Here is psylence's sig from another un-named forum:
Pretty!
http://www.veys.com/nick/case_mods.shtml
Sexy!
http://www.veys.com/nick/custom_electronics.shtml
Sleek!
http://www.veys.com/nick/electronics_tutorials.shtml
As for the stuff on GideonTech, I'll have to browse on over and take a look. Sounds interesting!
Microcontrollers are EASY if you can do a PWM circuit and do simple programming. That's what they are for. There is a great wealth of info out on them if you just do a simple web search. Sample programs, kits, sample circuits, huge archives of email exchanges (search for the PIC list), etc...