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Online Aromatherapy in Japan

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the internet-hunting-no-longer-dumbest-idea dept.

prostoalex writes "USA Today has an article on Japanese telecom company delivering fragrances via the Internet. NTT Communications will send a combination of 36 scents through a crystal ball, which can be attached to a PC."

28 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. A must for lav-warriors by fembots · · Score: 4, Funny

    This can be useful if you're browsing the net with a laptop in the toilet.

    With such a limited use (emitting scents), I wonder if the crystal ball would just come with the fortune-telling/aromatherapy software, which interacts with the ball locally, instead of going through the whole web thing.

    In the future, maybe a USB ice-cream maker which makes ice-cream of your choice, after you ordered it via Movenpick's website. Or a massaging chair that starts working on you after you have made the payment via PayPal?

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
    1. Re:A must for lav-warriors by dabigpaybackski · · Score: 3, Funny
      but how else would they continue to milk money off you?

      Easy. They punish you with eye-watering blasts of wasabi-spam.

      --
      "OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
  2. Brings new meaning to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Goatse

    1. Re:Brings new meaning to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      (Score:-1, Nasty)

  3. Wow! by Eric(b0mb)Dennis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh man.. I can't wait for this to go mainstream..

    Goober1: LOLZ I JUST NUKED THAT DUDES SMELL-O-MATIC
    Goober2: LOL WHUT SMELL YOU CHOOSE THIS TIME?
    Goober1: DOE IN HEET URINE LOL!!!
    Goober2: l0l n1ce one d00d

    --
    Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
  4. So, someone tell me... by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Insightful
    What's the point of hooking this device up to a PC? Why not, just, you know, use the device without a PC? What benefits does hooking it up to the PC bring?

    Let alone hooking it up to the Internet...

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
    1. Re:So, someone tell me... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 2, Funny

      That would be #2 in the 3 point business plan.

      2. ?????

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    2. Re:So, someone tell me... by krymsin01 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, obviously it could be hacked. The fun will start when there's a worm that is aware of these devices.

      "Oh no, Infected with ROT3D EGG!?"

      --
      stuff
    3. Re:So, someone tell me... by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 2, Funny

      What's the point of hooking this device up to a PC? Why not, just, you know, use the device without a PC?

      Why not, just, you know, read the fucking article?

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    4. Re:So, someone tell me... by gstoddart · · Score: 2, Interesting
      What's the point of hooking this device up to a PC? Why not, just, you know, use the device without a PC?

      Why not, just, you know, read the fucking article?


      Well, you know, I read the article and I was all, like, wow and stuff. Like, I can get smells beamed to me through the internet, and I was all, like, "Oh my gawd". So I called Suzie, 'n stuff. And she's a Pisces, and she loves the smell of lavender. So she was all like the Price is Right and stuff.

      But I still can't for the life of me figure out why you'd want it. The article makes it sound like it's always gonna spit out the same fragrance for all people with the same sign. You don't need an internet connection if there's only 12 friggin' buttons needed. Hell, TCP has more states than 12 if I recall. What next ... Denial of Smell attacks??

      And if you think printer cartriges are expensive ... ;-)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  5. What's the point? by eeg3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure it's much cheaper to go purchase incense from your local hippy.

  6. I fear the day... by Bionic_Baboon · · Score: 2, Funny

    when these catch on and we have to worry about stink viruses.

    1. Re:I fear the day... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      So if they release the software that controls the scents, and it crashes constantly, would that make it a stink bug?

  7. Finally! by isny · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A useful net product for most slashdotters!

    Damn...there goes my karma...

  8. This needs to be hacked. by IO+ERROR · · Score: 2, Funny

    This needs to be hacked. This REALLY needs to be hacked. I want to be able to download ANY smell I want, not just the ones they want me to have based on when my birthday is. (oops, I read the article again)

    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
    1. Re:This needs to be hacked. by Haydn+Fenton · · Score: 4, Informative

      I can remember a previously story pretty much the same as this one, the device contained a few scented oils, but as somebody pointed out in the comments, smells, like taste, cannot be mixed together to produce a unique smell/taste in the same way that light (colours) can. IIRC, smells and taste are dependant upon the shape of the molecules, and mixing different shaped molecules together doesn't create a molecule which has a new shape. IANAP, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work. So it wouldnt be able to be hacked for any smell.. but give it time, with technology increasing exponentially it won't be long before we're in the nano-tech era, or smaller, and we can probably shape the molecules ourselves.

