iOS devices account for 65% of US mobile web traffic

Chitika summoned the data from its 200,000 mobile websites and some 4 billion ads to bring you its latest report on mobile web traffic. The advertisement firm does this every couple of months to give some insight on which mobile devices folks are using to browse the web.

Surprise. According to the latest numbers, which come from data pulled between September and October, Apple's iOS devices are still very much ahead of Samsung and other competitors. In fact, they account for more than 65% of the mobile web traffic in North America...

Angry Birds visit Mars, new Star Wars clips with Han Solo, Chewie, R2-D2 and C-3PO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0z2lXLlHeI

Finnish developer Rovio's really been an adept exploiter of the space theme. Its latest Angry Birds installment, Angry Birds Space, has just been updated with ten volcanic levels on planet Mars and the special Mars Curiosity Rover boss level. This release also contains an antenna egg level (get three stars on all levels to unlock it) and a "super-secret bonus level" that will unlock upon discovering the hidden rover.

Additionally, the company released a new interesting video giving us a hint of gameplay in the upcoming Star Wars tie-in called Angry Birds Star Wars, due November 8. An earlier trailer featured Princess Leia. Don't also miss another gameplay video from Monday that dropped humorous hints of a romance in the making between Luke Skywalker and Leia.

And while we're at it, as part of NASA and Rovio once again joining forces with the Red Planet episode for Angry Birds Space, Rovio released three interesting NASA clips about planet Mars. Plus, we also get to see R2-D2 and C-3PO characters in an exclusive Angry Birds Star Wars gameplay video. Don't worry, we've included all of the aforementioned videos right below...

Jony Ive expected to ditch reality for greater minimalism

Do you love that linen-like background when logging into your iOS or Mac device? Well, it could be the most visible fatality as minimalism overtakes realism and design chief Jonathan Ive takes the reigns once held by iOS honcho Scott Forstall. That noise you hear is the splintering of the Jobs era and Cook era at Apple.

Forstall, who headed iOS development, was also the chief cheerleader of the late Steve Jobs. Jobs loved what design geeks term skeuomorphism, a Greek word meaning a tool's shape. In computer design, placing realistic objects - such as linen on a screen or ebooks stored in a wooden bookshelf - are used to lend a sense of assurance, like seeing a familiar face among a crowd of strangers.

But with Jobs gone, voices within the Cupertino, California firm which simply hated this sort of design gained volume. A particularly vehement enemy of Forstall's design philosophy: Industrial design guru Jony Ive...

How to jailbreak iOS 6.0.1

iOS 6.0.1 was just released a few minutes ago, but we've already confirmed it can be jailbroken right now using the existing jailbreak tools for iOS 6.

Although RedSn0w was recently updated to 0.9.15b3, the update doesn't yet include support for iOS 6. That's okay, because you can still point at the already supported iOS 6 firmware and successfully jailbreak iOS 6.0.1.

Check inside for the full video walkthrough that shows how.

Apple seeds iOS 6.1 Beta to developers with Maps Kit improvements

Hot on the heels of fixing numerous bugs with an incremental iOS 6.0.1 update that was released to end-users an hour ago, Apple has now seeded iOS 6.1 Beta to its registered developers. The software is provided for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad alongside the new Xcode 4.6 Beta integrated development environment.

At first glance, it seems iOS 6.1 will allow apps to ask the operating system to programmatically search for map-based addresses and points of interest. A new Reset Advertising Identifier button has been added to Advertising Settings and the date must match for Passbook passes to be relevant ...

Redsn0w 0.9.15b3 is out with improvements and bug fixes

The Dev Team has updated its popular jailbreak utility RedSn0w today, bringing the software to version 0.9.15b3. Although it closely follows Apple's release of iOS 6.0.1, it doesn't seem to include any 6.0.1-specific changes.

What it does include, though, are a handful of bug fixes and improvements that should make the jailbreaking process much smoother. We've got the full change log after the break...

The iPad mini ships with the smaller 5-watt adapter after all

Compared to the phased-out 10W adapter, Apple's new 12W power brick enables faster charging times for iPhones, iPads and iPods. Specifically, the two extra watts of power shave up to 45 minutes off the iPad charge time. What's really interesting is that in an article 9to5Mac ran a week ago it claimed "Apple also told us that the iPad mini would come with a 12W adapter as well".

This doesn't seem to be true, if a report by MacRumors is anything to go by. The publication relays a note from its reader who was able to purchase an iPad mini from his local Walmart yesterday and confirmed that it came with the smaller 5-watt adapter.

It doesn't appear to be an isolated incident. Additionally, iPhoneinCanada shortly following the iPad mini keynote observed that Apple's own shopping app depicted the 5-watt adapter as part of the iPad mini package contents...

Apple’s new 12W power brick charges iPads up to 45 minutes faster

Apple's new 12W power brick enables faster charging of your iPads, iPods and iPhones. Apple stopped short of divulging specifics when asked to quantify the “fast, efficient charging” claim on its online store. "We don’t have an exact percentage of how much faster it would charge but you should see an increase in speed", the company told 9to5Mac.

Enter Mike Flaminio of Insanely Great Mac, who took it upon himself to figure out non-scientifically the exact difference. An interesting video he posted claims the new power brick is able to charge an iPad between 30 and 45 minutes faster compared to the old (now phased out) 10W adapter. Yes, two extra watts of power make a difference. Check out his clip right below...

Apple releases iOS 6.0.1: fixes keyboard glitch, improves Wi-Fi and more

Apple has this morning released an update to its mobile operating system, iOS 6.0.1. The update comes just a day before the official launch of Apple's new 4th gen iPad and iPad mini.

In iTunes, updating to 6.0.1 is business as usual. But if you have an iPhone 5, you'll likely see the above screen asking you to install an 'Updater' before you receive the actual update. As it states, the Updater fixes a bug that prevents the iPhone 5 from installing updates wirelessly over the air.

So what's new in iOS 6.0.1? We've got the full change log after the break...

iPad mini teardown reveals Samsung display, stereo speakers

We've still got about 24 hours or so until the iPad mini goes on sale here in the US, but the i-teardown experts over at iFixit have already scored their test subject. And they're ripping it apart as we speak.

This has become a bit of a ritual for the do-it-yourself repair site, with new Apple products, and it usually reveals some interesting things about the devices. So let's see what they've discovered thus far...

Path releases native iPad app

Path, a social network where people engage in limited sharing of their daily habits and photos with only a select few closest friends, later today will launch its iPad app. Focused on full-screen experience in landscape, Path puts more of your network at your fingertips with fewer taps. Images of the iPad interface are promising and new features sound interesting enough to give it a a try. My favorite: the improved home screen displaying more activities from your network than is possible on the iPhone version.

UPDATE: a new version of the original iPhone app just went live with support for native iPad experience. Simply update your existing installation to get iPad goodies...

Concept video shows widgets the way Apple should implement them

If you've had an Android device in your hands before, you've likely noticed they usually come with widgets for just about anything. As a matter of fact, when I reviewed the Nexus 7 a few months ago, I noted that widgets were definitely one of the strong points of the tablet. Of course, jailbreakers are no strangers to widgets: Dashboard X is an example of how widgets can be implemented in a very tasteful way on iOS.

Visual and UI designer Max Rudberg recently took it upon himself to imagine another way widgets could work on iOS. The result is quite amazing, and in all honesty, I believe Apple should really take note of Rudberg's concept. Have a look for yourself...