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Powerful Choices For The Digital Nomad To Adapt While Traveling Around The Globe

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As a child, I remember playing with battery-powered toys and never having enough money to buy new batteries when the old ones ran out. Ever since then, I’ve had a slightly unhealthy fascination with power adapters.

Recently, I looked at power accessories from the likes of Anker and Rolling Square; this month I decided to see what power accessory brand Ceptics has for the globetrotter who needs to power laptops, phones, tablets, digital music players and even a hair dryer.

Traveling with technology is easier today than it used to be. Many products are now multi-voltage and will work anywhere with just a physical outlet adapter. However, there are still devices restricted to 110V or with different power prongs. If that sounds familiar, read on to see what products are available to make life on the road with gadgets a little easier.

Stepping Down Voltages

The Ceptics 2000W Travel Voltage Converter has three U.S. power outlets for appliances with two or three prongs. This converter can transform higher voltages — up to 250V — down to 110V, making it suitable for use with American, Canadian and Japanese gadgets when traveling in places like Europe.

The Ceptics voltage converter also has one USB-C and three USB-A ports. The USB-C port is QC-enabled for fast charging compatible devices. The three USB-A ports can be used to charge and power smartphones, tablets, iPhones, iPads and more.

The 2000W travel voltage converter also includes a special power outlet for use with hair dryers or stylers. If you have a 110V hair dryer and want to take it to Europe, this is the device for you.

Blow Dry Possibilities

However, a word of warning: the 2000W outlet only works with hair dryers controlled by a mechanical button or knob. It’s not compatible with devices that have a digital temperature control and auto shut off, such as Dyson Supersonic or Shark Flexstyle devices.
The other two power outlets on the Ceptics 2000W travel voltage converter can handle appliances up to 200W and are compatible with both two- and three-prong earthed plugs.

The converter comes with power outlet adapters for plugging into a range of power outlets such as the E.U. two-pin, Shuko, U.K. and Australian. It may be quite a bulky unit, but it’s possibly the only one you’d need if traveling overseas with U.S. electrical devices.

Pricing and Availability:

The Ceptics 2000W Travel Voltage Converter is available from Ceptics.com and is priced at $69.99 / £53.

Universal Travel Plugs

If you don’t want or need a step-down conversion offered by the Ceptics 2000W travel voltage converter, then the Ceptics 70W, 5-in-1 International Travel Plug could be the answer.

With the ability to charge up to five devices at once, this device has two USB-A ports with 12W, 5V/2.4A and a USB-C port outputting up to 70W, up to 20V, with a maximum of 3.5A. This makes it suitable for charging or powering a laptop. It also has a USB-C retractable cable for charging any USB-C gadget.

As well as offering retractable international power prongs for plugging into most wall outlets, it has a pass-through socket suitable for most types of power plugs. The travel plug also has a built-in replaceable 10A fuse and even a spare.

Pricing and Availability:

The Ceptics 70W, 5-in-1 International Travel Plug is available from Ceptics.com and Amazon priced at $44.99 / £34.

Aiming Higher

If 70W feels a little underpowered for your needs, Ceptics also produces a 140W Universal Travel Adapter that’s also compatible with Type A, C, G and I power outlets. That means it can work in 200 countries around the world.

Like the 70W travel adapter, this model is not a power transformer. It will work with all AC devices that have input voltages ranging from 100 to 250V. However, if you are in a country with a 230V power system and your device only handles 110V, it’s not going to end well.

This is a more muscular travel adapter and can output up to 140W, which means it’s suitable for power-hungry laptops while also able to charge tablets and smartphones. Like the 70W version, this one has an AC pass-through socket that can accept devices with most types of power fittings.

When it comes to USB outputs, the 140W Universal Travel Adapter has one USB-A and three USB-C ports with a total power budget of 140W. It also has a handy two-prong U.S./Japan mains power outlet on one side.

Pricing and Availability:
The 140W Universal Travel Adapter is available from Ceptics.com priced at £68.

