Microsoft patent points to a 2-screen device for 3-way video calls

Although Microsoft’s two-screen pocket-sized Andromeda device appears to be dead in the water for now, the company apparently still has multi-screen devices on its radar. A patent application published earlier this month describes a hinged multi-screen device that supports three-way video calling. Each screen will sport a camera, enabling two people to chat on the device with a third person on the other end of the call.

According to the patent, each screen will render the video feed from their embedded cameras, the video feed from the opposite screen’s camera, or from the video feed sent by the remote caller. Based on that description, the software would simply present the video of the current person speaking: you, the other person on the same device, or the individual on the remote device. But as shown above, all three individuals could be shown together on each screen.

Microsoft’s patent addresses a current problem when multiple users are participating in a call. When you and your friends are attempting a group chat on Friday night using a single-screen device, something is going to break with multiple heads trying to cram into one camera’s view. With two screens and two cameras involved, there is a smaller chance of congestion and bruises.

The patent reveals the device to include a processor, storage, system memory, sensors, an orientation module (accelerometer), “two or more display devices,” and front-facing cameras. In one diagram, Microsoft shows a standing individual holding and talking to the device while a second person sits in a chair, chatting through the held device’s second screen.

Outside holding the device, the patent describes an angular orientation up to 90 degrees, meaning you would simply place it on a surface vertically in an L-shaped manner. The open angular orientation would be between 90 and 270 degrees whereas a back-to-back orientation would be 270 to 360 degrees.

“The computer program executed by the processor includes an orientation module,” the patent describes. “As shown, the orientation module is configured to receive sensor data from the sensor devices. Based on the sensor data, the orientation module is configured to detect a current angular orientation between the pair of display devices indicating that the pair of display devices are facing away from each other.”

If you followed the Andromeda rumors, this device should sound all-too-familiar. Given the recent shift inside Microsoft, the company supposedly put its two-screen device on hold because it really had no supporting ecosystem or target audience. Insiders said it had telephony features, too, although it wasn’t designed to replace smartphones.

Presumably, this patent is related to Andromeda, originally submitted to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in June 2017 when Microsoft was supposedly still in full swing with designing Andromeda. The patent went live on July 3, and even if Andromeda may never surface, Microsoft will still hold rights to the design if approved.

Still, what the patent doesn’t mention is size. With that said, this design could cover a pocket-size device or something larger like a two-screen laptop.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft calls its foldable Andromeda device “disruptive”
• Take a look at what could be the future of Samsung’s Galaxy phones
• Microsoft leak hints dual-screen Andromeda device targets launch later this year
• Microsoft’s ‘Andromeda’ device may be a phone after all
• Microsoft’s foldable ‘Andromeda’ pocket device may never surface

Microsoft patent points to a 2-screen device for 3-way video calls

Although Microsoft’s two-screen pocket-sized Andromeda device appears to be dead in the water for now, the company apparently still has multi-screen devices on its radar. A patent application published earlier this month describes a hinged multi-screen device that supports three-way video calling. Each screen will sport a camera, enabling two people to chat on the device with a third person on the other end of the call.

According to the patent, each screen will render the video feed from their embedded cameras, the video feed from the opposite screen’s camera, or from the video feed sent by the remote caller. Based on that description, the software would simply present the video of the current person speaking: you, the other person on the same device, or the individual on the remote device. But as shown above, all three individuals could be shown together on each screen.

Microsoft’s patent addresses a current problem when multiple users are participating in a call. When you and your friends are attempting a group chat on Friday night using a single-screen device, something is going to break with multiple heads trying to cram into one camera’s view. With two screens and two cameras involved, there is a smaller chance of congestion and bruises.

The patent reveals the device to include a processor, storage, system memory, sensors, an orientation module (accelerometer), “two or more display devices,” and front-facing cameras. In one diagram, Microsoft shows a standing individual holding and talking to the device while a second person sits in a chair, chatting through the held device’s second screen.

Outside holding the device, the patent describes an angular orientation up to 90 degrees, meaning you would simply place it on a surface vertically in an L-shaped manner. The open angular orientation would be between 90 and 270 degrees whereas a back-to-back orientation would be 270 to 360 degrees.

