iGrill site crashes after mention from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 8/20/2012 5:08:40 PM

CANTON, Conn. — The website for iGrill, an app-enabled wireless Bluetooth meat thermometer, crashed Sunday night after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted a status touting the device.

On his Facebook page, Zuckerberg posted, "I updated my grilling app, iGrill, today and it now has Facebook integration that lets you see what other people are grilling right now around the world. Awesome. I'm making a Fred's steak."

The iGrill site was inundated with visitors after he posted the comment around 7 p.m., causing the site to go down for two hours.

"We were caught totally off guard by Mark Zuckerberg's post and the immediate influx of traffic," said Chris Allen, CEO of iDevices. "We had quietly released this update for our users earlier this month and were waiting for it to gain traction, but this obviously gives us a huge head start, thus a quick add on of servers and bandwidth was needed today!"

"We are excited to see how this unfolds, but I would like to dispel the rumors that iGrill or iDevices received any investment from Mr. Zuckerberg to date," he added. "Although we would welcome the opportunity to work with him, this is not something that has occurred yet."

The iGrill is a wireless cooking thermometer for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad via a long-range Bluetooth and app-enabled connection. iGrill allows grillers to monitor their food from up to 200 feet away, and sounds an alert when the food is ready to eat.

The iGrill app update now lets users view maps of other people grilling around the world through Facebook, sharing information with all their friends and subscribers.