13 arrested after underage party in Ballston

BALLSTON — A dozen teenagers and an adult accused of providing alcohol have been arrested in connection with an underage drinking party over Thanksgiving weekend.

Most of those arrested face one count of third-degree criminal mischief, due to damage — estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars — done to the home on Randall Road. The owners' son hosted the party while his parents were away, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office.

Items in the house were also missing in the wake of the party, deputies said.

"There were a lot of people there, and it just got out of hand," sheriff's Lt. Jeffrey Brown said.

The damage done included holes smashed in walls and a fire extinguisher being discharged inside the house, Brown said.

Deputies said the party happened Saturday, Nov. 25. Sheriff's deputies responding to a 911 call about a possible burglary in progress at the Randall Road home found "a large underage party being held at the residence."

Brown said a lengthy investigation was required because of the number of people at the party who had to be interviewed, as well as the need to track down suspects, nearly all of whom are high school students. Brown said the investigation sought to tie specific people to specific acts of mischief during the party.

James Schmidt, 25, of Milton Avenue, Ballston Spa, was charged with first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child for allegedly supplying the alcohol for the party. He also was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and endangering the welfare of a child, as well as felony criminal mischief, deputies said.

Others charged with third-degree criminal mischief, a felony, were Tyrese Reeves, 17, of West Circular Street, Saratoga Springs; Charles Bennifield Jr., 17, of Route 9N, Greenfield Center; Tyler Lumia, 18, of East High Street, Ballston Spa; Alana Dalton, 16, of York Avenue, Saratoga Springs; Angel Rogers, 17, of North Creek Road, Porters Corners; Chad Cruger Jr., 18, of Newtown Avenue, Saratoga Springs; Connor Pressley, 18, of Wagon Wheel Trail, Saratoga Springs; Tiffany McCarthy, 18, of East Avenue, Saratoga Springs; Dillon Poirier, 17, of North Greenfield Road, Porters Corners; and Ashton Perkins, 17, of Wagon Wheel Trail, Saratoga Springs. A 15-year-old, who was not named because of his age, was also charged with third-degree criminal mischief and third-degree tampering, for allegedly discharging a fire extinguisher inside the home, deputies said.

In addition to criminal mischief, several of those arrested are facing other charges:

Reeves was also charged with third-degree criminal tampering for allegedly discharging a fire extinguisher throughout the house.

Bennifield and Lumia were also charged with petit larceny for allegedly stealing items from the residence.

Riley Cage, 16, of Traver Road, Wilton, was charged with petit larceny, though he was not charged with felony criminal mischief.

Dalton was also charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor, because she used a motor vehicle without the owner's consent, deputies said.

Most of those arrested were released pending future appearances in Ballston Town Court. Lumia was jailed on $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bond. The 15-year-old was turned over to his parents, with the case to be referred to Family Court.

Investigator George R. Maxfield Jr. led the investigation.

Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 518-395-3086, swilliams@dailygazette.net or @gazettesteve on Twitter.

Pictured (clockwise from top left): Alana Dalton, Angel Rogers, Chad Cruger, Charles Bennifield Jr., Connor Pressley, James Schmidt, Tiffany McCarthy, Dillon Poirier, Tyrese Reeves and Tyler Lumia.

Source: 13 arrested after underage party in Ballston

Barclays Abandons Windows Phone, Points Users to iPhone and Android Instead

Barclays was one of the last banks still supporting Windows phones, but since there's basically no reason to stick with a dying platform, its official client will be removed from the store as well in early 2018.

In a note sent to customers, Barclays notifies them that support for Windows phones will be pulled in February when the official application will no longer be allowed to log in. Users are instead recommended to either turn to the browser or switch to a different platform, such as iOS and Android, both of which will continue to be supported.

Web-based version should work as well

Barclays doesn't say it specifically, but the reason for abandoning Windows phones is the same as in the case of other developers who decided to focus all their work on Android and iOS: the lack of support for the platform from Microsoft and the collapsing number of users.

"We're committed to providing you with the best, most secure version of the app. With these devices we're no longer able to meet the extremely high standard that we set ourselves and that you deserve. We hope that the options below will allow you to continue carrying out your banking quickly and easily," the bank says in its message.

