New Year, New Us

I've never been particularly good at skiing, could really do without the excessive cold, and shoveling snow is near the top of my "worst ways to spend my time" list. And yet, despite the fact that we're knee-deep in the colder, darker months of the year, I feel energized and positively harged.

January and February mark a great time for introspection. The holidays are over and the neighborhood has fallen into hibernation. This sudden change of pace from the year-end hustle and bustle leaves plenty of energy to take stock, refresh and renew.

Hospitality Technology is embracing this opportune time for self-improvement. Beginning with this January/February 2007 issue, we've updated our look, added new features and enhanced content in a way that boasts, "Look at what we've been up to."

Paging through the front of the magazine, you'll notice that we've redesigned the Table of Contents to be more user friendly and added an online section where you'll find updates about htmagazine.com. We've expanded the Front Burner section to include more news, industry trends and insights, and we've added an industry calendar. On page 8 you'll find a section titled, This Month. Here, HT editors identify the top five things they want readers to know about the current edition. This Month covers not only what's in print, but also what we're doing in person and online.

Finally, HT is proud to welcome Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu to its roster of contributors, now the regular columnist for Last Words (pg. 46). Dr. Cobanoglu is an assistant professor of hospitality information technology with the University of Delaware's College of Human Services, Education, and Public Policy Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management. As the columnist for Last Words, he will share academic insights into current trends and research findings from the University.

I hope you enjoy thumbing through this issue of HT as much as we enjoyed putting it together..