Folks at AppleInsider are reporting that iPhone OS 4.0, which is expected to be released in June will finally allow third party iPhone apps to run in the background. Multi-tasking is one of the most requested features by iPhone users.

AppleInsider claims that “people with a proven track record in predicting Apple’s technological advances” have told them that Apple has developed a “full-on solution” to multitasking on the iPhone OS.

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The new iPhone 3GS models with updated ROM do not allow users to perform the traditional full jailbreak. As a result, there may be instances when the user may be required to perform a tethered jailbreak everytime their iPhone crashes or reboots. This can be an annoying experience especially if you are away from your computer or cannot tether immediately. 

iDongle is a device that can come pretty handy under such circumstances. This is a standalone piece of hardware that comes with a mini-USB connector on one end and a male 30 pin connector on the other. The 60x30mm piece uses a 9V battery to offer the necessary power to not only boot your jailbroken iPhone, but also assist in jailbreaking and hacktivating the same if it is not already done. iDongle currently supports iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2G/3G models. 

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Developers have found further evidence of multitasking support for 3rd party iPhone apps in the latest beta (3.2 beta 4) of the iPhone SDK, and suggest that it will become a reality this summer.

9to5 Mac reports on a new line found deep within the latest iPhone SDK. Specifically, SpringBoard.js has a reference to a “multitasking dialog box” that did not appear in version 3.1.3 of the SDK; it seems that it’s new to version 3.2. Of course, there’s no assurance that this refers to 3rd party support for multitasking, but it is new.

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According to the reliable sources at AppleInsider, folks in Cupertino are preparing to finally bring multitasking support in the next version 4.0 of iPhone OS.

If this rumor holds up to be true, then Apple can finally silence all the iPhone critiques who have been praising the rival Google’s Android for its superiority in multitasking support; something which iPhone has lacked since day 1 with the original iPhone (EDGE) launch back in 2007.

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“What kinds of games do you like?” Adam “Atomic” Saltsman asked of his panel audience at the Canabalt postmortem during the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. “Role-playing” was yelled out, as was “puzzler,” and eventually Saltsman picked “platformer” as the genre. Without another word, he quietly went to work on a laptop.

Then, his partner at Semi Secret Software, Eric Johnson, took the podium to tell us all about what it was like to make one of the App Store’s most popular games.

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Poynt has come to the iPhone, after having been a very popular free app on BlackBerry phones. Poynt provides local searches of individuals and businesses. It also shares a database with Open Table, so you can use it to make reservations at restaurants. Unlike the BlackBerry app, it has augmented reality, but is missing some features beloved by the Blackberry crowd.

Like some of the other iPhone search apps, you can enter the name of a business, and get a phone number, links to a website (if there is one), a mapped location, or directions. If you use the theater search, you’ll find nearby movie houses. You can also search by movie genres, or get a list of the top 10 box office films. You can’t buy tickets, but you can stream trailers.

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For the first panel of day two here at the 2010 Game Developers Conference’s iPhone gaming track, Oliver Miao of Centerscore Studios took the stage to talk about working on Surviving High School for the iPhone as a part of Electronic Arts’ Mobile division. As Miao made clear early on, he’s an “insider outsider” at EA: his company was started with a few friends, purchased by Vivendi in 2006, created a hit mobile game called Surviving High School in 2007, and was bought by EA in 2008.

Last year, they were commissioned to recreate their game for the iPhone. In one of the most interesting iPhone panels at the conference yet, he talked about the ins and outs of working with EA on an iPhone title, and explained both, what it was like to work with the company, and his own philosophies on game design, especially concerning in-app purchases and microtransactions.

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Bangalore, India – POSCITECH today announced the release of Fitaide Lite, the free version of Fitaide, for the iPhone or iPod touch. The Lite version retains the core features of Fitaide, but can be run for a maximum of 30 minutes per session. Its unique 3D Intensity Meter automatically tracks exercise intensity and calorie burn as a person moves, for any activity they do on their feet. It also measures the fitness levels at the end of each session and accurately estimates distance, steps and speed by capturing the natural variation in user’s stride length.

There is growing recognition that fitness is not just about spending time at the gym – people can actually get as much benefit from daily activities such as playing with their kids at the beach or dancing in the evening to a favourite track. Fitaide helps by enabling users to discover high energy activities they can integrate into their lifestyles, leading to a sustainable change in their overall activity level.

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9to5Mac is reporting that a couple of new gestures have been uncovered in the the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4. There seems to be a triple tap gesture and a long press gesture revealed. In the gestures folder, a couple of new plist files have been discovered: “3Tap.plist” and “LongPress.plist”.

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Recently I’ve been preparing to move home and finally did last weekend. Naturally I had to pack up all my musical gear, equipment and of course, my Mac. In the week leading up to the move, I’ve had my iPhone and nothing else. With no creative outlet and the pressure of looming project deadlines, I found myself scouting the app store for a fix to help me start fleshing out a few creative ideas.

This is what I found that worked well for me.

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Though the iPhone and iPad run on a common operating system, the version of OS installed on iPad will not be compatible with an iPhone. The reasons are evident: With a different screen size and variant features that the iPad will come with, the OS on iPhone will require a significant overhaul to match the capabilities presently available on the iPad. 

While there is no doubt that future versions of the iPhone OS will be compatible on both the iPhone and iPad, the question is if this will happen with the upcoming launch of iPhone 4G later this summer. According to John Gruber from Daring Fireball, this is most likely. In his blog post yesterday, Gruber says apps like Stocks and Weather, which have been removed from the iPad could be relaunched with iPhone OS 4.0 when both the devices will see a unified operating system.

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Los Angeles, CA – Since PixelMags launched in December, 60+ titles for iPhone and iPod touch have been sold in 77 countries through the iTunes App Store. New magazine titles are releasing every day. As the launch date of iPad nears, anticipation is reaching a fever pitch.

“Disney CEO Bob Iger and Wired Magazine Editor-In-Chief Chris Anderson have called the iPad a ‘game-changer’. We couldn’t agree more. When iPad launches, we will have more magazine titles optimized for iPad than any other vendor.” -Ryan Marquis, Founder & COO, PixelMags

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