Innovation of the week: Smellable text messages

The digital revolution is coming for your nostrils, said Roxie Hammill and Mike Hendricks at The New York Times. In a revival of the days of perfumed stationery, startups are getting into the business of sending smellable text messages. Vapor Communications' oPhone Duo is a small tabletop device that emits scents based on how an iPhone photo is labeled.

Users can receive "scent messages" via photos tagged with a particular aroma; the device uses scented plastic pellets that are activated when air flows over them, triggering up to 300,000 distinct smells. A company called Scentee has also created a device that plugs into a smartphone's headphone jack and emits "a puff of fragrance" whenever a text or email arrives. Scentee's technology has already been used for a bacon-scented alarm clock app as part of a promotion for Oscar Mayer.

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