Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Cheap Computer

There’s an article going around titled What Happens When Computers are Cheaper Than LEGO Block?. The premise is that because computer hardware is so cheap there will be a renewed hacker movement. You can literally walk into Radio Shack and walk out with an Arduino board for less than $40. And yeah, that probably means a trip to Radio Shack is in my future.

Let’s be honest. For most people, this means nothing. If you’re hoping to replace your PC, this isn’t what you’d buy. But if you want to build a robot in your garage, or if you want to create a special controller for your Christmas lights, this might be the brain you need for the project. This computer is for hackers. And those hackers just might be fathers working with their sons on a really cool project in the garage.