Openmoko, the company that first gained attention for its Linux-based phone platform, launched a new pocket-sized open source product in time for this holiday season, the WikiReader. The WikiReader is an inexpensive ($99), low-power, 4-inch square touchscreen LCD display device pre-loaded with the text of three million Wikipedia pages on a microSD card.

Today, with the greatest of pleasure, I am ready to share with you the birth of our third product -- WikiReader. Three simple buttons put three million Wikipedia articles in the palm of your hand.

Fans of the OpenMoko Neo1973 open-source Linux handset will be glad to hear that they'll soon be able to get their hands on the Neo1973's successor in the near future. The OpenMoko FreeRunner sports a faster processor than its predecessor and adds three-axis motion sensors to the mix.

Imagine owning a smart phone that you can hack just as freely as a PC. OpenMoko is an embedded Linux-based mobile platform, and the Neo Freerunner is OpenMoko's slick little touch-screen smart phone that runs OpenMoko.

This past week the Phase 2 "Mass Market" schedule for the OpenMoko Neo1973 was revised. OpenMoko now expects the GTA02v3 design to be finalized by September 20 while on December 10 it will begin production in "moderate volumes".

Barcelona, Spain-based Tuxbrain has released an application-rich Linux distribution for the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner phone called Fat and Dirty OpenMoko (FDOM). In addition, Openmoko announced that both Tuxbrain and French design firm FaberNovel have joined the company's network of more than 20 distributors.

OpenMoko develops completely open Linux-based mobile phones that can be modified and improved in the spirit of open source. OpenMoko's developer-oriented Neo1973 was released last year and the consumer model, called the FreeRunner, is expected to move into the mass production stage next month.

"Dear Community! Today is the day that we've all been waiting for: We can finally take your order for the world's first freed phone. [openmoko-announce]"

There has been a new batch of rumors swirling about Google producing a "gPhone" mobile telephone after a Reuters reporter stated High Tech Computer Corp would be designing the Linux phone for Google. A friendly penguin has told us at Phoronix that Google is looking to team up with OpenMoko for their "gPhone".