Planet of the Apps is a series of interviews with app developers about making, marketing and maintaining apps in the App Store.

Indie developer and podcaster Casey Liss used to hate SwiftUI, Apple’s controversial UI toolkit for crafting apps. A lot of developers have a deep and abiding animus for SwiftUI, including Liss himself. But after using SwiftUI to create his latest app Callsheet, a movie and TV database app, he’s now a huge fan.

“So much of SwiftUI, I love,” he said in a wide-ranging and surprisingly-interesting interview. “I went from nothing to a fully functional app … in the span of a couple of weeks… It was stunningly fast.”

Apple is working on a slew of M3-powered Macs for late 2023 and 2024, and the latest mystery machine spotted on developers’ logs appears to be a new Mac mini.

The M3 chip, the next-gen Apple silicon that will power these Macs, should be based on the 3nm node, offering superior performance and efficiency.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Which gets you more excited, an AirTag with new AR capabilities, a pink Apple Watch or a black titanium Apple Watch Ultra? This week’s top Apple rumors fuel our imaginations …

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple touts 1 billion paid subscribers, a gigantic number that pushed the company to record-high revenue for its services division last quarter.
• Leander cooks up a cheap-and-dirty way to add CarPlay to any car, even an old beater. (Still can’t get him to come on the podcast, though, because … 👀.
• Tim Cook finally plays the AI card as Apple tries to cash in on the latest tech buzzword.
• Griffin proves he’s a total nerd the consummate tech collector by revealing what he uses an ancient Apple Newton for these days.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Now that Hijack has finished its run on Apple TV+, fans of the immensely popular limited series want to know if there’ll be a season two. One of the executive producers says, “I hope so.”

Star Idris Elba already said he’s open to the idea.

Daily meditation can work wonders by restoring your focus and improving your mood. And we’ve got a deal on an excellent app that can help. Our Back-to-School Sale now gives new users more than 50% off a lifetime subscription to Mindfulness.com, plus access to its entire mental health toolkit.

Apple TV+’s magnificent space opera Foundation is lost in space this week. A small party heads inside the Vault on Terminus to speak to the prophet — and comes away bewildered by what they find.

Plus, Bel Riose is back in action and finds himself a different creature than when last he stormed the battlefield. And Brother Day’s marriage is about to get complicated by his bride’s secret, all on a very l0vely episode of the series, entitled “Where the Stars Are Scattered Thinly.”

It’s never too early to start investing, but that first step into the stock market can be a doozy. It can also be a costly one if you go in without doing your research. But now there’s an easy way for first-time investors to get the know-how they need.

You can can get five hours of expert tips on how to start your portfolio, plus lifetime access to the Tykr stock screening service, for just $119.99. Now that’s a smart investment!

Apple began selling refurbished AirPods 3 wireless earbuds on Friday. Those willing to buy a previously-purchased unit save $30 off the regular cost.

At this time, the only refurb option from Apple is the version that comes with a MagSafe Charging Case.

Swagger finds Ike and Naim at odds this week, even as CJ and Camden share a road trip and some secrets. And while Emory and Ike pursue a common goal, the team faces more scrutiny than ever.

With so little left of the sports drama’s extremely strong second season, how will the building pressure come between the players and their goals? Entitled “Homecoming,” this week’s stirring and strong episode hits hard as we prepare to wrap up season two of this outstanding Apple TV+ show.

It’s only natural that a user would clean up his computer setup to show it off to the world, and that’s exactly what TechDaily’s Wade B. did with his MacBook Air and Studio Display setup before sending it to us with a video.

“It’s really the first time I’ve ever had a desk that wasn’t a total disaster area,” he told Cult of Mac.

You may not want to lug around a full-on generator for the occasional camping trip or brief power outage, but wouldn’t it be cool to have a powerful little one to provide light and keep your gadgets going?

That’s the Anker 548 Power Bank PowerCore Reserve Portable Charger. And you can get $50 off the regular price right now on Amazon.

Apple could unveil the iPhone 15 lineup on September 13, with a staggered launch after that to avoid supply chain and logistics problems.

The company typically holds the launch event for new iPhones in the first or second week of September. So, this rumored date for the iPhone 15 announcement sounds totally plausible.

