
The failed quest to bring smells to the internet - yarapavan
https://thehustle.co/digiscents-ismell-fail
======
vandahm
I think the iSmell, at least the way it's described in the article, was a
terrible idea. Whatever the scent-enabled equivalent of a Rickroll or a goatse
link would have been, we're better off without it.

That said, the technology seems kind of cool. The idea that we could define a
set of primitive smells, then combine them into any other arbitrary smell is
fascinating. If you have the binary data from an image file, and you know how
to decode it, you can preserve a photograph forever -- potentially for
thousands of years -- with no degradation. It would be really great to be able
to preserve scents for posterity in the same way.

~~~
inopinatus
We went through this in the 80s with a similar outcome. The root cause of
market failure then was consumers deterred by a format war between the
compressed odour format, Nosepeg, and the higher fidelity (but patent-
encumbered) WIF.

~~~
function_seven
The bitter fight between those who pronounced it “whiff” and those (Deutsche)
who said “veef” didn’t help the latter format.

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larkeith
I can see niche applications for this type of technology - consider people
consigned to a clean room in a hospital, or a Mars habitat, or any other
situation with severely limited olfactory experiences.

When it comes to the average consumer, however, I can't see this ever taking
off for a couple reasons:

1\. Smell is one of our least important senses - while it might help
immersion, very little of our information about our world comes through our
noses, comparatively speaking. There are many, many subjects that might be
improved to provide better immersion than scents, which are, ultimately,
optional.

2\. On a related note, smell is a less developed sense. The amount of
bandwidth our noses provide is massively limited, unlike audio or visual
effects. Additionally, multiple smells in a short timeframe will interfere
with each other, preventing more complex arrangements. This means there is
less design space for creators to use and consumers to experience.

3\. Because of this, most people's olfactory needs can be satisfied with less
difficulty at a lower cost. Rather than purchasing an expensive device that
requires power and refills, you can just get an air freshener. Novelty and
variety in smells is much less of a priority than simple maintenance of a
pleasant base standard.

In the long term, I'm sure smell simulation will be achieved for VR-style
experiences - but almost certainly not through these devices. As long as
there's no simulation of motion, or, less importantly, touch, immersion will
not be complete enough for lack of smell to be a notable factor. I expect that
all three of these senses will become available when we're able to manipulate
them more directly - attaching to the nerves, or perhaps via neural implants,
as any physical measures for motion or touch are crude and generally
ineffective - and that olfactory devices will see negligible success in the
meantime, until they're obsoleted.

~~~
code_devil
I actually met a friend of mines recently and unfortunately due to a head
injury lost his ability of smell. The doctor’s didn’t realize it and neither
did he for quite while till one day he got sick eating fish from his
refrigerator that was stale and he couldn’t figure out. So, it definitely
plays an important role. On the positive side he doesn't detect any bad odors,
but that means he wouldn’t know he is stinking either. He makes sure he is
well cologned/deodorant-ized :) Also, he misses the smell of delicious food
and other good things!

~~~
magic_beans
It says a lot about your friend that he didn’t notice he’d loss his ability to
smell!!! Not a man who cooks or drinks wine or beer?

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meowface
I still think this could be a useful technology. As long as pages need to
request permission to emit a smell (similar to how Chrome currently asks
permission for notifications).

If anything, it'd be really cool to smell totally novel things that are unlike
any other scent you've experienced.

~~~
yummybear
I wonder what breitbart smells like?

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tjr225
It seems really incredible to me that this is, and perhaps taste(closely
related), we have been unable to tame. Sight, sound, psychology- no problem
for the technologically literate to impose on another...but we can't recreate
or manipulate smell? fascinating.

~~~
DTND
> perhaps taste(closely related), we have been unable to tame

Really? How do you think they make the most junk of food still palatable
enough that people aren't literally barfing while eating, say, a pizza that
doesn't even have real cheese but a mediocre imitation of it? Or things like
this :
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_methylphenylglycidate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_methylphenylglycidate)
used in various cheap industrial food products like ice creams and syrups.
Entirely artificial and synthesized imitation of strawberry.

