Make:

Yesterday afternoon, a whoop of excitement resounded throughout the Maker Shed -- currently under construction at Maker Faire Austin -- as we cracked open boxes of Getting Started with Arduino, fresh from the printers. There's nothing that beats that feeling of seeing the results of so much hard work and devotion in physical form. The book, authored by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi, offers a brief, fun, and lucid overview of Arduino that I bet is going to appeal to lots of people who've been wanting to get into physical computing but have been looking for a (er...) bit-sized way in. This handy little guide should be just the ticket!

Also pictured above is our new Arduino Starter Kit. It looks really sweet too and is a great value for what you get. We're excited to see how fairgoers respond to these new offerings when the store throws open its doors on Saturday morning. If you come to the Faire, stop by the Shed, check 'em out, say hi, and tells us what you think. Getting Started with Arduino is available at Maker Shed online for pre-order. The Arduino Starter Kit is available now.

From the Maker Shed:

Getting Started with Arduino Our Price: $12.99 Availability: Pre-Order Join the tens of thousands of hobbyists who have discovered this incredible (and educational) platform. Written by the co-founder of the Arduino project, with illustrations by Elisa Canducci, Getting Started with Arduino gets you in on the fun! This valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open source electronics prototyping platform that's taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for projects and helps you get going on them right away. To use the introductory examples in this book, all you need is a USB Arduino, USB A-B cable, and an LED. By Massimo Banzi, co-founder of the Arduino Project. Ships end of October.

Features
* Interaction design and physical computing
* The Arduino hardware and software development environment
* Basics of electricity and electronics
* Prototyping on a solderless breadboard
* Drawing a schematic diagram

Arduino Starter Kit
Our Price: $89.99
Availability: Usually Ships in 3 to 5 Business Days
Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It's an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board. Arduino is open source!

We've put together our own Arduino Starter Kit, tossed in our bestselling Making Things Talk book, wrapped it up in some cool packaging so you can get started quickly without having to do a lot of shopping first. Check out the "How To" for some helpful links to provide support and contact with the growing Arduino community. Happy Hacking!

Features
* 1x Arduino Diecimila
* 1x Mini Breadboard
* 1x 3 ft. USB Cable
* 10x 1K Resistors
* 2x 10k Resistors
* 3x Red LEDs
* 2x Green LEDs
* 1X Superbright Blue LED
* 1x Momentary Tactile Switch
* 2x Interlink Force Sensing Resistors
* 1x Protoshield Kit (unassembled)
* Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe
* 24" each of Red, Blue & Black AWG jumper wire
* 9V Battery Case w/DC Plug (some assembly required)
* Yes, even a 9V battery

Related:

The Best of Instructables
Pre-release: $29.99.
Availability: Oct 31st

Features:
* Paint with electronic graffiti
* Create killer science fiction and fantasy costumes
* Make a turn-signal bike jacket and wiper glove
* Learn how to craft beautiful Bento Box lunches
* Make unique, stylish furniture from junk
* Fab a computer-controlled milling maching