<strong>A new wave of devices are opening up a new world of communication</strong>. Follow your nose into the realm of smell messaging...
Smells like you've got a message! —
A new wave of devices are opening up a new world of communication. Follow your nose into the realm of smell messaging...
courtesy le laboratoire
Experimental Parisian outfit Le Laboratoire has created the <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvaporcommunication.com%2F%23he-t" target="_blank" target="_blank"><strong>oPhone</strong></a>, a handheld device that allows a user to combine aromas and send their composition as a message. Upon arriving at another user's device, this message will recreate the odor for for the recipient to smell.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Experimental Parisian outfit Le Laboratoire has created the oPhone, a handheld device that allows a user to combine aromas and send their composition as a message. Upon arriving at another user's device, this message will recreate the odor for for the recipient to smell.
courtesy le laboratoire
Visitors to the Wired Conference in October 2013 had the opportunity to try out the oPhone, which can currently create over 350 different aromas.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Visitors to the Wired Conference in October 2013 had the opportunity to try out the oPhone, which can currently create over 350 different aromas.
Courtesy Artscience
Its inventor, Dr David Edwards, hopes the device will add thousands more odors in 2014 -- and eventually be capable of producing any smell at all.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Its inventor, Dr David Edwards, hopes the device will add thousands more odors in 2014 -- and eventually be capable of producing any smell at all.
Courtesy Artscience
Already on the market is the <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scentee.com%2F" target="_blank" target="_blank"><strong>Scentee</strong></a> plug-in. It allows a smartphone user to attach a small device to their phone and receive "smell notifications" when a message arrives.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Already on the market is the Scentee plug-in. It allows a smartphone user to attach a small device to their phone and receive "smell notifications" when a message arrives.
Courtesy Adrian Cheok
Currently, each device can only emit one smell at a time: "Right now it's the equivalent of music before MP3s," says augmented reality professor Adrian Cheok. "You had to record a song on a tape and physically give it someone."
Smells like you've got a message! —
Currently, each device can only emit one smell at a time: "Right now it's the equivalent of music before MP3s," says augmented reality professor Adrian Cheok. "You had to record a song on a tape and physically give it someone."
Courtesy Adrian Cheok
Dr Cheok (right) is hoping to change this. Alongside chef Andoni Luis Aduriz, he presented the "<a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theneweconomy.com%2Ftechnology%2Fusing-mobiles-to-smell-how-technology-is-giving-us-our-senses-video" target="_blank" target="_blank"><strong>world's first digital smell app</strong></a>" at the Madrid Fusion 2014 food festival.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Dr Cheok (right) is hoping to change this. Alongside chef Andoni Luis Aduriz, he presented the "world's first digital smell app" at the Madrid Fusion 2014 food festival.
Courtesy Adrian Cheok
The device contains magnetic coils that send electric signals into the brain's olfactory bulb to simulate the effect of smell. Cheok hopes to have a prototype available within two years.
Smells like you've got a message! —
The device contains magnetic coils that send electric signals into the brain's olfactory bulb to simulate the effect of smell. Cheok hopes to have a prototype available within two years.
Courtesy Adrian Cheok
Nimesha Ranasinghe and her group of researchers at the National University of Singapore are on a similar track. They have created a <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nimesha.info%2Fdigitaltaste.html" target="_blank" target="_blank"><strong>Digital Taste Simulator</strong></a> that electrically stimulates the tongue to produce the taste sensation. They hope the device will augment TV and video games in future.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Nimesha Ranasinghe and her group of researchers at the National University of Singapore are on a similar track. They have created a Digital Taste Simulator that electrically stimulates the tongue to produce the taste sensation. They hope the device will augment TV and video games in future.
Courtesy Nimesha Ranasinghe
Nasa have joined the mission too. The space agency has developed a piece of their technology that can detect chemicals in the air and analyze them digitally. The device -- now in commercial development with <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vantagehealthinc.com%2F" target="_blank" target="_blank"><strong>Vantage Health</strong></a> -- could transform smells into digital signals, but will first <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2F5881097%2Fthis-is-nasas-cancer-sniffing-cellphone-sensor%2F" target="_blank" target="_blank">help doctors detect cancer</a>.
Smells like you've got a message! —
Nasa have joined the mission too. The space agency has developed a piece of their technology that can detect chemicals in the air and analyze them digitally. The device -- now in commercial development with Vantage Health -- could transform smells into digital signals, but will first help doctors detect cancer.
NASA Ames/Dominic Hart