Arduino and its countless variants are great for a wide variety of electronics and physical computing projects: from a camera trigger, to an advanced plant watering system, and everything in between. But Arduino is not your only choice when it comes to prototyping your next invention or building a clever gizmo. In fact, the Photon board from Particle [1] might be a better fit depending on your requirements and needs.

Several factors make Photon an attractive alternative to Arduino. For starters, the board is tiny and cheap. Roughly the size of Arduino Nano, Photon can be easily plugged into a standard breadboard for convenient prototyping. The price is sweet, too: Photon costs only $19, which makes it one of the most affordable boards on the market. However, Photon's real killer feature is the on-board WiFi module that supports the 802.11b/g/n standards. This means you can build an Internet-connected prototype or project with a minimum of effort. Better still, Particle provides both tools and services that transform Photon into a cloud-connected device.

Using the Build Web IDE, you can program Photon directly from within the browser, and the Particle Dashboard can be used to monitor and manage multiple Photon devices. The board is programmed using a Wiring-like language, and existing Arduino sketches can be easily adapted for use with Photon. Add to this the fact that Photon is open source hardware, and you have a board worth considering for your next project.

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