It’s official now. Both Cyanogen Inc. and CyanogenMod are dead. The successor to CyanogenMod will be Lineage OS.

While fragmentation is one of the biggest issues plaguing the Android ecosystem, it has also been one of the most beneficial aspects of the operating system, since it has allowed a number of OEMs to have their own builds of Android onto numerous smartphones, resulting in Google’s mobile OS becoming the largest market share holder in terms of usage. While OEM builds are the more popular ones out there, there are branches like CyanogenMod as well that have, over the years, built up a devoted fan base and massive developer community that continues to contribute to Cyanogen’s growth and development. And now, things might be headed in an even better direction for CM, as the team behind Cyanogen Inc. has met with Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella.

The CyanogenMod aftermarket firmware for Android is easily among the most popular and celebrated, but unless you’re a dab hand at flashing custom ROMs, then you may well be put-off trying it out for yourself. If you’ve long since been a fan of the interface, or simply just wanted to try CM out without digging into the guts of your device and potentially voiding your warranty along the way, a new, Play Store-based app offers a taster of the Cyanogen experience without the potential pitfalls of getting stuck en route to more sophisticated modding.

One of major reasons why smartphone enthusiasts opt for Android over other mobile OSes like iOS and Windows Phone 8 is because of Android’s relatively open nature. It allows users to customize every facet of their phone while iOS doesn’t, even with powerful theming systems like DreamBoard and WinterBoard in place. Android enthusiasts are often heard installing “Custom ROMs” on their devices; these modified versions of Android OS are cooked up by passionate and dedicated developers in their free time and we’ve mentioned some of the most popular ones after the break.

The community propping up CyanogenMod, one of the most popular aftermarket firmware available to Android users, is expansive to say the least, and with hardware maker Oppo having teamed up last year with the CM team to build a handset packing the versatile, customizable software pre-loaded, Oppo’s spin-off company OnePlus appears to have taken things to the next level. The OnePlus One smartphone will run CyanogenMod 11S (based on Android 4.4) right off the bat, and with an impressive list of tech specs and a very agreeable price point, could prove a real hit with hack-minded consumers.

If Android is your mobile OS of choice then it’s highly likely that CyanogenMod has been on your radar for quite some time. The aftermarket firmware solution allows users to flash their Android powered devices to introduce features and offerings that aren’t included in official builds of the open-source software.

Oppo’s N1 is already a pretty interesting device, and not just because it’s not made by one of the big manufacturers that most people will be used to seeing on the release schedule. With the likes of LG, Sony, HTC and Samsung usually dominating the landscape, it’s always good to see a different name crop up every now and again.

If you’re packing one of the most popular Android phones on the planet and want to at least try to keep it in top condition, whether that be for resale value or just because you like to keep your gadgets looking good, then the chances are you’re on the lookout for a nice looking, sturdy and protective case. If you’re the owner of an LG Nexus 5, then you might want to keep reading.

There are a number of reasons why developers and end-users alike would want to take an image of what’s on their display, but while screenshots can be useful in certain scenarios they are also very limited. The latest Android KitKat SDK has introduced a way for developers to easily record what’s on the device’s display, but how easy is it for that functionality to feed back to users? Thanks to CyanogenMod 11 and the new screencasting app it’s actually very extremely easy – if you meet certain criteria that is.

The CyanogenMod team rarely slacks, but even by their standards, it has been a really busy past couple of weeks. Not too hectic, however, to have any major effect on the schedule it would seem, for CyanogenMod M1 has just been released, supporting most Nexus devices in the process. As we learned earlier on in the week, CyanogenMod 10.2 would be the last version supporting those old Android Jelly Bean ROMs, and in a matter of just 72 hours, the “Milestone 1” release of the Android 4.4 KitKat-based version 11 is upon us.

CyanogenMod 10.2 final based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has been released. This marks the end of CM based on Jelly Bean and work on CM 11 Android 4.4 KitKat has been started.

The CyanogenMod team is one of the most active and dedicated in the Android community, but today has been dealt something of a blow by the Google Play Store support team after it asked the newly-formed company to remove its CyanogenMod Installer app from the Play Store. The reasoning behind the decision was cited as a “violation of Google Play’s developer terms,” and the Cyanogen team was subsequently told to either remove the app, or it would be removed for them.