    2. Re:This needs to be hacked. by mOdQuArK! · · Score: 2, Interesting
      mixing different shaped molecules together doesn't create a molecule which has a new shape

      I've read somewhere though that the nose has only ~20 different types of molecular receptors, and if you can control the stimulation of each type of receptor, then you can recreate any kind of scent (like the RGB of the eyes).

    3. Re:This needs to be hacked. by famebait · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Did noone pay attention to this years' nobel prizes this year?

      Medicine was awarded for finally figuring out smell, and it turns out we have thousands of different receptors. Many of them may be activated by several different chemicals to varying degrres, and and a fragrance may contain any cocktail of those chemicals. In other words: no practical odor source can ever cover any significant part of the odor "space" unless it can produce arbitrary molecules on the fly.

      A neural interface would probably be easier, but that field too is not even close to the sort of precision needed for this job.

      --
      sudo ergo sum
  9. iSmell by DanteBlack · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This remindes me of iSmell, a vapor ware (pardon the pun) from the dot com era. It'll be cool if they actually get it to work but the complexity of "making" scents leaves me wondering. The difficultly in mixing components for a visual response, paint for example, is hard enough. I'm just not sure it can be done, well that is, for the olphactory systems.

    --
    I am invisble, and you can't see me.
    1. Re:iSmell by shahruz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember there was an article in WIRED about that. Wasn't there? They called it DigiScent

      http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/digiscen t. html

  10. Then again by scenestar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cmmon people its japan. if its useless and has an extension cord theyll devellop and sell it

    --
    perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
  11. Been there, done that... by Kerhop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The product and the domain no longer exists, but HowStuffWorks still has an article about DigiScents. There was also Olfacom and iSmell that claimed to do the same.

    1. Re:Been there, done that... by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 2, Funny

      DigiScents... ahh yes, fond memories. Back when I was a WiReD-reading bastard, I read about this company touting their "upcoming technology." I actually thought it was an interesting technology, and registered digitalscents.com. (I swear, your honor, it was only so that I could setup forums for people to discuss "digital scent" technology.)

      Instead, a few months later I sold it to DigiScents for $2000.

      I miss 1999... sniff sniff.

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  12. How odd by smclean · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder how long it takes before the thing runs out of smell and needs smell recharge cartridges. It's not the smell printer that costs money you know, its the smell recharge cartridges.

    --

    "'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."

  13. That's for delivery, what about capture? by michaeldot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A scent deliverer is one thing, but a "scent scanner" would be interesting too.

    A device that could record in digital form what an environment smelt like, then it could be reproduced at a later time by something like the crystal ball thing in this article.

    The scent deliverer might have to get some more depth. Maybe it could be the next big evolution of output devices... For instance, visual displays (monitors) evolved from 1-bit (monochrome), to 8-bit (256 colors), then 16-bit (thousands of colors), up to the useful 24-bit (millions of colors).

    An olfactory delivery device could evolve from something like this crystal ball which might be at 4-bit (thirty something smells) at the moment, up to 16-bit (thousands of smells) in the near future.

    Build them into webcams, then geekettes would not only feel oblighed to wear makeup, they'd have to put on their perfume too! And geeks would have to shower more frequently...

  14. We could learn from this by 10000000000000000000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    this could be applied to learining, both in the classroom, and now as this article shows, online.
    Smell is directly related to memory
    The medial temporal lobe is known to play a role in the processing of olfaction and memory
    To me, it certainly seems worth investigating.

  15. uh oh by Nykon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great, I can only imagine the havoc when the "I just farted" hack allows you to send smells to your unknowing friends..

    --
    "It's better to be a pirate then join the Navy"
  16. Yet again, Groening'sFuturama predicts the future! by echocharlie · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyone watch the Futurama episode entitled A Big Piece of Garbage?

    In it, the Professor uses his invention, the Smelloscope, to locate a huge meteor composed of garbage (produced by New New York and launched into space because the landfills were full) that threatens to destroy the planet (spoofing the movie, Armageddon). This leads to quotes like these:

    Fry: Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus. (laughs)
    Leela: I don't get it.
    Professor: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
    Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
    Professor: Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
    Fry: Hehe, no, no, I think I'll just smell around a bit over here.

    Ahh... Futurama, it was ahead of its time.

    --
    AnimeNEXT anime convention