5QQ – Gina Trapani

Gina Trapani knows how much time you waste. Not because she’s secretly watching you through your computer — though she probably could, she’s that smart — but because, as the founding editor of Lifehacker, she’s made a career out of finding ways to improve productivity and efficiency in your wired life. She’s probably saved thousands of people hundreds of hours in the process, making her very popular, as indicated by her book, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better, cracking the top ten on multiple Amazon “Computer & Internet” lists) (perspective: Her overall Amazon Sales Rank is 7,054, just ahead of Jeff Jarvis’ What Would Google Do? at 7,366). Trapani is also a Sun-certified Java programmer and builds things like Firefox extensions, Twitter data crawlers and  WordPress plug-in-mods. She also apparently knows what “WordPress plug-in-mods” are. She has regular blogs/columns at HarvardBusiness.org, Women’s Health, and alma mater Lifehacker,  and has contributed to Popular Science, Wired, PC World, and Macworld, and pretty much any other world you can think of. Thank God she uses her powers for good. We hacked into her brain for today’s 5QQ – Five Quick Questions, and already we’re feeling more efficient.

1. How do you get your first news of the day?

Twitter. By the time I wake up on the west coast, my friends on the east coast have tweeted links and news commentary I’m most interested in.

2. Either, Or (you gotta pick one!):

Source of information: Facebook or Twitter?
Twitter. I accept the fact that I am just too old to get Facebook.

Source of fun: Coding or blogging?
Coding! It’s more fun to make something others might blog about than blog about something someone else made. Usually.

Source of stress: RSS feed or email inbox?
Email. Freakin’ email. It’s a daily battle.

Source of light: Sunshine or LCD screen?
Sunshine. Hey, I live in San Diego.

3. What’s the biggest story the media has missed this year? (Or last week):

The Twitter break-in. Not the “scandalous” Twitter documents it revealed (because really, that stuff was yawn-worthy) but HOW it happened. There are hundreds of companies moving their email and company documents online like Twitter has, and thousands of users with weak passwords or expired secondary Hotmail addresses. How difficult would it be for a dedicated hacker with some time to get into your Gmail account?

4. Obligatory Twitter Question: Describe yourself in 140 characters or less (hash tag optional!):

Technophile, blogger and software developer. Netizen. Optimist and introvert. You can take the girl out of Brooklyn…

5. Are you nervous or excited about the future of journalism? Why?

I’m excited, but that’s probably because I’m much more of a blogger than a journalist. Disruptive technologies are scary, as is uncertainty. The world needs journalism, but not in all of its current forms. I can’t wait to see what that will mean in the next 10 years.

Learn more about Gina Trapani on her website, which is very thoroughly-linked, and check out her Power Grid standing here.

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