Lab Notes · Issue #013 in your inbox soon
An email that doesn't waste your time.
Occasional notes from Max on tools I build, experiments I run, and useful things I find. No fluff, no funnels. Read in 3 minutes.
✓ Free✓ No ads✓ No fixed schedule
What an issue looks like
What you'll get
Four kinds of actually-useful emails.
01
Build logs
Tools I built this month, with sources, postmortems, and the dumb mistakes I made.
02
Curated finds
Libraries, services, and odd corners of the web I think other builders should see.
03
Essays
Occasional longer pieces — money, travel, debt, the weird middle of building solo.
04
First access
New tools and side-projects land in your inbox before they hit the public lab.
Past issues · 15 sent
The archive.
#015How NotebookLM Quietly Became My Default Way to Learn StuffI've tried a lot of AI tools. Most of them are noise. NotebookLM is one of the few that actually changed how I read books, build routines, and process information — without pretending to replace my brain.May 8, 2026→#014From raw draft to a tweet in seconds: Vibe2TweetVibe2Tweet is an open-source Telegram bot that uses OpenAI to generate 3 post variants and publish your drafts to X with multi-persona prompts.Jan 22, 2026→#013I Built a Free IMDB Poster Grabber Because “View Source” Finally Broke MeI was writing a movie list post, needed lots of posters from IMDB, got tired of opening “View Source” over and over, built a tiny local tool… then turned it into a simple online utility when I found it again during a “clean my Mac” phase.Jan 11, 2026→#0122025 endOne word sums up 2025: disappointment. In things, people, countries, ideas. A short year-end recap that turned out pretty dark — and that's okay.Dec 31, 2025→#011Werewolves MoviesA personal ranked list of werewolf movies — from 1925 to today. Started as a LiveJournal post in 2012, grew into an obsessive catalog with IMDB links, plot summaries, and honest ratings.Oct 21, 2025→#010Building Offgrid Diary in One Turbo-Charged Weekend48 hours from idea to live App Store build: a fully offline, AES-256-encrypted diary with an on-device LLaMA model. One weekend, one rejection, two hot-fixes, and a running Twitter play-by-play.Jul 25, 2025→#009Some thoughts I couldn't shake after watching a 3-hour documentary last nightOn the moral toll of leaving Russia, building a life abroad, and trying to reconcile public values with private obligations. What changed in my work, my money, my circle — and what I'm still figuring out.Jul 14, 2025→#008I Was 29, Broke, and $300,000 in Debt - Here’s What HappenedAt 29, I was buried in debt, betrayed by partners, and haunted by a handshake deal gone wrong. This is a true story of how bad decisions, blind trust, and the Russian way of doing business nearly broke me — and what I learned clawing my way out.Jul 1, 2025→#007You can't drag someone who never wanted to moveThree years, one shared apartment, two clients handed over, and one painful lesson: you can't drag someone who doesn't want to move. Here's what it cost me — and what I do differently now.May 25, 2025→#006About Me (with a hint of sarcasm)I’m Max - a developer, crypto nerd and introvert rebuilding life one side project at a time. This blog is my way of staying sane while building for freedom.May 21, 2025→#005I Made a Tiny App Because My Brain Wouldn't Shut UpA tiny app I built to stop doomscrolling and start doing... something. No tracking, no accounts — just one button and your own list of things worth doing (or pretending to).Apr 24, 2025→#004I Made a Chrome Extension That Rewards You for Doing Literally AnythingI built a Chrome extension that gives you emotional validation for doing the bare minimum. One button, one compliment, zero pressure. It won’t fix your life, but it’ll clap when you exist.Apr 16, 2025→#003From Chaos to Control: The Journey of Creating ExtenSwitch for ChromeJuggling around 30 Chrome extensions just for crypto wallets was pure chaos. To bring some order to this madness, I dove into some vibe-coding and came up with ExtenSwitch. Apr 6, 2025→#002How I Updated 2,000+ Elementor Buttons in WordPressA step-by-step guide on efficiently updating links across thousands of Elementor-built pages using the Better Search Replace plugin.Jan 26, 2025→#001Back to BloggingHi all! I’m back to updating this blog. Over the past year, I've had notable crypto success despite the bear market, landing some great drops. I'll be sharing my crypto journey and details about my blockchain projects. Stay tuned for more updates!Aug 3, 2024→
Last call
Join readers who like
their inboxes quiet.
Subscribe to Lab Notes →Or read past issues on the blog