Starbucks for iPhone as been refreshed with a new look and brings the ability to send eGifts via email or Facebook. You can now also transfer balances between cards within the app.

• Refreshed look and feel with our new logo and improved performance.
• Pay with your Starbucks Card using your phones, reload and transfer balances on your Cards.
• See your My Starbucks Rewards level and star balance.
• eGift functionality lets you send a gift to friends and family using your iPhone.
• Customizable navigation lets you use the app just the way you like it!

If you pick this one up, send me an eGift and let us know what you think! Screenshots after the break.

[Free - iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Tweetbot for iPhone has been updated to 1.3 and brings new features and improvements such as the ability to view local trends and translate direct messages.

• Improved multiple account switching
• Local trends (can be set in the account settings)
• Improved recipient selector when creating a new direct message
• Ability to copy, delete, and translate direct messages (swipe on a thread to delete a whole group)
• “Add to List” feature improved and renamed to “Manage List Memberships”
• Added “go to user” feature in people search (shows when typing into the “Search People” box)
• Gaps now load above or below depending on position of gap when button is invoked.
• Compose Tweet from hashtag (by holding down on a hashtag in a tweet)
• Drafts button now displays # of drafts.
• Support for Favstar (hold fav button to invoke ‘tweet of the day’, double-tap profile tab to see your own favstar page)
• Various bug fixes

Tapbots has also put up a blog post explaining why there are no push notifications (they need approval for the beta streaming service from Twitter), why they’re not making an iPad or Mac version any time soon, and why they choose not to support Twitlonger. Check out the link below for the details and if you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[$1.99 - iTunes link, Tapbots blog]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Today, June 30, is supposedly the deadline for apps like Kindle to remove buttons or links to their external web stores or risk expulsion from Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Store. Originally, Apple was requiring developers to not only remove external store links but also match any external sales and pricing with identical in-app purchase options (which would require giving Apple 30% of the price). Apple quietly stepped back from the content and price matching provisions earlier this month, but not the prohibition against external links.

So will Amazon update the Kindle app today with the Kindle Store button removed, will Apple “Sony” the Kindle app, and pull it from the App Store after the deadline expires, or will the Kindle app keep the button and stay in the store (either with Apple’s permission or convenient silence)?

Apple makes and markets the competing iBooks and associated iBookstore for iOS.

If you close your eyes, you can almost see the transport ship racing towards the blockade lines…

According to Apple’s on-device counter, the iPad App Store is now home to over 100,000 apps and games, this less than a month after Steve Jobs announced 90,000 during the WWDC 2011 keynote.

This is obviously a huge advantage, especially when Google’s Android Honeycomb devices, RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook, and HP’s webOS TouchPad are launching with very, very few native tablet apps in their own markets.

How many iPad apps have you downloaded?

[MacStories]

Many of you are aware of the makeover we have given the TiPb forums, but we have no intention of stopping there. We are constantly thinking of new add-ons that will make your experience even better.

Enter the “Like” button.

So what’s the difference between the existing “Thanks” button and the new “Like” button? “Thanks” values the author, “Like” values the content. So, when you “Thank” a post, you’re giving credit to another forum member because they answered your question, provided a link or guide that helped you out, etc. It gives them a pat on the virtual back. When you “Like” a particular post, you’re recommending the information. You’re giving it a thumbs up.

Clicking the “Like” button on a post will put a “Like” tree at the top of that particular thread. Clicking that then drops down the most liked posts of that entire thread. So in a single click you can get to the best posts that may be deep into a thread vs. having to scroll through page after page of posts.

So that’s our new “Like” button. Be sure to check it out along with all of the other improvements we’ve made by visiting the forums today!

In Zoombie Digger World Tour, you must defend United States, Australia, Russia, and Mexico against zombie attacks. Don’t let their cute appearance fool you, these zombies are quite evil!

• many evil, but incredibly cute zombies
• multiple ways to kill the zombies
• unique bosses
• combo system to max out your score
• more than 75 levels, increasing in difficulty
• 12 cities with famous sights
• 16 kinds of weapons
• 10 kinds of super-weapons

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the trailer and screenshots after the break.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Rhythm Guitar: Play guitar with your iPad! [$2.99 for iPad - iTunes link]

• Tagged Recorder: Simply record conferences, lectures, seminars, talks and easily find your records by tags and location. [$1.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Horse Zoom: – Over 2000 images of Horses by renowned professional photographer. Mark J. Barrett. [$11.99 for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]

• Miso Music: Plectrum: Learn how to learn to play the guitar, ukulele, bass, banjo and mandolin. [Free for iPad, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

• Busy Gears: Tap anywhere on the screen to jump from gear to gear to spring to air puff while reaching the bonus stars. Watch out for the spikes, flying razers, speed gears, and invisible gears. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

iOS 5 brings the much heralded iMessage service to the Messages app, beta 2 has added a small but long-requested feature all its own — the ability to swipe away the keyboard. In current versions of iOS, one you tap into the text entry box it’s a bit of a chore to get rid of it again, which is annoying if you want to see the full screen view of your messages.

Now, with iOS 5 beta 2, you simply touch above the keyboard and swipe downwards, and the keyboard goes away. Simple. Sweet.

Again, a minor feature to be sure, but one that will no doubt be appreciated by many.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

A couple's wedding day is said to be the most important day of their lives. One particular couple decided to risk their special day's memories by only shooting the photographs and video using an iPhone 4. Sure the iPhone 4 has a very good quality camera but is this taking it a little too far?

Well it is not quite as risky as it seems. the couple brought in professional photographers and videographers for the big day and the results are quite impressive. Of course more than one iPhone 4 was used in gathering all the footage and the final editing we assume wasn't done on the iPhone either. Either way it is apparently the first time that this has been done.

Take a look at the video after the break. Let us know what you think of the final result. Would you risk an important occasion such as a wedding solely to the iPhone 4's camera?

[YouTube]

Australian schoolgirl Holly Bligh has started using an iPad to assist her learning in her school, and it is reaping huge rewards. Holly has albinism, which has badly affected her vision to the point that she needed a large magnifying glass to see textbooks and papers. Now, with the use of an iPad, all it requires is a simple tap or pinch gesture to blow up the area of interest and she can join in with the rest of her class. The iPad has also brought about a cool factor for Holly compared with having to use a chunky magnifying glass.

Holly's mother claims that the iPad has increased Holly's attention span and estimates that visual fatigue now takes twice as long to set in. She was so impressed with how the iPad has improved her daughter's life that she emailed none other than Steve Jobs to thank him; and received a response too.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Do you mind if I read your email to a group of our top 100 leaders at Apple? Thanks, Steve.

Holly will always have limitations with her eyesight; but with the use of an iPad and her amazing attitude, we are sure this girl will go far! Do any of our readers use an iPad to overcome vision problems? Let us know!

[Herald Sun]