We have deciphered taste down to infinite combinations of various synthetic
compounds to replicate, although not to perfection, pretty much any sort of
taste, which is why there is a junk food epidemic. People wouldn't be able to
gorge themselves onto the road of becoming morbidly obese if artificial
flavourings were not up to a decent, although not gourmet-level, standard.

~~~
vincnetas
There is no such thing as strawberry taste. What you feel is actually
strawberry smell. Also apple banana cola etc. These are smells that you feel
by eating. Try eating something while holding your nose shut with your hand.
According to Wikipedia we have only five tastes:

The sensation of taste includes five established basic tastes: sweetness,
sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and savoriness.

~~~
moehm
Related:
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retronasale_Aromawahrnehmung](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retronasale_Aromawahrnehmung)

It's in German, but Google Translator should do.
[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&ie=U...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FRetronasale_Aromawahrnehmung&edit-
text=&act=url)

~~~
Semirhage
Here’s the English version:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retronasal_smell](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retronasal_smell)

------
DonHopkins
They had a booth at the 1999 Game Developers Conference with scantily dressed
young women in skunk costumes. They tried to convince me that The Sims should
support smell, because the iSmell would enrich the user experience of all
those blue puddles of piss on the floor, stopped up toilets in the bathroom,
and plates of rotting food with flies buzzing around on the dining room table.

------
wavefunction
Hell yeah I was just telling my colleagues about this technology and an
article I read in Wired back in the late 90s on these folks.

Smell has a negative connotation. Scent is generally more pleasant in my
opinion. Perhaps it was a marketing blunder.

iScents has both the double entendre and 90s cachet for the "i-thing" naming
convention craze.

~~~
DonHopkins
Classic Marc Canter interview. I'm surprised they could smell the output of
the iSmell USB device over the pungent bouquet from all the joints he was
smoking.

[https://www.wired.com/1999/11/digiscent/](https://www.wired.com/1999/11/digiscent/)

"You know, I don't think the transition from wood smoke to bananas worked very
well." -Marc Canter

You're right that iThings were a huge craze in 1999.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EExgxtJjRS8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EExgxtJjRS8)

------
canpan
I am pretty sure smell would be incredibly useful for advertisement. Not sure
I would like it though.

I wait until some algorithm accidentally mismatches a vegetarian with Hard 7
BBQ. That would be an interesting lawsuit.

Regarding the failure, Brain wave input as well as VR are actively developed.
Touch/feedback interfaces have been common in consoles for ages. But smell is
kind of underrepresented. There is this though: [https://kotaku.com/tecmo-is-
making-dead-or-alive-you-can-sme...](https://kotaku.com/tecmo-is-making-dead-
or-alive-you-can-smell-1796543869)

------
kensai
It has to be said, though, that sometimes the public does not know WHAT they
want, before they actually see a working efficient product. I mean, just look
at the VR devices picture in the article. If the only info execs ever had was
that, VRs would have never arrived to the market.

The critical question is obviously: can you make such a good product that the
public actually changes its mind?!

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tuesdayrain
It seems like this idea is fully capable of generating billions in revenues,
but just wasn't able to get past the technological roadblocks. I would be
willing to pay for nice smells where I wouldn't pay for songs or other media.

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coldcode
In the Soarin' ride at DisneyWorld, when you dip down to fly over the
elephants, you smell "elephant". It's very powerful to add smell to a visual.
That said random smells on a website is probably more like to horrify.

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pymai
im wondering what smell you would have got when you scrolled through the
comments section of a YouTube video...

~~~
magic_beans
Exactly.

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joering2
Surprisingly Creative Labs' Smell Blaster is so old (circa 1993?) that you
cannot even find photo online :(

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arkitaip
The idea should be used to replicate and sell high end perfumes.

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yosito
I think there's some potential to bring smells to VR.

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sgt101
Communicate. With. Your. Dog.

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ManFromUranus
The opportunity for trolling is endless, people looking to smell
"strawberries" would instead end up smelling other things... B.O. , farts you
name it. I wish the iSmell actually had succeeded, too bad.

~~~
reilly3000
I'm tempted to register StankBlockPlus.com.

~~~
agildehaus
uStink Origin

