Apple iOS 4 is now available for download. If you have an iPhone 3GS or 3G, or iPod touch (2nd generation or newer), you can grab the free update from iTunes.

You’ll need to have iTunes 9.2 installed. Apple released the latest version of iTunes a few days ago, so if you haven’t already downloaded the update, now’s the time.

Once iTunes 9.2 is installed, you’ll want to click on your iPod or iPhone icon in the Devices section, and then tap the “Update” button to check for updates. Finally, just follow the instructions and keep clicking the Next boxes until iTunes starts downloading the software update. That’s all there is to it.

Apple iOS 4 has more than 100 new features, but one of the biggest changes are support for multitasking (some services such as streaming audio can now run in the background). You can also now arrange app icons in folders, and use a unified email inbox. Not all of the new features will be available on the iPhone 3G, since it uses older hardware.

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Google Android phones will show you a list of recently opened apps if you press and hold the Home button. But if you want to see a list of currently running or recently closed apps, you’re out of luck — unless you install a third party app.

Scan to download

MultiTask Manager will show you both, as well as give you the option of killing any task with a long-press. As an added bonus (if you consider this a bonus), it works a lot like the new task manager in Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0.

Once MultiTask Manager is installed, you can pull up a list of running apps by pressing and holding the Search button on your phone. You can scroll to the left and right to see more apps. And you can switch to any app by pressing on the icon. You can also change the background, choose the maximum number of apps to display, and select frequently used apps that will always show up in the tray whether they’re currently running or not.

MultiTask Manager is available as a free download from the Android Market. You can also grab the source code from the project page if you’re into that sort of thing.

Tired of your iPhone automatically rotating the screen every time you accidentally tilt your phone just a little more than you meant to? There’s an app for that. Or rather, an OS update. Apple launched a new beta version of iPhone OS 4.0 for developers today, and one of the pleasant surprises tucked away in this build is the ability to lock the screen orientation so that the display doesn’t rotate every time the phone does.

This comes in handy if you’re using an iPhone in bed or while lying on the couch. If you’ve ever tried reading web sites on your iPhone or iPod touchwhile on your side, you know that the most comfortable way to hold the mobile device is at a bit of an angle — which can cause it to keep shifting between portrait and landscape mode every time you move your hand just a bit.

Other features in iPhone OS 4 beta 3 include:

• An easier way to close multiple apps from the multitasking drawer
• Audio playback controls that let you play, pause, or skip music tracks without closing out of your currently running app

A few hours after Apple made iPhone OS 4 beta 3 available for download, the company pulled it off the shelf. It’s not clear whether there were still some kinks to work out or if it simply wasn’t ready for for public consumption yet and went out a little early. But you can find more details from the folks at Gizmodo and MobileCrunch who already managed to snag the new beta.

It looks like Apple is getting ready to add some social networking goodness to the iPhone. Engadget notes that the developer preview of iPhone OS 4 shows Facebook integration in various spaces, letting you do things like bring your Facebook contacts and calendar events into the iPhone calendar.

While the OS appears to have support for Facebook contacts, there also appears to be framework that could allow for integration of other social networks such as Twitter.

All in all, it looks like the iPhone could get unified calendar and contacts features that let you see of all your information in one place, without having to fire up the Facebook app, the Twitter app, and the default Mail and Calendar apps to find what you’re looking for.