One year ago today I sat in a hotel room in San Francisco and launched the next big project of my career in the Apple industry — The Loop. Today, I’m sitting in the exact same hotel room looking back at quite an incredible year. Traffic on the site has soared, we have upgraded the servers a number of times to handle the load, and it continues to grow.

After spending 15 years at MacCentral and Macworld it was time to go out on my own again. When I launched the site, I wanted a place that I could post my thoughts on technology and how it affects me and the community as a whole. I think I accomplished that goal. Some of the best read stories on The Loop have been opinions posted by myself or Peter Cohen.

Of course, with any successful business, you don’t do it alone. Peter has been an extremely important piece of The Loop’s success over the last year. His expertise in gaming and a host of other technology topics has given the site another dimension that nobody else can fill.

Spin Studio’s Ed Prasek has also played an important role in taking care of the business and marketing for The Loop. He’s worked hard to make the right deals for the site to help it grow. He also helps keep me and the beard under control at times.

Paul Zampitella has helped me navigate the online ad world, which is something I knew very little about. Thanks to Paul, I don’t have to.

The sponsors and advertisers of The Loop have been incredibly generous through the last year. Many have supported the site from the very first month we began accepting ads and are still here today. I hope while you enjoy reading the stories on the site, you’ll take a minute and check out their products. This site would literally not be here if it wasn’t for them.

The Loop has been linked from some of the biggest publications in the world including Wired, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Gizmodo, Engadget, Macworld, Daring Fireball, and many others. Thank you for your support.

One of the biggest thanks has to go to you, the reader. Without your continued support there would be no advertisers, no links from other sites and nobody to write for. Every time you read a story and retweet a link, you support the site and help get the word out about The Loop. That is extremely important to the continued well being of The Loop.

Finally, I want to thank my family. They have given up so much to make this site happen. My kids, Nicole and Michael, and my beautiful wife Monique, who is my pillar of strength.

Thanks.

Jim

Happy Birthday to The Loop!