“The computer program executed by the processor includes an orientation module,” the patent describes. “As shown, the orientation module is configured to receive sensor data from the sensor devices. Based on the sensor data, the orientation module is configured to detect a current angular orientation between the pair of display devices indicating that the pair of display devices are facing away from each other.”

If you followed the Andromeda rumors, this device should sound all-too-familiar. Given the recent shift inside Microsoft, the company supposedly put its two-screen device on hold because it really had no supporting ecosystem or target audience. Insiders said it had telephony features, too, although it wasn’t designed to replace smartphones.

Presumably, this patent is related to Andromeda, originally submitted to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in June 2017 when Microsoft was supposedly still in full swing with designing Andromeda. The patent went live on July 3, and even if Andromeda may never surface, Microsoft will still hold rights to the design if approved.

Still, what the patent doesn’t mention is size. With that said, this design could cover a pocket-size device or something larger like a two-screen laptop.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft calls its foldable Andromeda device “disruptive”
• Take a look at what could be the future of Samsung’s Galaxy phones
• Microsoft leak hints dual-screen Andromeda device targets launch later this year
• Microsoft’s ‘Andromeda’ device may be a phone after all
• Microsoft’s foldable ‘Andromeda’ pocket device may never surface

Move over, Shakespeare: This sonnet-writing A.I. is the poet we need

“With joyous gambols gay and still array,
no longer when he ‘twas, while in his day
at first to pass in all delightful ways
around him, charming, and of all his days.”

Don’t worry: You haven’t accidentally clicked on pre-Digital Trends, by mistake. This is part of a Shakespearean sonnet created by deep learning artificial intelligence — and, shockingly, it’s actually pretty good. The bot was created by researchers at IBM Research Australia. Trained on around 26,000 real sonnets, it mimics the iambic pentameter and rhyming pattern of the poems most famously written by ol’ Bill Shakespeare himself.

“While the application itself may not seem directly relevant to real-world applications, the underlying machinery of our model shares the same core algorithm that drives other problems that require generation,” Jey Han, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “[These might include] translation, summarization, and chatbots. When we started the project, a research question that we wanted to address was, ‘how do we build machines that can produce a coherent narrative that spans multiple sentences?’ And we thought poetry is a good place to start.”

We previously covered some pretty interesting attempts to mimic creativity using A.I. These have included everything from Google’s DeepDream image generation project to a bot-written script for TV comedy Scrubs, which was then read by actor Zach Braff. While A.I. is currently in the process of munching up jobs in the real world, however, the researchers on this particular project think there’s still a way to go before top-tier poets are put out of business by machines. If, indeed, it ever happens.

“The conclusion in the paper is that we should focus more effort on ‘content’ in future work: Spend less time on rhyme and meter, and more time on emotion and readability,” Adam Hammond, a University of Toronto English professor, who lent his expertise to the project, told us. “I’m excited to see what’s possible, but I’m very skeptical. I think it’s quite easy to have a deep learning model spit out lines of verse in rhyming iambic pentameter. It’s much, much, much, much harder to train it to have an opinion, or a feeling, or a desire, or a story to tell.”

A paper describing the work is available to read online.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Can’t get enough of ‘Doom’? A.I. can generate an infinite number of new levels
• Before Google’s lifelike Duplex A.I., these chatbots paved the way
• A.I. will make smart homes autonomous, but don’t expect perfection or privacy
• Machine learning? Neural networks? Here’s your guide to the many flavors of A.I.
• Here’s who’s going to win the World Cup, according to A.I.

Apple’s new MacBook Air with Intel’s 8th-gen processors expected this year

If you’re in the market for a new MacBook Air, you may want to refrain from buying one until Apple refreshes the laptop line. Apple is expected to announce a new model later this year, bringing with it a chip from Intel’s eighth-generation processor family that Apple used on its recent MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro, for example, tops out with a powerful six-core processor, and Apple claims that the new chips deliver up to twice the performance from the chips on its previous generation notebook. In addition to better under-the-hood performance, the updated Mac notebook is also rumored to get a 13-inch Retina display and a sub-$1,000 starting price.

