BBiQ Won’t Keep You Chained To Your Grill Beth Snyder July 21, 2013 Extras Summertime means grilling time, right? But just today a friend mentioned that she and her husband have chosen not to do hot dogs and hamburgers for their daughter’s birthday party because neither of them wants to be stuck at the grill for the entire party. There are a few gadgets on the market that will allow you to monitor the temperature such as the iGrill, which uses Bluetooth, and the CyberQ, which connects using your Wi-Fi network. But really all those do is monitor the temperature of your food, which if your party also includes some adult beverages might not mean enough. And then there you are, with a bunch of charred meat instead of dinner. This is where the BBiQ comes in. Michael Raymond and Patrick Smith created this one to fill a niche, because it does much more than simply record and report your food’s temperature. Instead, BBiQ works with specific recipes, and lets you know when it’s time to turn them, when you should add seasoning, and when it’s done. It also is programmable for multiple foods, letting you know what should go on the grill first, second, and so on, allowing all of your food to be ready at the same time. I have a hard time doing that in my kitchen…when I’m grilling, I just assume my meals will be in courses. It’ll even tell you where on the grill will be the best placement for certain foods. The best thing about this is whereas other grilling accessories require you know the optimal temperature for whatever food you’re cooking, the BBiQ does all that thinking for you. All you need to do is decide what you want for dinner, tell the BBiQ what that is, and let it do everything but the heavy lifting. It can send the information via Bluetooth to the accompanying iPhone or Android app up to 50 feet (15 m) away, and currently uses an ATmega328 microcontroller that supports one or two probes. Here’s the thing. BBiQ is currently a work in progress. The creators have it posted on Kickstarter, and are hoping to raise $75,000 US within the next month. They’re really not very close right now. unfortunately. If you want to pledge to make this one a reality, $39.00 will get you a simple one-probe model with early access to the app. Pledging $89.00 US or more will get you a sensor with three probes and rechargeable battery, as well as early access to the app. And if you want to pull out all the stops, for a pledge of $299.00 US you will receive “1 Advanced BBiQ bluetooth sensor in a LIMITED EDITION COLOR with 3 temperature probes (no IR), backlit LCD and rechargeable battery, early access to the BBiQ app, an awesome BBiQ T-Shirt or Apron, a totally sweet Grill Tool Set, a signed picture of the product development team posing awkwardly in front of a barbecue, and a written letter of thanks!” Expected delivery of product is October 2013, assuming they reach their funding goal. Source: Gizmag Share This With The World!