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Nomad Unveils Stratos Band For Apple Watch, Boasting Titanium And Rubber Links

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Apple Watch bands are quickly interchangeable, so something bright and casual can be swapped easily for a formal, business-like look in seconds. The latest band from Nomad, called Stratos, combines fluoroelastomer with titanium for a design that aims to be smart and comfortable.

The band is made of links which are titanium on the outside. But the surface on the underside is fluorelastomer, aka fluorkautschukmaterial or FKM. That’s a version of the rubbery material that Apple uses in its Sport Band, for instance, and its pliability makes it a soft touch to the skin.

The Nomad Stratos Band has titanium links in either natural or black, to match the natural or black finishes on the Apple Watch Ultra series. It will also work with any Apple Watch Series or Apple Watch SE, right back to the original. It fits best on models with 45mm, 46mm and 49mm cases.

So, how does it look? The design means that the dominant element is the titanium outer covering, the links stretching to the bespoke magnetic clasp at the back, which opens with presses to the buttons on its side. The magnets mean it closes almost by itself with a light click as you wrap it around your wrist.

But the look of the band depends on the FKM links which sit inside, and whose color is glimpsed between the titanium outers. These are what create the unique design.

For many functions of the Apple Watch to work, such as the heart rate monitor, a perfect fit is required. To that end, the Nomad package includes a special tool for removing individual links, complete with comprehensive instructions.

The tool allows you to poke the concealed pins inwards and slide a link out. The other end of the same tool lets you rebuild the band when you’ve found the right fit.

What if your fit isn’t quite a whole number of links? Nomad has thought of that and includes two half-width links in the package, together with a replacement pointer for the adjustment tool. Fitting the band is an exact task, though arguably satisfying to do.

The band uses expensive components and this is reflected in the price of the Stratos, which is $179, £149 in the U.K. There are cheaper bands available, of course, though not with titanium links.



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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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