INTERNET: A Cyberstink over DigiScents

Imagine

surfing a coffee site and encountering the aroma of freshly brewed French roast.

Or dropping by Fragrance.com to check out

the new scent from Givenchy. Or stopping by Fleischmann’s Breadworld.com to

savor the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon buns.

These scenarios aren’t as farfetched as they sound. Thanks to multimedia,

the Web has evolved into a rich and entertaining audio-visual environment. So

far, however, this digital playground has only engaged two of our five senses:

sight and hearing. That’s all about to change. Soon, the Web will encompass

your sense of smell as well, thanks to the pioneering work of a company called

DigiScents.

Evidently, if it can be digitized, it can be synthesized. DigiScents (www.digiscents.com)

has developed a method of digitizing smells, which users experience through the

company’s iSmell Personal Scent Synthesizer, a device not much larger than a

speaker. The iSmell device will be stocked with replaceable scent cartridges

capable of mixing and dispensing thousands of simulated smells.

The idea for DigiScents was born when partners Joel Bellenson and Dexster

Smith were vacationing on a Florida beach in November, 1998. Overwhelmed by the

mingled fragrance of suntan lotion and ocean breeze, they fantasized about being

able to broadcast these scents over the Internet for others to enjoy. Three

months later, they had incorporated DigiScents and were on their way to

developing a prototype iSmell device.

Bellenson and Smith were serious about smell, and quickly raised $10 million

in venture capital. They have since teamed with RealNetworks to develop a

downloadable streaming media player called ScentStream, and have already signed

up 600 plus ScentWare developers. The pair recently announced a partnership with

consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, as well as the late Fall, 2000

debut of the Web’s first scent-enabled portal, the Snortal.

This may all smell kind of fishy to you, but there’s solid science at work

here. The company’s advisory board reads like a who’s who of the biotech

industry. Company CEO Joel Bellenson once ran a Stanford University lab

specializing in DNA synthesis. His research into the way odor molecules bind

with receptors in the human nose became the basis for the "scent

registry" at the heart of the DigiScents technology.

DigiScents maintains that its iSmell technology has strong educational and

medical potential, although the e-commerce aspects are far more obvious. The

company predicts an explosion of olfactory entertainment in the form of movies,

games, music and travel. Already, e-tailers are lining up to scent-enable their

sites, with the most obvious applications in food, beverages, fragrance and

beauty. Some are predicting that digital fragrance strips won’t be far behind,

once scent-enabled banner ads start popping up around the Web.

Entertaining scents

Olfactory entertainment has been tried before, without much success. Back in

the 1950s, the US film industry briefly experimented with "Aroma-Rama"

and "Smell-O-Vision," releasing smells from theatre vents and

underneath moviegoers’ seats. But that was then and this is now. In today’s

world, aromatherapy is big business. Maybe the next big thing will be sites

where you can partake of a soothing whiff of lavender or an energizing hit of

mint before purchasing the real thing.

Don’t underestimate the evocative power of smell. It’s a well known fact

that a certain scent can transport you back to a specific moment in time.

According to Bellenson, this close tie to memory and emotion makes scent a

powerful way to reinforce ideas. "If a picture is worth a thousand

words," he argues, "a scent is worth a thousand pictures." That

may be why game developers are rushing to embrace digital scent, using smells

like sweat and burning rubber to enhance realism and instill anticipation.

DigiScents is not the only company poised to fulfill the promise of a truly

sensory Internet experience. California-based Immersion Corp (www.immersion.com)

is one of several companies working on touch-enabling the Internet. Their

TouchSense technology is already used in mice, joysticks and other gaming

devices to enhance navigation and simulate gravity, centrifugal force, impacts

and explosions. Now, they are working towards synthesizing much more subtle

tactile sensations such as the course roughness of burlap, the tickle of a

feather, or the silky feel of hand lotion.

Soon, like it or not, it appears that we’ll be surfing with four of our

five senses stimulated, if not engaged. And it probably won’t be long before

someone comes up with a way to synthesize taste, so we can experience the

astringent tartness of lemonade or the sweet tang of a sun-ripened tomato.

"Try before you buy" will take on a whole new meaning!

Will people respond favorably to digital scents? There is a lot of debate

online, both about how the surfing public will react, and how accurately a smell

can be synthesized.

Of course, once the DigiScents technology becomes widely accessible, you can

be sure that people will dream up ways to duplicate gross and disgusting odors

too. Imagine the sharp pong of wet dog. Pungent cigarette and cigar aromas.

Those gross smells emanating from the diaper pail or the rank odor of stinky

feet.

But, then again, you can always download an instant whiff of air freshener...

Pam Blackstone is a professional writer

and Internet consultant who specializes in writing for and about the Internet

Copyright 2000 Pam Blackstone



Reprinted with permission