At this point, however, it’s still unclear how Apple will position the refreshed notebook. Given its powerful processor and high-resolution display, there are several options Apple could take: The company could either keep the same MacBook Air branding or even move the new notebook as a lower cost option into either the MacBook or MacBook Pro family. The refreshed notebook would be more powerful than the current MacBook Air, which utilizes Intel’s fifth-gen dual-core processors; and the MacBook, which uses a power-conservative processor.

Apple is expected to use Intel’s Kaby Lake Refresh due to Intel’s delays with the newer Cannon Lake architecture, the Economic Daily News reported. While the Coffee Lake platform delivered up to six cores of processing power on the MacBook Pro, relying on Kaby Lake for the MacBook Air means that the notebook will top out with a quad-core Core i5 or Core i7 processor.

“Kaby Lake Refresh chips are already nearly one year old, and Intel will be releasing faster Whiskey Lake processors suitable for Apple’s notebook in the second half of 2018, but they might not be ready in time, as manufacturing needs to begin over the summer for the notebook to launch in the fall,” MacRumors noted.

In addition to the MacBook Air, Apple is also expected to announce a refresh to its Macbook. The 12-inch laptop is rumored to come with Intel’s new Amber Lake processor. It’s widely believed that Apple will launch its iPhones in September, and the refreshed notebooks could arrive in October. Apple’s MacBook Pro refresh happened more quietly without a media event, so it’s unclear if the MacBook Air refresh will also get a similar treatment.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Intel’s 10nm CPU finally makes it to retail in a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad laptop
• Intel’s 9th-generation processor could launch next month with 8 cores
• Intel’s powerful new 8-core processor could land in desktops this September
• Dell’s refresh of the XPS 13 2-in-1 series dips its toes into Intel’s Amber Lake
• Apple Store hints you shouldn’t buy a new MacBook Pro until after WWDC

YouTube for Android is testing its dark theme, and you might be able to use it right now

Rejoice, my friends; soon we can binge YouTube all night without getting blinded by the bland white interface!

YouTube brought a dark theme to its desktop website last year and back at the beginning of the year, the same glorious dark theme was announced for its iOS and Android apps. Apple users got that dark theme just a few brief weeks after the announcement, but Android users were left waiting, and waiting, and waiting for theirs. We questioned where the dark theme was last week and what was holding it up.

Well, our wait may almost be over.

Over the weekend, some lucky users began to see the dark theme appear in their YouTube app’s settings and while it is by no means widespread, it is progress. Whether this is the final stages of testing the dark theme before wide release or just the developer team teasing us with a taste of the dark theme YouTube users already enjoy on every platform that isn’t YouTube for Android, we don’t know yet, but if you’re one of the lucky, lucky users that has dark theme enabled, here’s where you’ll find the feature to enable it.

Open YouTube.
Tap your avatar in the top-right corner.

Tap Settings.

Tap General.

Tap Dark theme to enable it. It’ll be near the top of the list, right above Limit mobile data usage.

Do you have the dark theme option available? Lucky you! Are you waiting for it to arrive on your phone as impatiently as me? I hear your pain!

Which Android Tablets Should You Buy For Under $100?

There are a number of reasons to buy a cheap tablet, but which ones are worth your money?

Tablets are incredibly useful, but if you’re buying one for under $100, you’re going to have to settle for some compromises. From durability issues to potentially out-of-date software, there’s a reason why these are considered budget products and priced to move.

But there’s still some good value to be had here, especially if you’re planning to buy a tablet as a gift for a younger child. It can also be convenient to have a nice and portable device to take on trips, while leaving your more expensive tech safely stored at home.

Here’s a breakdown of the best tablets you can get under $100!

Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet

Amazon has been producing some of the best budget tablets for years, and its latest HD tablet is the best yet. The Fire HD 8 features an 8-inch screen with battery life of up to 12 hours of reading, surfing, the web, watching videos, and listening to music. And audio is going to sound pretty decent with stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos support. It’s also Alexa-enabled, which means you’ll be able to talk to your smart home products from wherever you are in your home.