Barclays also highlights some of the features that are available in the latest version of the app for Android and iOS, including options to update details, control cards, opt-in for rewards, and discover new products that it's offering to customers.

Barclays pulling Windows Phone support is not surprising at all, and it's only the latest such announcement in a longer series of departures from the platform. As it turns out, sticking with Windows phones is becoming a more difficult task even for diehard fans, especially because every single developer hardly finds a reason to continue shipping updates for apps in the store.

You can read the full Barclays announcement in the box after the jump (credits go to reddit user /u/ Peribanu).

Source: Barclays Abandons Windows Phone, Points Users to iPhone and Android Instead

Microsoft Surface Phone rumors and news leaks

It once seemed inevitable that Microsoft would release a smartphone designed by the same engineering team responsible for the Surface Book and Surface Pro — a Surface Phone. The company has neither confirmed nor denied those rumors. But the leaks have continued, suggesting it's something the company may still be considering — even if it may not be a product it's actively developing.

Here's everything we know so far about the Surface Phone.

Microsoft may still be working on a portable Windows device

Recently, news broke that Microsoft would effectively be killing Windows Phone, putting a lot of doubt into the idea that it would launch a Surface Phone. Now, however, it seems that the company may still pursue a phone-type device with Windows on it, according to Windows Central.

According to the report, Microsoft is building a device codenamed "Andromeda," which will basically be a foldable tablet that runs Windows 10, designed to fit in the pocket of the user. The device is not supposed to replace the smartphone — but instead a kind of digital pocket notebook.

Other rumors and reports support the report. For example, recently code from the Microsoft Whiteboard app was shown to reference a foldable device. The news comes from Windows tipster WalkingCat, who noted that the app references left and right pages for a Journal app — suggesting Microsoft could well be working on a device with clear left and right interfaces.

Lending some additional fuel to the fire is another even more recent report that a reference to Andromeda has been found in the most recent Windows Insider Windows 10 release, build 17025. As the often-reliable WalkingCat indicated on Twitter:

As MSPU speculates, that seems to confirm that Microsoft is indeed working on a unique Windows shell — or user interface — for a pen-based device that could end up being the Surface Phone. Or, rather, it could be a pen-based foldable PC with phone capabilities, as Windows Central reported earlier.

It seems clear that whatever this device ends up being, it won't be aimed at the average customer. There is still a lot, however, that we don't know about the device. For starters, we don't know if it will simply be a foldable device with two displays like the new ZTE Axon M, or if it will have a flexible display. We also don't know anything about the specs or size of the device.

So when will we see it? According to Windows Central, the device will be available in 2018 "at the earliest."

Microsoft kills Windows Phone, putting the Surface Phone's future in doubt

After months of speculation, it's finally official: Microsoft is killing off Windows Phone, the mobile phone operating system that was widely expected to ship on the Surface Phone.

In a tweet on October 8, Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's head of Windows, wrote that the company would no longer "support the platform [with] new features."

He blamed lack of third-party support on Windows Phone's demise.

Microsoft isn't abandoning the Windows Phone platform altogether — a spokesperson told The Telegraph that it would continue to support its current line of Lumia phones and other Windows Phone handsets. But the wind-down in development puts the rumored Surface Phone's future in doubt.

Microsoft purchased surfacephone.com

If you're looking for a hint that Microsoft will introduce a Surface Phone sometime in the future, then look no further than one Reddit user's discovery in late January 2016. It appears that Microsoft owns surfacephone.com, and the company even went as far as redirecting it to the main Surface website.

Before you go jumping for joy, this is far from a confirmation that Microsoft is readying a Surface Phone. Often, companies like to stay out of legal trouble by registering domain names that correlate with a current product.

It's important to point out, too, that surfacephone.com was actually registered in May 2007, so it's not like Microsoft recently purchased it to get ready for a new Surface Phone launch.

Furthermore, Microsoft's Surface page is within microsoft.com as in https://www.microsoft.com/surface/. Microsoft isn't even using surface.com for its current crop of Surface devices, and so why would the company use surfacephone.com for a Surface Phone if it gets released? Case in point: Microsoft registered surface.com back in 1994.

Rumored change in mobile strategy as Panos Panay takes charge

A report from Windows Central suggests that the Surface phone rumored earlier in the year has been canceled in favor of a new Surface phone being built by the Surface team, led by Microsoft hardware lead Panos Panay.

