Lifehacker
Type of site
Blog
Available inEnglish, Japanese
OwnerZiff Davis
Created byGina Trapani
EditorJordan Calhoun
URLlifehacker.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional, through OpenWeb
Launched31 January 2005 (2005-01-31)

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 Ziff Davis. 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]

In addition, Lifehacker has international editions: Lifehacker Australia (as of 2022 owned by Pedestrian), Lifehacker Japan, and Lifehacker UK, which feature most posts from the U.S. edition along with extra content specific to local readers. Lifehacker UK folded on September 9, 2020 when its UK publisher decided not to renew its license.

History

The Lifehacker logo used from its founding in 2005 until November 2023

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. Other former associate editors include Wendy Boswell, Rick Broida, Jason Fitzpatrick, Kevin Purdy, and Jackson West. Former contributing editors include The How-To Geek, and Tamar Weinberg.

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.[2] Since then, a variety of tech-oriented advertisers have appeared on the site.

Lifehacker's frequent guest posts have included articles by Joe Anderson, Eszter Hargittai, Matt Haughey, Meg Hourihan, Jeff Jarvis.

On January 16, 2009, Trapani resigned as Lifehacker's lead editor and Adam Pash assumed the position.

On February 7, 2011, Lifehacker revealed a redesigned site with a cleaner layout. Then, on April 15, 2013, Lifehacker redesigned their site again to match the other newly redesigned Gawker sites, like Kotaku.

On January 7, 2013, Adam Pash moved on from Lifehacker to a new start-up, and Whitson Gordon became the new editor-in-chief.

On January 1, 2016, Whitson Gordon parted ways with Lifehacker to another popular technology website, How-To Geek, as their editor-in-chief replacing Lowell Heddings.[3] 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.

On February 28, 2017, Melissa Kirsch became the editor-in-chief.[4] Alice Bradley was named editor-in-chief in June 2020, but left in March 2021.[5] Former deputy editor Jordan Calhoun succeeded her as editor-in-chief.

Lifehacker was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016.[6]

On March 13, 2023, it was announced that Lifehacker had been sold from G/O Media to Ziff Davis.[7][8]

In November 2023, as part of a brand "refocus" after the Ziff Davis acquisition, Lifehacker updated with a new logo, a new site layout, and migration away from the Kinja platform. [9]

Accolades

  • In 2005, TIME named Lifehacker one of the "50 Coolest Web Sites"[10] in 2005, one of the "25 Sites We Can't Live Without"[11] in 2006 and one of the "25 Best Blogs 2009"[12]
  • CNET named Lifehacker in their "Blog 100" in October 2005.[13]
  • Wired presented Gina Trapani with a Rave Award in 2006 for Best Blog.[14]
  • In the 2007 Weblog Awards, Lifehacker was awarded Best Group Weblog.[15]
  • PC Magazine named Lifehacker in "Our Favorite 100 Blogs" in October 2007.[16]
  • US Mensa named Lifehacker as one of their top 50 sites in 2010.[17]

References

  1. ↑ How Lifehackers founder gets things done. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Richard Horgan, "Incoming Lifehacker EIC Is Proud of This Amazon Product Review" Archived 2017-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, Adweek, February 14, 2017
  5. ↑ Fischer, Sara (30 March 2021). "Editors bolt from G/O Media after 2019 sale". Axios. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Fischer, Sara (13 March 2023). "Scoop: Lifehacker sold by G/O to Ziff Davis". Axios. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  8. ↑ Calhoun, Jordan (30 March 2023). "Scoop: A New Beginning for Lifehacker". Lifehacker. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  9. ↑ Calhoun, Jordan (14 November 2023). "Welcome to the New Lifehacker". Lifehacker. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  10. ↑ Murray, Maryanne (2005-06-20). "50 Coolest Web Sites". Archived from the original on 2013-08-25. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  11. ↑ Murray, Maryanne (2006-08-03). "25 Sites We Can't Live Without". Time. Archived from the original on 2013-08-23. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  12. ↑ "25 Best Blogs 2009". 2009-02-13. Archived from the original on 2012-05-13. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  13. ↑ "News.com's Blog 100". CNET News. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  14. ↑ "Wired 14.06: Real Simple". Wired. 2009-01-04. Archived from the original on 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  15. ↑ "Seventh Annual Weblog Awards". The 2007 Bloggies. Archived from the original on 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  16. ↑ Heater, Brian (2007-10-15). "Our 100 Favorite Blogs". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
  17. ↑ "American Mensa | Top 50". April 30, 2011. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011.

Further reading

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International

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