Hardfork is a change to the software, so to say. And next Tuesday will be the 19th hardfork. The change is to the reward structure; the reward curve will be flat, instead of exponential, as it's been up to this point. It means new users such as yourself will have more "power", and established users will have less. It's good for new users, bad for older users. It's either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective, and whether you're a new user, or an older user.