Practical Applications of Smell Recordings 172
ozmanjusri writes to mention a Tokyo Institute of Technology project to record scents for later playback. The New Scientist article suggests this technology could be used in commercials and medical applications. From the article: "Simply point the gadget at a freshly baked cookie, for example, and it will analyse its odour and reproduce it for you using a host of non-toxic chemicals. The device could be used to improve online shopping by allowing you to sniff foods or fragrances before you buy, to add an extra dimension to virtual reality environments and even to assist military doctors treating soldiers remotely by recreating bile, blood or urine odours that might help a diagnosis."
Smell-o-vision (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not a medical expert, but how useful could this really be? I mean, there's no question that this won't catch on with wine connoisseurs. They're a pretty picky bunch by nature; I doubt if they'd trust a machine over their refined noses. Not to mention that there's more to selecting a wine than its scent.
But medical diagnosis? Seriously? I mean,
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2)
The human scent of smell lets us know about immediatly dangerous or immediatly apetizing food and other things. We dont use our nose to track animals or anything much more than warn us when we are putting something in our mouth.
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, the sense of smell has been an invaluable medical tool for centuries. Cyanide poisoning can look like a dozen other medical emergencies, so a smart trauma doc will remember to take a smell of the patient's breath. Smells like almonds? It's cyanide. For years the smell of a wound that had gone gangrenous (but still looked okay) was how war theatre surgeons triaged out the ones who had a better chance of surviving. I've heard
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2)
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2)
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2)
Three words for you : Used Girls Underwear
Re:Smell-o-vision (Score:2)
Not as crazy as it sounds (Score:2)
Re:Not as crazy as it sounds (Score:2)
Smell-o-verts (Score:2)
Re:Smell-o-verts (Score:2)
And my Smell-o-matics nozzel for the supply of chemical-372, and chemical-441 has clogged and instead of mixxing up a yummy baked pizza smell I'm treated to a vomit inducing fecal odour...
I wouldn't have been so bad if it was just once, but Pizza Hut ran the same commercial 6 times in the next hour
Tangentially that brings up a real issue with this technology. It sounds like an inkjet printer business model gone out of
Viruses (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Viruses (Score:2, Funny)
Perhaps other smells might be more appropriate. Then again you could have a kids filter that changes all those nasty pron smells to something really terrible so the kids don't want to be in there.
Warez could be burning plastic or perhaps the smell of blood, sweat and tears or maybe money.
Re:Viruses (Score:2)
Re:Viruses (Score:2)
You computer would smell like vomit when visiting a porn site?
I don't want to know what kind of porn you're looking for.
Re:Viruses (Score:2)
Re:Viruses (Score:2)
Re:Viruses (Score:2)
Cue the "Pull My Finger" virus (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Cue the "Pull My Finger" virus (Score:2)
Literally! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Literally! (Score:3, Funny)
This is literally vaporware!
Actually, I think the MPAA has prior art - they've been releasing expensive stinkers for decades.
Advertising dollars in the making. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Advertising dollars in the making. (Score:3, Insightful)
There was an outcry here recently when an advertiser proposed modifying the advertising signs on bus stops to smell like the alcoholic drinks they were advertising.
Smell is a much more intrusive medium than sound or vision. Advertising alcohol or tobacco (if such were legal here) by smell would definitely be wrong. IMO.
Re:Advertising dollars in the making. (Score:1)
Re:Advertising dollars in the making. (Score:2)
Re:Advertising dollars in the making. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Advertising dollars in the making. (Score:2)
DigiScents?? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:DigiScents?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:DigiScents?? (Score:2)
Re:DigiScents?? (Score:2)
lordy (Score:2, Funny)
Re:lordy (Score:2)
Really? You're supposed to be smelling pine freshness. Please file a bug report.
Smell-o-vision replaces television! (Score:2)
Just Imagine the applications for this in... (Score:2, Funny)
Flicked past A&E the other night (Score:3, Funny)
Ah well, sex sells. Even weird kinky smell sex, just include a "urine smell" and you'll sell to perverts everywhere!
Re:Flicked past A&E the other night (Score:2)
Re:Flicked past A&E the other night (Score:2)
In the Road Ahead, Bill Gates made pretty much this same observation. He said that historically when a new medium comes around, pretty much the first thing people put on it is sex. Apparently some of the first uses of paper were erotic drawings.
typical (Score:2)
Re:Flicked past A&E the other night (Score:2)
Sport and teleconferencing.
