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maxwellforbes.com
Max Forbes
@maxwellforbes.com
130 followers 350 following 69 posts
language is irreducibly contextual and multimodal. bizarre hybrid AI researcher / fullstack dev. currently working on https://talktomehuman.com/ & consulting (uname = domain) previously: - buncha travel - phd @ uw (nlp) - eng @ google (kubernetes)
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 22d
So ya I write more on da PhD Metagame blog
maxwellforbes.com/posts/your-a...
The PhD Metagame: Your Advisor Has Five Impossible Jobs - Maxwell Forbes
Manager, PI, PM, Tech Lead, and Teacher.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 22d
Your PhD advisor has at least five jobs. They’re probably really good at some and maybe bad at one or two.

It surprised me how close (though abstract) the analogies are to traditional roles from industry. Except teacher, of course.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 29d
article also features shoutouts to friends @greg.technology @itseieio.bsky.social and @brianmoore.com
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 29d
I was interviewed for this piece in New_ Public about the indie web by Alexandra Ciufudean!

newpublic.substack.com/p/the-handma...
🧶✏️👩🏽‍💻 The internet’s hidden creative renaissance (and how to find it)
The indie web means the return of gifs, funky cursors, and personal websites
newpublic.substack.com
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Sep 3
Been musing on this a bit, here's a blog post with examples I've collected so far. More suggestions welcome!

maxwellforbes.com/posts/knowin...
Knowing What's Important - Maxwell Forbes
An emergent skill of mastering any craft—using software, cooking, even playing a game—is knowing what's actually...
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Sep 3
An emergent skill of mastering any craft—using software, cooking, even playing a game—is knowing what's actually important. An expert builds a precise workflow using a tiny fraction of the available control plane. At a deeper level, they know on which aspects to focus, and which to ignore.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Aug 28
Here’s the link. Try the free demo if you’re still undecided!

"I've never played a game that had me dying laughing like that!" — real unsolicited feedback (!)

talktomehuman.com
Talk to Me Human
The talking your way out of it simulator
talktomehuman.com
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Aug 28
Hello, last chance for 50% off Talk to Me Human! Early access ($4.99) — which includes the complete game — is ending. I’m releasing the full version soon on Steam and web, and the price will bump to $9.99.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Aug 28
My dream for Samin Nosrat's next book: Bitter Dank Umami Sweet.

I have saved this stupid idea for literally years.
a fictional cover for a hypothetical book by Samin Nosrat called Bitter Dank Umami Sweet, similar in style to the cover of Salt Fat Acid Heat
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Aug 26
The most cursed word in talking about research is “interesting.”
maxwellforbes.com/posts/intere...

It means anything from "I don't understand" to "that's been done before" "this should be our focus for 6 months"
The PhD Metagame: The Cursed Word "Interesting" - Maxwell Forbes
People calling ideas "interesting" was perhaps the greatest challenge I regularly faced in communicating about research.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Jun 10
ye olde oversized spinning conical gradient
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Jun 10
unabashedly into my new 404 page
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · May 1
weatherspread.com

Thanks for checking it out!
Weatherspread
Remember the weather. Check the spread.
weatherspread.com
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · May 1
There’s lots more we’d like to build, but we’re releasing it now to get feedback. It’s free and there’s no ads, so if you’re interested and would like to support us, there’s a box to give your email. In the future, we may consider a premium app version or an patreon-like support option.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · May 1
We’ve also added tourism stats, and synced it to weather data. This has been particularly eye-opening. It lets us see when a country experiences over-tourism (e.g., Croatia and Austria) relative to its population.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · May 1
So historical data is your best bet.

We’ve observed that the last few years is a much better indicator of what the weather will be like than most data sources which aggregate from 1900 or even 1950.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · May 1
I’m pleased to announce the release of Weatherspread, a web app for visualizing recent weather and tourism data!

I built this app with friends Tristan and Shelby to aid in planning travel and events. Usually you plan things far enough out (say, 3-6 months) that there’s no reliable forecast.
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Apr 11
complete blog post is now live! more tips, and reframed into 2-step process: (1) get accepted by page 1, (2) avoid rejection with the rest. download both PDFs too.

maxwellforbes.com/posts/how-to...
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Apr 7
works in footnotes too

yes this is probably overall a bad idea
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Apr 7
Exciting to zero people but me, I randomly tried putting an image in a sidenote and it JUST WORKED

if it hadn't I would have assumed no quantity of toil would have fixed it
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Mar 31
compare vs slop from the day before "Hit Indie ggame" :-(
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Mar 31
four gpt-4o redesigns of my game, in styles "beautiful" / "stylized" / "cell-shaded" / "cyberpunk." it's like having an amazing but stochastic concept artist.

it makes the need for *art direction* so obvious — by allowing any style, what choices do you make to achieve a vision?
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Mar 26
Córdoba, Spain (8/100)
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Mar 25
Granada (7/100)
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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · Mar 24
Nerja (6/100) ft. Beach Gato
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