The late 2000’s have given rise to some pretty annoying trends. Every new year brings the promise of change (no, not Obama’s kind of change) and with 2010 right around the corner, we can only hope that some of the awful trends of the past few years stay in this decade. As the year winds to a close, let’s take some time to examine 12 trends we hope to see die in the 2010. If you fell victim to any of these fads, then do us all a favor and slap yourself in the testicles — and resolve to let them go tonight at midnight.
(source)
There’s a reason why Limp Bizkit stopped selling records in the late 90s/early 2000’s. Call it a great awakening, but its as if the world finally woke up and realized that Fred Durst never had anything important to say, and the music community was better off for it. Unfortunately for us, Limp Bizkit, Creed, Vanilla Ice and a host of other wash-ups have begun dragging themselves out of obscurity and holding reunion shows. This may be the biggest waste of arena space since “WWE’s Sunday Night Heat.”
(source)
Wearing snow boots with a miniskirt makes about as much sense as giving Lil-Wayne a guitar to dance around with — it just isn’t working out. Sadly, 2009 saw both of these pointless crazes come to be. Whenever I take a girl out to a bar and she shows up wearing this combination, I immediately begin to wonder if she went to college. (Yes, the fact that she’ll put out on the first night is a foregone conclusion). So, if it’s hot enough to wear a skirt and a tank top, there’s no goddamned need to wear blizzard shoes. Got it? Not only does it look ridiculous… no wait, it just plain looks ridiculous.
(source)
Just look at that man-boobed, ravioli-eating waste of a life….Is he wearing lipstick? her lipstick? Blame it on the Jager-bombs, but bars and clubs have been over run with douchebaggery the past several years. Strangely enough, rather than rejecting these hair-spray junkies, the world appears to have embraced the fake and bake fad and honored it with a reality TV show and countless comedic websites. We blame the show “Growing Up Gotti” for telling guys, “if you look like a juiced-up metro-sexual, you’ll get chicks.” Ladies, in 2010, just say no to douchebags and lets watch this fascination choke and die like the roots of their hair.
(source)
The last few years have seen a surge of so-called “documentaries” by agenda pushing public figures. It all started with Fahrenheit 9/11, then slowly the world began seeing trailers for, An Inconvenient Truth, Capitalism: A Love Story, Religulous, Super Size Me, the list goes on and on…and on. More often than not, intelligent audience members can see through the so-called “facts” being presented and realize that these propaganda pushers are rarely out for the good of the issue. In fact, more often than not the only “love story” these film-makers have is with their over-bloated sense of self-importance.
(source)
Irony is tired, why not dress like an adult? Every generation has fashion trends that they look back on 20 years later with shame and disgust. In 2000s, the “hipster” fad precisely this. Just think, this look will be remembered as the baggy Hammer pants of our age. It’s almost hard to decide whether hipsters or the Gotti wannabes look more foolish, but I think we can all agree that 2010 would be a much better place without fedoras, buddy-holly glasses and pastel colored pants.
(source)
Just when you thought it was impossible to innovate on the blanket, along came the Snuggie – a blanket with sleeves that has taken America by storm. Otherwise known a cotton nightgown/monk robe, the Snuggie fooled us all into believing that a blanket could be so much more. With ads that feature people wearing the damned thing to sporting events, one has to wonder what the benefit of looking so foolish is. Is wrapping a blanket around yourself that inconvenient? As if that weren’t bad enough, the company has recently released the “Dog Snuggie,” a Snuggie made specially for your pooch. The last time I saw someone try to put one of these on his pit-bull, the dog tore it to shreds, probably mistaking it for a giant chew-toy.
(source)
Come on, people. Let’s put the story about teenage vampires who want to love and be loved behind us in the new year.
(source)
It was funny at first, but now it’s just getting pathetic. Everyone has a bad day, it doesn’t mean your life categorically sucks. Yet, ever since FMyLife.com because super-popular earlier this year, it has become impossible to log into Facebook or talk to people at a party without someone saying, “and thats when I spilled coffee on myself on the way to work! FML!” It seems the website itself has given people an socially accepted way for becoming whiney and annoying. And, I hate these people.
(source)
Over the course of the last several years, the world has seen a myriad of tired reality dating shows. “Flavor of Love,” “Rock of Love,” “Tila Tequila’s A Shot at Love,” “Real Chance of Love,” to name a few. Every one of these shows has a common and predictable plot: Some washed up celebrity (or pseudo-celebrity) who needs to get paid again gets a bunch of no name amateur actors to come on the show and act like they’re in love. Embarrassing moments and alligator tears ensue until the ’star’ finally choses someone to love (at least until next season! What a surprise!) Our dating lives cannot be so depraved that this is considered quality entertainment.