If you’ve never bought a Fire tablet before, you should know that Amazon has its own store for accessing content like apps, movies, TV, songs, books, and more. If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber you’ll have Amazon Video and Amazon Music at your fingertips.

Our very own Phil Nickinson (aka Modern Dad) says it’s the best tablet for kids because it’s still a pretty capable Android tablet that you won’t be distraught if dropped. There’s also the Amazon Fire 7, which is $30 cheaper and another great option for kids, but the choice is ultimately yours — compare the specs and pick the one that’s right for you.

See at Amazon

Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet

The standard Amazon Fire tablets are already pretty great for kids, but Amazon has smartly gone a step further by offering both the Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 packaged with a kid-proof case that’s designed to take all the abuse a younger child can throw at it.

It’s got some built-in tools for parents that allow you to control what and when your kids can access on their own tablet, without sacrificing specs or feeling like a cheap toy.

If durability is at top of the list for you, you’ll want to get this tablet. It’s also backed by a 2-year worry-free warranty, meaning if anything happens Amazon will let you return and replace it for free, no questions asked. That’s music to any parents ears!

See at Amazon

Lenovo Tab 10

This one is kind of a cheat because it’s $7 over the $100 budget. But, if you’re comfortable with that, the Lenovo Tab 10 is a solid buy for $107. It’s a 10-inch tablet with a 1280 x 800 resolution display, Snapdragon 210 processor, 16GB of onboard storage and 1GB of RAM.

It won’t set any records when it comes to performance, but it’s got solid build quality and while it’s still back on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it’s far from the oldest version of Android you’ll find on a super-cheap tablet. It’s also fairly un-customized, so even with low specs should be ok for lighter use.

It also has a microSD card slot to expand the storage some, and the rear speakers support Dolby Atmos, which isn’t something you find on most cheap tablets!

See at Amazon

RCA Viking Pro

The RCA Viking Pro is likely the only 10-inch tablet with a detachable keyboard that you will find for around $100. Sure, the internal specs are mediocre at best, but it comes with 32GB of internal storage along with a microSD slot, so that’s pretty decent. It’s a great option if you’re looking for a cheap tablet with a larger screen for watching Netflix and other downloaded content — just make sure to use headphones or a Bluetooth speaker for audio.

The detachable keyboard is a nice addition, too, giving you the option to get some writing done on the go. It’s running Android 5.0 Lollipop, so you might not be able to play the latest games, but at just $ it’s a great portable option for blogging and watching videos.

There are limited quantities available on Amazon, but you can also buy this tablet from Walmart.

See at Walmart

Updated July 30, 2018: Updated pricing info for our picks.

The $160 Acer Chromebook 11 is just one of several Chromebooks on sale right now

Get the device you need.

The Acer Chromebook 11 is down to $159.99 on Amazon. That price is at least $30 off what it regularly goes for, and we’ve seen it go as high as $220 before.

This deal coincides with a price drop we covered on the Asus Chromebook Flip as well as a couple of other popular Chromebook models that have dropped in price.

A device like this is meant to be used with the cloud – specifically Google’s cloud. If you have light work you need to do regularly and a solid Internet connection, the Chromebook will be perfect for you since you can just use Google Docs and similar programs to do everything you need. The Chromebook 11 uses an Intel Celeron N3060 processor up to 2.48GHz. It has an 11.6-inch widescreen LED IPS display with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, 4GB DDR3 RAM, a 16GB internal flash drive, and a 10-hour battery life. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, integrated graphics, two USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, and an HD webcam.

See on Amazon

Chromebooks, streaming devices, label makers, and more are all discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on several Chromebooks, Razer’s RGB gaming keyboard, a Brother label maker, the Roku streaming stick+, and more! Most of these prices will be gone when the day ends, so don’t miss your chance to save big!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

What’s new on Hulu for August 2018

Arnold said he’d be back. And he will be. Along with the OG Jack Ryan.

