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Light and sound collide in this portable Bluetooth speaker [Deals]

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FRESHeCOLOR Bluetooth portable speaker
The FRESHeCOLOR Bluetooth speaker will please your eyes as well as your ears.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Summer is as much about its sights as its sounds. Whatever your musical mood, the FRESHeCOLOR renders it in a dazzling and colorful display that you can take anywhere you go, from the poolside to the party to just hanging out in your living room with the fan on your face. Right now you can get this portable vibe enhancer for $59.95.

What you can expect from Amazon Prime Day sales

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1 trillion value
Amazon's growth has only recently caught the eyes of investors.
Photo: simone.brunozzi/Flickr CC

Amazon attempted to further its domination of online retail last year with the creation of Prime Day. Meant to reward the users of its wildly popular subscription program (best known for providing free shipping, but offering many other perks), Prime Day was supposed to rival Black Friday for deals, according to Amazon.

In reality, Prime Day was widely criticized for poor savings — but was popular enough for the megastore to bring it back. With many eyes on Amazon again this year, shoppers are surely expecting the store to do something big this time around. Here’s what you can expect.

Today in Apple history: QuickTime brings video to the Mac

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An image of a Macintosh computer running the first QuickTime beta.
QuickTime was a breakthrough for Macs.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

July 8 July 8, 1991: The first QuickTime beta arrives, making it possible for people to play movies on their Macs for the first time, with no extra hardware needed.

The innovative software showcased Apple’s commitment to pushing technological boundaries and set the stage for the seamless integration of video into everyday computing.

Lunch with Apple’s new rockstar exec is up for auction

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Bozoma Saint John
Bozoma Saint John at WWDC this year.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook isn’t the only Apple executive who’s willing to have lunch with fans in an effort to raise money for charity. Bozoma Saint John, chief of global consumer marketing for Apple Music and iTunes, is auctioning off a “power lunch” in aid of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.

How to make Amazon Echo default to Spotify or Pandora

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The Amazon Echo may finally have competition from Apple.
It's easier than ever to get the Amazon Echo to play tracks from Spotify Premium.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Barking out a song request at my Amazon Echo smart speaker, then hearing the track magically start playing, makes me feel like I’m living in the future.

Unfortunately, that feeling evaporates when the song isn’t part of the relatively skimpy Amazon Prime Music catalog. If it’s not there, Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa queues up an annoying 30-second sample — and that makes me realize I’m living in the very buggy present.

Luckily, you can fix that. Here’s how to make Amazon Echo default to Spotify so you don’t get stuck with those annoying song and album previews.

Behold the year’s best iPhone photographs

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This photo of man and eagle was the grand prize winner in the 2016 iPhone Photo Awards.
Photo: Siyuan Niu

The winners of the 2016 iPhone Photography Awards could have made their celebrated photographs with almost any camera. But the iPhone isn’t any camera and our amazement over it hasn’t waned.

And it won’t once you behold the incredible images of this year’s entries.

iOS 10 and macOS Sierra betas are now open to the public

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iPhone SE
Public testers can download iOS 10 now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple fans who want to get a glimpse of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra before their public release later this fall will finally get the opportunity to install the new software today.

Coming just two days after the release of the second beta of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra to developers, Apple is now letting members of its public beta program install the new software, which debuted last month at WWDC.

Learn app development now, just in time for iOS 10 [Deals]

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iOS Online Courses
Gain lifelong access to cutting-edge coding education with iOS Online Courses.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

iOS 10 is almost here, and along with it a whole host of new features for enterprising developers to take advantage of. Oh, you’re not a developer? Well that can change. iOS Online Courses is a leading provider of expert instruction in iOS game and app development, and right now you can get a lifetime of access for just $69 at Cult of Mac Deals.

This is iOS 10 beta 2 in action

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iOS 10 Beta 2
Hands on with iOS 10 Beta 2.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

When Apple rolled out iOS 10 beta 2 earlier this week, I rushed to install it straight onto my trusty iPhone — and I had my camera ready to give you a hands-on look at everything that’s new.

Check out the video below to see Cult of Mac’s overview of some of the latest tweaks and updates in iOS 10 beta 2.

Man faces off with alligator to retrieve iPhone with baby pics

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Screen Shot 2016-07-07 at 14.20.24
I might have been tempted to let my iPhone go at this point!
Photo: News-press

We’ve read about people selling their organs to get their hands on an iPhone, but I’ve never before heard of a couple willing to face-off with a live alligator for one.

That’s the somewhat bizarre situation a Florida couple found themselves in recently, however, when 24-year-old Anthony Larrimore dropped his iPhone while snapping pictures of an alligator in Fort Myers — only for the ‘gator to take a shine to the smartphone.

The only problem? The iPhone had pictures of Larrimore’s 10-month-old son on it.

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs starts Apple’s dramatic turnaround

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The
Jobs' turnaround of Apple was one of the most dramatic in corporate history.
Photo: Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview

July 7: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs starts Apple's dramatic turnaround July 7, 1997: Apple CEO Gil Amelio officially steps down from his role, turning the company over to the returning Steve Jobs, who immediately begins making his presence felt.

If you’re looking to pinpoint a turning point when Apple began the transition from the ailing company it was in the first half of the 1990s to the powerhouse it is today, this is it!

Google’s round wearable will take on Apple Watch

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Watch out Apple Watch, Google is coming for you.
Watch out Apple Watch, Google is coming for you.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Alphabet-owned Google is planning to take another step toward becoming a genuine hardware company later this year with the release of its own smartwatch.

The search engine giant plans to take on Apple Watch directly, with not one, but two Android Wear smartwatches that will be deeply integrated with Google Assistant. Plus, it will pack some hardware features Apple Watch can’t match.

Tim Cook and Eddy Cue spotted hobnobbing at Sun Valley

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Apple acquisitions
As easy as a stroll down the street.
Photo: Drew Angerer

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made his annual pilgrimage to Sun Valley, Idaho, to gather with other leaders who run the world’s tech and media empires.

This is the fourth year in a row that Cook has made an appearance at the exclusive conference, which attracts dozens of industry bigwigs like Disney CEO Bob Iger, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, HP CEO Meg Whitman and Facbook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

Apple unleashes more betas for iOS, OS X and tvOS

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Safari iOS 11
Advertisers aren't keen on the improved Safari in iOS 11.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Developers got an exciting new batch of iOS 10 and macOS betas yesterday, but Apple is still working on new updates for iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan.

Apple seeded the fifth betas of iOS 9.3.3 and OS X 10.11.6 to developers and public testers this morning, along with a new build of tvOS 9.2.2 just for devs.

Faltering iPhone loses more ground in China

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WeChat
Is China falling out of love with iPhone?
Photo: Virginia Werner/Cult of Mac

China is proving to be a harder market to crack than Apple anticipated.

The iPhone-maker has dropped to fifth place in its second most important market, marking yet another setback for Apple in China.

Snapchat Memories finally let you save snaps for later

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snapchat
Get ready to discover the new Snapchat.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Snapchat been about ephemeral moments since its inception, but starting today the app is about to get a lot better at keeping tabs on your past too.

With Snapchat’s new feature called Memories, the app now lets users save Snaps and Stories so you can use them in the app later.

Design drawings bring iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to life

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iphone-7-cap-01
Yes, it's exactly what you expected.
Photo: Weixin

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have been brought to life in new design drawings ahead of their official unveiling this fall. The images reveal the larger camera sensor that’s expected to come to the smaller 4.7-inch model, and the all-new dual-lens system coming to the 5.5-inch model.