With Bluetooth Ring, Control Your World With a Finger Twirl One of the latest wearable tech gadgets on the SXSW tradeshow floor lets you use gestures to text, shop and more.

By Jacob Hall

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

kickstarter.com

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.

Jacob Hall is a writer living and working in Austin, Texas. He writes about movies, books, games and technology.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

'Pre-Boarding Scam': Customers Furious at Southwest Airlines After 20 Passengers Ask For Wheelchair Assistance to Board

A viral tweet is slamming the airline's wheelchair policy for boarding and disembarking.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Leadership

My Business Hit $1 Million — Then a $46,000 Mistake Exposed the Biggest Bottleneck to Explosive Growth

How a costly mistake forced me to confront the real barrier to scaling and the changes that unlocked explosive growth beyond $1 million.