Since Amazon has opened their Alexa Voice Service for developers I really wanted to have a less expensive virtual assistant for my desk. Since we can use the Pi Zero this brings the cost down to about $25 instead of $180 for a full Echo.
This was based on the work of Sam Machin, <a href="http://sammachin.com/the-10-echo/" target="_blank">http://sammachin.com/the-10-echo/</a>, and Don from Novaspirit Tech, <a href="https://youtu.be/frH9HaQTFL8" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/frH9HaQTFL8</a>.
Components
1×
Raspberry Pi Zero
$5 mini computer
1×
USB Sound Card
$6 from Amazon like this http://www.amzn.com/B00IRVQ0F8
1×
USB WiFi Adapter
$8 from Amazon like this http://www.amzn.com/B00KA5XVOW
1×
OTG adapter (at least two ports)
$5 from Amazon like this http://www.amzn.com/B00OZDUTMM