Detect a Null value in NSDictionary

You can use the as? operator, which returns an optional value (nil if the downcast fails)

if let latestValue = sensor["latestValue"] as? String {
    cell.detailTextLabel.text = latestValue
}

I tested this example in a swift application

let x: AnyObject = NSNull()
if let y = x as? String {
    println("I should never be printed: \(y)")
} else {
    println("Yay")
}

and it correctly prints "Yay", whereas

let x: AnyObject = "hello!"
if let y = x as? String {
    println(y)
} else {
    println("I should never be printed")
}

prints "hello!" as expected.