Posts Tagged Products
Car makers integrate scent
In an effort to please customers, European car makers Fiat, Peugeot, and Citroen have incorporated scenting technology into the ventilation systems of their vehicles. Scent plays no small part in the driving experience, as we know from the popularity of “new car scent” in auto air fresheners. Opel (a brand of GM Europe) is looking into creating an “aroma organ” that would distribute different aromas to different parts of the vehicle. On the flip side, Audi apparently has a team of “sniffers” that approve every part of a car before it enters production, in an attempt to minimize bad smells from chemicals that are a normal part of the production process.
Read more in the Earth Times.
Add comment October 2, 2008
Will scent ever truly make it to the internet?
Did you know that back during the dot-com boom, an Oakland, CA-based company called DigiScents created a USB-connected scent synthesizer called the iSmell? Hooked up to a computer or gaming console, it was supposed to enable scented email, web pages, and games using essential oils and an internal fan. The buzz was so big that it was featured on the cover of Wired magazine. Sadly, lacking the venture capital to move beyond the prototype iSmell machine, DigiScents shut down after two years, and the iSmell was never to be.
Since the failure of DigiScents, Korean technology experts have predicted that internet-delivered scent will be commonplace by 2015. Tokyo, Japan-based NTT Communications has been forging ahead with its own attempts. In 2006 NTT release the USB-connected Aroma Geur device, which syncs scent with what’s playing on the radio, via internet-sent instructions from the radio station. More recently, NTT’s working with the internet-based ability to send scents from your phone, as well as a more sophisticated, internet-controlled fragrance dispenser, currently being used in conjunction with NTT’s scent-emitting signage.
Thanks to CNN for their interesting article about scent marketing and the quest to bring fragrance to the internet, which is what inspired this post.
Add comment August 29, 2008
NTT releases scent-emitting signage to the public
After over 9 months of testing, Japanese telecommunications company NTT has finally made their scent-emitting digital signage available for commercial use outside Japan. The signage is paired with a network-based fragrance communication system: scents emitted are programmed via the internet to correspond with the sound and video display on the sign. The scent-emitting system is available starting at US$1,400.
In trials last year, a cosmetics company said the scent-emitting signs attracted twice as much attention as the non-scented signs, and an ice cream shop increased its sales by 30% with a sign that emitted the scent of vanilla ice cream.
Links:
Add comment August 29, 2008
Scented laptop gets ready for market
Check out the latest special-edition notebook offering from Taiwan-based company Asus. It’s 13.3″ and scented in aromas like “floral blossom,” “morning dew” and “musky black.” The lifespan of the scent apparently depends upon computer usage, which is perhaps a reflection of the fact that the scent is released by the heat of the machine. Details about the scent technology being used in the notebook aren’t being disclosed.
Read more at Asus.com
Add comment August 22, 2008
Aromatic alarm clock wakes you with bacon
The scent of bacon always reminds me of lazy Sundays, when Dad would be home watching wrestling on TV, and mom would be making pancakes and bacon. Several decades later, thanks to some freaky genius designers, I can wake up to the scent of bacon every morning, and nobody has to cook it for me.
Yep, it’s the Wake n’ Bacon Alarm Clock. Set the alarm before you go to bed, insert some frozen bacon, and say good night. Ten minutes before you want to get up the little halogen lamps inside will heat up and start doing their job. If everything goes according to plan, you will start dreaming about eating bacon, and by the time your eyes open, your dream will come true. Now, there’s an invention I can get behind.
Link: Matty Sallin
Add comment August 8, 2008
Scent marketing and education for kids
Check out P.U., The Guessing Game of Smells, where kids can sniff their way around a game board Village by correctly identifying scents from scratch-n-sniff cards. Is it skunk? Or is it manure, peppermint, BBQ sauce, cut grass, popcorn, apple pie, doggie doo doo, or burnt rubber?
The game includes 30 cards, with additional refill packs available. Thanks for the tip to Gizmodo AU, who is calling for an adult version of the game.
Also see: Board Game Geek
Add comment August 4, 2008
VOC-emitting air fresheners exposed by UW study
The dangers of cheap, home air fresheners and scented laundry products are being examined by a recent University of Washington study. Looking specifically at solid disk, liquid spray and plug-in air fresheners, as well as scented laundry products, the study found emission of several toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) classified as toxic or hazardous by US federal law. The offending compounds include ethanol, ethyl acetate, benzaldehyde and acetone.
Discoveries like this one are good news for the higher-tech, commercial ambient scenting industry, which is implementing technologies that allow scenting without VOCs. (See our post of July 16, “Public space scenting: Is it safe? Is it green?“)
Read more in Chemistry World
Add comment July 30, 2008
