CyanogenMod

CyanogenMod is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for the HTC Dream and Magic cell phones.
Based on the open-source Android operating system, CyanogenMod is designed to increase performance and reliability over official Android-based releases by vendors such as Google, T-Mobile, and HTC. CyanogenMod also offers features not found in these releases, such as multi-touch, the ability to store downloaded apps on the microSD card, and support for tethering.
Development
Shortly after the introduction of the HTC Dream mobile phone in September 2008, a method similar to jailbreaking an iPhone was discovered by which one could attain "privileged" control (known as "root access") to the inner workings of the device. This discovery, combined with the open source nature of the Android operating system, allowed the phone's stock firmware to be modified and re-installed onto the phone at will.
The CyanogenMod firmware is currently based on code released by the Android team including the standard 1.5r3 "Cupcake" release and portions of the upcoming "Donut" development branch. CyanogenMod is primarily developed by Cyanogen (Steve Kondik) but includes contributions from the xda-developers community and other sources.
Cyanogen is also the maintainer of a "phone recovery image" used in conjunction with CyanogenMod. The recovery image is a special boot mode which is used to back up or restore the entire phone's contents, repair or upgrade the device's firmware, and access the shell.
An application called CyanogenMod Updater allows CyanogenMod users to receive notifications when new updates are available, download them to their phone, and install them. It is available on the Android Market.

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