The Aroma of Fine Wine From Your Computer

SonomaSteve writes "Wine Spectator Magazine is reporting on a new computer accessory that could have you smelling fine Burgundy wine over the web. The prototype, called Olfacom, is being developed by France Telecom and showcased by the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB.) The technology uses 'essential oils' stored in several tanks inside the peripheral to generate aromas like hay, flowers and fruit. Will Olfacom be more successful than DigiScents? The French say, 'Mais, oui!'"

China Lake

[Shriek]

Back in the early 90's wasn't the U.S. Navy doing research like this in conjunction with their virtual reality research programs going on at the China Lake Naval base in California?

Time and again...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have lost count of all these gadgets. Every other month, some geekish junior entrepreneur comes up with the idea to put a few oils in a box and connect them to a modified bubble-jet printer's head.

First: How should this ever really work? There are millions of scents out there and our noses are really sensitive organs. How should five or ten different oils be able to reproduce all the variations? Remember, we are not talking of different frequencies of one single quality (as with light) but of really different substances. One cannot mix scents as on mixes colors.

Second: Even given it would work: Does anyone want such a thingy? Just wait till the first script kid out there writes a worm that fills half of the world's office cubicles with the nice smell of, [insert your favorite salacity here].

Vapor

[BodyCount07]

This has to be one of the longest running pieces of vaporware around. I've had to have ssen various articles about this type of technology for at least 5 years, with no products in sight.

Wasted R&D

[Bill_Royle]

If you end up being able to replicate the smell of a good wine by mixing a couple of chemicals together (like you would with toner), I'm sure that many wineries would like the recipe. After all, they could cut costs by just using some non-toxic additive to their wine as well, right?

No - this would be a handy companion to an emailed "flaming bag of dogshit" pic, but for items with a high quality aroma, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Re:Time and again...

[ksp]

Are you really sure it's impossible to mix scents to produce a certain experience of smell? Like synthetic flavours/smells, very different compounds create a similar perception of smell. I believe vanilla is more or less impossible to create synthetic, but many compounds have a "vanilla-like" smell. Just like we trick our visual perception by mixing colours or quickly displaying a series of stills - creating an illusion like what you are watching on your screen right now.

I would not be surprised if a limited set of smells (such as wine) can be synthezised.

I have previously seen kits with essential oils etc. that are sold as "wine taster games", I think you are supposed to reckognize certain base smells and score points. Smell characteristics such as blackcurrant, wood, smokey, leather etc.

Who would want it? Well, I would love to buy such a gadget and accompanying software to train myself into a wine connoisseaur - without having to open a single bottle of wine. I could "open" and test smell a $300 bottle of virtual vintage wine at work and drive home afterwards, no problem.
Then I could buy a real bottle and drink it with some friends at a later occasion, knowing in advance I would probably find it suitable for my taste.

sounds like one of those bad future predictions

[t_allardyce]

Dont want to be a troll but:

No it wont be more successful

Smell add-ons are like flying cars - we can do it but no one wants it

Its not ironic, meaningful or in anyway interesting that "To a computer, the fragrance of a rose or a pine cone becomes just another group of zeros and ones"

Computer games dont need smell and hardcore gamers wont give a crap

No one will agree on a standard

People wont buy one just to take a wine tour especially when it cant even do the bloody wine smell!