Gizmodo: scent

Aroma Waker Early Morning Scratch 'n' Sniff Technology

Kit Eaton — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:22:38 EST

Aroma Waker is a not-so-cunningly-named alarm clock that wakes you by emitting aromatherapy scents at a preset time. Its actually got two heated scent pots, so you can have a second dose of smells later in the day— perhaps to remind you it's lunchtime, to feed the cat, or a "warm welcome from a hard day's work" as designers Abiogenesis suggest. So, fragrant Giz readers, how would you like your olfactory glands to be aroused this morning?

The Aroma Waker is just a design concept, sadly, but a prototype is showing at the Wellcome Trust Sleeping and Dreaming exhibition in London until March 10th. [Abiogenesis via Yanko design]

Nokia's Foldable Phone Concept Leaves Your Pocket Smelling Fresh

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:20:29 EDT

No doubt about it. Nokia's Scentsory cellphone concept looks like something you'd launch across the room aimed squarely at a friend's head. But this foldable cellie is a scent-enabled handheld (much like this one), which gives your nose a treat via its built-in pores. Open it up and you get a whiff of petunias, close it shut and you can plop it in your pocket with room to spare. Not bad design-wise, though I'm still not sold on why I'd want a smell-o-phone. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [via Gadget Lab]

Japan's Sony Ericsson SO703i Smells Purty

Travis Hudson — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:55:18 EST

No longer will you have to worry about your cellphone stinking up the place. Not if NTT Docomo and Sony Ericsson have anything to do with it. The SO703i is a cellphone that includes a slot for replaceable scented sheets that give off a pleasant smell. Up to 11 different smells are available. You may think you are hot stuff with that custom ringtone, but you don't have anything on my apple pie-smelling cellphone. Japan only—sorry, folks. –Travis Hudson

Excuse me, your phone is smelling... [telephony's wireless review]

Stench Recorder: Smell-O-Vision On Its Way

Charlie White — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:15:59 EDT

We've been hearing threats of smell-o-vision for decades now, but it looks like engineers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology are getting serious about an odor recorder that can analyze scents and reproduce them by combining the 96 chemicals packed inside the device. Not only will it be able to approximate the smells of the finer things of life such as freshly-baked bread or apple pie, but it could also help doctors to diagnose remote patients by whipping up a hell of a stench with smells of urine, bile and rotten egg farts.

You point the device at an object, and then it records its odor using 15 chemical-sensing microchips, or electronic noses. It can then transmit that data to another device in a different location, or save it for later playback. So far, the system has been able to accurately record and play back the scent of orange, lemon, apple, banana and melon, and it's said to be able to demonstrate the difference in scent between a red and green apple.

The researchers hope to implement the device for online shopping, where you'll be able to smell before you buy, and also in various virtual-reality environments. As they are with all technological innovations, we're thinking the porn industry will lead the way with stank-ho-vision. – Charlie White

Device records smells to play back later [NewScientistTech, via SciFi Tech]