Innovation of the week: Smellable text messages
Startups are getting into the business of sending smellable text messages
The digital revolution is coming for your nostrils, said Roxie Hammill and Mike Hendricks at The New York Times. In a revival of the days of perfumed stationery, startups are getting into the business of sending smellable text messages. Vapor Communications' oPhone Duo is a small tabletop device that emits scents based on how an iPhone photo is labeled.
Users can receive "scent messages" via photos tagged with a particular aroma; the device uses scented plastic pellets that are activated when air flows over them, triggering up to 300,000 distinct smells. A company called Scentee has also created a device that plugs into a smartphone's headphone jack and emits "a puff of fragrance" whenever a text or email arrives. Scentee's technology has already been used for a bacon-scented alarm clock app as part of a promotion for Oscar Mayer.
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