The Jelly Bean Easter Egg that we first unearthed back at Google I/O has quickly become one of our all-time favorites. It’s interactive and a great time waster should you find yourself needing to kill 5 minutes without having to think or blink. Who would have thought that flicking Jelly Beans and wondering what’s up with the random Candy Cane could be so fun?

The CyanogenMod team must share similar feelings, as they decided to spend some extra time in CM10 to customize Jelly Bean’s hidden fun. CID’s head replaces the beans, but the flicking is just as addicting as you would expect it to be. It can be accessed in the same way that you would any other Easter Egg in Android – tap multiple times on the Android build number in your device’s About screen, then long press when you see CID’s face. 

The kexec boot sequence that CVPCS created earlier in the week is close to being ready for prime time. So close in fact, that an eager developer grabbed it, along with a data fix for CM9 on Verizon’s Galaxy S3 and tossed it all together with instructions for you to take for a test drive. The instructions look fairly simple, but it will require that you have the Android SDK working and know some adb commands. We have them for you below if you are ready. 

We have seen working builds starting to pop up of CyanogenMod 10 based off of Jelly Bean code, but the team is still hard at work to make a final release of CM9 at some point soon. Release Candidate 2 is now being cranked out by the build servers and adds support for a few new devices, one of which is the international version of the Galaxy SIII:

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (all variants)
• Samsung Galaxy SII on AT&T – Skyrocket
• Samsung Galaxy SII on T-Mobile – Hercules
• Samsung Galaxy Note on AT&T

This RC2 includes bug fixes and translation changes that the CM team says put them in the right direction for their final CM9 build “which should be just around the corner.” As always, you can get the downloads for your device at Get.CM and if you’re lucky your phone might have a nightly build of CM10.

Via: CyanogenMod

If you just can’t wait to get your hands on CM10 and need to know what to expect already, then this may keep you happy for at least the next few days. The CyanogenMod team posted some of the custom features that have already been committed to the CM10 build and they are as follows:

• Power menu Reboot
• Power menu screenshot
• Profiles
• Lock screen Calendar
• Lock screen Weather
• Notification light customization
• Battery light customization
• IME Selector notification toggle
• and a few more things to support Settings

Well, this is starting to sound awesome. This is already a good start, but you can rest assured that there will be even more custom features added before we see an official release candidate. Is there a certain feature that didn’t appear on this list that you want to make sure gets into a final release? My fingers are crossed for toggles in the notification bar. Exciting times for the Android hacker in all of us.

Via: Google+

Rather than focusing on the negative aspect of the locked bootloader that accompanies the Galaxy S3 on Verizon, developer CVPCS decided to figure out a way around it. Using kexec, which has become synonymous with signed bootloader devices, he has created a boot sequence that allows you to flash custom kernels to the device, leading to CyanogenMod compatibility.

In a Google+ post released this morning, he breaks it all down. 

The CyanogenMod team released another update for when users can expect to see CM10 hit the forums. It’s not a definitive ETA (naturally), but since Jelly Bean hit AOSP yesterday, they can shed some light on the process of making their next creation. 

If you’re a fan of Steve Kondik’s work or that of the entire CyanogenMod Team, then you will love this sixty minute long video of their Meetup at Yelp HQ that took place during this year’s Google I/O. During the discussions, they talk about what makes CM, where the project plans to go, and many other awesome Android goodies including bootloaders. If you’re into the underground Android scene, definitely check this out. 

The code freeze that happened just a few days ago was a good sign and now it is finally here. The first official Release Candidate for CyanogenMod 9 is released and as of today, 37 devices can flash the ROM if they so choose. It has taken the CM team 225 days since Android 4.0 hit the AOSP servers, but it seems like they hit it out of the park with this one.