Tech news picked on 2026-10-29

2026-10-29

1. Why are passkeys strong against fake sites? A summary of registration and login flows ↗

   • A passkey is a login method that verifies you with a key stored on a device such as your phone or PC instead of a password. The original article explains that the browser mechanically compares the site address, and if it does not match, it does not show the key as a candidate, so login does not happen on a fake site.
   • The server stores only the public key, and the private key never leaves the device. The original article stresses that fingerprint or face data is also not sent to the server and is verified on the device.
   • The original article cites the Passkey Index released by the FIDO Alliance in 2025 October, saying that in a survey of 9 companies, the login success rate was 93% for passkeys and 63% for other methods, and the login time over 1 logins was 8.5 seconds versus 31.2 seconds. These figures were compiled by the FIDO Alliance and the research firm Liminal from numbers reported by participating companies.
   • The weakness of passkeys is the account recovery process. If attackers exploit the recovery path, the strength of passkeys can be reduced, so the original article introduces measures such as registering two or more passkeys and sending an alert to the account owner during recovery.

   qiita.com14d agoSummary and discussion

2. Case study: Evaluating Japanese product search results with OpenSearch's LLM scoring feature and comparing them with human labels ↗

   • The author tested a Japanese product search by configuring OpenSearch's feature that scores how well search results match the query so that an LLM, instead of humans, does the scoring. The author calls this approach LLM_JUDGMENT.
   • The experiment used the Japanese portion of the Amazon product search dataset (ESCI). LLM scores were compared with human labels: E (exact match), S (substitute), C (complement), and I (irrelevant). The model was Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, and the environment was OpenSearch 3.9.0.
   • For the search 'speaker without power', a wooden unpowered speaker was scored 1.0, and USB-powered speakers were scored 0.2~0.3. A liquid formula milk was scored 1.0, the same as the human label E, but for the speaker cable, where the human label was E, the LLM gave 0.1.
   • The author attributed the gap to the LLM interpreting USB-powered and rechargeable speakers as 'has power', and noted that the cable case might also reflect variation in the human labels. Because this was an experiment with a few queries run by the author, it cannot be taken as a result that guarantees overall accuracy.

   zenn.dev14d agoSummary and discussion

3. Instagram Starts Requiring AI Accounts to Disclose AI Use, Mosseri Expects Backlash to Grow ↗

   • Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a podcast interview that anxiety and anger about AI are growing, especially in creative industries, and will likely grow further over the next few years. This is Mosseri's personal outlook.
   • Instagram said it has begun requiring AI accounts to label themselves. According to the source, it launched an AI account label feature earlier this year, and cracked down on AI-generated profiles in August.
   • Mosseri claimed Instagram does not rank AI creators differently. However, he said it is not certain whether AI content is rated as well as regular content.
   • AI content such as deepfakes that deceive celebrities remains a problem. Mosseri said that a full ban on AI content on platforms is not realistic.

   theverge.com15d agoSummary and discussion

4. MacBook Pro with a touchscreen goes on sale November 6 ↗

   • A MacBook Pro whose screen you can press and control directly with your fingers has been released. The source reports that about 10 years after Apple added and then removed the Touch Bar, this is the product that fully supports touch input on a laptop screen.
   • The 14-inch model starts at 2,899 dollars, and the 16-inch model starts at 3,399 dollars. According to the source, pre-orders open October 30, and sales start November 6.
   • The chip can be M5 Pro or M5 Max. According to the source, memory goes up to 128GB, storage up to 16TB, and maximum display brightness is 2000 nits (HDR and SDR).
   • The source says Apple's designed hinge steadies the body when the screen is touched and also reduces camera shake during video calls. This is Apple's design explanation as relayed by the source and has not been independently verified.

   techcrunch.com15d agoSummary and discussion