The phone was previously referred to as the 'Panos Phone' according to Windows Central's sources. Panos Panay is in charge of the team that designed the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, meaning we might see a smartphone with a similar design.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Rumors have spread about a Surface phone for years. In a WIRED profile on Microsoft's Head of Devices Panos Panay last year, it's mentioned that work was going ahead on "a prototype of a new phone" at Microsoft's HQ.

Only concepts give us a clue about design

Unfortunately, we have no idea what any Surface Mobile phone will look like, but concept renders were created by Nadir Aslam earlier this year. While the final Surface Mobile phone might not look like these renders, they give a good idea of its possible productivity attributes.

The Surface Phone remains far from official, but we'll keep you updated here with news and rumors about the device.

Update: Code from Microsoft's Whiteboard app references a Journal app with clear left and right interfaces.

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Source: Microsoft Surface Phone rumors and news leaks

From the graaaaaave! WileyFox's Windows 10 phone delayed again

WileyFox's Windows 10 Mobile – yes, you read that correctly – has been delayed again, and will now bump into Santa doing his rounds early.

The catchily named "Wileyfox Pro with Windows 10" phone was announced in August, and WileyFox is sure that it can profit from Microsoft's neglect of its Windows phone customers. Over at the main sales channel for the device, Amazon UK, it's now due on "December 18".

The Pro is a low-end (Snapdragon 210, 16GB/2GB, 8MP main camera) handset with no frills like a fingerprint sensor. But it is aimed at business and WileyFox vows to support it until "mid-2020".

Microsoft has pledged to support W10M until October 2020, but the lack of development obliged HP to kill its ambitious efforts around the Elite x3.

There's been little else to keep the platform alive since the Elite x3 was announced in February 2016. Alcatel released an edition of its Idol 4S phone this summer. And Trekstor a German PC builder, has launched a crowdsourced Win 10 Mobile on Indiegogo with 2015's mid-range Snapdragon 617 processor inside.

The specifications of both the Trekstor and WileyFox devices are so low, that if you're an enterprise left high and dry, you may as well try to pick up one of Microsoft's final high-end Lumias, now two years old. But if you must, you can find more of the WileyFox here. ®

Source: From the graaaaaave! WileyFox's Windows 10 phone delayed again

Windows 10 Mobile Specifications & Systems Requirements

Afrikaans (South Africa), Albanian (Albania), Amharic, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Azerbaijani (Latin, Azerbaijan), Bangla (Bangladesh), Basque, Belarusian (Belarus), Bulgarian (Bulgaria), Catalan (Catalan), Chinese (Simplified, China), Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan), Croatian (Croatia), Czech (Czech Republic), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Estonian (Estonia), Filipino (Philippines), Finnish (Finland), French (France), French (Canada), Galician (Galician), German (Germany), Greek (Greece), Hausa (Latin, Nigeria), Hebrew (Israel), Hindi (India), Hungarian (Hungary), Icelandic, Indonesian (Indonesia), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Kannada, Kazakh (Kazakhstan), Khmer (Cambodia), KiSwahili, Korean (Korea), Lao (Laos), Latvian (Latvia), Lithuanian (Lithuania), Macedonian (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Malay (Malaysia), Malayalam, Norwegian, Bokmål (Norway), Persian, Polish (Poland), Portuguese ( Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian (Romania), Russian (Russia), Serbian (Latin, Serbia), Slovak (Slovakia), Slovenian (Slovenia), Spanish (Spain, International Sort), Spanish (Mexico), Swedish (Sweden), Tamil (India), Telugu, Thai (Thailand), Turkish (Turkey), Ukrainian (Ukraine), Uzbek (Latin, Uzbekistan), Vietnamese

Additional languages available as Language Interface Packs

Source: Windows 10 Mobile Specifications & Systems Requirements

What the future of Windows 10 will look like. #AskDanWindows Episode 35

On this week's episode, I take questions on what the future of Windows 10 looks like, including phones, and whether we'll ever see a UWP version of Windows Explorer.

