Here is a short list of stories that I read and enjoyed. They made me smile and made me angry. And more importantly, they made me think. Hope you like this selection.

• Think you know Shinola? Think again. This is a new watch brand backed by the guy who created Fossil watches. Anne VanderMey reports on the brand for Fortune magazine.
• The apps that get featured on the iOS App Store. Dave Addey digs in and finds some great trends. Helpful if you are in the app business or are curious about how Apple’s feature process really works (or not).
• What I expect from a feed reader. Justin Blanton makes some great points that made me rethink my own expectations.
• Shooting the messengers. The risky business of being a war reporter.
• The Expendables: How the temps who power corporate giants are getting crushed. Yup, this is the kind of stuff people don’t like to talk about. It is a problem that is not going to go away anytime soon unless we have folks in Washington, D.C. who actually have compassion and empathy for citizens instead of viewing them as voting blocs and part of a data matrix.
• The endless summer of Bob Uecker. I can’t believed I am reading Sports Illustrated again. It must be baseball season.
• The call of Battle: Matt Cook, a soldier, writes a great first-person piece for one of the best magazines in business, Texas Monthly.