So, there came a very funny app and device on the market in Japan: the Scentee app..
WIth this app you don’t (only) have to hear or feel (vibration function) it when you get a Facebook-Like, Facebook-, text-, or email-message, or when your alarm goes off.. But you can SMELL it..in different scents (=fragrances)!
The Scentee “bubble-like” device plugs into the headphone socket of an iPhone or Android smartphone and takes instructions from the Scentee app to release scents when the phone receives a notification. The Scentee device is available on Amazon Japan for ¥3,480 (£22), with scent cartridges costing about £3. One cartridge lasts for 100 sprays.
The Scentee device lights up when it is activated with 7 coloured LEDs (modifiable) and can be set off in a sec. The device is rechargeable and can be on standby for 24 hours on a single charge.
Scentee is being sold though Amazon Japan and the company said it will ship to the United States.
The scents are:
and also bacon and jasmine. From 15 November, the app includes two types of meat smells and baked potato
How it works:
As you saw in this video, the company claims that as scent influences humans’ perception of taste, by smelling a different aroma such as steak or curry while eating bland food (like rice), the body can be tricked into believing it is eating a much tastier dinner.
Do you think that we can manipulate ourselves this way? Do you think that people will use Scentee for ‘making’ their food more delicious ?
I would personally use Scentee for a nice scent in the morning, when my alarm goes off, or as air refreshener when the place i’m at stinks. I dont think that i would use the food scents, because i don’t like to smell yummie food when i can’t eat it :p
Do you think that this app can be useful? Would you like to have this app, or do you think that it is fully crap?
References:
-Jurtschenko, I. (2013). Wat ruik ik? Ow een smsje. Available at: http://www.dutchcowgirls.nl/gadgets/6953.
-Griffiths, S. (2013). Forget scratch-and-sniff: App claims to change the taste of food – and even alert you to a text with an aroma. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2458558/Scentee-app-changes-taste-food-alerts-text-aroma.html.
– Wynick. A. (2013). iSmell: Smartphones can now emit SMELLS with new app. Available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/scentee-smartphones-can-now-emit-2651766.
