Product leader and entrepreneur. Previously at Google, Blogger, Pinterest, Slack and more. Building things that matter. 2025-12-22T05:26:41Z https://www.shellen.com/ Jason Shellen jason@shellen.com 2025-12-22T05:26:41Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/12/22/methaphone/ <p>Leave your phone without the cravings or withdrawal</p> 2025-11-21T20:33:16Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/11/21/antic-bikes-future-motion/ <p>From the Makers of the One Wheel comes, a two wheeler they are calling a bike in the 70s mini-bike sense. Not a bicycle. Still cool, IMHO.</p> 2025-10-23T04:23:17Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/10/23/new-bikemobility-company-also-debuts/ <p>Charmed and intrigued by this new design forwarding mobility company that is a spin-off of Rivian.</p> 2025-10-22T15:29:28Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/10/22/friend-pendant-testifies-for-third-day/ <p>In a fictional post, Julian Bleecker imagines a near-future where our digital objects are called on as a witness to the State.</p> 2025-10-08T08:40:03Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/10/08/haim-sf-tour-stop-at/ <p>Haim &quot;i quit&quot; tour stop at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco with opener Dora Jar and surprise guest Kesha. Great set, dancing and overall vibe.</p> 2025-10-07T19:38:34Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/10/07/how-tiktok-keeps-its-users-scrolling-for-hours-a-day/ <p>“After a month, more than three-quarters of the users who had typically spent roughly 30 minutes per day on TikTok were now spending nearly twice that much time on the app, on average.” via Dave Pell/NextDraft</p> 2025-10-07T18:05:38Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/10/07/how-im-using-coding-agents-in-september-2025/ <p>Jesse Vincent goes deep on his process of working with AI, things are changing quickly and YMMV.</p> 2025-10-07T04:08:12Z https://www.shellen.com/2025/10/07/layover-over/ <p>I've been to Charlotte, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, and Dallas. By which I mean I've seen their Hudson News locations and used their bathrooms. I got brave once in Miami International and told myself I'd take a cab to Miami Beach, just to say I'd been there but the automatic doors opened and a wall of wet heat hit my face like someone's breath. I went back inside and found a chair that appeared to have been designed by someone who'd never sat down before. The armrests were positioned for a species with wider shoulders and shorter torsos. One of those molded plastic numbers with a metal bar running across the lower back at exactly the wrong height, guaranteeing you'd wake up with a spine shaped like a question mark.</p> <p>I slept there until the gate agent woke me by my last name over a loudspeaker.</p> <hr /> <p>People love a form input (technically a textarea). Give them one and they'll fill it. Back in 1999, when I started this site, that seemed like a beautiful truth. A couple of years later at Blogger, we'd roll out new features and people would immediately use them to criticize Blogger. The tools we built to democratize publishing were being used to hold us accountable for building them. It felt like democracy working exactly as intended.</p> <p>While at Google I worked with a group of people to create the Atom feed format - a standard way to publish content to the web, then we created Google Reader. We thought that if people were exposed to more viewpoints they would understand each other better. We built pipes, essentially, believing that better plumbing meant cleaner water.</p> <p>We never imagined that “more information” could be weaponized, that feeds designed for fun, personal updates and news could be gamed for engagement. That the loudest voices, the blowhards who discovered that certainty and bluster play better than nuance, would claim the best seats in the house while everyone else fought for the uncomfortable chairs. The platforms we built turned out to be very good at amplifying whatever generated the most heat, regardless of whether it produced any light.</p> <p>Somewhere along the way, I stopped filling my own textareas. I've spent years in the terminal of technology discourse—observing, deplaning, snacking, just passing through. That terrible chair felt like an appropriate place to wait.</p> <p>But a layover isn't a visit. The city's still out there. The gate's still open.</p> <p>This time I'm walking out, even if the air hits hard. Layover, over.</p> 2024-04-20T00:48:30Z https://www.shellen.com/2024/04/20/monkeytype-a-minimalistic-customizable-typing-test/ <p>Why not get better at a thing I do all the time? via @craigmod</p> 2023-12-29T06:49:28Z https://www.shellen.com/2023/12/29/carboncounter.com/ <p>Plot out how current cars compare to climate targets — and to other cars — based on its emissions and costs.</p>