This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: This could be the year Apple Watch goes large … and rugged … and maybe long. Like, long enough to track the kind of intense, multi-hour workouts that “extreme sports athletes” engage in.

So the question is, what will this beefier (and pricier) Apple Watch look like? We can’t help letting our imaginations run a little wild.

Also on The CultCast:

• iOS 16 features that will keep us all waiting.
• Apple’s new Lockdown Mode sounds super-serious.
• The White House honors Steve Jobs with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• The dreaded pukerang!

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 livestream, embedded below.

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In “Seven Minutes of Terror,” Apple TV+ alt-history space race show For All Mankind returns this week to where it left off last season, with America and Russia once more holding hands begrudgingly to fix some space problems.

Ed and Karen have the same trouble with authority. Danny’s cracking up. Margo’s head is in a noose. Kelly’s got a crush. And Sojourner 1 suffers from a serious a problem.

Behind the scenes, WALL-E helmer Andrew Stanton directs this week. His brand of post-classical Hollywood craftsmanship is much appreciated, if also a sad sign of where we are as a country.

Golf, as much as you might love it, proves a bit time-consuming. Even if it’s your favorite way to spend a day, you probably don’t always have time to head out to the course to play a full 18 holes.

But your favorite hobby doesn’t need to include lengthy drive time — just a big screen and a little one. During our Deal Days Sale, you can get the SwingLogic SLX MicroSim home golf simulator for just $169.99 (regularly $249) no coupon code needed. Deal ends July 14, 2022.

Preorders for the svelte new M2 MacBook Air began early Friday morning and Apple is mostly keeping up with demand. There’s even one standard configuration still available for delivery on the July 15 launch day. The base model can be delivered a few days after that.

Build up the specs and the wait time can stretch out to August. But no farther than that.

A photograph said to show leaked iPhone 14 cases supports the widespread idea that the series will feature four models and bigger camera bumps. And it appears to show a case for a large, non-Pro handset that may be called “iPhone 14 Plus.”

If this holds up at launch in a couple of months, the two smaller models will be iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro and the two bigger models will be iPhone 14 Plus (or Max) and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple TV+ comedy Loot takes a spa day today as Molly tries to relive her old lifestyle without her old life, and the rest of the office bonds over shared drinks and massages. Arthur and Molly think about each other more than friends do, but everywhere she goes reminds her of the life she lost to a younger model.

The show continues to make good inroads on character dynamics. However, Loot needs a little electricity in the writing to keep it from feeling like just another sitcom.

Apple TV+’s Physical has an incurable itch to break free this week. Both Sheila’s and John’s spouses know something is up. They try to help, but they can’t — because there’s no cure for being blackmailed by a vindictive Bunny.

John stares a new life in the face, a real one and an imaginary one. Sheila contemplates becoming an even worse version of herself. And Danny’s out of luck in every way he can be.

Brace yourself for more of the same bad behavior in this week’s episode, entitled “Don’t You Have Enough.”

Black Bird, the new Apple TV+ series about an inmate tasked with cozying up to a suspected serial killer, begins as a blustery and entirely too familiar tale of bad men doing bad things, without much to distract from the cliches.

However, armed with an impressive cast and crew — and one of the last performances by the great Ray Liotta — it eventually slots itself into good procedural habits.

The limited series, based on James Keene’s memoir In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption and developed by crime novelist Dennis Lehane, premieres Friday on Apple TV+. The first two episodes start off wobbly, but then chart a path toward true-crime greatness.

Some great sales prices have popped up lately for Apple’s flagship earbuds, AirPods Pro. That may relate to the fact that the highly anticipated next-gen version with new features is expected to launch before the end of the year. And sellers want to clear out stock.

So should you take the deal behind door No. 1, or wait for whatever’s coming with AirPods Pro 2 behind door No. 2? Let’s look at your options for Apple’s top active noise-cancelling (ANC) wireless earbuds.

Various discounts across the Apple Watch lineup appeared Thursday, including Apple Watch SE hitting an all-time low price on Amazon for the first time and models of Apple Watch Series 7 reaching or returning to all-time low prices.

Act fast, though — these deals often don’t last long.