Is the gold in Apple's Watch stronger than ordinary gold?

Apple Gold is a special gold. I'm Bridget Carey, and this is your CNET Update. [MUSIC] The Apple Watch will come in several styles, one of which is solid gold. But it seems it's not made of ordinary gold, it's magical Apple Gold. In an interview with the Financial Times, the watch's creator, Jony Ive,. Said that the molecules in Apple gold are closer together making it twice as hard as standard gold. Well, it does sound far out but ours technical points to a patent that Apple filed back in 2014 regarding a method for forming a gold metal matrix composite that's part gold and part ceramic. It could be two to four times harder than normal 18 karat gold. If that's the case, brace yourself for that special Apple gold to be at a special eye-popping price. We're also learning that Apple had some very tight restrictions for the first watch apps. Bloomberg reports that Apple has a secret lab for select companies to test out their apps before the watch launches. No one can bring in anything from the outside into this lab. Not paper or a phone. The lab has no internet access and code written in the lab. Cannot leave the building. Apple is also encouraging developers to design as they're used for no more than 10 seconds at a time. After all, the point of the watch is to glance at information quickly, otherwise you just use a smartphone. And the ten second factor will help with battery life. Apple needs great apps to convince people to buy the watch. I mean, sure, there's going to be people who will buy it no matter what. But to reach success beyond the fans and to convince people it's worth more than $350, the apps need to add value to your life in a way a smart phone alone cannot. Count on the NFC sensor inside to be one. One of those ways, letting you transfer data, open hotel doors, or make payments with a wave and tap of your wristwatch. Apple will fill in the gaps to our questions at an event Monday, streaming live from San Francisco at 10 a.m. PT, 1 p.m. ET. You can be sure we'll hear about fitness related apps, as health is becoming a big selling feature. Fitbit is one of the leaders in the fitness tracking gadget space and the company just acquired the app FitStar. That's an app that creates custom exercise video programs for users. With the 2 becoming 1 now Fitbit users can synch data with specific workout video programs. In other app news Shazam is expanding beyond identifying music. The mobile app can identify what song is playing around you, and it also serves as a portal to buy that song. But a Shazam executive told Reuters that the next step for the app is to identify products in retail stores by pointing your phone's camera at the product. Scan a DVD case and you can get a link to the movie soundtrack. But it could also go beyond music. Scan a cereal box and show you the nutritional information. That's your tech news update and you can dive into more at cnet.com. From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey.