Head to this page to get the drivers installed on your machine. This will take 5-10 minutes.
Head to this page for a quick tutorial to get you set up with your "IoT Hello World" by blinking lights!
Head to this page for a tutorial to take the temperature with a digital thermometer.
Just like with any other computer, you can start a web server by creating an index.html file and running python -m SimpleHTTPServer. Make sure python is installed first.
Now that you can turn a light on (output), let's try playing with the other side (input). Head to this page for a tutorial on this.
Using crontab, and a solid state relay, you can time a whole power strip of devices to turn off or on at certain times. This can help cut down on your energy bills.
I used this functionality to create a small garden of lettuce and radishes in my basement apartment bedroom (turning lights on at 7 every morning, and off at 10 ever night).
For Nina's birthday, I created a mail server that would send a cute quote to her email everytime she pressed a button. It would also send an email to me to let me know she missed me.
What would you like to do with Internet of Things?