Bio

Gina Trapani is a technology blogger, book author, and programmer based in San Diego, California by way of Brooklyn, New York. The founding editor of Lifehacker.com, a daily weblog on software and personal productivity, Gina authored a book based on the web site which is in its second edition: Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better (Wiley, March 2008).

A Sun-certified Java programmer, Gina builds Firefox extensions, web sites, and other bits of software. Her writing has appeared in Popular Science, Wired, Women's Health, PC World, and Macworld magazines. The Wall Street Journal Online and The New York Times profiled her, and Fast Company magazine included her on their list of the Most Influential Women in Technology. Her work has also been mentioned in Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Wired.

Book

My latest book, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better, is a compendium of all the best hacks from Lifehacker.com's archives, and my personal manifesto on working more efficiently in the digital age.

Check out the official web site of Upgrade Your Life to browse the table of contents, download a sample chapter, and join the mailing list.

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Currently

• Blogger
  Smarterware, daily blog on software and self-improvement
• Work Smarter, a weekly blog at HarvardBusiness.org
• Contributor
  Lifehacker, weekly Smarterware feature appears every Wednesday
• Women's Health magazine, Essential Wisdom column
• Lead Developer
  Todo.txt Command Line Interface, an open source repository of scripts for managing a text-based task list
• Greasemonkey Multi-Script Compiler, an engine that aggregates user scripts into standalone Firefox extensions like Better Gmail 2
• Advisor
  Pelotonics, a web-based project management application
• Dabbler
  Scribbling.net, a personal tumblelog of random whimsy

Recently

• June 2009
  • Published Gmail Power Tools in the July issue of Macworld.
  • Contributed to Customize the OS X Workspace and Manage Files in OS X Your Way in the July issue of Macworld.
  • Launched Work Smarter, my new weekly blog at HarvardBusiness.org.
  • Joined the advisory board at Pelotonics, LLC.
• May 2009
  • Joined Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Jake Jarvis, and Don Tapscott on an episode of This Week in Tech.
  • Marci Alboher interviews me about career transitions, at her new Yahoo! blog, Working the New Economy.
  • Appeared on an episode of CBC Radio's The Spark alongside Anil Dash to talk about Dash's new project, Last Year's Model. (MP3 available.)
• March 2009
  • Contributed a short section on automating your money to Ramit Sethi's new personal finance book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich. (Now a New York Times bestseller!)
  • Joined Leo Laporte on an episode of This Week in Tech.
  • Spoke on a panel called Curating the Crowd-Sourced World moderated by Jen Bekman at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX. (Podcast now available.)
  • Lifehacker takes home the Best Computer or Technology Weblog award in the 2009 Bloggies.
  • Published How to Make Your Small Business Look Big at Harvard Business Online.
• February 2009
  • Launched Smarterware, my new personal blog on software and self-improvement; here's the full story.
  • Mark Glaser at PBS's MediaShift blog interviews me for a "Thought Leader Q&A": Productivity Guru Gina Trapani Balances Blogging, Coding, Community.
  • TIME magazine names Lifehacker one of the best 25 blogs of 2009.
  • Technology podcaster extraordinaire Leo Laporte has me join him on an episode of his net@night show with Sarah Lane, then on an episode of This Week in Tech (TWiT) with Cory Doctorow, Ryan Block, and Robert Heron. (Downloadable MP3s available.)
  • The BlogHerald interviews me about stepping down from Lifehacker and starting up Smarterware.
  • Published How to Mitigate the Urgent to Focus on the Important at Harvard Business Online.
• January 2009
  • Transitioned from lead editor to weekly feature writer at Lifehacker.
  • Featured in chapter five of Jonathan Fields' new book, Career Renegade.
  • Published How to Write To-Do Lists That Work at Harvard Business Online.
  • Fast Company includes me on their list of The Most Influential Women in Technology .
• More...

Elsewhere

• FriendFeed--See my activity on various social media sites in one place
• Mozilla Add-ons contributions--Firefox extensions I've authored
• Userscripts.org contributions--Greasemonkey user scripts I've authored
• Userstyles.org contributions--Stylish styles I've authored
• Wikipedia contributions

Contact

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