📻 Generating podcasts from blog articles 📔

Welcome to the 16th issue of the iOS Coffee Break Newsletter 📬.

NotebookLM's new podcast feature is incredible! For those unfamiliar, NotebookLM is a Google-powered AI research assistant, using Gemini 1.5 Pro to help you understand complex information. You can upload documents like PDFs, text files or blog posts, and generate derivative works like study guides or FAQs.

Now, with the new feature, you can transform that content into a podcast! You read it right! I have tested out it with my latest issue, and the results were surprisingly good. I have noticed just one small problem in the audio but bear in mind that this feature is experimental! It is certainly a unique way to view your own material from a new perspective.

Give it a listen and let me know your thoughts — would this be something you would find useful to include with the weekly issue? This way, you could listen to my weekly podcast while driving — pretty convenient, right?

Now it's time to dive into some iOS development topics submitted by the community. Here are this week's highlighted resources. Hope you enjoy 🙌.

✂️ Remove the background from images using a Swift CLI tool

Removing image backgrounds has always been a challenge for me, either due to a lack of photoshop skills or the poor results from free online tools.

If you have been following the newsletter, you probably know how much I love creating Swift executables. So, I decided to develop a Swift CLI tool that removes image backgrounds using Apple's new machine-learning features in the Vision framework.

My girlfriend's cat, Simba, was the perfect model for testing. If you are curious, here is a before and after comparison!

🧩 How to build a Safari extension with SwiftUI

The latest version of QReate features a fully redesigned Safari extension entirely built with SwiftUI.

Since there weren't many resources available on the topic, Pol decided to write a blog post sharing his experience. This is the guide you need to build your Safari extension so be sure to check it out if you are interested in it!

🧱 Parsing Beyond JSON with swift-parsing

Parsing goes beyond simply handling JSON from server API calls — it is about transforming unstructured data into structured formats.

In Alejandro's latest article on Swift Toolkit, he explores the depths of parsing and demonstrates its power, especially with a library like swift-parsing. If you are looking to refine your tools or dive deeper into parsing as a solution, I highly recommend giving this article a read to discover how versatile and impactful parsing can truly be!