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.

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.

If you’re planning to install the new macOS Sierra public beta today, one of the first things you’ll want to check out is Siri. The virtual assistant is just as useful on your desktop as it is on iOS, and summoning it is super simple with this keyboard shortcut.

Some users have been locked out of their Apple IDs after installing the second iOS 10 beta that was rolled out to registered developers Tuesday. The bug causes testers to be signed out of their devices “for security reasons,” and then prevents them from resetting their passwords.

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.

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.

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.

From being able to use Apple Pay for bank transfers to using it to pay for items on the web, Apple continues to show how serious it is about its mobile payments service.

Today, Apple Pay continued its expansion by arriving in Switzerland for the first time.

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.

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!

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.

Apple rolled out Safari Technology Preview 8 for developers today, an update that paves the way for Apple Pay, which will make online shopping even easier this fall.

It’s about to get a lot more expensive to be a Verizon Wireless customer.

Verizon revealed today that it plans to raise prices for its wireless service plans, even as smaller competitors have discounted rates to attract new customers.

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.

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.

The iPhone 7 has been leaked again, but this time, it’s not just an empty shell. The latest photo revealing the back of the new device gives us our very first glimpse at its larger camera lens.

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 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.

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.

Apple’s second beta for iOS 10 is jam-packed with new features and changes to go along with the big batch of bug fixes.

More than 50 changes have been discovered by developers, affecting everything from Apple Music to widgets. A lot of the changes are very minor UI tweaks that would probably go unnoticed by many users, but Apple has also added some huge additions to the Home button, Messages, Notification Center and more.

Here’s what’s new in iOS 10 beta 2:

If you spend any amount of time at the keyboard, you’re wasting a surprising amount of it. Whether signing off on emails, filling out data fields, or writing a line of code, there’s a long list of phrases we needlessly write out repeatedly.

TextExpander is a tool for bypassing your most commonly used lines and phrases, making your writing more efficient to save valuable minutes and even hours. Right now at Cult of Mac Deals, you can get a year of TextExpander for just $19.98.

July 6, 2011: Amazon wins a landmark verdict against Apple over its proprietary use of the term “App Store” — opening up the possibility of other rival services calling their own app stores by the phrase Apple had helped popularize.

The case highlights just how central the concept of downloadable apps had become to the mobile experience, only three years after Apple launched its iOS App Store.

If you’ve been waiting to get your Ash Ketchum or, gasp, even Team Rocket on, you’ll be pleased to know that Pokémon GO, a.k.a. the first original Pokémon game for mobile, is rolling out around the world.

Apple’s Mac systems have been exposed to a dangerous new piece of malware that allows attackers to take full control of OS X.

The new malware, dubbed Backdoor.MAC.Eleanor by security researchers, provides attackers with a backdoor into OS X systems by embedding a script into a fake file converter application that’s found on many reputable sites that sell Mac apps.

Upgrading to the iPhone 7 may come with a big storage boost for most iPhone owners, according to a new report that claims Apple will double the storage available on the upcoming device expected to be unveiled later this year.