There are a lot of good flicks coming to Hulu in August 2018. Starting with the likes of Hoosiers and the Hunt for Red October — this business will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it! — on Aug. 1, and wrapping up with The Terminator on Aug. 31. Ain’t nothing like the original.

And that’s just the bookends. There’s so much good stuff on Hulu in August. Have a gander.

Sign up for a free Hulu trial

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 1

• Heartland (Complete Season 10)
• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) (*Showtime)
• A Conspiracy to Rule: The Illuminati (2017)
• American Gigolo (1980)
• American Ninja (1985)
• American Ninja III: Blood Hunt (1989)
• Babe (1995)
• Be Cool (2005)
• The Beatles: Made on Merseyside (2017)
• Black Hawk Down (2001)
• Black Mask (1996)
• Black Rain (1989)
• Bluefin (2018)
• Boomerang (1992)
• The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
• Bratz: The Movie (2007)
• Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007)
• Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)
• Cheri (2009)
• Cold War (2012)
• CSNY/Deja Vu (2008)
• Curse of the Starving Class (1995)
• Double Whammy (2002)
• The Elephant Man (1980)
• Extract (2009)
• Fled (1996)
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
• Get Shorty (1995)
• Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
• Heartbreakers (2001)
• Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002) (*Showtime)
• Hidalgo (2004)
• High Noon (1952)
• Hoosiers (1986)
• The Hunt for Red October (1990)
• The Hurricane (2000)
• The Hurt Locker (2008)
• I Went Down (1997)
• In & Out (1997)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
• Joe (2014)
• John Grisham’s The Rainmaker (1997)
• Kazaam (1996)
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995) (*Showtime)
• Loser (2000)
• Lost in Translation (2003) (*Showtime)
• The Nasty Girl (1990)
• The Ninth Gate (2000)
• No Way Out (1987)
• Original Sin (2001)
• Out of Time (2003)
• Point Break (1991)
• Pretty Woman (1990)
• Private Parts (1997)
• The Rock (1996)
• Scary Movie 3 (2003)
• Shanghai Knights (2003)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004)
• Sheep and Wolves (2018)
• Species (1995)
• Species II (1998)
• Species III (2004)
• Stir of Echoes (1999)
• Stir of Echoes 2: The Homecoming (2007)
• The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale (2014)
• The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today (2016)
• Swan Princess: Royally Undercover (2017)
• Teen Wolf (1985)
• Teen Wolf Too (1987)
• The Time Machine (2002)
• The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) (*Showtime)
• True Colors (1991)
• Urban Legend (1998) (*Showtime)
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
• Young Guns (1998)
• Young Guns II (1990)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 2

• All at Once (2016)
• America Divided: 201 Part 1
• The China Hustle (2018)
• Ismael’s Ghost (2018)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 3

• Animals Season 3 Premiere
• En Otra Piel Complete Series”
• Sharp Edges (1986)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 4

• Marshall (2017) (*Showtime)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 7

• Dating My Mother (2017)
• Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much (2017)
• Wraith (2017)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 8

• Bachelor in Paradise Season 5 Premiere
• Castaways Series Premiere
• Blood Ties (2013)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 9

• America Divided: 202 Part 2
• Baskin (2016)
• Desolation (2018)
• Terminal (2018)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 10

• Rosa Diamante Complete Series
• Tim & Eric Bedtime Stories Complete Season 2″
• Borg Vs McEnroe (2018)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 11

• Baby Driver (2017) (*Showtime)
• The Cage Fighter (2013)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 12

• Ballers Season 4 Premiere
• Insecure Season 3 Premiere
• Very Good Girls (2013)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 13

• The Powerpuff Girls (2016) Complete Season 2

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 15

• The Actors (2003)
• America’s Sweethearts (2001)
• Duplex (2003)
• The Monkey King 3 (2018)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 16

• 11 Minutes (2016)
• America Divided: 203 Part 3
• Marrowbone (2018)
• Role Models (2008)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 16

• Minding the Gap
• Perro Amor Complete Series
• Stan Against Evil Complete Season 2

