Thanks to the LightBlue Bean+, however, one of those roadblocks has been torn down. The Bean+ is basically an Arduino board that can be programmed via Bluetooth LE.

In a move that could bring faster wireless capabilities to gadgets and Arduino boards, chip maker Atmel is buying wireless chip maker Newport Media for US$140 million.

The watch is built around an Arduino Pro Mini, a scavenged Nokia LCD, and a BlueSMiRF Gold. The Bluetooth connects to a Nokia N900 with a little Bluetooth client app [Ahmet] wrote.

Primo will include Bluetooth LE (low energy), NFC, Wi-Fi, and infrared built-in — you typically need a “shield” add-on to get these features.