Lifehacker
Lifehacker is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux programs, iOS and Android, as well as general life tips and tricks. The website is known for its fast-paced release schedule from its inception, with content being published every half hour all day long.[1] The Lifehacker motto is "Tips, tricks, and downloads for getting things done."[2]
Type of site | Blog |
---|---|
Available in | English, Japanese |
Owner | G/O Media |
Created by | Gina Trapani |
Editor | Melissa Kirsch |
URL | lifehacker |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Optional, through Kinja |
Launched | 31 January 2005 |
In addition, Lifehacker has four international editions, Lifehacker Australia, Lifehacker Japan and Lifehacker UK which feature most posts from the U.S. edition along with extra content specific to local readers.[3][4]
History
Gina Trapani founded Lifehacker and was the site's sole blogger until September 2005, when two associate editors joined her, Erica Sadun and D. Keith Robinson.[5] Other former associate editors include Wendy Boswell, Rick Broida,[6] Jason Fitzpatrick, Kevin Purdy, and Jackson West.[7] Former contributing editors include The How-To Geek,[8] and Tamar Weinberg.[9]
Lifehacker launched in January 2005 with an exclusive sponsorship by Sony. The highly publicized ad campaign was rumored to have cost $75,000 for three months.[10] Since then, a variety of tech-oriented advertisers have appeared on the site.[11]
Lifehacker's frequent guest posts have included articles by Joe Anderson, Eszter Hargittai, Matt Haughey, Meg Hourihan, Jeff Jarvis.[12][13][14][15][16]
On January 16, 2009, Trapani resigned as Lifehacker's lead editor and Adam Pash assumed the position.[17]
On February 7, 2011, Lifehacker revealed a redesigned site with a cleaner layout.[18] Then, on April 15, 2013, Lifehacker redesigned their site again to match the other newly redesigned Gawker sites, like Kotaku.[19]
On January 7, 2013, Adam Pash moved on from Lifehacker to a new start-up, and Whitson Gordon became the new editor-in-chief.[20]
On January 1, 2016, Whitson Gordon parted ways with Lifehacker to another popular technology website, How-To Geek, as their editor-in-chief [21] replacing Lowell Heddings.[22] In his announcement, Gordon confirmed that Alan Henry would take over as the interim editor pending interviewing processes. Alan Henry became the new editor-in-chief on February 1, 2016.
On February 3, 2017, Alan Henry left his position at Lifehacker. He has since moved on to write for the New York Times.[23]
On February 28, 2017, Melissa Kirsch became the editor-in-chief.[24]
Lifehacker was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016.[25]
Podcast
Lifehacker staff ran the Ask Lifehacker podcast, which was discontinued in April 2014. From May 2014, former Lifehacker writer Adam Dachis hosted Supercharged, a podcast with the same theme and set-up, on which Lifehacker writers Alan Henry, Whitson Gordon, Eric Ravenscraft, Thorin Klosowski and Patrick Allen frequently co-hosted.
As of January 2017, Lifehacker has a weekly podcast called The Upgrade. It is hosted by Melissa Kirsch and Alice Bradley and features experts and Lifehacker staff "helping you improve your life, one week at a time".[26]
Staff
Writer | Position |
---|---|
Melissa Kirsch[27] | Editor-In-Chief |
Eric Ravenscraft | Senior Writer |
Thorin Klosowski | Writer |
Patrick Allan[28] | Writer |
Melanie Pinola | Contributing Writer |
Kristin Wong | Contributing Writer |
Beth Skwarecki | Contributing Writer |
Claire Lower | Contributing Writer |
Stephanie Lee | Contributing Writer |
Vanessa Marin | Contributing Writer |
Heather Yamada-Hosley | Contributing Writer |
Andy Orin | Staff Editor |
Shep McAllister | Commerce Editor |
Jim Cooke | Art Director |
Sam Woolley | Staff Illustrator |
Nick Criscuolo | Contributing Designer |
Gina Trapani | Founding Editor |
According to this letter from the editor on Lifehacker, Alan Henry will no longer be the Editor-in-Chief at Lifehacker and has since joined The New York Times. Gizmodo Media announced Melissa Kirsch as his replacement in February 2017.
