UK net provider Telewest Broadband is testing a system to let people to send (sic) aromatic e-mails over the internet. It has developed a kind of hi-tech air freshener that plugs into a PC and sprays a smell linked to the message.
Good heavens. That would so enhance my mail-reading experience.
The dome comes with a cartridge containing 20 basic aromas, which can be combined to produce up to 60 different smells. [...] But the chance to sniff your e-mails not may come cheap. Telewest says its "scent dome" could cost around £250 and would only work with a high-speed, broadband connection.
I think their mathematics is screwed. Even if the combination were limited to a 50-50 mix of two basic aromas, that would permit far more than 60 combinations. And WTF's this about needing broadband? Exactly how much data do they think it takes to encode "ten puffs of A, two puffs of F, one puff of N"?
*shakes head sadly* And next they'll market it as a game add-on, I'm sure. "Two puffs of cordite, one puff of mangled flesh..."