{{About|the concept|the Singaporean television show|Life Hacks|the 2025 British thriller film|LifeHack (film)}} {{short description|Trick to make life easier}} [[File:Modified keyboard (16372763).jpg|thumb|A keyboard inexpensively hacked with K'Nex pieces to allow an operator suffering from wrist pain to press the {{Key press|control}}, {{Key press|alt}} and {{Key press|shift}} keys with the thumb]] A '''life hack''' (or '''life hacking''') is any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency in all walks of life. The term was primarily used by computer experts who suffer from information overload or those with a playful curiosity in the ways they can accelerate their workflow in ways other than programming.
==Overview== The term ''life hack'' was coined in 2004 during the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California by technology journalist Danny O'Brien to describe the "embarrassing" scripts and shortcuts productive IT professionals use to get their work done.<ref name="ob int" /><ref name="lh presentation" /> It is used to describe an inelegant but effective solution to a specific computing problem, such as quick-and-dirty shell scripts and other command line utilities that filtered, munged and processed data streams like e-mail and RSS feeds.<ref name="ob int" /><ref name="cd notes" /> O'Brien stated "Hacks are often a way of cutting through an apparently complex system with a really simple, nonobvious fix. And for most people, geeks or not, modern life is just this incredibly complex problem amenable to no good obvious solution. But we can peck around the edges of it; we can make little shortcuts.<ref name="ob int" />
O'Brien and blogger Merlin Mann later co-presented a session called "Life Hacks Live" at the 2005 O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference.<ref name="lh live" /> The two also co-authored a column entitled "Life Hacks" for O'Reilly's ''Make'' magazine which debuted in February 2005.<ref name="Life Hacks Column" />
The American Dialect Society voted ''lifehack'' (one word) as the runner-up for "most useful word of 2005" behind ''podcast''.<ref name="ads" /> The word was also added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online in June 2011.<ref name="digitallife" />
== See also == * {{annotated link|Chindōgu}} * {{annotated link|Improvisation}} * {{annotated link|Kitchen hack}} * {{annotated link|Jugaad}} * {{annotated link|Jury rigging}} * {{annotated link|Kludge}} * {{annotated link|MacGyver}} * {{annotated link|Self-help}} * {{annotated link|Urawaza}}
==References== {{reflist|30em|refs= <ref name="ob int">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/software/interviews/interview-father-of-life-hacks-danny-obrien-036370.php|title=Interview: father of "life hacks" Danny O'Brien|work=Lifehacker|publisher=Lifehacker.com|date=2005-03-17|accessdate=2010-03-11|archive-date=2011-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903195914/http://lifehacker.com/software/interviews/interview-father-of-life-hacks-danny-obrien-036370.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> <ref name="cd notes">{{cite web|url=http://www.craphound.com/lifehacksetcon04.txt|title=Cory Doctorow's notes from Danny O'Brien's first Life Hacks presentation|accessdate=2010-03-11}}</ref> <ref name="lh presentation">{{cite web|url=http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2004/view/e_sess/4802|title=O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2004|date=1999-02-22|publisher=Conferences.oreillynet.com|accessdate=2010-03-11|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070918035304/http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2004/view/e_sess/4802|archivedate=2007-09-18}}</ref> <ref name="lh live">{{cite web|url=http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2005/view/e_sess/5958|title=O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2005|publisher=Conferences.oreillynet.com|date=1999-02-22|accessdate=2010-03-11|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910143756/http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2005/view/e_sess/5958|archivedate=2007-09-10}}</ref> <ref name="Life Hacks Column">{{cite web|url=http://makezine.com/lifehacks/|title=Life hacks|publisher=Makezine.com|accessdate=2012-07-01|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527175904/http://makezine.com/lifehacks/|archivedate=2012-05-27}}</ref> <ref name="ads">{{cite web|url=http://www.americandialect.org/Words_of_the_Year_2005.pdf|title=Words of the Year 2005.pdf|accessdate=2010-03-11}}</ref> <ref name="digitallife">{{cite web|url=http://www.today.com/money/nsfw-zomg-twittersphere-added-dictionary-122978|title='NSFW,' 'ZOMG,' and 'Twittersphere' added to dictionary|date=3 June 2011 |publisher=today.com|accessdate=2015-10-22}}</ref> <!--<ref name="lh">{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702303.html|title=Working|publisher=washingtonpost.com|date=2007-05-18|accessdate=2010-03-11}}</ref>--> <!--<ref name="pbs mediashift">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/09/how-college-students-became-mini-media-moguls-in-school251.html|title=How College Students Became Mini-Media Moguls in School|last=Reimold|first=Dan|accessdate=2010-09-11|date=2010-09-08|work=PBS Media Shift}}</ref>--> <!--<ref name="pb mem">{{cite web|url=http://www.dose.ca/2014/05/27/unethicalhacks-can-help-make-you-better-bad-person-win|title=Unethical Life Hacks can make you a better bad person|date=27 May 2014}}</ref>--> }}
Category:Hacker culture Category:Life skills Category:Do it yourself Category:Personal life Category:2000s neologisms