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Tuesday the 12th, Steve Jobs will step into the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and deliver what has come to be the most over-hyped and over-speculated announcement in history and bloggers from Atlanta to Zimbabwe have weighed in on what Apple's consummate pitchman has up his sleeve.

I've been following the rumor patrol pretty closely for The Digital Music Weblog. Even with the curve-ball Apple tossed out this week, releasing a 24" iMac and updating the Mac Mini line with little fanfare, there is still some high-profile back-fence-talk to speculate on before Tuesday.

Movies: Amazon unveiled Unboxed yesterday, and it's widely believed that Apple's iTunes Music Store will get a Hollywood makeover as well. Another Weblogs Inc. site, DVguru, has the big skinny on what may be on offer come Tuesday at the iTMS. Gossip has it that Disney, Touchstone, Lion's Gate and Disney/Pixar will all be on tap but, the only solid data is on Lion's Gate. The Vancouver based company let it slip in some financials, and the CEO as much as confirmed that they will be a part of any iTunes movie store launch.

Macs:The consensus seems to be that, after Apple's release of the 24" iMac and Core Duo Mini, the line is pretty well up to date. Having undergone a complete brain transplant from the PowerPC chip to Intel's line in the last 18 months -- and -- the recent update that put super-quick Core Duo chips in every single Macintosh, it's hard to imagine what else, if anything could be in store.

iPod: This is where the gossip saturation is the highest. With the iTunes Movie Store all but a given, lots of pundits are claiming Jobs would never go Hollywood without an iPod that can live up to the promise of wide screen movies. Adding to the speculation are patent filings that show a touchscreen doing double duty as display and control, a very elegant and very Apple way to make the PMP a must have for the Chrisma-chanu-kwanza spend phase.

iPhone: The big speculation surrounds Apple's entry into the mobile phone market. Everyone is so certain that Apple's got a bombshell to drop in this department, that some are even delaying the purchase of new mobile phones, dare they miss out on Apple's new entry in this upgrade phase and are forced to suffer with the same lackluster do-everything mobile phone as the next guy. I'd like to point out, just for the sake of sanity, that everyone was certain the iPhone was a dead-solid lock last year.

When, "Oh, and, one more thing..." rolls around this time, it could be enormous, groundbreaking and jaw dropping or, it could be warmed-over goods with a few new touches. So, dip your toes in the waters of Apple speculation but, do so with caution. Jobs is loved and respected as a pitchman exactly because he can deliver the expected and the unexpected with equal excitement.