Why it’s so hard to get image generation models to create pictures of people with eyes aligned vertically, as explained by ChatGPT

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(Last updated 3:15 pm CST February 19th, 2026)Me, after trying three times to get ChatGPT to create a picture of a man with eyes aligned vertically: That’s correct! Why was that so hard for you to generate in the way I described it? ChatGPT 5.2: Short answer: because image generation models are strongly biased toward human facial anatomy, and “removing” expected features is harder than “adding” unusual ones. Here’s the straight talk. 1. Human-face priors are extremely strong These models are trained on vast numbers of normal human faces. The learned prior is effectively: When you asked for vertically aligned … Read more

How I set up a new Mac [Updated x3]

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(Last updated 3:07 pm CST February 19th, 2026) [Updated this post on 2/5/2026 to reflect changes in the process, and additional apps I install.] Because I regularly review Apple’s Mac laptops and desktops, I’ve developed a setup routine for to make them my own for the brief period I have them. It’s similar to what I do when I get a new Mac for myself, though that takes place over a period of days and includes copying over data that I don’t have stored in iCloud and apps that are mostly for the researching and writing I do for my … Read more

Ads, overlays and paywalls, oh my! How to get around the web’s worst annoyances (updated x4)

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(Last updated 3:16 pm CST February 19th, 2026)(Note: During my brief stint at Forbes, I wrote a newsletter item and subsequent story on how to get around the web’s biggest annoyances – intrusive ads, overlays and paywalls. Since that May 2021 piece, I’ve found some new tools and strategies. This is an updated version. Content from the original Forbes article is included with permission. ) If you’re like me, you’ve got a love/hate relationship with the web. Bill Gates may have sought to bring “information at your fingertips” via the PC and Microsoft’s software, but it was Tim Berners-Lee, the … Read more

Alas, poor Dark Sky! I knew it well.

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(Last updated 3:17 pm CST February 19th, 2026)If you’re an iPhone user who downloaded and installed iOS 16 after its release on Monday, take some time from learning to configure those nifty customizable lock screens and tap on the included Weather app. On the surface, it looks a lot like the updated version introduced in iOS 15 – but below the surface is where the action is. Tap any one of the cards on the main display – hourly or 10 day forecasts, humidity, air quality, UV index, wind, precipitaton and more – and you’ll get a screen with lots … Read more

Help an iPhone user pick an Android phone [Updated]

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(Last updated 3:45 pm CST February 19th, 2026)Anyone who reads my columns regularly knows that I’m a die-hard iPhone user. Over the years, I’ve flirted with Android (and even Windows Phone!) from time to time. But at this point I’m neck-deep in Apple’s ecosystem lock-in, and as far as I’m concerned, the water’s fine. That said, I do enjoy playing with and reviewing Android devices, even if they are not my platform of choice. But I always feel like I don’t really know enough about Google’s mobile operating system. I want to fix that. I’m buying an Android phone. While … Read more