After a short hiatus this summer, The Loop Magazine returns today with a double issue. I want to apologize to all the subscribers of the magazine for the unscheduled break in publishing, but we’ve put together a great issue for its return. To make up for the missing issues, I’ll publish another large issue shortly, giving you lots of great stories to read.

We have nine stories in this issue, including “State of Mind,” written by software developer, James Thomson. In his piece, James talks about how he feels when surrounded by some of the brightest developers in the world when he attends conferences. This is a free story that anyone can read by just downloading The Loop Magazine app.

Kirk McElhearn talks about the Zen practice of shikantaza, or “just sitting.” Matt Gemmell takes us into the world of fan fiction where people write works of fiction, long and short, set in the established universes of novels, TV shows, cartoons, movies, video games, and more.

Billy Sangster takes us through the feelings of getting back up on stage with his band and Rian van der Merwe explores the deeply spiritual experience of coffee. With so many devices to choose from to use on a plane, Darren Murph explores “The Unintended Death of the In-Flight Magazine.”

Arsenal FC is one of the most popular football clubs in the world—Stan Sulkowski helps run a site dedicated to the club and talks about his experience. Chris Domico’s body attacks itself, putting him in pain and hell without much warning. He talks about his struggles dealing with disease.

Finally, Mark Crump takes us through his guitar setup to play music on an iPad. He’s been playing guitar for 30 years, so he has some experience in getting the best sound from his instrument.

I really hope you enjoy the latest issue of The Loop Magazine. You can download it free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

Jim

IN1 is a multi-tool utility case for your iPhone 5/5s. Like a built-in swiss army knife for your phone. Choose from 8 colors. Get yours for $44.95, ships in 24 – 48 hrs.

The game begins with 16 triangles of primary colors. You combine them to make regular polygons with more sides. Squares, pentagons, hexagons, etc.

This could be another one of those additive games.

Charvel guitars are so nice to play.

Pretty cool project by Svein Sund.

That’s the takeaway from findings security researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell plan to present next week, demonstrating a collection of proof-of-concept malicious software that highlights how the security of USB devices has long been fundamentally broken. The malware they created, called BadUSB, can be installed on a USB device to completely take over a PC, invisibly alter files installed from the memory stick, or even redirect the user’s internet traffic. Because BadUSB resides not in the flash memory storage of USB devices, but in the firmware that controls their basic functions, the attack code can remain hidden long after the contents of the device’s memory would appear to the average user to be deleted. And the two researchers say there’s no easy fix: The kind of compromise they’re demonstrating is nearly impossible to counter without banning the sharing of USB devices or filling your port with superglue.

Frightening.

Publishers Adam and Tonya Engst have put out another great ebook written by Joe Kissell called “Take Control of FileVault.” This should answer any question you have about using Apple’s FileVault feature.

Bryan Chaffin fills in the “gaps” that Amazon tends to leave out of its numbers.

Marked is a previewer for Markdown files. Use it with your favorite text editor and it updates every time you save. With robust features for previewing, reviewing and exporting beautiful documents, you can work in plain text while reveling in rich formatting.

Brett Terpstra did a nice job with this app.

This is just great. Pick a year and see what songs were popular when you were growing up.

Apple executives have visited Beats’ Southern California headquarters this week and last week to offer groups of employees positions at Apple and to notify some members of the Beats staff that they will not be included in the transition.

This makes perfect sense. Redundant admin type positions are always going to be casualties in any acquisition.

Right now, today, in 2014 is the best time to start something on the internet. There has never been a better time in the whole history of the world to invent something.

I really enjoyed reading this article because I was around in 1985, where Kevin starts the article. There is always room for another great idea. Definitely worth a read.

iStumbler is the leading wireless discovery tool for Mac OS X, providing plugins for finding AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices, Bonjour services and Location information with your Mac.

This is a great wireless utility that I’ve used for years. I met the developer, Alf Watt, shortly after I started using the software and he’s a terrific guy.

This has always been my favorite Mötley Crüe song.

Horace Dediu has a look at iTunes growth after Apple reported its earnings. I’ve long held that it’s the ecosystem that Apple’s competitors can’t easily copy. The company was very stealthy in the early 2000s in building the infrastructure for what we have now with the App Store, music and video delivery. It all just syncs and works—that’s what consumers want to happen. I’m not saying it doesn’t need work, but even as it sits, Apple’s ecosystem is pretty remarkable.

A former IDC researcher:

“So, the mantra became, preserve the growth rates; to hell with the actual numbers. Even the growth rates are fiction. The fudge is in the “others” category, which is used as a plug to make the numbers work out. In fairness, we did do survey work, calling around, and attending white box conferences and venues to try to get a feel for that market, but in the end, the process was political. I used to tell customers which parts of the data they could trust, essentially the major vendors by form factor and region. The rest was garbage.”

So they make shit up.

Jared Sinclair opens the books on his RSS reading app, Unread. These are some sobering numbers, to be sure. I use Unread and really like the app.

Apple’s acquisition of talk-radio service Swell appears to now be a done deal: the start-up’s App Store app and website shut down this morning.

I’m shocked at the lack of security in this piece of shit operating system. SHOCKED!

Apple on Tuesday updated Apple TV with a number of new channels from around the world. […]

Kind of scary.

Wow, I just don’t know what to say about this store opening.

And this is why BlackBerry and Dell can’t do anything right.

Bose alleges that Beats has infringed on 50 years’ worth of research, development and engineering of noise cancelling tech, and that its current lineup of these devices incorporates “at least 36 U.S. patents and applications,” broken down into 22 granted patents and 14 applications currently undergoing review. Beats products named as having infringed upon Bose’s IP include the Beats Studio line, which include the new Studio Wireless Bluetooth headphones.

I wonder if Apple and Beats saw this coming?

I laughed out loud several times.

Headquartered in San Francisco, which also serves as its debut market, Fixed first launched this January, allowing residents to snap photos of their tickets using an iOS device. Afterwards, Fixed checks for common errors before proceeding to write a customized contest letter on your behalf, which is sent to the city.

Seems the city of San Francisco are being dicks about this.

Brianna Wu released her game for iPhone and iPad to the App Store this week. I’ve been following her progress for about a year and really like what I’ve seen. You can download the game for free or you can watch a trailer first.

This could be interesting, but I’d still use the Uber app. I don’t use Facebook Messenger, but I can see the benefits for both companies.

You’re a free spirit. You don’t like rules. You expect to be asked about your trophy beard.

The main purpose of this book is to help product managers who work specifically with digital projects build better — less complex, more focused, less long-winded and more intelligent — products. By featuring lessons learned from real-life projects, the book provides a structured framework for strategic product management — to help build the right products, at the right time, for the right people with just the right amount of process involved.

I have a lot of respect for Rian van der Merwe, the author of this book. You should have a look.