When it comes to learning about microcontrollers, everyone has to start somewhere. [Lady Ada] recently posted a tutorial on burning the Arduino bootloader to standalone chips for those just getting… ...

[Stewart] tipped us about his very nice project: pokewithastick. It is an Arduino compatible board (hardware, not footprint) based on the ATMEGA1284P which can be programmed to collect and post dat… ...

For more information on the new Arduino Prototyping Set and Bootloader Shield jump over to the Kickstarter website for details and to make a pledge from $18.

At about $30, the Arduino isn't an expensive device, but if you want to make your own, simpler version, electronics blog Hardware Startup shows off how to build an Arduino clone for less than $5.