Actually, is streaming live video even used for porn at all? What's the point of broadcasting porn live? I'd have thought most people would want it prerecorded, so they can get a guaranteed quality level.
High speed internet? It only reached critical mass because it allows people to download their porn faster and in higher resolution.
Actually, downloading music and sharing digital photos (of grandchildren etc., not p
FARTS.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:FARTS.. (Score:2)
Pull my finger!
What about toxic smells? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it was in one of the Feist books where the guild of thieves kept one of their headquarters' secret entrances concealed by throwing a dead cat into it once per week, which I find rather clever.
Would the smell of rotting meat be more effective than a loud siren as a burglar alarm? ("Call the police, honey, I think somebody died in there").
Would stores buy "smell printers" to pipe the smell of popcorn or fresh-baked bread near the high-margin retail shelves? Conceal the true value of a shelf of wines by piping in the smell of Grange Hermitage over the top? Bad smells near the cash office or complaints desk?
Could we truly be led around by our noses by people who installed these things commercially? Niven and Barnes made low-grade smell manufacture ("Neutral Scent") a plot element in the original Dream Park, which I think was some sort of unscented pheremone base. It's value was in the fact that the effect was totally and completely stealthy.
I'd be scared, if I had a sense of smell left.
Re:What about toxic smells? (Score:5, Informative)
It is more effective in certain applications. Underground mines use Ethyl Mercaptan (stench gas) to warn workers to evacuate the mine http://www.zacon.ca/stench-gas.asp [zacon.ca]. If you've ever experienced it, you'll know there's a strong incentive to get the hell out of there.
Re:What about toxic smells? (Score:2)
Re:What about toxic smells? (Score:3, Informative)
Smell generators have been in use for about a decade outside of some shops, mainly bakeries. Have you ever walked down a street, smelled a good freshly baked bread scent, only to walk into the bakery where the smell is mostly absent and the bread has been sitting in the shelves since the early morning, long baked ? I don't have a reference or name for those items, but they do exist, googl
Non-toxic reproductions of toxic smells? (Score:2)
Of course, having cheap gas monitors that warn the workers in advance would be even better, but equipment has safety guards on it already, and they're not 100% effective. Lives are saved when humans notice something amiss and react promptly.
Re:What about toxic smells?ethyl mercaptan (Score:2)
perfume? (Score:3, Interesting)
It shouldn't be hard to hack it up for mass production.
Re:perfume? (Score:1)
Re:perfume? (Score:2)
Re:perfume? (Score:2)
The ingredients in the average French perfume (Score:2)
The ingredients in the average $200 French perfume bottle only cost around 2 euros (~3 dollars), and they already are synthesized. The most expensive "ingredient" in the box is the glass bottle itself.
That's also why the "old" genre of parfume masters like Artisan Parfumeur [artisanparfumeur.com] are making a comeback, using only "pure" smells.
What about reverse engineering it.. (Score:1)
Prepare for an onslaught... (Score:2)
At least one smell will suffice for Microsoft, the Bush Administration, the RIAA/MPAA, and AT&T.
I think I'll call it 'Brown'.
Re:Prepare for an onslaught... (Score:2)
I think I need some fresh air just *thinking* about it.
Re:Prepare for an onslaught... (Score:2)
Dear Sir,
As the legal representatives of the Perfume Industrial Trade Association (PITA), we hereby order you to cease and desist from reproducing the scent of one of our represented products, specifically, "Putrid". We have determined that your sweat glands contain the same olfactory composition as "Putrid", which is copyrighted in the U.S. the E.U., China, Japan, and Hell and its environs (incl. Detroit). Pursuant to this order, you are hereby enjoined to:
I love the smell... (Score:2)
All fart jokes aside, this smells useful (Score:4, Interesting)
There are certain smells that get our attention, not because they are unpleasant, but because they signify something important, perhaps even life threateningly dangerous! When you smell something burning, you almost automatically look around to see where the odor is coming from or if there is visible smoke or fire; unless, of course, you are the sort who can burn almost anything (water?) when trying to cook a meal.
Olfactory signals might be terribly useful if they could be produced on demand in a very controlled manner. Animals can often tell a lot more about the world around them because they have well developed senses of smell. Humans lack great sniffers for the most part, but we are good at creating tools (machines) to enhance our natural abilities far beyond what nature has given us. Why not make smells more useful?
Think about the possibility in cosmetics alone. Instead of trinkets such as mood rings, people might wear scent generators that convey specific meanings/moods in a decidedly non-verbal manner. Isolating scents and producing complex odors on demand is a technology that just reeks of potential!
