
Welcome to And finally, the place where we roam around the world of wearables and pluck the most intriguing rumours and lighter stories.
The week has been headlined by the deals bonanza that was Amazon Prime Day, but plenty more has also appeared on the radar - more details emerged regarding the Samsung Galaxy Watch, while we also saw the Emporio Armani 2018 unveiled and Garmin debut its new CT10 golf shot trackers.
Read on for four more tasty tidbits from this week, and be sure to head to our dedicated news section for everything else.
A sunburn-detecting Apple Watch
If you wear your Apple Watch consistently during the summer, you'll have noticed the square watch face tan line you've developed as a result. And while the current version of the smartwatch is able to indirectly protect your wrist from potential burns, a future version of the device could help wearers avoid sunburn in a more focused way.
That's if a patent filed by the Cupertino company and uncovered by Apple Insider is anything to go by, anyway. As shown loosely in the sketch above, the crux of this feature involves an ultraviolet and infrared detector that could be configured to show exposed areas of a user's skin. Then, the device would be able to pick out which areas of the body are lacking in protection, as well as where and how often to apply sunscreen.
Of course, this isn't the kind of feature you can expect to land on a version of the Apple Watch any time soon - especially given the unpredictable life of patents - but it is an intriguing concept to consider for the future. And if you simply can't wait that long, jump on over to our round-up of the best wearables to protect you from the sun.
Smartwatches screen visibility gets a boost
Smartwatch displays are increasingly tolerant of the sun's glare, and now the area just received a big boost from glass-maker Corning.
The company behind pretty much every display you can think of, including the ones on smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Fitbit Ionic, has announced that its new Gorilla Glass DX and Gorilla Glass DX+ will soon be available for manufacturers to take advantage of.
According to Corning, both variations of the new glass offer up to 75% less surface reflection, when compared to a normal piece of glass, and 50% more contrast. Naturally, this makes things easier to read, but it also means users won't have to crank their brightness just to read the screen, and, in turn, see their battery life suffer.
We don't yet know the full timeframe for when we can expect the glass to land on wearables, though here's hoping that it makes its way onto the slew of devices we're expecting before the end of the year.
Snap Spectacles twin launches in China
While Snapchat may rule the roost when it comes to sending expiring videos in the US and Europe, leading to the company's hardware ambitions through Snap Spectacles, a company in China is seemingly following the same path.
According to KR Asia, Kuaishou, an app which works on a similar premise to Snapchat, has partnered with Chinese spectacle maker Starci to launch the Starci Smart Spectacles. On sale for the equivalent of around , the smartglasses offer 4K video recording, picture-taking and water resistance, all while being controlled in a button above the temple.
Apple emphasises ring-closing in latest ads
Apple may be gearing up to launch the Watch Series 4, but it doesn't appear to be shifting from its emphasis on exercise, launching three new adverts centring around the smartwatch and its activity tracking.
Since becoming the focus of the Watch back when the Series 2 launched, Apple has pushed its three activity rings (Move, Exercise, Stand) and encouraged users to keep an eye on them through dedicated watch faces, complications and through the Watch's iPhone app.
Read this: Apple Watch Activity and Workout explained
Of course, the ad above tells us very little about the future wares of the company, but it does reveal two things: Eric, over here, loves to dance when hanging his washing up, and that Apple will continue to push health for both young and old as its key selling point moving forward.
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