![]() ![]() In 1960, we saw the debut of Smell-O-Vision in the film “Scent of Mystery.” During screenings of the movie, various odors-coffee, garlic, and that pine-forest smell that doesn’t remind us of the woods so much as a freshly scrubbed lavatory-were piped into the theater at appropriate moments. And this is not, strangely enough, the first time somebody has decided that there is a huge unmet need for a technology that lets us not just see and hear some exotic land but smell it as well. I know the Internet is the big new thing, but people are pretty much the same as they always have been. (If you want to see just how transparent a jest this was, you can examine the original”announcement” at ). The rest of us had a good laugh, because the RealAroma announcement was a prank. Several news organizations breathlessly reported this latest example of scientific progress. Using the RealAroma Drive-designed to plug into your computer-and RATML (that stands for Real Aroma Text Markup Language) you could build a Web page that let people smell whatever you wanted them to smell. ![]() About five years ago, a company calling itself RealAroma announced a very similar device. You might think the DigiScents project sounds like a joke. Can you imagine the fun your friendly neighborhood hacker will have if zillions of these stink machines are soon sitting next to computers throughout the world? Could the adolescent joy that comes from breaking wind be compounded by the newfound power to cut loose via remote control? O brave new world. ![]()
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