Browse the web while running Twitter, Facebook and/or Gmail.
Apple's iPad tablet won't allow third-party apps to multi-task - run simultaneously and in the background - until it gets the iPhone OS 4 software this Autumn.
However, some developers have spied a chance to capitalise on the device's unitasking capabilities by releasing their own multi-purpose applications.
Two hit the App Store today: Multitasking for iPad and Multitasking Browser.
Multitasking for iPad offers a version of Apple's Safari browser - as developers are allowed to do - with added Twitter and Facebook functionality.
"They run at the same time, allowing you to browse the web, while receiving alerts of Twitter and Facebook updates," explains its product listing.
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Meanwhile, Multitasking Browser uses a dual-pane view, with Safari running in its main window, with 20 mobile web apps available to run in the side window - including Facebook, Twitter, Google Talk, Gmail and Weather.com.
Rotating your iPad into landscape mode hides the side browser, making the app look just like regular Safari.
It's a clever solution, and one that Apple presumably approves of, since both apps have been allowed onto the App Store. Both cost $2.99.