Accolades
- In 2005, TIME named Lifehacker one of the "50 Coolest Web Sites"[29] in 2005, one of the "25 Sites We Can't Live Without"[30] in 2006 and one of the "25 Best Blogs 2009"[31]
- CNET named Lifehacker in their "Blog 100" in October 2005.[32]
- Wired presented Gina Trapani with a Rave Award in 2006 for Best Blog.[33]
- In the 2007 Weblog Awards, Lifehacker was awarded Best Group Weblog.[34]
- PC Magazine named Lifehacker in "Our Favorite 100 Blogs" in October 2007.[35]
- US Mensa named Lifehacker as one of their top 50 sites in 2010.[36]
References
- Accessed: 04/08/2019
- About Lifehacker Archived 2016-08-19 at the Wayback Machine Accessed: 8/16/2016
- Welcome to Lifehacker UK Archived 2014-04-25 at the Wayback Machine (April 17, 2014). Retrieved on April 25, 2014.
- Lifehacker AU Goes Live Archived 2009-09-12 at the Wayback Machine (August 28, 2007). Retrieved on August 31, 2007.
- Gina Trapani (September 6, 2005). "Introducing Team Lifehacker, triple threat". Lifehacker.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
- "Farewell, Rick!". Lifehacker. 2007-05-11. Archived from the original on 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
- "Jackson West is our Newest Associate Editor". 2008-11-05. Archived from the original on 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
- "Welcome Our New Contributing Editor, The How-To Geek". 2009-02-19. Archived from the original on 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
- "Farewell to Tamar". 2008-10-17. Archived from the original on 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
- Mike Rundle (February 1, 2005). "Sony Paying $25k Per Month for Lifehacker Blog Sponsorship". businesslogs.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
- "Internal Surveys from July, 2006". Gawker Media. July 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
- "This week's guest editor: Joe Anderson". Lifehacker. 2006-07-25. Archived from the original on 2007-11-24. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- "This Week s Guest Editor". Lifehacker. 2005-08-29. Archived from the original on 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- "Guest editor this week: Matt Haughey". Lifehacker. 2006-03-13. Archived from the original on 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- "How to mouse goofy". Lifehacker. 2006-05-25. Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- "Special Report: Web 2.0 Conference". Lifehacker. 2005-10-06. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
- "Letter From The Editor: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish". Lifehacker. 2009-01-16. Archived from the original on 2009-01-19. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- "Hello World! This Is The New Lifehacker". Lifehacker.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
- "Welcome to the New Lifehacker". Lifehacker.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-03. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
- "It was Pash like Cash". Lifehacker. 2013-01-07. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 2013-01-28.
- Gordon, Whitson. "...And Now His Watch Has Ended". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 31 December 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
- Heddings, Lowell. "With 1 Billion Views So Far, We're Moving How-To Geek Forward". www.howtogeek.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- Henry, Alan. "Be Good, Play Nice. I'm Heading Out". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
- Richard Horgan, "Incoming Lifehacker EIC Is Proud of This Amazon Product Review" Archived 2017-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, Adweek, February 14, 2017
- Calderone, Michael (18 August 2016). "Gawker.com Ending Operations Next Week". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- Apple Podcasts, "The Upgrade by Lifehacker" Archived 2017-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Richard Horgan (February 14, 2017). "Incoming Lifehacker EIC Is Proud of This Amazon Product Review". Adweek. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
- "Patrick Allan Blog". Patrick Allan Blog. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- Murray, Maryanne (2005-06-20). "50 Coolest Web Sites". Time.com. Archived from the original on 2013-08-25. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
- Murray, Maryanne (2006-08-03). "25 Sites We Can't Live Without". Time.com. Archived from the original on 2013-08-23. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
- iPad iPhone Android TIME TV Populist The Page (2009-02-13). "25 Best Blogs 2009". TIME. Archived from the original on 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
- "News.com's Blog 100 - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
- "Wired 14.06: Real Simple". Wired. 2009-01-04. Archived from the original on 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
- "Seventh Annual Weblog Awards". The 2007 Bloggies. Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
- Heater, Brian (2007-10-15). "Our 100 Favorite Blogs". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
- "American Mensa | Top 50". April 30, 2011. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011.
Further reading
- Gina Trapani (December 18, 2006). Lifehacker: 88 Tech Tricks to Turbocharge Your Day. ISBN 0-470-05065-9.