Dear old mom... (Score:2)
If I didn't know better, I would think you had met my mother!
Dear old forgetful mom would often put water on to boil and completely forget about it. Later one of us children.. she had 8 *gasp* would find a "cherry red" pot on the stove and manage to toss it into the sink to cool off with a big cloud of steam. I imagine she still has that old warped pot as it was her favorite one. So yes in a way she
Dear Old Dad (Score:4, Funny)
Alzheimers [was Re:Dear Old Dad] (Score:2)
One practical application I can think of this late/early is in Alzheimers cause the memory of smell for a few certain objects is the first to go. Peppermint and cinnamon are two of I think 12... I'd like to say what the others are... but I forgot
Pheromones (Score:2)
He He (Score:1)
Nuff said!
Smellovision (Score:2, Interesting)
Smellovision is not.
By the way, smells were used with some movies before I was even born. They failed utterly. Apparently they couldn't ventilate the theaters fast enough and they were stench pits before the first intermission. Somebody recently tried to add smells to the web. That also failed. I'm guessing that the same reason may have had something to do with it. But that's just a guess.
Now a more domestic use, would be more like c
Dot Com? (Score:2, Redundant)
Anything that has dot bombed increased my BS-o-meter level.
Re:Dot Com? (Score:2)
http://www.howstuffworks.com/internet-odor1.htm [howstuffworks.com]
Folded in April 2001:
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23654,0
so what's next? (Score:1)
Re:so what's next? (Score:2)
Well, then all forms of carbon should be too expensive to use anywhere - after all nanotubes are made of the stuff.
Perfumes are compositions of prefabricared standard odors. The exact composition is created by highly paid, highly trained artisans. The raw material is not that expensive; what you're paying for is development costs and exclusivity.
Re:so what's next? (Score:2)
Thanks Emeril! (Score:2)
BAM!
Now if I could only figure out these knobs...
Fragrance industry's nightmare? (Score:5, Interesting)
I would have thought this kind of tech would be as much a nightmare for the fragrance industry (perfumes etc.) as easy and cheap reproduction of music is for the music industry.
Like the music industry the fragrance industry is selling something fairly low on utilitarian value, and very high in 'cool' (or sign) value. With the music industry people figured out some time ago that the actual product could be attained without the charge. In the fragrance industry, which is so reliant on sign value over use value that you don't even see or hear references to the supposed use value in advertisements (e.g. "CK One smells so good..."), I can imagine that they would really not want to make use of this technology. They'd want to keep the 'mystique' that surrounds the industry and probably would trot out a line like "Our fragrances are so complex and use the purest hopogo-oil and other exotic ingredients which simply can't be replicated by nasty chemicals".
It's also similar to the challenge that hopefully the diamond industry will face some day, when synthetic diamonds become acceptable to the idiots that pay for real ones. A bit of a waste of technology, but anything that causes less money to flow into these cesspools of human idiocy the better. But IMO, it won't happen with fragrances, really these companies don't even sell the barest shred of a product, just the image, so tech can't really bring them to their knees. Diamonds and music are different while still relying on sign value - you do get something in the end, and if it serves it's main purpose just as well (looking expensive/sounding cool) then the consumer will probably go to the cheaper source.
Re:Fragrance industry's nightmare? [OT - diamonds] (Score:2)
Forumlation requires staying power though (Score:2)
In the future though scents will probably be like MP3 files and you can buy something to brighten your room.
Re:Forumlation requires staying power though (Score:2)
If this takes off... (Score:1)
And, for that matter, this is going to require yet another PCI card, isn't it? Like I have all that many slots left after putting 2 GPU's, a PPU and a sound card in!
Re:If this takes off... (Score:2)
AMD should ramp this up (Score:2, Funny)
hackability (Score:2)
Wipe out the planet by email (Score:3, Insightful)
Non toxic
This is no surprise to you if you are over 3rd grade, and visited one single chemistry class, but here is a refresher : there are some very basic elements out there that are completely harmless until you start mixing them together
oh great i will be able to download a bunch of funky smells, or smell the rottening flash while playing doom
thanks but no thanks
Drugs anyone? (Score:3, Funny)
Woot! I hope I can read Slashdot from my cell in Gitmo.
Re:Drugs anyone? (Score:2)
You can, but it'll have been 16 seconds since you hit 'reply'. Forever.
Paradigm shift (Score:2)
I think the only way smell will be work as part of a virtual environment such as a game will be to electronically stimulate t
Technology - it's a wonderful thing! (Score:2)
Noble ideals, indeed.
