Live Science hails a bold new step in connectivity as researchers in New York City successfully transmitted a smell to Paris… via the internet:
NEW YORK — The first transatlantic “scent messages” were exchanged today (June 17) between New York City and Paris, and they smelled like champagne and macaroons.
At the American Museum of Natural History here in Manhattan, co-inventors David Edwards, a Harvard professor, and Rachel Field showcased their novel scent-messaging platform, which involves tagging photographs with scents selected from a palette of aromas, and sending them via email or social networks. The messages are then played back on a new device called an oPhone.
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The scent messages, called oNotes, are composed in an iPhone app called oSnap, which also launched today. Using oSnap, users can mix and match from 32 primitive aromas to produce more than 300,000 unique scents, Edwards said.
The 32 aromas are placed inside oPhone’s eight “oChips,” which could be thought of as a printer’s ink cartridges. When the device receives an oNote, it releases the corresponding aroma based on the aromatic tags assigned to the image.
Each scent is designed to last roughly 10 seconds….