for the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV.

First Alexa Third-Party Skills Now Available for Amazon Echo

We announced that some of the first Alexa skills created by third party developers are now available to Amazon Echo customers.  

Tuesday, August 18^th   

odrive Uses the Amazon Cloud Drive API to Help Customers Automatically Sync Desktop Folders

We interviewed oDrive’s  Alex Teu, EVP for Partnerships, to discuss his company’s experience with supporting Amazon Cloud Drive in their product.

Wednesday, August 19^th

Getting Started with the Amazon Mobile Ads API for Unity

We shared tips for how to add Amazon Mobile Ads to your Unity game with the new Unity plugin.

Friday, August 21^st

Introducing the New Alexa Lighting API

We announced the Alexa Lighting API. This new API allows commercial developers, hobbyists, and connected home enthusiasts to teach Alexa how to control their cloud-controlled devices in just a few hours.

Tuesday, August 11^th

All Your Questions Answered: Dev Chat with the Creators of the Digital Concert Hall

In the latest edition of Dev Chat, the creators of the Digital Concert Hall share their challenges and experiences in transferring the live experience of a classical concert to viewers based in New York, Berlin or Tokyo by using AWS and Fire TV.

Friday, August 7^th   

Building Unity Games for Fire TV: Part 1 – Intro to C#

Developer Evangelist, Jesse Freeman, shared some of his recent Twitch screencasts, which covered how to build a simple Unity side scrolling 2D game for the Amazon Fire TV.

Tuesday, August 4^th

Today on Twitch: Tiny Rebel Games Discusses Dr. Who Legacy and Twitch Community Building

Developer Evangelist, Peter Heinrich, shared information about his newest Twitch gamedev interview. This week’s show featured Susan Cummings of Tiny Rebel Games.

Friday, August 7^th   

Announcing New Alexa Hackathons at the AWS Loft

We announced three new Alexa Hackathons coming this fall at the AWS Lofts in NYC and San Francisco. These events will introduce you to building Alexa Skills with Amazon Web Services and the Alexa Skills Kit, include an open hackathon, and are completely free. Register today, as seating is limited.

Wednesday, July 29^th           

Is Your Manifest Costing You Money?

We shared tips on how to target specific devices for your apps using the Android manifest.

Friday, July 31^st

Seattle Code Writers Workshop: Call For Proposals

We invited the Amazon developer community to submit talks for the upcoming Seattle Code Writers Workshop taking place October 16^th at the Impact Hub.

Alexa Voice Service Now Available in Developer Preview

The free Alexa Voice Service (AVS), the same service that powers Amazon Echo, is now available in developer preview to hobbyists and hardware makers who want to integrate Alexa into their connected devices. AVS enables your customers to speak to Alexa through the microphone on your device and Alexa will respond through the device’s speakers.

Monday, July 20^th           

Join us at Casual Connect in San Francisco, Monday August 10th

We announced an Amazon Developer Day during Casual Connect at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco. The event is complimentary and doesn't require Casual Connect event badge access.

Wednesday, July 22^nd

All Your Questions Answered: Dev Chat with Swedish Game Studio Peppy Pals

In our new short take gamedev video series, Rosie Linder, CEO and Co-Founder of Stockholm-based Peppy Pals, shares her journey from being a single mom of two girls with no coding experience to the CEO of an award-winning gaming studio.

Exclusive Offer: Publish Your App to Amazon, Get a $100 Advertise Your App Credit

Publish your first app to the Amazon Appstore by August 16th, and we’ll provide you with a $100 promotional credit towards an ad campaign on Advertise Your App. Advertise Your App helps you promote your app to millions of users on Fire tablet wakescreens and mobile placements on the Amazon Mobile Ad Network.

Thursday, July 23^rd

Making a Great Amazon Fire TV Game From a Touch Screen Experience

Rhys Lewis shared his experience shifting from AAA to indie development earlier this year with the release of Star Drift. Combining slick shooter gameplay with intuitive one-touch controls, Star Drift quickly became a fan favorite when it debuted on iOS in February. Not long after, Lewis brought the game to Fire TV.

Today on Twitch: We Are Joined by USC to Discuss Game Design and Their Game Development

Developer Evangelist, Paul Cutsinger interviewed University of Southern California’s Sam Roberts and Gordon Bellamy around game design, game entrepreneurism and their game development program.

Monday, July 13^th           

Limited Time Offer: Earn $6 CPM on Interstitial Ads from the Amazon Mobile Ad Network

We announced the Amazon Mobile Ad network is offering a limited time opportunity to earn a guaranteed $6 CPM for interstitial ads on qualifying iOS and Android apps through November. 

Tuesday, July 14^th    

From the Twitch Stream: Starr Long from Shroud of the Avatar on fully transparent game building to fully engage the player (Planet Destroyer Episode 150707)

Developer Evangelist, Paul Cutsinger shared some episode highlights from his interview with Starr Long, executive producer for Shroud of the Avatar.

Wednesday, July 15^th

Announcing The Amazon Cross-Platform Mobile Ads API

We announced that our new Amazon Cross-Platform Mobile Ads API Plugin is now available for Unity, Cordova, Adobe AIR and Xamarin.

Thursday, July 16^th

Announcing the Alexa Skills Kit Knowledge Base

To help jumpstart your Alexa Skills Kit development we have created a knowledge base of answers to top questions posted in our Alexa Skills Kit forums. If you are just starting out, this list is a great place to get quick answers to common questions around building Alexa skills you may have.

Monday, July 6^th           

Announcing Twitch Stream Special Guest Starr Long

Developer Evangelist, Paul Cutsinger announced he will be interviewing Starr Long, the executive producer of Shroud of the Avatar.