(source)
Has anyone ever stopped to think about what this haircut does to one’s driving ability? With one functional eye and a stream of text messages constantly coming in about the next “super-sick local show,” it seems driving with this haircut should be a crime on par with DUI. Not to mention the fact that it makes you look like a depressed 12 year old boy who took to his hair with a pair of art scissors, but that’s beside the point.
(source)
Note: Shutter shades are only useful in bars when you wanna make out with someone but you don’t want to have to look at them.
(source)
F-35 is a vertical takeoff supersonic jet. And there's nothing about this incident the pilot enjoys.
The afterburner kicks in while still vectored for vertical takeoff. if the pilot didn't come out of the loop wings-level, probably would have been bad news, maybe taking some of the carrier with him. Flying through your own exhaust can lead to equipment malfunctions, too, as in "flame out" F-35 is single engine...unpowered and zero airspeed has aerodynamics of a Steinway piano. This is how a supremely well-trained US Navy pilot fully regains control of his $70 million fighter jet, after a problematic vertical take-off attempt. At the top of the screen watch as the rear vertical thruster fires to cause the problem. Nuff said
Another year is winding down, and that means it’s time to take a look back at what we’ve done here at Lifehack over the last 12 months. 2009 was a scary year for a lot of people – corporate layoffs, a shaky global economy, stunningly vicious politics, old wars grinding on and new ones flaring up. In the midst of all this, though, many saw opportunities; with the myth of life-long corporate employment shattered as some of the world’s biggest companies teetered on the brink of collapse, entrepreneurship enjoyed a major resurgence. This rise in self-reliance extends beyond our work life, too – people are embracing a do-it-yourself, person-to-person lifestyle where status and the display of wealth matter much less than authenticity and social interaction.
All of this is reflected in the posts that went up on this site over the last year. What follows is a list of the 90 most popular, most commented on, and most talked-about posts from 2009, and as you can see, in addition to our usual mix of posts about personal productivity, organization, webware, and creativity, a large number of posts about personal finance and self-employment made the top of the list. It’s not surprising that Lifehack’s staff and contributors would write posts that reflect the tenor of the times, nor that such posts would resonate most with our audience.
What emerges from all this is a treasure trove of good advice, ranging from the lofty and idealistic to the immediately practical. We promise to continue to provide quality tips and advice about work, technology, money, and just plain living in the new year and beyond. If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to our feed and follow us on Twitter so you don’t miss any of the great posts we have in store for 2010!
2009 was notable for the maturing of online applications, the explosion of applications for mobile phones, and the mainstreaming of social networking services like Twitter and Facebook. Popular stories at Lifehack covered tips for the use (and not abuse) of social networking services, tips on using your computer effectively and securely, and recommendations for applications online, on your PC, and on your Android phones.
Money issues were on everyone’s minds this year, and our writers served up plenty of advice about managing both your money and your expectations. Advice about families and parenting was popular this year – or sometimes controversial, like Craig Harper’s poorly understood advice to take ownership of your past and recognize that whoever wronged you in the past, only you can set things right for yourself. And, since today’s worker is all-too-often someone who spends most of her or his day sitting, our writers’ advice on getting some activity into your life was well appreciated.
Advice about getting productive makes up the core of Lifehack’s content, so naturally our most popular and most talked about posts this year were just that. From developing the right mindset to promoting creativity to finding inspiration and motivation, we offered tons of advice on getting things done.
My incomplete series on getting back on track with a productivity system, “GTD Refresh”, was quite popular but was never completed. The next step for me was supposed to be eliminating my email backlog and adopting an “Inbox Zero” approach, but frankly, email won. This year – I’m going to try again in 2010 and so you may well see more “GTD Refresh posts in the not-too-distant future.
2009 was bookended by two publications with something to offer the would-be personal productivity expert. David Allen’s Making It All Work revisited the core concepts of GTD and expanded on elements that had been weakly developed in his earlier work. You can read my lengthy review here: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)
And our most popular series, my “Back to Basics” posts from 2008, were collected, revised, and expanded (with 2 new chapters) in the release of Back to Basics Productivity which will be joined in 2010 by several more ebook releases.
With the economy huddling in on itself this year, even non-entrepreneurs had to learn to be more entrepreneurial. Promotions, raises, or just holding onto your job and pay level, required a demonstration of unusual career intelligence, and our writers offered a heaping portion of it. And for those in our workforce who took the plunge – voluntarily or not – into self-employment, advice on personal branding, small-business promotion, and entrepreneurship were in no short supply.