Audience questions for Episode 35

Can Windows 10 ARM-based devices make phone calls & text messages just as Windows phone? - Dharma teja1

Will Microsoft release a full version of Windows 10 for phones - Donovan / Which Windows OS will MS future Courier based device will use? - Dharma teja1

Can we expect a new UWP explorer?? or a re-skinned Explorer UI that will fit in with Windows 10 design? - Brandon T

Further reading and referenced articles

Thanks, everyone, for the questions! Make sure to use Twitter, email, or our forums to ask me your question for next week!

Email me!

Don't use Twitter? After much feedback, we are happy to announce you can forward your questions to AskDan@WindowsCentral.com to submit your requests!

AskDan Forums!

Hate using email? Join me on our #AskDan Forums at Windows Central! I'll occasionally jump in there to try and answer questions or take ideas for new episodes of our web series.

Ask Dan Forums at Windows Central

You can also find previous episodes of #AskDanWindows here on the main landing page.

Source: What the future of Windows 10 will look like. #AskDanWindows Episode 35

Nokia camera 7 year challenge: Lumia 950 & Nokia 8 take on 2010's Nokia N8

As usual, I've tried to match resolutions as much as possible, though in practice this only meant keeping the Lumia 950 in its oversampled 8MP mode, since the other two phones output naturally at 9MP. I'm not worried about shortchanging the 950 because it will pick up extra capability in this mode when looking at low light shots and when zoomed.

It was suggested to me that I try the Nokia 8 with the 'hacked' Google HDR+ camera, sideloaded, but this is beyond the scope of this site. It's not trivial to find and install and that's best for Android die-hards.

I often get criticised for using the Lumia's output as the basis for the 'overall scene' shot, so I've shaken things up here and used the Nokia 8's versions for the overviews.

All photos were on full automatic, except where stated and all shots apart from the 'party' mock-up were handheld.

Because I'm comparing the output of three phone cameras, not two, I can't use the AAWP comparator, so I'll use static crops - but at least your page will load more quickly this way!

Test 1: Sunny suburbia

Ideal conditions, and plenty of detail. Here's the scene from the Nokia 8:

And here are crops from the photos taken by the Nokia N8, the Lumia 950, and Nokia 8, in each case click the crop to download the original JPG photo for inspection:

Under such perfect lighting, there's not much in it here. The differences are mainly down to sharpening settings in the various camera applications. The Nokia N8 famously eschews ANY image processing - what you see in its JPGs are essentially what comes out of the Bayer filter on the sensor (with just JPG compression). Which is why its photos look immensely natural, yet not as 'clear' as with modern phones. It turns out that most people prefer a little colour enhancement, a little sharpening, and so on, to make photos 'pop'.

I'm loathe to pick a winner here, though the Nokia 8's version is a notch down from the other two. Certainly the Nokia N8's photo is astonishing - look at the greenery on the right of the crop here, with no sharpening to make mess of detail. While the 950's photo stands out to the eye immediately.

Nokia N8: 9 points; Lumia 950: 9 pts; Nokia 8: 8 pts.

Test 2: Sunny scene, into the light

Ideal conditions again, but trying to make things slightly tricker by shooting half into the sun and with extremes of light and shade. Here's the scene from the Nokia 8:

And here are crops from the photos taken by the Nokia N8, the Lumia 950, and Nokia 8, in each case click the crop to download the original JPG photo for inspection:

No real problems for the three camera phones here, though the N8 was struggling with dynamic range in the brighter parts of the scene, plus the contrast was poor. Meanwhile the Nokia 8 does a pretty good job overall and the Lumia 950 tops the comparison again, with pin-sharp detail and good dynamic range.

Nokia N8: 6 points; Lumia 950: 9 pts; Nokia 8: 8 pts.

Test 3: Zoom test

Good lighting, though the sun had now gone behind a cloud. I was aiming for a 2x zoom on the clock, though there's no exact UI gauge in any of these phones to get exactly 2x. Here's the scene from the Nokia 8:

And here are crops from the photos taken by the Nokia N8, the Lumia 950, and Nokia 8, in each case click the crop to download the original JPG photo for inspection:

In each case there was blocky digital zoom involved, of course, though slightly less on the Lumia 950, given its underlying 16MP resolution at 16:9. Which is why it manages more genuine detail in the crop above. However, the infamous Lumia yellow cast is in evidence yet again and somewhat spoils the photo. Meanwhile the N8 and Nokia 8 are more or less on a par, showing that imaging technology hasn't progressed far in terms of zoom and detail in good light in seven years (though low light proves otherwise, as we shall see below).

