Hi
These two should be fairly easy for anyone looking to get started.
http://lwn.net/Articles/424655/
"Sala is a command-line utility that lets you store passwords and other
bits of sensitive plain-text information to encrypted files on a
directory hierarchy"
http://gitorious.org/luminos/pages/Home
"This application adjusts the brightness of your laptop screen based on
the ambient light in the room. It uses the inbuilt camera of your laptop
to sense the amount of light in the room and then adjusts the screen
brightness accordingly."
Rahul