What you’re seeing here is really the combination of two apps, standby jailbreak justifier and essential iPhone app Backgrounder, which lets you designate any app to run in the background, and new task switcher interface called Multifl0w. (There are other, more basic task switchers already, the most widespread being Kirikae) The new combo feels like magic: It’s a little bit Android, a lotta bit Pre, and more importantly, an obvious improvement, at least on the speedier 3GS.

Granted, anyone who’s used Backgrounder knows that for the sake of your battery, you have to be careful how many apps you open, and how many you leave running. Honestly though? Every other smartphone manufacturer trusts their users to mind their own damn processes, which seems to work out pretty well. So, uh, when will we get this by default? OS 4.0? 5.0? Shut up, blogger?

You can give it a try now in jailbreak app manager Rock, and Cydia’s on its way. Sadly, it’s only free on a trial basis, after which it’ll cost you $US5. Backgrounder and Kirikae, though? They’re still free, in all sense of the word. [MultiFl0w--Thanks, William!]

Voices: There are a few voice modulation apps on the shelves of the App Store, but none has captured Jesus’ heart like Voices: Retro tape recorder and microphone, cute icons, simple touch interface, and sharing via Twitter, Facebook and email, so you can spook everyone with that infernal Reverse Voice effect. For just $1.19, it’s impossible to resist.

Zosh: Signing things over email: a thing that is dumb. Zosh: a thing that makes that process much easier.

Zosh is a $4 app that allows you to sign attached documents on your iPhone. Basically, you forward the emailed document to Zosh from the iPhone’s mail app, then you open the Zosh app to sign it (plus you can add a date and stuff).

I especially like this one because it’s not just a good way to sign documents on the iPhone, it’s a good way to sign documents in general. I mean seriously, who wants to scan their signature or jitter one out in MS paint? One catch: it only supports PDFs for now, so convert or die.

CatPaint: Negative space, as defined in the eminent McFairlyshire Encyclopaedia of Artistic Principles (1904): An area, perimeter or measurable expanse that lacks cats. And one of the first thing they teach to you at any good art school is to fill it up, with cats. Facts! Enter CatPaint:

Cats can be added to pre-existing photos or cat-scarce shots from the iPhone’s camera, and either saved to your camera roll or sent via email. Using it takes a while to get used to: Once you’ve selected a cat from the app’s animal palette and set the slider for size, each tap on the photo instantly splashes a new cat at the point of contact, which can’t be edited, save for a temperamental shake-to-delete function.

It is the best thing, this app. $1.19.

Knocking: Live Pic Sharing: Uses server-side galleries to let you view photos in sync with other people, which you can send or flip through by “knocking”. Ideal scenario: You’re talking to your friend over the phone, you want to show him a gallery of pictures, you tell him to jump onto Knocking, and suddenly you’re in control of his viewing experience. It pretty much works like that. Free.

Blower: Real Air: Can you guess what this one does? Really, no? Then you’re probably a good candidate for spending money on it. For what it’s worth — something? — Blower explores the iPhone’s absurd novelty potential in a completely new way. From the reviews, a perfect description: “It feels like an ant blowing on you.”

Call of Duty: The control scheme isn’t perfect, and the price ($13) is high, but it’s tough to argue with a Nazi Zombie shoot ‘em up with the Call of Duty name. Pro tip: Switch to the tilt controls, because the overlaid joystick is not good. (They never are!)

Fit or Fugly: Rounding out our cr-appier selections for the week, an app that purports to measure your beauty according to some kind of mathematical equation. It’s not a good way to actually tell if someone is attractive, nor is it a particularly well-executed app. It is, however, a good excuse to tell your friends that their faces are asymmetrical, which evokes surprisingly intense responses. Try it! (The face thing, not necessarily the app.)

Google Earth 2.0: You can create and store your own customised maps in the desktop version of Google Maps and save them to your account — this is great for keeping running routes, sharing driving directions and the like. You can view them in the new version of Google Earth for the iPhone now, which is useful and also sort of hilarious since you can’t even access them in the official Google Maps app. Sound silly? Welcome to the iPhone, y’all!

This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us your first-hand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favourite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Is it just what they’re showing us? A Flo TV app, that requires some kind of accessory to tune into broadcasts? That’s possible, but given how well the iPhone can stream video over 3G, it’d be a hard sell, even with Flo TV’s cable-like channel selection. It would also help if said accessory wasn’t larger than the actual iPhone.

Or is it to foster excitement over the idea of native Flo TV hardware support in the iPhone, like in the HTC Imagio? Because that will never, ever happen. So again, why? [Electric Pig]

In 2007 I whined and whined asking for an iPhone Software Developer’s Kit. Back then I asked for five apps. It took two years, but today I’ve got them all. The last one just came in yesterday.

It’s not Voice Candy, but Voices looks as good, if not better: Retro tape recorder and microphone, cute icons, simple touch interface, and sharing via Twitter, Facebook and email, so you can spook everyone with that infernal Reverse Voice effect. For $1.19, it’s impossible to resist.

[iTunes App Store — Thanks Juanlu ]

Are you still missing a favourite?

Every time I receive an emailed loan agreement for a product review, the process of signing it becomes a complete pain. I either have to print, sign and scan the document, or paste a signature in Photoshop. No more!

Zosh is a $4 app that allows you to sign attached documents on your iPhone. Basically, you forward the emailed document to Zosh from the iPhone’s mail app, then you open the Zosh app to sign it (plus you can add a date and stuff).

Testing the app, the signing process actually worked pretty well. Maybe the neatest component of the interface is that the signature line auto tracks your finger, meaning that if your signature goes larger than the iPhone’s screen, it’ll just pan over.

However, there’s one MASSIVE catch. You can only sign PDFs at the moment, not text files like .docs. For me, that’s a dealbreaker (ladies), and hopefully one that will be remedied (through simple auto-conversion or something) in later versions. [Zosh]

Sometimes the best apps are the simplest, and CatPaint is nothing if not simple. Cats can be added to pre-existing photos or cat-scarce shots from the iPhone’s camera, and either saved to your camera roll or sent via email. Using it takes a while to get used to: Once you’ve selected a cat from the app’s animal palette and set the slider for size, each tap on the photo instantly splashes a new cat at the point of contact, which can’t be edited, save for a temperamental shake-to-delete function. But seriously, not the point:

See?!? $1.19. [iTunes via Macworld]

At last, after being blowed a billion times, it’s the iPhone’s turn. Believe it or not, there’s a new application for the iPhone that uses its speaker to blow air. No peripherals. No attachments. Check the video for yourself.

The developers say that you can use it to “blow out candles, herbs and refresh your skin during hot summer nights.” I wonder how many candles you can extinguish before your speaker breaks from all the vibration. [iTunes App Store]

You’ll need to attack your old stethoscope with a pair of scissors to make it fit the $US30 iStetho adaptor, but they’ll provide full instructions. Once connected, the iStethoscope Pro app (iTunes link) “amplifies the signal and eliminates audio outside of what is important for diagnosis”. Kinda crazy.

[RidRx via The Undercover Scientist, MedGadget and CNET]

The app will launch tomorrow as a free download, and will work with the PIXMA MP990, MP640 and MP560 wireless all-in-one printers, letting you print photos wirelessly on your home network.

[Canon]

One more thing: The $6 Star Wars Trench Run is one of those games that has special graphics features if you run it on the iPhone 3GS, because everybody knows the Force is stronger in that one. [iTunes App Store]