Our new Bluetooth cooking thermometer, Range Dial, has met its goal on Kickstarter, and we’re manufacturing it. But we haven’t mentioned one feature: it’s user-hackable.

We love making tools to help others make their own tools, a trait picked up at the MIT Media Lab. Every product we’ve made has been moddable to some degree, and you’ve used this to solve problems we never knew existed. That’s awesome, and with Range Dial, we’re going further.

The first Arduino-compatible consumer device

Out of the box, Range Dial is a precision Bluetooth cooking thermometer with two temperature probes and a dial to choose preset temperature alerts—painless to use with or without an app. Like our previous thermometers, most professional and enthusiast cooks will love it as is. 

But you can replace its firmware with an Arduino-based one that unlocks the hardware. The probe ports are full I/O—use them for your own sensors or actuators. Assign new meaning to the dial positions. Or build with the iOS SDK if you just want to make a mobile app that interacts with the hardware.

What you can do with a moddable Range Dial

All this is a first for a consumer appliance. We think it’s possible to have both a polished experience, and access under the hood for power users. Range Dial can be an all-purpose kitchen sensor and controller—a KitchenAid for data. Some examples of what you could do:

• Add fan control to a smoker
  
• Maintain the temperature of a kettle or lagering fridge
  
• Monitor and control an aquarium’s temperature or pH
  

And ideas that we haven’t thought of; that’s the point. You’re the expert at what you do. Make Range Dial into your own tool.

The Kickstarter ends Thursday—get a discount and early shipping when you preorder Range Dial now. We’d appreciate your support.