Compact And Pocket Sized

For those people traveling around the U.S. and other countries that have the same electrical outlets, Ceptics makes a 65W USB-C Ultra Compact Charger. This compact multi-voltage device features the standard Type E plug used in the U.S. and has two USB-C and one USB-A outputs.

This tiny charger is small enough to fit in a pocket and is compatible with Quick Charge 3.0 and Power Delivery PD protocols so it can charge devices up to 30% faster than a basic charger. It’s available in black and white finishes.

Pricing and Availability:

The Ceptics 65W USB-C Ultra Compact Charger is available from Ceptics.com and Amazon priced at $12.99 / £12.

Adaptable Accessory

For those people with more demanding power needs, Ceptics also produces the 65W World Travel NANFUSE-WS Adapter. With three USB ports and PD 3.0 compatibility, this GaN-based charger comes with a slew of international power adapters to fit just about every type of power outlet.

The outlet adapters can slot directly onto the power brick or they can be used with a supplied mains cable, which is useful in hotel rooms where the power outlet is tucked away in an inaccessible place, as is often the case.

Pricing and Availability:

The Ceptics 65W World Travel NANFUSE-WS adapter is available from Ceptics.com and Amazon priced at $34.99 / £46.

Finally, Ceptics also produces every type of passive power adapter imaginable. For example, if you’re traveling in Ecuador with your Australian hair dryer, Ceptics will have something suitable. Ceptics.com is one of the most comprehensive websites I’ve come across for travel and power solutions and is aimed at the digital nomad who needs to keep powered up wherever they happen to be on the planet.



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15 New Apple iPhone 17 And iPhone 17 Pro Cases To Protect Your Phone

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Now that the latest iPhones are out, you may want a case to go with it. After all, although the price increases predicted didn’t properly materialize, the iPhone is a valuable piece of kit.

Before you ask, last year’s cases don’t fit, and anyway, do you really want a year-old case on your brand-new phone?

Here are a dozen of the newest releases, and they come in varying styles, from wraparound wallets to high-protection sleeves. Choose from leather, Apple’s new TechWoven or a transparent case to show off the colorful phone within. Unless otherwise stated, all cases here are available for iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Look out for whether the case has an open section where the Camera Control sits, or a cover that still allows the pressure-sensitive and capacitive control to work.

The deals highlighted in this post were independently selected by the Contributor and do not contain affiliate links.


Smooth Leather Case

Nomad Modern Leather Case with Horween Leather

$75 from nomadgoods.com

Camera Control: Cover

California-based Nomad makes a wide range of products, including iPhone cases and a just-released Apple Watch Band. Horween leather is one of the options for the back cover of the Modern Leather case, though other leather options are also available, and are $20 cheaper.

Horween leather, especially, gains a unique patina the more it is used. The case is strong enough to survive an eight-foot drop, the company says. The bumpers are 2.2mm thick and they rise above the display at the corners for further protection. The edges have a concave finish, designed for extra grip.


Slim Protection

Pitaka Aramid ProGuard Case

$59.99 from ipitaka.com

Camera Control: Cover

Protection on the Pitaka cases partly comes from cushioning on the rear corners and partly from what’s described as aerospace-grade aramid fiber. The back is textured, to add extra grip.

Unlike some cases which have dealt with the complex needs of the Camera Control capacitive button, Pitaka has developed a cover that’s slim but responsive when you press or slide your finger on it.


Fashion-Forward Protection

Beats Rugged MagSafe Case

$79 from beatsbydre.com

Camera Control: Cover

Beats, the other brand that Apple owns, has a case that doesn’t look rugged. Rugged usually means bulky but the choice of colors, such as Sierra orange makes this case more style-focused. If orange is too much for you, Everest black and rocky blue will suit quieter tastes.

There’s a big lip over the edge of the display designed to keep it safe. The bottom half of the case, including the back and edges, is rougher to make it stay in your hand, while the top half is completely smooth.


Transparent Protection

Mous Clarity MagSafe

$69.99 from mous.co



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Is The Mystery iPhone Update Nearly Here?

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More than a week ago, the news was clear: the next iPhone update (the content of which remains a mystery) would be iOS 26.0.2 and would land in the week beginning Oct. 20. But it’s nowhere to be seen. What’s happening, you might ask.