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 21

• Eva La Trailera Complete Series
• To The Moon and Back (2016)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 23

• America Divided: 204 Part 4
• Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 24

• Crime & Punishment

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 26

• Captain Fantastic (2016) (*Showtime)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• Mother! (2017)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 28

• Pasion Pohibida Complete Series
• Deuces Wild (2002) (*Showtime)

Coming to Hulu on Aug. 31

• The Terminator (1984)

What’s leaving Hulu on Aug. 31

• 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
• 2 Days in the Valley (1996)
• 52 Pick-Up (1986)
• A Beautiful Mind (2001)
• A Guy Thing (2003)
• Across the Universe (2007)
• Analyze That (2002)
• Analyze This (1999)
• Baby Mama (2008)
• Bad Influence (1990)
• Barnyard (2006)
• Beer for my Horse (2008)
• Blue Like Jazz (2012)
• Bowfinger (1999)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)
• The Brothers Grimm (2005)
• The Burbs (1989)
• Chinese Box (1997)
• Clue (1985)
• Criminal Law (1989)
• Dead Man Walking (1995)
• Doctor Dolittle (1997)
• Drive Me Crazy (1999)
• Drop Zone (1994)
• East is East (1999)
• End of Days (1999)
• Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
• Event Horizon (1997)
• Fatal Instinct (1993)
• The Frozen Ground (2013)
• Hard Rain (1998)
• Hellboy (2004)
• Hot Boyz (2000)
• House of D (2005)
• Immigration Tango (2011)
• Into the West (2005)
• Men with Brooms (2002)
• Mindhunters (2004)
• Mr. Majestyk (1974)
• Mutant Species (1995)
• My Left Foot (1989)
• Nanny Mcphee (2006)
• Nurse 3D (2014)
• Over the Top (1987)
• Panic (2000)
• Prancer (1989)
• Primal Fear (1996)
• Rain Man (1988)
• Remember the Goal (2016)
• Restoration (2016)
• Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
• Spawn (1997)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
• Tamara (2006)
• Trainspotting (1996)
• You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008)

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Revisit the good old days with an NES or SNES Classic Edition console in stock at Amazon

You should hurry up.

Update: Both consoles are available for purchase right now! The NES Classic will not be shipping until August 12 currently, while the SNES Classic won’t ship until August 5. There’s no telling how much longer these consoles will be available for, so best get your order in while you can!

Ah, Nintendo, breaker of hearts and crusher of dreams. How can one company be so good at releasing such limited quantities of the coolest items ever?!

The Nintendo NES Classic Edition has been hard to nab from the get-go. When it was first released, people waited in line for hours in the hopes of snatching one up — myself included. This little gadget hit the reseller market fast after stock was depleted, selling for up to $1,000. Seriously. It was once thought to be gone forever, and it left thousands of fans upset, knowing that they may never have the chance to revisit their childhood favorites on an actual Nintendo machine. (Yes, you can emulate retro games. No, it isn’t the same. Don’t @ me.)

Thankfully, you don’t have to wait for six hours in the freezing Wisconsin snow to get yours like I did. You don’t even have to leave your house. Amazon has the Nintendo NES Classic Edition console in stock for the MSRP of $59.99. No markups, no hassle, and no blood, sweat, or tears. Except for maybe tears of joy.

If you haven’t yet gotten your hands on the Super NES Classic console, you can snag one of those at Amazon right now too for its regular price of $79.99.

The NES Classic is awesome. It has the look and feel of the original console, although it is slightly smaller and sleeker. It includes an old-school controller and it’s packed with 30 games, including Super Marios Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, and more. It’s worth noting that the controller cord is pretty short, but extenders are available for cheap or you could even pre-order a wireless controller. If you were inclined to do some web searching, you may also find that rumor has it you can hack the console to include hundreds of other games, although you run the risk of bricking your machine, among other things, and an editor such as myself couldn’t possibly suggest that you do such a thing.

This is the first major restock of this console since it was released. If you’re interested, trust me: there are thousands of other interested people, too. Hop to it and beat them to the punch before it sells out again.

See at Amazon