Twelve Black Code Monkeys

Not long ago, users of the Sprint-branded Treo 650 got an update that fixed some issues that have been annoying Treo 650 owners. Namely, the memory issue that caused much more memory to be consumed than for the Treo 600, and very low speakerphone volume levels. Now a version of the firmware for GSM Treo 650’s has been leaked via a Singapore Palm User Group. Users with Unlocked Treo 650’s as well as Cingular-branded Treo 650’s have been trying out this “test” version of the new 1.21 firmware. It seems a bit risky to be playing with an unaproved firmware version, but so far it looks like those who have successfully loaded it have had the same improvements to their memory and speakerphone volume as Sprint customers who’ve loaded their new firmware. So, for those who don’t want to play with this yet, just know that this bodes well for the update coming out for GSM phones in the near future. Stay tuned!

Update: There’s actually a detailed description posted by user 100th Monkey in the MyTreo.net Wiki, just in case you want to try this out.

I grew up in Manhattan in New York City, but whenever I would tell people this who were not New Yorkers they would be dubious because they said I had no “accent.” I suppose they were thinking of the typical New Yorker accent that you hear in movies which is probably more of a Brooklyn or Bronx accent. Manhattanites generally don’t speak that way.

Talking to friends and relatives I’ve discovered that I have or had certain peculiarities in the way I talked that seemed a bit odd to them, and one friend actually said he thought he could tell I was from New York, but I’m don’t know, I think some of these things may be my own inventions or just regional phrases. Ok, so for example, growing up I always pronounced “typewriter” as “type – uh- write –er.” Another phrase I use is “on line” in the usage “waiting on line” to get into a movie, etc. Apparently another way to say it is to wait IN line. Waiting IN line doesn’t sound strange to me, but waiting ON line comes out of my mouth naturally without thinking.

Blogging Burt passed on this little linguistic quiz from blogthings.com, which I thought looked interesting and so took the quiz myself. According to this I’m mostly general American English (thus the surprise that some have that I’m from New York) and only 25% Yankee. I’m also 10% Dixie, which is not a huge surprise since I’ve been living or studying in Virginia, DC, and Maryland for the last 13+ years. Not that a test like this is going to be all THAT accurate, since it only has 20 questions in it, but it’s still fun to take:

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?