Fragrances on the Web

Fragrances on the Web

Exhalia is a French product to satisfy the olfactory senses on the web; a scent-machine which comes in the innocent size of a printer. How does it work?

"The creation of an olfactory multimedia application can be summarised into three steps: a web designer writes the scent scenario and inserts commands for the diffusion of smells in the pages of the site. The corresponding information is transported by the network (name of scent, length of diffusion, intensity of diffusion). The driver translates this information for the diffuser. The diffuser is composed of a box containing fragrances in the form of removable cartridges, a format which all multimedia users are used to. Each cartridge provides up to 3 months of scent diffusion. Once used up, they can be replaced as simply as a toner cartridge in a printer."

I wonder if this invention will take off, and what industries find the most use for it. And if it does become a standard one day, will we be able to search for specific fragrances?