Tuesday, July 7^th      

Web Event: Learn What the Top 50 Developers Do With IAP That You Don't

Developer Evangelist, Mike Hines will be offering his popular monetization talk as a webcast. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to tune in to learn actionable data on what the top apps are doing in the Amazon Appstore with IAP.

Going Granular: Device Targeting for non-Amazon Devices

We introduced new features to improve device targeting for your Amazon Appstore apps and games on Android devices.

Wednesday, July 8^th    

An Introduction to the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)

We shared an introduction to the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), a collection of self-service APIs and tools that make it fast and easy for you to create new voice-driven capabilities for Alexa. Alexa is the same cloud-based voice service that powers Amazon Echo. With a few lines of code, you can easily integrate existing web services with Alexa or, in just a few hours, you can build entirely new experiences designed around voice.

Planet Destroyer: Concept to Greenlight Welcomes Luke Burtis of tinyBuild

Developer Evangelist, Paul Cutsinger announced he will be interviewing Luke Burtis, Production Director from tinyBuild the indie game developer and publisher.

From the Twitch Stream: Measuring Social with NinjaMetrics CEO, Dmitri Williams (Planet Destroyer Episode 150703)

Developer Evangelist, Paul Cutsinger shared some episode highlights from his interview with Dimitri Williams, CEO of NinjaMetrics.

Thursday, July 9^th

Build Engaging Second Screen Experiences for Amazon Fire TV with the New Amazon Fling SDK

We announced the Amazon Fling service. This new service is a cross-platform toolkit that enables mobile developers to build rich multi-screen experiences for Amazon Fire TV.

Friday, July 10^th

Creating an Amazon Echo Adventure Game with the Alexa Skills Kit

We shared experiences creating a voice based adventure game for Echo using the Alexa Skills Kit. Dialogue is the User Experience for voice based games and so it is where you will spend most of your time when designing the game interactions.

Tuesday, June 30^th           

Sign-up For the Amazon Developer Weekly

We announced a new weekly Appstore developer newsletter recapping all of the blog announcements, news and other Amazon Appstore offerings.

Wednesday, July 1^st     

Twitch Stream Special Guests: Luke Burtis of Tiny Build and Dmitri Williams of Ninja Metrics

Developer Evangelists, Paul Cutsinger and Peter Heinrich hosted two special guests this week on their Twitch show. Luke Burtis from Tiny Build and Dmitri Williams from Ninja Metrics chatted about gamedev inspiration and creating actionable items.

Announcing the AppLovin App Challenge: Earn Up To $500 Towards Your Amazon App

We announced you can now integrate the AppLovin SDK and start monetizing your apps with ads from Applovin. During this app challenge Amazon Appstore Developers can earn up to an additional $500 dollars.

Friday, July 3^rd   

Free Video Training - An Introduction to Amazon Echo and the Alexa Skills Kit

We published a free 38 minute video that introduces you to the capabilities of the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) using an Amazon Echo device and walks through building your own Skills for Alexa. The Alexa Skills Kit is a collection of self-service APIs and tools that make it fast and easy for you to create new voice-driven capabilities for Alexa.

Tuesday, June 23^rd           

Picking the Right Tool for the Job: Unity vs HTML5

Amazon Developer Evangelist, Jesse Freeman, shared his advice on choosing between HTML5 or Unity for your own game development.

Thursday, June 25^th    

Introducing the Alexa Skills Kit, Enabling Developers to Create Entirely New Voice Driven Capabilities

We announced the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), a collection of self-service APIs and tools that make it fast and easy for you to create new voice-driven capabilities for Alexa. Alexa is the cloud-based voice service that powers Amazon Echo, a new category of device designed around your voice.

Announcing the Alexa Voice Service (AVS)

We announced that the Alexa Voice Service (AVS), the same service that powers Amazon Echo, is coming soon to third party hardware makers who want to integrate Alexa into their connected devices.

Build New Voice Experiences with Help from the Alexa Fund

We announced the Alexa Fund--named for Alexa, the cloud-based voice service that powers Amazon Echo—will provide up to $100 million in investments to fuel voice technology innovation. Experiences designed around the human voice will fundamentally improve the way people use technology.

Friday, June 26^th

Amazon Appstore in the News: Week of June 26^th

Lots of news this week with the public release of the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), which was reported by VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Gizmodo and many others. ProgrammableWeb covered the launch of the Fire OS 5 developer preview, which provides early access to new OS features plus more.

Monday, June 15^th         

New Cross-Platform In-App Purchasing Plugins Now Available for Amazon Developers

We shared new Amazon In-App Purchasing (IAP) plugins for Apache Cordova, Unity, Adobe Air, and Xamarin. These updates simplify the development needed to offer your customers digital content across multiple platforms.

Wednesday, June 17^th    

Amazon Cloud Drive Releases Developer SDKs for Android and iOS

We announced new Android and iOS SDKs for mobile developers interested in supporting Amazon Cloud Drive. These updates will allow you to provide Unlimited Storage benefits for your customers using your apps more quickly and efficiently.

What I've Learned After Three Months of Streaming Game Dev on Twitch

Amazon Developer Evangelist, Jesse Freeman, shared his experiences streaming development of his newest Unity mobile game over Twitch. 

Friday, June 19^th

Announcing the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview

You're invited to participate in our first ever Developer Preview of Fire OS 5, a confidential beta release of our next generation Android Lollipop based operating system. Now is the time to test and update your app to ensure it is available to millions of Amazon customers on our next generation of Amazon devices.

Sunday, June 21^st

Amazon Appstore in the News: Week of June 19^th

Games were front-and-center this week as Geekwire reported on Amazon Games Studios’ call for game development talent, the dramatic rise of eSports and Twitch caught the attention of HoustonPress, and more.