By Ron Magers
Aired 11/12/00 on ABC 7 Chicago

Warm bread just out of the oven, fresh coffee, flowers, popcorn - soon you will be able to smell all of these things from the comfort of your own computer.

Hamid Arastoopour of the Illinois Institute of Technology believes scent on the Internet will change the way we surf the web.

"So, you will see a picture, that's great, you'll hear it, that's wonderful but if you smell it you feel that you're really there," said Hamid Arastoopour, Ph.D., from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dr. Arastoopour and two other scientists developed the tele-aroma drive, a device that will bring smells to cyberspace.

"So, in 10 seconds you can go from the smell of peppermint all the way to cologne by clicking on this," said Arastoopour.

Here's how it works:
Special software sends a signal to the device telling it which scent to create.
Then, specific oils are heated, a smell is released and a fan blows the aroma toward your nose.

The prototype looks nothing like the final product which will resemble a CD-ROM. A laser will heat it to produce the scents.

A California-based dot com also wants to stimulate our sense of smell on-line. Digiscents is leading the race to bring aromas to the Internet. The company was founded by Joel Bellenson and Dexster Smith, two friends from Stanford who had "retired" after working in biotechnology. But they sensed an opportunity.

"We were down in South Beach, Florida, taking in the sights and sounds and the smells the ocean, food, the people. It just hit us in the head how important scent is to convey a place," said Joel Bellenson, the CEO of Digiscents.

That was just two years ago. Now, Digiscents plans to have its "scent speaker" called the Ismell on store shelves within the year.

"You plug it right into your computer like you'd plug in speakers and then its click and sniff. It's just that simple," said Dexster Smith, the President of Digiscents.

The initial price for the device will be under $200 plus the cost for refill cartridges.

Sensory scientists are designing a system of hundreds of basic smells that can be mixed to create scents such as volcano, watermelon, haunted house and butterscotch.

"We're really setting out to create a digital language for smell," said Bellenson.

Research shows that smells trigger memories and specialists say this new technology could launch the next web revolution, by bringing emotion to our online experience.

"If you want to induce a change in emotions the way you do it is with smell, and by introducing smell on the Internet it makes it more emotional and more real!" said Dr. Alan Hirsch, from the Smell & Taste Research Foundation.

Before long you will be able to sniff produce at an online grocery store, send scented e-greetings, and smell perfume before buying it over the Internet. But this whole concept of "olfactory entertainment" is really nothing new.

In 1981, moviegoers rejected John Waters' idea to scratch and sniff different smells during his movie "Polyester". Although the film without the scratch and sniff aspect, has become a cult classic.

But what about smelling what you see online?

"I think that would be cute, as long as they keep coming up with creative ideas for it," said Jason Richardson.
"It's like being in the store without having to leave your house," said Susan Fiore.
"It's another thing to enhance the buyers' knowledge of the product," said Jim Brew.
"Why? The point of smelling something over a computer is kind of silly in and of itself," said Brian Peters.

Ranjay Gulati is a high-tech expert at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. He believes that despite the hurdles this technology will have to overcome it does have potential.

"You'll see an impact on teenagers so forth who'll say this is a fantastic thing, but I do see actually adults using it, too. I think of myself and I say hmmmm I might try it out," said Gulati.

Sean Cummings is the director of digital strategy for a Chicago advertising agency. He thinks it might take awhile for this idea to catch on.

"As far as adopting the technology I'd be looking 3 to 4 years out only because with any new technology there is an aversion to adopting it," said Cummings.

The developers say don't knock it until you smell it.

This new technology could also be a heyday for hackers who will likely be able to mix up some pretty awful stenches.

The ITT team and the folks at Digiscents hope this idea of "click and sniff" will eventually lead to scented video games, movies and television.