Imagine if your home could use the web to tell you if the temperature had dropped, your clothes were dry, or if a door had been opened. That’s precisely the surprising idea behind Twine: a little internet-connected box that looks like a bar of soap and shows some serious promise. The product is a manifestation of the Internet of Things (the phenomenon whereby everyday objects can communicate information to us through the web). Twine is that idea distilled to its core: in its tiny little frame, it houses both Wi-Fi and sensors for moisture, temperature, motion, vibration and a magnetic switch. So what’s the big deal about what sounds like a very techie, complicated idea? Because of a simple “if this, then that” interface, you can easily set Twine to register when a door is open or a plant is dry and then have it tell you about it via Twitter, a text message, an email or (for the more technically inclined) a program you make/buy. It’s the internet of things, for everyone. Creators David Carr and John Kestner, both from MIT, thought they had a great idea so they put the project on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. Though they set a reasonably high goal of $35,000 to fund the production of Twine, the final tally yesterday was–wait for it–$556,541. You could probably call that a success. You can understand why: I’d love to have a record of how many times I opened the fridge in the last two weeks of December (my guess: 9000). It’s easy to conceive of a myriad of uses for Twine, especially because the really creative can plug in their own sensors and doodads. It’ll be exciting to watch what uses people invent for the product when it releases. Twine is expected to ship in May of this year and costs $99 to pre-order. Correction: The makers of Twine got in touch to let us know that only the temperature and vibration sensors are built into the box. Other sensors are external and optional. The Standard regrets the error. Navneet Alang is Toronto Standard’s Tech Critic. You can follow him on Twitter @navalang.