March 11, 2014 1 min read

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Smart devices are great – if you’ve got a hand free to operate them.

Enter the Ring, one of very few wow-factor gadgets on the SXSW Tradeshow floor in Austin this year. This wearable input device lets you write texts or make payments, all with a twirl of your finger using gesture recognition technology.

Its purpose is to create a shortcut to daily tasks with simple hand movements. Using the Ring, letters drawn in the air can spell out texts, character by character. Incoming transmissions and alerts are signaled by vibrations and LED lights.

The Ring is the brainchild of Takuro Yoshida, chief executive officer of Logbar, Inc., and got its start as the winner of the TechCrunch Tokyo Startup Battle in 2013. Today the device is being funded through Kickstarter and has raised more than $650,000, doubling its $250,000 goal. A public release is set for July 2014.