... well you get the
But you already know the real purposes such technology will be put to - SUV ads will smell of pristine forests, cordite, and female pheremones (rather than stale beer, city smog, and unwashed children); McDonalds ads will smell of freshly-cooked Wagu beef, strawberries, and fresh apples (instead of rancid fat, rancid beef, and little pus-filled pastries); Coke ads will smell of
Can anyone else see marketing jerk off over this? (Score:3, Insightful)
Smell is recorded in whole, and only on a subconscious level. When you cuddle with your loved one, you will remember his or her scent, not consciously but on a purely emotional base. If you meet someone who uses the same fragrance, you immediately find him or her attractive, too, for the simple reason that he/she smells like the person you love.
Can anyone else see marketing go crazy over this idea? Bypass our rational filter and hit our emotions directly? I really hope you can turn that smell thingie off as soon as it becomes available for TV. Or the ads will stink even more than they already do.
Good news, everyone! (Score:2, Funny)
"If a dog craps anywhere in the universe, you can bet I won't be out of the loop!"
Air freshener and perfume industries (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Air freshener and perfume industries (Score:2)
You may be correct that copying air freshener would probably not be an issue, they all pretty much suck anyway. Air freshers are made by a few very large international chemical companies with very deep pockets and legions of lawyers; Reckitt Benckiser (Air Wick, Lysol, Neutra-Air, Wizard), S. C. Johnson & Son (Glade
This would enable education about the olfactory (Score:3, Interesting)
A massively trained organic chemist, food chemist, chef, patissier, etc. can do it in a given limited field, but we have no ability to create output in the smell spectrum that is so amazingly versatile and broadband as our bodies can sense input (including not just the nose but also connected senses of taste, heat, and reactions like eye watering or itching).
If such a thing existed as a piano or a programmatic interface to a smell generator this would let people train their sense of smell to a fine degree, perhaps enough even to sense explosives, or water, or poisonous gases at low concentrations. It could be really important in space habitats, where it is likely that telltale scents might be in the air at low concentrations before full failure of a system, especially a hydroponic or recycling system.
It would also be very useful for training people in diagnosis of disease as smell is apparently a big factor there too. You might find some interesting correlations between how well people score on smell tests and how effective they are in a given field where it is important.
How about (Score:2)
Sure, get closer to the product (Score:2)
Won't work well for all (Score:2)
Also it may get the smell right but is that all there is to it, I guess I am skeptical as I haven't seen any scales, charts or guide to quantify and measure the units of odor,
I want this technology badly... (Score:2)
perfumes? (Score:2)
This thing either has a supply of _all_ possible smells (unlikely) or tries to synthesize something 'similar'. Is this really interesting for perfume stores, where the $$$ are exactly in the subtle details. IMHO this is comparable to letting a prospective Ferrari buyer do a test drive in a Skoda.
Obligatory Futurama Quote: (Score:2)
Fry: "Oh no, I am not going to sniff Uranus"
Prof: "huh"
Fry: "Uranus, the planet?!"
Prof: "Oh, yes, we changed that planet's name in 2026 to get rid of that joke once and for all."
Fry: "What did you change it to?"
Prof: "Urectum"
Re:Next gen fart machine (Score:1)
*Note when aiming at chest of big dude make sure you don't hit face- My friend
Re:Education Applications (Score:4, Interesting)
Not a bad idea. You could imagine using the same technique to train soldiers to detect chemical agents, or to train emergency response workers to detect chemical hazards. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the fireman who has to search our lab after a major earthquake. I *know* what xenon difluoride and sulfuric acid smell like, and I'd still be scared to set foot in that place after a major shakeup.
The article makes it sound as though their device can hit 96 of 347 possible signatures. The question is whether it's possible to accurately reproduce the scent of dangerous substances with harmless ones. (I'm no biologist, much less an expert on olfaction - it could well be that the set of smells we actually encounter involve a much smaller basis that's spanned by the 96 already included.)
But, if you ask me, the "practical applications" the article mentions are still pretty far from practical. The only possibility that seems viable in the short term is being able to accurately reproduce a scent in order to add a single specific scent to an environment or product without spending hours of trial-and-error work in the lab. Bake fresh bread with a hundred slightly different recipes, find out which one is most appealing, and then copy it and add the smell to your vending-machine-biscuit production line. (I can only imagine that happens already, just less efficiently.)
By the time immersive virtual reality gets to a point where adding scent is anything but a dumb, distracting gimmick, I suggest that it will be far easier to throw a bit of scent directly at our brain rather than messing around with our noses.