New Market For Smellovision Cartridges?

Given the destructive scenes often depicted in cinema, you might query the wisdom of a technology that brings contextual smells to the viewer. Would the firebombing in Avatar be improved by the whiff of burnt plant life in the theatre?

Yet the ubiquity of the smellovision concept made it a product development certainty. Enter Portuguese designer Nuno Teixeira with his SmellIt: a DVD player that employs an embedded ‘Smell CARD’ to bring up to 118 olfactory sensations to the viewer. Using smell cartridges and an internal fan, the SmellIt syncs with the onscreen image to give smells 20 seconds to cross the room.

According to Teixeira, the smell cartridges contain a patented ‘smell gel’ lasting 3 times longer than ink cartridges. Included among the flavours are popcorn, sea, restaurant and unclean(!) Of course, trust Printerinks.com to release a compatible smell cartridge (in a range of flavours!) as soon as SmellIt hits the market.