For beginners learning to program Arduinos, a web-based, fully networked developer environment called Codebender could drastically reduce the learning curve.

The Arduino IDE is a user-friendly platform that simplifies the process of writing, compiling, and uploading code to microcontrollers.

Now to be clear, this isn’t some kind of minimal Linux environment that boots up and runs a compiled C program. [Jean] has created an Arduino core that provides basic functionality on x86 hardware.

Arduino has announced four new Nano microcontroller-based boards that will be available for developers and makers in late July.

The ATtiny85 is a microcontroller that can be programmed using the Arduino IDE, which offers a low barrier of entry. A simple 3D-printed enclosure can make it look like a generic flash drive.