German companies developing scented text messages
Virtually every smell-based tech that's come through the pipe has fizzled out in one way or another, but that checkered past isn't stopping Germany's ConVisual from partnering with the Institute of Sensory Analysis and Marketing on scent-delivery chips for cell phones. The partnership has been running for eight years and just received a patent on the tech, and the goal now is to start building the chips into phone within the next two years. The chip is initially supposed to have 100 different smells on it, and ConVisual says bad smells are a possibility as users will be able to reject certain messages. That's certainly interesting, but we've got to say, we're not all that keen on the idea of people having even more ways to emit odors -- we'll stick with the non-smelly cellys, thanks much.[Via EE TImes]
Filed under: Misc
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doc @ May 3rd 2008 11:30AM
Waste....of time and money, that is unless your in high school then this might be awesome to you. Just how they were able to convince people to invest in R&D for this is beyond me?
Dean @ May 3rd 2008 11:40AM
"Mmmmm is that lasagna!?"
"No... I just got a text message."
WHAT!?
Sameer Surampalli @ May 3rd 2008 6:34PM
WTF? This is the most useless idea ever. Having a phone with it's own olfactory senses is retarded. I prefer to smell like a cologne or deodorant spray rather than enchiladas.
Muhammad Faisal @ May 4th 2008 11:32AM
I happen to know this company. They are on to something here. Think of it this way… If we could use their technology to have our phones emit a sweet scent (like something by Valentino or Givenchy), that would be great. Yes, like many others, I also don't understand why I would want my phone to emit a bad odor (people will think its us who stink as opposed to our phones). Still, if there was an option to always emit a good scent, or perhaps just when the girlfriend calls, that would make a lot of sense. Don't know how much ($$$) I’d be willing to pay extra for this though.