Whether it's viewed as a natural move forward in the name of openness or a sign that no one in the world will ever use OpenMoko's own open-source OS—iMAndroid have some blurry-as-hell shots of the FreeRunner hardware running Google's open-source OS alternative. Either way, huge credit is due to OpenMoko, for fighting the good fight early on.

Still, the reliance on only 100% open hardware components means the FreeRunner is still hobbled by a GPRS-only data connection; that's late-90s tech, and for a data-heavy platform like Android, could be a monumental pain. Or maybe it will be the first Android phone with a battery that can last more than 12 hours without needing a reboost? Rounding out the specs is more typical smartphone fare: wi-fi, AGPS, Bluetooth, microSD slot, and a 400 MHz Samsung processor.

Price and availability are not yet available, but I would reckon CES will shed a bit more light on things. [iMAndroid]

T-Mo notes that scaling back will help keep things manageable while offering an opportunity for developers to learn. However, the plan is to open up over time: Android and Sidekick would be available, advertising will be allowed as will access to deeper hardware and software features. Still, many developers will undoubedly view this as an overly cautious approach that won't help it gain any ground on Apple in the foreseeable future. It may not be much, but rumor has it that the T-Mobile app store will go live with Java, RIM and Windows Mobile by the end of the year. [mocoNews via Electronista]

Jesus Diaz: Tell me more about Lux. This is a framework that anybody can use, right? Under any platform?
Christian Moore: Well, yeah, is an open source framework I've been working on for experimenting with user interfaces. It's more a general framework than targeting one main deployment platform. That video is actually all AS3 running in Flash 9 over Mac OS X, but you can integrate it with any development system and platform.

JD: Why Flash?
CM: Because it's fast to prototype in. However, the software is broken into several segments. One C++ application that tracks hands that talks to Flash... WPF... or another C++ app... and basically everything you can imagine. You can enable multitouch in any environment, like Cocoa.

JD: So anyone can grab the framework and make native multitouch apps right in Mac OS X or Windows or Linux.
CM: Yeah. We have an Xcode-developed app for photo and paint coming, as well as a tracking application. But using Flash for this demo was the fastest way for us at the moment.

JD: How many people did this?
CM: I did the core system, but four people from the NUI Group contributed demos.

JD: What machine is running the demo in the video? Looks amazingly fast.
CM: Just a MacBook.

JD: And for the multitouch screen?
CM: I use a ~box from naturalui. It's ghetto tech, I know, but I developed the majority of Lux on a cardboard box. And it works great.

JD: Indeed, it looks like it works perfectly right. How does this compare to frameworks like UITouch, in the iPhone?
CM: Apple's UITouch its very, very well designed. It runs at the core level, while ours is more a free environment to develop on top... to learn about multitouch and share code.

[Lux and NUI Group]

Currently, the OpenMoko fellows have received back their first production verification test devices and they are busy making the necessary tweaks to the hardware / software. As for a release date, we've been promised more details concerning distribution will be forthcoming in the "next few days." I'm kinda itching to try one of these out, but it looks like we'll all be waiting a little bit longer. We'll keep you posted on any developments. [OpenMoko]

But, if the open source community can find out what goes into these gaps and plug'm, soon enough you should be rocking out to an open source Archos capable of playing back weird codecs, streaming things to other things, and doing all kinds of stuff that it wasn't meant to do originally&madsh;similar to the way that open source users took the Linksys router and beefed it up. – Jason Chen

Download Page [Archos - Thanks Rick!]

We're not sure why you'd buy 6 now that Christmas season is over, but these would probably make the BEST VALENTINES DAY GIFT EVER.

And if you believed that, we wish you good luck getting inside that box ever again. – Jason Chen

Product Page [My OpenX]

The biggest difference between the two is the Neo1973's 18.5mm thickness, compared to the svelte 11.6mm thickness of the iPhone. Keep in mind, though, that the Neo1973's edges are much more rounded than that of the iPhone, giving the illusion of a smaller size. – Charlie White

Special thanks to Sizeasy!

Now, thankfully Open AIM is offering the best of both worlds: free access to the API in Linux, OS X, etc. and a refreshing lack of nasty marketing. With Open AIM, you can build location-based plugins as well as VOIP solutions and all kinds of silly stuff all for the price of a download. – John Biggs

Product Page [Open AIM via CNET]