One of the coolest things that our newly revamped Website—www.convertingmagazine.com—offers is four blogs. These frequently posted commentaries by our editorial staff let us communicate with you on a daily basis, if necessary, providing added viewpoints into every aspect of the converting industry or just an extra insight or new angle on the hundreds of news stories and dozens of feature articles we publish annually. It's also fun.

Here's a quick rundown on the blogs.

The Converting Curmudgeon (by me): A regular reality check into the true value of all that impacts your business. While the title may hint at a negative tone, I do try to bring a look at many of the positive aspects of our industry—truly successful ideas, business organizations, products and markets—and a little fun every once in a while.

Packaging By Design by editorial director John Kalkowski: A provocative perspective on packaging and design, based on John's years as a magazine and newspaper editor who also has worked as a supplier to the industry in technical service and marketing.

Converting on the Road by associate editor Jorina Fontelera: Follow Jori's travels as she reports on converting market news and innovative technology through plant visits, trade shows/conferences and supplier open houses. Stay tuned for her pre-drupa reports direct from Düsseldorf, Germany.

Substrate Secrets by Eldridge Mount, president of EMMOUNT Technologies: Discusses how films are made (extrusion, coextrusion, coating, etc.), formulated, converted and used in various applications such as printing, lamination and metallization, and their function at the end user. Eldridge is currently posting a series on surface quality.

The rapid-fire nature and fast reads of the blogs get you updated quickly. You can read all of them in less than 15 minutes, get informed and get on with your day.

In the first month since our blogs went live, the dozens of posts have been viewed by nearly 3,000 readers. In fact, Substrate Secrets is the most active in terms of readership and the all-important flip side of blogs—your responses.

Now, I really don't know any parents with children of a sufficient age who haven't said at least once, “Don't talk back.” But in this case, we want you to Talkback. Just fill out the Comments box, which is available at the bottom of each blog's postings. And don't limit your responses to just a particular post. Feel free to start a “conversation” by commenting on other readers' comments. That's just what happened recently for a news story we ran on Wal-Mart's Packaging Scorecard. See you online.