Smell You Now, Smell You Later

from the this-is-so-smell-2.0 dept

The sense of smell is widely known to evoke emotional memories, which is why cookie stores pump their delicous scents into malls across America. As a result, artificially re-creating smells has been tried over and over again, but to no avail. Perhaps previous attempts failed because they only addressed half of the problem. Japanese researchers have created a device that can both record and playback smells. "Point the gadget at a freshly baked cookie and it will reproduce the odour", claim the engineers. Being able to record smells yourself opens up more interesting applications beyond the novelty of just sitting next to your computer smelling websites. Although, how long before the RIAA starts cracking down on unauthorized smell-recordings of concerts?
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  1. identicon
    SPR, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:25pm

    VA computer/data security

    Since the computer was out of their posession how can they be sure someone didn't image the hard drive? There are ways this can be done that does not show access date and tiime changes.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    TheFatMan, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:26pm

    Can it smell my farts?

    What if I record the smell of my farts, hide the machine, then play back the smells to frame a co-worker?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:28pm

    If this technology is ever integrated into web surfing, I may never visit a porn site again.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:38pm

    wow that would be mega raunchy!!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Not me!, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:40pm

    Who was it??

    The number of possibilities is mind boggling.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    howard, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:44pm

    Wendy Rtd

    Wendy says it smells like cotton candy.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    JerseyRich, 29 Jun 2006 @ 1:53pm

    I would pay $74.95 every 3 months to see, hear, and SMELL p***y

    :-P

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Mike C, 29 Jun 2006 @ 2:04pm

    Think of....

    (warning: sarcasm ahead)

    ... the children

    How many poor innocent children will be needlessly humiliated by foul stenches eminating from underneath their desks at school due to this device. And let's not forget sibling rivalry... the poor parents. How long before "scent packs" come out and are downloadable over the P2P networks.

    We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2006 @ 2:14pm

    Never happen

    How would you keep it from reproducing the billions of atomic combinations that produce poisonous gasses.

    It's bad enough these days that you visit a 'bad' website and your machine fills up with spyware, in the future you visit a bad website and your room fills up with poison gas??

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Perv, 29 Jun 2006 @ 2:41pm

    Yes

    A reason to surf porn again!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Ain Al, 29 Jun 2006 @ 2:43pm

    Maybe

    Just stay off of the anal penetration sites.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Sandra, 29 Jun 2006 @ 2:50pm

    Re: Maybe

    omg, you had to go there...pokes imaginary third eye out and plugs nose.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Tin Ear, 29 Jun 2006 @ 3:41pm

    Smellovision!!

    It's been a joke for years, but now it's a possibility! Can you imagine watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre or some other chop 'em up movie? Yuck! Then again, the Food Channel will become extremely popular among the lower income levels... if they can get to a smellovision set, that is.. Or maybe just with people with poor cooking skills. The kitchen smells like Chateau Briand and Chocolate Mousse, and you get served meatloaf and Jello Pudding...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Ray Thomasson, 29 Jun 2006 @ 5:03pm

    Re: Never happen

    The article said it could reproduce SMELLS, nothing more. Just because one thing smells like another, that is no sign it actually becomes that thing. Reproducing the smell of a poisonous gas does not necessarily imply that the gas itself has been reproduced.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Rational Beaver, 29 Jun 2006 @ 5:51pm

    Re: Re: Never happen

    Dang it! I was ready to start smelling myself some gold dust...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Hersh, 29 Jun 2006 @ 6:06pm

    Oh god. I know exactly where those Japanese are going to be pointing that odor "recorder". Argghgghghgh, the world could have gone on for another two centuries, and not missed this invention.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2006 @ 6:33pm

    Re:

    I just can't see a sense of smelling websites being a big deal, other than advertisement, and I can't stand it already. The smellorama thingy will be more negative as advertiser push there crap on the users. Instead of spyware we'd have smellware: a smell followed by a "buy it". IE cookie smell followed by Buy Grandmas internet cookies...and it would happen every time you connect to the net, or webpage even. Nooooooooo Thanks

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    MindSmack.com, 29 Jun 2006 @ 8:05pm

    Stop touchin' my odor.

    Encapsulate it with yer nosy.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Wire Cramped, 30 Jun 2006 @ 2:34pm

    too many adds

    if there are 14 adds on one webpage and they range from cookies to oil to egg farming to kitty litter to odor-eaters to...

    WHOLLY SHIT!!! The smello-rama would make me barf on my monitor and I would get seriosuly mad that I would have to go to the Pepto-Bismal website to settle my stomach!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Jake, 2 Jul 2006 @ 4:03pm

    Okay, like sound, this would have to be something you could turn on or off in web a browser or PC. But while some replies show imagination, most are so pedestrian.

    Imagine the possibilities for the lovesick or the downright stalker. Many/most people find olfactory stimuli very powerful, and smells left on clothing for example can be very arousing (usually when it is a familiar loved one of course). So with this invention not only could one have pics, video, and audio of a loved one (or stalk-ee), they could record and playback their scent too. So many possibilities...

    Oh, and to the comment on poision gas, there is a difference between mimicking a smell and reproducing a toxic chemical combination. Usually it isn't the smell of a toxin that is the issue, the smell just comes along for the ride with the nasty chemicals.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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