It may seem distracting, even materialistic, to drool over office supplies, but let’s face it: I do it, you do it, and geeks around the world do it. And with good reason, actually: the right tool can (in David Pierce’s words) make all the difference. Moleskine’s were popular as always, but a list of alternative notebooks caught the eye of those put off by the style or cost of the famous pocket notebook. Pens also got a lot of attention – it may seem silly to those who are (or pretend to be) perfectly comfortable with their 12-for-a-dollar stick pens, but there truly is no feeling quite like that of a quality writing instrument gliding over the page. And for funsies, there’s are review of the Prada Link, because gadgets are way cool.
Finally, the catch-all for what’s left. There are some brilliant people writing on Lifehack – small business experts, marketing gurus, life coaches, creativity specialists, and so on. It stands to reason that not all their advice could be slotted into easy categories. So below you’ll find advice on relating with others, mastering your own weaknesses and giving rein to your strengths, developing a charitable mindset, dealing with hardships, and more.
It’s one thing to have resolutions for the new year. I, for example, plan to lose weight, learn Python and design the perfect handbag. But since nothing satisfies like the quick achievement of a short-term goal, here are eight things every good nerd needs to to before the ball drops later this week.
These tasks comprise a quick to-do list that will leave you feeling competent and prepared for the decade that approaches.Also, you can play the condescension chip and start chiding friends who haven’t checked off these items yet.
Facebook’s maelstrom-causing privacy changes have given quite a few of us a head-scratching good time trying to figure out just how much of our private lives are to be made public. Before the new year begins, take a look at your settings on sites such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, LiveJournal and any other places you might be sharing personal content to make sure what you display is consistent with the public image you want to project. As more recruiters and employers hit the Web in search of info on inpiduals, it’s becoming ever more important to monitor and control our own identities. If you look back to the origin dates of some of your accounts, you might be surprised at what you thought was appropriate to share online in 2005.
Also, while considering what’s private and public, take time to evaluate what a “friend,” “contact” or “follower” means to you and what types of information you share with different groups.
Safety first, friends. Social web security threats in 2009 were sweeping and surprised more than a few users with spam DMs, hacked accounts and malware of all kinds. Check out the password management tools recommended by a recently high-profile hacker (scroll to the last few paragraphs); for free or cheap, they’ll help you generate strong, random passwords and manage them from your computer.
I’ve conducted many a web search on many a professional geek this year, and I’ve been disappointed by how few of us have staked a meaningful claim to our online identities. If you haven’t already, buy a URL – preferably one that relates to the name you use professionally – and make friends with Google. If you don’t show up in the first results when you search for your name, get a crash course in SEO and ask friends to link to you. It’s good for your social life and your career if you seize the opportunity to tell the searching world about yourself rather than relegating that responsibility to LinkedIn, Facebook or some weirdo with the same name as you.
When going through your RSS feeds, do you find yourself impatiently scrolling more than you’re intently skimming? Is your list of unread items becoming unmanagable? The end of the year is a perfect time to get rid of the content you’re not reading and group the stuff you are. Take some time this week to organize, delete and add feeds, thereby optimizing your feed-reading experience. Try tools such as NetNewsWire’s “dinosaurs” and “least attention” features that weed out unread or dormant feeds, and consider implementing tools such as Lazyfeed or Guzzle.it that can bring relevant results from fresh sources. And make sure the feeds you own are easy for others to find, too.
If you don’t have a smartphone already, chances are you’ll desperately need one next year. And if you already have one, think long and hard about whether you’re happy with your service, network and interface.
While you might not be able to run out and buy your dream device before 2010 rolls around, visit a few retailers, read some reviews and have your eye on a good mobile to purchase next year. Mobile tech keeps on booming, and you’ll want to ensure a frustration-free year as new apps and OSes roll out.
Here’s a simple, obvious and necessary reminder. Does your website currently claim a copyright year of 2007? While it doesn’t put you on the foul side of the law, it does look a bit silly as we head into a new decade. The Next Web has a good bit of dynamic code for site owners.
That poor, neglected old beast might be long overdue for a design facelift, a blogroll refresh or even just a few new posts. While you’re at it, why not set automatic reminders to periodically bug you about posting in the new year? On a more mission-critical note, you’ll also want to make sure you’re using the most updated version of your CMS; not doing so can can lead to problems from broken plugins to getting hacked. And while you’re at it, the year’s end might also be a good time to consider switching up your CMS service altogether.
Hacks and hardware failures happen. Before 2010, make sure as much of your data as possible is protected. From calendars and contacts to blog posts and work projects, more and more of us are relying on networks of servers and startups to keep us running. So, now might be a good time to download and back up files of LinkedIn contacts and WordPress posts – anything that’s valuable to you and portable. Think of it this way: You – or at least parts of you – live in the Internet. If the Internet caught on fire, what would you grab to carry with you out of the blaze?