Nokia N8: 7 points; Lumia 950: 8 pts; Nokia 8: 6 pts.

Test 4: Indoors, average lighting

Inside the church there was plenty of detail and lower light all round, so the OIS in the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8 would be starting to have an effect. Here's the scene from the Nokia 8:

And here are crops from the photos taken by the Nokia N8, the Lumia 950, and Nokia 8, in each case click the crop to download the original JPG photo for inspection:

Despite its large sensor, the Nokia N8 has only a f/2.8 aperture (hey, this was 2010) and so it's just starting to struggle here and with no OIS to allow a longer exposure. So we get more noise. The 7 years newer Nokia 8 doesn't do much better, mind you, with much smaller sensor but larger aperture, so the two kind of cancel each other out. OIS is there to keep the Nokia 8 details crisp-ish, mind you. The Lumia 950's image is amazing. Yet again. Fabulous OIS, large BSI sensor, top rate optics, oversampling (to get rid of noise), and so on. Look at the detail in this crop. THAT'S how good the Lumia 950 camera is. Just saying...

Nokia N8: 6 points; Lumia 950: 10 pts; Nokia 8: 7 pts.

Test 5: Really low light

One of the alcoves in the church offered an almost pitch dark scene, yet with detail that might be pulled out if the phone cameras were good enough. Here's the scene from the Nokia 8, already lighter than it was to my eyes:

And here are crops from the photos taken by the Nokia N8, the Lumia 950, and Nokia 8, in each case click the crop to download the original JPG photo for inspection:

Your eyes will tell you what you need to know here. The Nokia N8 just wasn't built for this type of arty low light shot and the short exposure and small aperture are telling. The Nokia 8 does slightly better, with the OIS allowing a 1/10s exposure and minimal noise - and, to be honest, it gets close to what I could see with my eyes once they'd adjusted to the lighting conditions. But the Lumia 950 works a miracle here (appropriate, given the setting!) by turning night into day, as it were. The Lumia 950's photo is nothing like reality in terms of matching my vision, but you can't deny that it's impressive how it can ramp up to a full 1/4s exposure and still get precise detail. Maybe the Lumia 950's OIS is just better than anyone else's? Just wondering...

Nokia N8: 3 points; Lumia 950: 9 pts; Nokia 8: 6 pts.

Test 6: Party time!

My infamous party mock-up test, with me laughing and definitely not posing, mimicking taking candid snaps at a party or evening event. I was kind to each phone camera and using a tripod (and timer), but they still struggled a bit. Here's the scene from the Nokia 8, already lighter than it was to my eyes:

And here are crops from the photos taken by the Nokia N8, the Lumia 950, and Nokia 8, in each case click the crop to download the original JPG photo for inspection:

The N8, with its Xenon flash, obviously wins out here, you can see the clear Chewbacca graphic on the water bottle, though at the expense of a little noise. Still, this would be your best shot by a hundred miles for candid snaps at an event. Meanwhile the Lumia 950 does its best, but seems to have made a mess of the focussing (e.g. look at the tree) and its shot wouldn't really pass muster. The Nokia 8's result is noisier but does at least manage to get static parts of the scene in (laser) focus.

Nokia N8: 9 points; Lumia 950: 4 pts; Nokia 8: 5 pts.

Verdict

Adding up the points, we get:

Lumia 950: 49/60 pts

Nokia 8: 40/60 pts

Nokia N8: 40/60 pts

Which is very interesting - I'm saying that the Nokia flagship from seven years ago performs equally on balance with an imaging 'flagship' from 2017 (the Nokia 8). Of course, this is factoring in the unique (for 2017) Xenon flash and using it in indoor settings. Apart from this use case, of course, the larger aperture on the Nokia 8 gives it the edge. But the '8 vs 8' ended up as a dead heat - who'd have thought it?

The Lumia 950 is streets ahead of the Nokia 8, of course, as I proved in my collaborative features here and here. If I'd gone back and redone the party mock-up test, I think I could have squeezed a few extra points out of it too. I'm just saying...(!)

Source: Nokia camera 7 year challenge: Lumia 950 & Nokia 8 take on 2010's Nokia N8