The plugduino is not so much a groundbreaking concept as much as it is a solid project build and useful device to keep around. The plugduino is featured in a step-by-step instructable to help you learn a bit about how to wire a 120V circuit safely and how to use an arduino to control everyday real work devices. The arduino is a great introduction to programming and prototyping, but using it in a high voltage environment takes some work; the microcontroller only powers low ( ~40 mA ) devices. The plugduin

The DMXWheel is an introductory project that shows you how to display a color wheel editor window on the screen of a Raspberry Pi computer, which you can manipulate with your mouse. As you change the color on the screen, the color on a DMX light fixture changes in real-time to match. This can serve as a starting point for a variety of simple lighting projects using the Raspberry Pi ( i.e. haunted houses, onscreen light control panel, living room DJ setup, etc. ). The instructable is available here: http