A computer processor such as the 486 used to cost around the same as a small
car.  Nowadays a chip with similar power is the price of a chocolate bar.

When processing power is so cheap, you can afford to put tem in places that
you couldn't before.  Not just a business workstation, or a home PC, but also
a telephone, an electricity meter, a bedside lamp, or a teddy bear.  We can
make objects intelligent.  We can make them think, and speak.  In short, we can
make magical things, Enchanted Objects.

In this book we will look at the kind of computer chips that can be embedded
in objects ("microcontrollers" such as the Arduino) and take you through each
step of the process from prototyping a Thing, to manufacturing and selling it.