Normally the Lonely Planet guides for iPhone are $15.99, so any way you look at it, getting the San Francisco guide (iTunes link) for free is a great purchase. At worst you'll see if you like the Lonely Planet way of doing things in a travel guide and at best you might discover something new in San Francisco. Yep, the guide is free in anticipation of WWDC, allowing attendees to do a little sightseeing if Apple's sessions aren't enough for you.

I've only spent a bit of time with the app (I'm not in San Francisco, so testing the "nearby" functions won't happen until next week), but if you're familiar with the Lonely Planet guide books, you'll be pretty familiar with the content here. The app has a really long list for the table of contents, something I felt could be handled better. If you want to find travel information, for example, you'll have to scroll somewhere about 40% down -- this is not optimal if you need info in a hurry. In fact, scrolling through longs lists is so annoying Apple gave the iPod app a search tool and Coverflow browsing. Luckily the LP guide provides a text search which I found quite useful.

Browsing content is terrifically easy, with a slim design that allows you to move forward and back between articles, increase text size or go back up to whatever screen you were previously at, like a search page. Speaking of those searches and the content, a cursory search for Moscone brought up no precise info on the convention center. It is mentioned in a reference to Yerba Buena, but otherwise lacks details.

The map suffers from static information and a lack of one-way street info (kind of important in cities filled with them, but only if you drive). I much prefer the maps and interaction of the AAA Discounts app, complete with animation and cleaner graphics. There are complaints about missing hotels and whatnot, but I've never fully trusted any guidebook to find every hotel and restaurant. Plus, there's always Urbanspoon and a plethora of apps for discovering new places to eat around you.

Obviously if you are ever planning to travel to San Francisco it'd be hard to turn down a free app so full of info. I don't think it'll replace anything like your Maps app, or Urbanspoon, or Yelp-based apps, but that's not the point. As a guide full of history and photos, hotel and restaurant data, workable maps and tons of "getting around" data, the Lonely Planet San Francisco City Guide is incredibly handy.

A free new documentary news special, Young Latinos In the Military, showed up today in the iTunes Store's TV section

US: mun2 News Special - For My Country? Young Latinos In the Military
Keeping with its commitment to creating programming with a Latino sensibility, these quarterly news specials will focus on important issues affecting Latino youth. From the national headlines to community life, mun2 presents important issues as they relate to Latino youth and their families.

Still free:

US: Glamour Reel Moments: Dealbreaker
Dealbreaker, was written and directed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore and produced by Moxie Pictures for Glamour's Reel Moments series. The film was also accepted to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The films in the series are based on readers' real life stories and brought to the screen by Hollywood's leading talent. The making of these films - by women and for women - provided direct benefit to FilmAid International.This short film, Dealbreaker, was written and directed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore and produced by Moxie Pictures for Glamour's Reel Moments series. The film was also accepted to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The films in the series are based on readers' real life stories and brought to the screen by Hollywood's leading talent. The making of these films - by women and for women - provided direct benefit to FilmAid International.

US: Glamour Reel Moments: Gnome
A festival favorite at the Berlin Film Festival, GNOME was written and directed by Jenny Bicks and stars Lauren Graham as part of the 2005 Glamour Reel Moments Short Film series. The films in the series are based on readers' real life stories and brought to the screen by some of Hollywood's most talented women. The making of these films - by women and for women - provided direct benefit to FilmAid International.A festival favorite at the Berlin Film Festival, GNOME was written and directed by Jenny Bicks and stars Lauren Graham as part of the 2005 Glamour Reel Moments Short Film series. The films in the series are based on readers' real life stories and brought to the screen by some of Hollywood's most talented women. The making of these films - by women and for women - provided direct benefit to FilmAid International.

But... only if you took advantage of yesterday's macZOT offer! I see as of this morning Disco is still available for $14.95, so maybe the freebie is still valid. Apparently when you register, the surprize (sic) is revealed: another license to give away to a friend. That's a brilliant way to spread the love. If I buy a copy today, I'll update this post if the freebie is still available. Considering Disco's fantastic UI, cool tricks, and excellent implementation, what's going to happen to venerable (and for a while, pretty much standard) Toast? If they don't at least drop the price I'm not sure what advantages it would offer. I'd like to see El Gato build some support for Disco too, boy that'd be cool.

Thanks, Timmay.

In the weeks leading up to an Apple Special Event, much of our little corner of the internet is abuzz with prognostication, rumors of what might be announced, and more editorial analysis than you can shake a stick at. Historically, all this speculation rans rampant with little to no new reiable information added to the discussion until the actual product announcements. This is how it has been since time immemorial (well, at least as long as Steve has been back at Apple), and how it would ever be... or so we thought.

The announcements of updated iMacs and Mac minis throws a wrench into the workings of the rumor mill, stopping the coolant pumps, and causing the already heated debate to flare into a full fledged iClonflagration usually reserved for Macworld Stevenotes.

The fact that the products announced on the 6th were accurately predicted means that at least some of the info floating around the web in regards to product announcements was correct, even if they were off by a week. If they were right about the iMac and Mac mini, who's to say they're any less correct in their other predictions? And if they are correct, what does that mean in terms of what we'll be seeing on Tuesday?

While trying to figure out why my TUAW Tips mailbox just choked and cried uncle, I finally found the source of the clog: too many tips to count started pouring in that the announced September 12th special event (not to be confused with the 25th) could be the announcement of a 23-inch iMac Core 2 Duo, not to be confused with the Core Duos in many Macs right now. This new chip is code named Merom (aren't Intel and their code name games cute?) and promises a 40% performance increase over current Core Duo chips, but with zero increase in power consumption.

This rumor has blown up everywhere, from AppleInsider to MacRumors and, of course, Engadget. September 12th could easily be something big, as it isn't simply some arbitrarily chosen day - it coincides with the first day of Apple Expo Paris.

Speculators - start your engines.