The problem with smartwatches is the screens are so small. Once you start prodding it, your finger obscures the whole thing. But here's an ingenious way around it - using your forearm as a touch sensor. That's the idea behind Carnegie Mellon University's SkinTrack system, Digital Spy said.
You mount your smartwatch on a strap that features multiple electrodes. Then you put a control ring on the finger you'll be using to pinch, swipe and the like - this ring emits a high-frequency electrical signal.
The ring talks to the watch, and the electrical signal is transmitted through the skin, even if you're wearing clothes.
The system compares the phases of electrical waves as they're detected by each of the electrodes to pinpoint the location of the finger relative to the smartwatch.
In tests, it proved 99% accurate. It can control a game, zoom in and out of maps, scroll through lists, and do pretty much anything you could need a smartwatch to do.
Sweat and body motion tend to affect its accuracy. Oh, and the ring eats through batteries like nobody's business. So it looks like we have yet another gadget to charge, Digital Spy said.
