photo credit: keinepanik

Those of us who weren’t stuck in a high-flying balloon hiding in a box in the attic scamming the media due to our obsessive need for celebrity had quite a bit going on this week.  In case you were glued to your television watching the Heene family, you may have noticed quite a bit of chatter over Android this week.  In particular, the excitement over Verizon’s “Droid Does” marketing for their upcoming Android device (the Tao/Sholes/Droid smartphone).

If there was any doubt that Big Red is looking to Android & Motorola to compete with the Apple/AT&T behemoth, it was put to rest with the game-on “iDon’t” marketing campaign that has been launched.  Regardless of whether you are excited or merely curious, it is going to be a LOT of fun to put this new Android device head to head against the iPhone to see whether it can truly stack up against what many lovingly refer to as the “Jesus Phone”  (that’s the iPhone in case you were wondering ).

So, balloon boys and girls, what else happened this past week?  Let’s take a break and quickly run down just a few of the highlights…

Thomas provided Android users with  several helpful tips and feature overviews this past week, including quick entry for virtual keyboards, backing up your SMS to your Gmail account, and a talking RSS reader.

Carly continued her State of the eBook series, covering some of the eReader options — including the drool-worthy rumored Barnes & Noble eReader.  This holiday season may very well give the Kindle a run for the money as king of the eReaders.

Larry & Dan covered EyeTV streaming over 3G on October 16th — and then poof! — by the next day Dan was reporting that the 3G streaming was no longer working.   Looks like EyeTV fans will have to be satisfied with viewing over WiFi for now .

CONTEST:  NoteBooks.com Giving Away an HP Envy 15

Dan loved the HP Envy 15, and was excited to hear that NoteBooks.com is actually giving one away!   Take a look at the notebook and be sure to sign up over on their site for a chance to win one for yourself.

Apple’s now allowing in-app  purchasing for Free Apps.    Get ready to see more subscription based applications, as well as pay-per-level gaming from free/lite apps to “premium” versions.

Christopher continued to review the latest iPhone GPS navigation applications, taking an in-depth look at MapQuest Navigator for iPhone.

Mark showed us his preferred password manager RoboForm, walking us through the many features and benefits of the application.

Judie’s all the way through week 7 of her Rosetta Stone TOTALe program. The program immerses the user in audio and video language lessons (Judie’s taking the Spanish version), through the course of up to a year.

Anyone interested in even more methods to learn a language with their technology (in this case their iPhone), should be sure to check out Christopher’s new Learning a Language on a Budget series.

Did we miss anything from the week?  Be sure to let us know in the comments