Former Meta employees launch Sandbar, maker of smart ring that takes voice notes and controls music

In recent years, a variety of voice-activated hardware devices have emerged, designed to enhance companionship, productivity, and personal development. Among these innovations are card-shaped devices from companies like Plaud and Pocket, pendants from Friend and Taya, and a wristband from Bee, which is now part of Amazon. Enter Sandbar, a startup founded by two former Meta employees who focused on interface design, which has launched a groundbreaking smart ring named Stream. Dubbed "a mouse for voice," the Stream ring allows users to take notes, control music, and interact with AI assistants seamlessly. CEO Mina Fahmi, who has an extensive background in human-computer interface design from his time at Bryan Johnson’s Kernel and smart glasses startup Magic Leap, co-founded Sandbar with CTO Kirak Hong. Hong previously worked at Google and CTRL-Labs, where the two met before Meta acquired CTRL-Labs in 2019, paving the way for neural interfaces in smart wearables. Fahmi’s journey began when he experimented with a journaling app but found it cumbersome to capture fleeting thoughts. This experience led him to explore a more intuitive conversational hardware interface. "Many of my ideas come to me while I’m walking or commuting, and I didn’t want to disrupt those moments by pulling out my phone or shouting into my earbuds," he explained in an interview with TechCrunch. The result of this exploration is the Stream ring, which is designed to be worn on the index finger of the dominant hand, featuring microphones and a touchpad. During a virtual demonstration, Fahmi showcased how the ring captures thoughts by pressing and holding the touchpad, with the microphone activating only during this gesture. The sensitive microphone can even pick up whispers, transcribing them in the companion iOS app. Similar applications, like Wispr Flow and Willow, also allow users to quietly record their thoughts. The Stream app includes an AI chatbot that interacts with users as they document their ideas, enabling organization into editable notes. Sandbar has incorporated a personalized aspect to the assistant's voice, allowing it to sound similar to the user. In noisy environments, users can wear headphones for private conversations with the assistant. For those who prefer to go headphone-free, the ring provides haptic feedback when a note is successfully recorded, enabling users to add tasks or check off grocery items discreetly. Additionally, the ring's flat surface functions as a media controller, allowing users to play, pause, skip tracks, and adjust volume without needing to access their devices directly. Preorders for the Stream ring will open on Wednesday, priced at $249 for the silver model and $299 for gold, with shipping expected to begin next summer. The company is also offering a Pro subscription tier that provides unlimited access to chats and notes for $10 per month after an initial three-month free period for preorder customers. Fahmi emphasized that users will have complete control over their data, with encryption measures in place. Sandbar does not support the concept of closed ecosystems, aiming instead to facilitate data exports to applications like Notion. Having secured $13 million in funding from True Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Betaworks, Sandbar faces stiff competition in the voice-AI hardware market. Toni Schneider from True Ventures expressed initial skepticism about AI devices but was impressed by the potential of Stream. "Voice and AI complement each other well, and there’s a need for a more accessible form factor than smartphones or laptops for AI interaction," he noted. As the voice-AI hardware landscape becomes increasingly crowded, Sandbar's challenge will be to demonstrate that its ring offers unique convenience and value compared to existing devices like pendants and wristbands.