It’s not that there were no Apple software updates last week. Anyone who bought the new iPad Pro, which went on sale on Wednesday, Oct. 22 alongside the latest MacBook Pro and Apple Vision Pro, had to update to a new version of iPadOS. But that was iPadOS 26.0.1 and was a new build for the latest model only.

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The iOS 26.0.2 update (and presumably iPadOS 26.0.2 if needed) could have arrived on Thursday, Oct. 23 or Friday, Oct. 24 — several reports thought that was likely.

Since it didn’t, we’re now in different territory. The next big update, until the rumor of iOS 26.0.2 had reared its head, was thought to be iOS 26.1. That’s so far into beta that it’s thought the release candidate will be available on Monday, Oct. 27 or Tuesday, Oct 28, with the general release expected the week after.

There are two options, it seems. Either Apple will kill off iOS 26.0.2 before it sees the light of day and instead go straight to iOS 26.1 on or around Monday, Nov. 3, or iOS 26.0.2 will appear first.

Which really only leaves Monday, Oct. 27 or Tuesday, Oct. 28 as likely days for release.

It’s not known exactly what will be in iOS 26.0.2, though it’s thought to address bugs and flaws, not launch new features which will be part of iOS 26.1.

So the fate of iOS 26.0.2 may rest on how urgent those fixes are and which handsets they affect.

My guess is that we will almost certainly see iOS 26.0.2 on Tuesday, Oct. 28, a day after the release candidate for iOS 26.1. I’d further guess that the fixes will mostly affect the iPhone 17 series or iPhone Air rather than all models.

If there’s no sign of it then, it looks like iOS 26.1 will be the next update, likely on Monday, Nov. 3. Look at it this way, there will probably be a new iPhone update in the next eight days at most.

I’ll update this post as soon as there’s more news, so please check back.

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X Issues November 10 ‘Account Will Be Locked’ Twitter Security Warning

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Given the continuing popularity of Elon Musk’s X social network, and the swathing staffing cuts made when the world’s richest man bought what used to be (and still is in my mind) Twitter, it doesn’t make the cybersecurity headlines as much as you might have thought. With PayPal users currently warned of ongoing attacks, ditto WordPress website owners, and even LastPass password manager customers, all being in the threat actor crosshairs, this is a good thing. However, X users have now been warned that unless they make a change to a legacy Twitter security setting, they will be locked out of their accounts from November 10. Here’s what you need to know.

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The X Safety Team Issues Clarification After Warning Of Twitter Account Lockouts

Whatever you call it, X or Twitter, the social network isn’t immune to security threats. This year alone, I have reported on outages caused by a claimed DDoS attack and a warning for 650 million X users not to change their passwords. Sometimes, though, the perceived security threat comes from inside the building. Such was the case after the X safety team tweeted on October 24: “After November 10, if you haven’t re-enrolled a security key, your account will be locked until you: re-enroll; choose a different 2FA method; or elect not to use 2FA.”

This, rather unsurprisingly if you ask me, created a wave of concern amongst both ordinary users and security experts on the social media platform. One asked whether not using 2FA meant their account would remain active; another asked whether there had been a security breach; and another asked whether this only impacted passkey users?

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The confusion sat with X warning that “all accounts that use a security key as their two-factor authentication method to re-enroll their key to continue accessing X,” and adding that users could “re-enroll your existing security key, or enroll a new one.” A typical example of someone who knows what they are talking about but not how to communicate that in such a way to people who do not. Translating tech-speak into ordinary language is an essential skill and one that the X safety team appears to have misplaced on this occasion.

What X should have said, and ended up being forced into actually saying a day later, was: “To clarify: this change is not related to any security concern, and only impacts Yubikeys and passkeys – not other 2FA methods (such as authenticator apps). Security keys enrolled as a 2FA method are currently tied to the twitter.com domain. Re-enrolling your security key will associate them with x.com, allowing us to retire the Twitter domain. If this relates to you, you’ll be prompted automatically to re-enroll.”

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