Apple has been conspicuously quiet about its plans for artificial intelligence, even as rivals like Google and Microsoft made headlines touting the latest tech buzzword. But CEO Tim Cook leaped to his company’s defense Thursday, pointing out that AI is already used by many Apple products.

And he also listed upcoming software and services that wouldn’t be possible without machine learning and AI.

The number of people subscribing to Apple services passed the 1 billion mark during the company’s most recent financial quarter, allowing that segment of the company to bring in record revenue.

But total revenue decreased slightly during the June quarter, the third time that’s happened in a row. And the money coming in from all Apple’s hardware groups is down.

If you’re heading back to school next month, chances are you’re taking a lot more than schoolbooks. Bright students use their iPhones and iPads to take notes and keep their class schedules organized, but it’s a lot harder to keep your desk organized when those devices and their charging cables start piling up.

Now, there’s an ingenious, space-saving charging solution for every student’s (or working professional’s) tech needs. Whether you’re juggling countless cables to keep your iPad charged for taking lecture notes or juice up your iPhone for important work conferences, you need to upgrade your charging experience to the MagStack Foldable 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station. During our Back-to-School Sale, you can get it for only $39.97, the best price online, but only until August 13 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

You can expect a new color for Apple Watch Series 9 — pink — and a new black titanium case for the second-gen Apple Watch Ultra, according to a reliable leaker.

If Apple remains true to its usual scheduling, we should see both new items in September at an event unveiling the iPhone 15 lineup.

ESR unveiled two new MagSafe chargers Thursday. Its new 25-watt 3-in-1 Wireless Charger and 15-watt Car Charger follow last month’s launch of the 100W 6-in-1 Charging Station on Kickstarter.

All three feature “MagSafe + CryoBoost,” which we’ll get into below.

Need to buy a new laptop for your school or college before the sessions begin? There’s no better laptop for you than Apple’s M2 MacBook Air.

If you are ready to pull the trigger now, Best Buy is offering a sweet $150 off the machine. So, you can get the slim and powerful 13-inch Air for just $949.

The HyperJuice 245W USB-C Battery Pack has four USB-C ports, stores a whopping 27,000mAh and can output 100W through a single port for high-speed recharges. Plus, its built-in display gives more info about the battery status than any rival I’ve tested.

I used Hyper’s power bank on vacation and when working out of the office. Here’s why I love it.

Going back to school means taking notes, marking up projects and assignments and perhaps a little doodling on your iPad as well. But, you can’t do any of that without a reliable and precise stylus for your tablet. While the Apple Pencil works great, it costs a lot. Fortunately, we’re offering a much more affordable iPad stylus just in time for the new school year.

The Digi Pen for iPad is designed to make it feel like you’re using pen and paper, without any of the drawbacks of those old-school school supplies. And you can save $64 on Digi Pen during our Back-to-School Sale. Through August 13 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, you can get it for only $35.97 (regularly $99).

Elon Musk wants creators on X to make more money. And for this, he plans to talk to Apple CEO Tim Cook about lowering the App Store fees for creators on Twitter X.

The billionaire wants Apple to only charge its 30% commission on the amount that X keeps, not the money a creator receives.

Imagine being able to communicate with people of other cultures in 37 different languages, all with the same earbuds that you use to listen to music and answer calls. That’s precisely what you can get with Mymanu’s Clik S Translation Earbuds.

And now you can take advantage of this amazing tech for less. Thanks to our Back-to-School Sale, you can get a set of these translating Bluetooth earbuds for only $99.97 (regularly $157).

Apple is about to reveal the financial results of its most recent quarter, and Wall Street analysts are preparing for a whole lot of ho-hum. They’re predicting a very slight drop in revenue and earnings, during a traditionally slow time of the year for Apple sales.

That said, Apple has a habit of beating analysts’ predictions. So Thursday’s earnings call could be more upbeat than expected.

Apple TV+’s enormously frustrating ’80s fitness comedy Physical bounces back for its third and final season this week. Aerobics queen Sheila faces a new adversary, both physically and mentally, as well as a new business model — and all the same old problems.

In the first two seasons, the show never expanded or focused enough to make its surface-level treatment of a tormented self-help icon the impressively acidic comedy or drama it so clearly strove to be. Season three of Physical opens with a few promising developments before becoming bogged down in the same distraction and confusion that marred its first two outings.