This is the week, folks. Just as time can be neatly divided into BI and AI (Before iPhone and After iPhone), it's quite possible that after this coming week, the world will fall into pre-tablet time and post-tablet time. Whatever that tablet may be called. Join us, won't you, in this last installment of the best Mac|Life articles from those innocent days before we all went gaga for a real, actual tablet.


Features:

- How You'll Get Google Voice-like Features on Your iPhone - Google Voice users were naturally bummed when the App Store not only denied the GV app but pulled a couple apps that made use of this Google feature. Explanations were given, but they never rang true. Demonstrating that no matter how tall you build your walls, someone will find a way over, under, or around them, Riverturn, one of the app developers burned by Apple's odd decision, has set up this tidy little workaround. With Black Swan, a so-called "weblication," Riverturn has created an app that works with HTML 5 and JavaScript in Safari to deliver something that's a pretty impressive alternative to jailbreaking your phone for Google Voice goodness.

- 10 Best Alternatives to the iTunes Store - Sure, the Store is basically built into your Mac through iTunes, but it's not the only fish in the sea. While Apple may have finally decided to get rid of the dread DRM recently, a proliferation of alternate mp3 stores exist online, ranging from the confusingly designed to the chock full o' tracks. We've looked at the best and the only so-so, the cheapest price to the highest bitrate, and we've got it all spelled out for you. So whether you kick it old school with Napster or pinch your pennies at the WalMart mp3 joint, we run the choices down for you.


Reviews:

- Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies - So much promised with Nazi zombies needing headshots, so little delivered in this mobile version for the iPhone. Pricey at $10 and limited to a single map, this FPS app has impressively rendered visuals but suffers from constant frame freeze and slow response time. Only for the diehard fans who live to kill the Undead Third Reich.

- Machinarium - Remember the joys of point-and-click gaming? Well, Amanita Design clearly recalls those fun days, and this game, a grungy scrap yard backdrop beautifully rendered for the adventures of a tin robot, delivers with 35 levels of brainteaser and puzzles to solve before you win. At $20 bucks, this is a solid contender that'll keep you clicking for quite a while.

- Bose Quiet Comfort 15 - Bose often delivers nice quality sound, but at a price. These 300 buck headphones work nicely to cancel out ambient sounds around you if you're on the train or plane, but the noise cancellation sound wave technology can be nausea inducing for more sensitive listeners. While they deliver a nice range of sounds, if a little bright on the treble side, and can make a long trip a piece of cake, you'll definitely want to find a try-before-you-buy option at this price tag.

- PacSafe InfoSafe - We hope and pray you never have to experience the heartbreak of a snatched laptop, but to make your life a little safer, PacSafe has put out this $75 dollar bag that delivers some decent security. The ubiquitous locking cable helps keep the case from "wandering" but what's under the nylon skin case is what makes the difference. A steel mesh under layer stopped us short after hacking through the outside with a box cutter. Sure, a dedicated thief could get to your beloved MacBook eventually, but as most crimes are ones of opportunity and time, hopefully this number puts a criminal off the scent.


News:

If you want to be king of the app sales, it helps if you have the best App Store out there, which is why Apple walked away with an astonishing 99.4% of 2009's app sales....something sure to be a big seller among the Sonic fans, Sega is looking to bring an official Genesis emulator to the app store; turns out Apple's not at all shy of emulators with the manufacturer's seal of approval....so you've got a great app idea, but like most of us, you've got crap programming skills; well, make your dreams come true, non-geeks, with iSites' app creator and you too could be the next Tapulous millionaire...Amazon's decided, rather late, to get into the app game by releasing an app developer kit so software designers can get in on the joys of making gray on gray graphics...and finally, reason number eight million why you should keep your iPhone with you at all time, this dude saved his own life in Haiti with some wise choices at the App Store.


Apple and Microsoft might be the bitterest of enemies, but both sides are now viewing Google as the giant that must be stopped; they say politics makes for strange bedfellows, but supposedly talks are under way to bring Bing into the default search for the iPhone...speaking of cut-throat competition, sources say that this is the year that the iPhone will at long last make its way to the Verizon mobile network....according to Boy Genius Report, iPhone OS 4.0 is on its way and it's supposed to bring a host of sweet new qualities with it that have everyone at Apple super-excited...it won't be long before this dongle gets broken off with part of it still inside the iPhone, but this credit card swiper is pretty sweet, we have to admit...and the road to Flash on the iPhone is open now, but only if websites add a bit of coding to their pages. Alas.

And finally, yes, it's Tablet time, babies! Firstly, Apple officially announced the January 27th event, promising to show off their "latest creation" and we can only wonder what that might be....so who do you think will be attending this show? Our bets are on the New York Times, naturally, and Disney, but there's got to be more than that....well, HarperCollins might just be there, if they are negotiating to bring enhanced books to the Tablet...and since content is king, but books aren't everything, look for game maker Electronic Arts to put in an appearance of some kind...but what are they calling this thing? Is it the iSlate, iTablet, iPad, or something none of us have even thought of yet? Only Steve Jobs knows for sure...but let's hope they're paying attention to the news, because an analyst is predicting that the price has got to hit that sweet spot and there's got to be options for no monthly plans or customers might just not bite in this economy....and is this what we'll be seeing on Wednesday? I guess we'll just have to be patient a tiny bit longer. Arrrrrggghhhh!