The annual Consumer Electronics Show is in session, which means thousands of people have descended on Las Vegas to stare at next year's dust-gathering trash. Maybe you can do better. Maybe it's ...

With Arduino even moreso, where easy access, being able to bang in a bit of code and have it WORK without entirely understanding what you’re doing, is the most important thing by far.

Arduino's programming language is ideal for newbies because of its gentle learning curve. With an easy syntax and dozens of helpful libraries, the Arduino IDE shouldn't pose a challenge for beginners.