15 free Alexa skills that can make your life easier and make the Amazon Echo more useful

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Amazon works behind the scenes to improve Alexa's capabilities on a weekly basis, but best way to unlock your Echo's true potential is enabling third-party skills.

These skills can hook into tech and services you already use and let you access the information you want — news from your favorite publication, or information about your day's fitness activities — just with your voice.

Enabling a skill only takes one click, and it automatically becomes active across all of your Alexa-enabled devices, so you don't have to remember which Echo can do what.

There are thousands of skills out there, but we rounded up 15 below to help you get started. If you've found some other useful ones, please feel free to let us know by emailing insiderpicks businessinsider.com, and we'll update this list over time to help your fellow readers and us! get more out of a gadget we use every day.1. Get help with recipe inspiration and listen to some new music while you're at it.

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Enable the Recipe Remix Skill Here

The Recipe Remix skill teaches you a recipe and starts a playlist to introduce you to new music to make it more fun.

2. Learn about the day's most important tech news before you leave the house.

Business Insider

Enable the Ten Things in Tech Skill Here

The Ten Things in Tech Skill presents you with Business Insider's daily tech news roundup, helping you stay up to date on Apple, Google, Facebook, Snapchat, and more.

3. Get in a short, solid exercise at the time and place that suits you.

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Enable the Five Minute Workout: Core And Cardio Skill Here

The Five Minute Workout: Core and Cardio Skill guides you through a short exercise routine that can help get your heart pumping.

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