It's time to wake up and smell the next frontier in virtual entertainment:
CamSoda's OhRoma features two canisters that attach to the front of the device. Each canister includes three slots for scent cartridges that you can swap out to customize the experience. CamSoda said it developed over 30 different aroma canisters, which include "sensual" scents that simulate the smell of body odor, pleasing environments, and stimulating aphrodisiacs.
The company also developed a mobile app that interfaces with the OhRoma mask and lets you select what you would like to smell during the experience. OhRoma can also sync with another immersive product that CamSoda launched last year called Teledildonics, which replicates the sensations of sex. Teledildonics allow people to have "sex" over the internet with another partner. And with OhRoma added to the mix, CamSoda offers a completely virtual experience that stimulates four of your five senses.
Unlike Ubisoft's Nosulus, CamSoda's version of Smell-O-Vision is not a joke. You can order CamSoda's OhRoma device today. The face mask alone will set you back $70, and you can purchase individual scent packs for as low as $6. CamSoda also offers a combo pack, which includes an OhRoma mask and a complete set of all 30 scents, for $99.
Here's the Nosulus Rift from last year.
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Though consumer virtual reality is still in its earliest days, VR's utility for influencing perception has been studied for years, and combining VR and scent has been explored, too, by both academics and companies. Li, who's working with working with Jeremy Bailenson, the founding director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab, thinks the combination of smell, touch, and VR could be used in a bunch of different ways in the future—some more dystopian-sounding than others.
Imagine a world where, say, salmon has become extinct. Maybe you could use a virtual piece of salmon sushi, a salmon-like smell, and a real chunk of some other fish in the middle of a hand roll to give people who've never tried it a sense for what it's like to eat salmon sushi. Or perhaps using scent along with virtual reality could help you eat a healthier diet without feeling that you're missing out. You might see and smell a juicy cheeseburger while actually chomping on a plant-based patty.
The possibilities are endless.
[Ed. Note: We held this story back because when it was submitted we had recently run another VR scent story. This one has a different aspect.]
New generation of deodorants 'on the way'
Experts believe they have found a better way to tackle body odour (BO). The key, they say, is understanding how skin bacteria create the smell from virtually odourless armpit sweat.
Two teams, at the Universities of York and Oxford, say they have now deciphered the first step in this molecular process. It could pave the way for a new generation of deodorants designed to block this unpleasant chain of events, the journal eLife [open, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34995] [DX] reports.
[...] Co-author Dr Gavin Thomas, from the Department of Biology at the University of York, said: "Modern deodorants act a bit like a nuclear bomb in our underarms, inhibiting or killing many of the bacteria present in order to prevent BO. Only a small number of the bacteria in our armpits are actually responsible for bad smells."
These Staphylococus hominis bacteria use a "transport" protein to recognise and swallow up the odourless compounds secreted in sweat that they convert into BO. And Dr Thomas and colleagues say this could be used as a blueprint to develop a more guided weapon against BO - a new type of spray or roll-on deodorant containing a substance that would stop the transport protein from functioning.
Related: Get a Whiff of This: Man Hasn't Showered in 12 Years
"Smell-O-Vision" Comes to VR in the Form of "OhRoma" Gas Mask
Here's What Happens When You Add Scent to Virtual Reality
Sensor Detects How Bad Your Body Odor is
FDA Approves Topical Cloth for Excessive Armpit Sweating
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Sunday January 22 2017, @10:54AM
There must be a fart-joke in here somewhere.
Why do we need to bring the smell in the virtual room, and pay dearly for it, when we can access it by simply going for a walk in nature? What happened to KISS?
(Score: 1) by Pax on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:09AM
well.. because fat,lazy lock in, socially inept fucks never go out and haven't a fucking clue what basic human contact is and thus this is the only way they'll get some actions or know what those aromas are.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:19AM
Maybe some people have different interests than you? Ever heard of introverts? You could easily make similar claims about anyone. Oh, you don't engage in Activity X? Then you're a fat, lazy, ridiculous person, even if you have no desire whatsoever to engage in the activity! You'd better like what I like, or you're a bad, bad person!
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:30AM
Well, even as an introvert, you can still walk outside without human company.
It is true that introverts prefer protective and familiar surroundings, but that does not mean they are always sitting in a windowless dark basement in front of a computer (to pick a computer-nerd stereotype).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:56AM
Well, even actual shut-ins can simply have different interests than other people. I don't see the issue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 23 2017, @11:55AM
yeah, but you can't necessarily walk outside in the forest or the mountains if you live in , for example, downtown NY
(and besides if you read the article this was developped by a porn company as a complement to their teledildonics product)
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Sunday January 22 2017, @05:12PM
(Score: 3, Informative) by EvilSS on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:15AM
I've been to a porn shoot before. They reek. I do NOT want to smell that at home.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:18AM
Speak for yourself. I'm looking forward to the remake of Two Girls, One Cup.
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Sunday January 22 2017, @11:58AM
I think you underestimate the perversion of actual perverts.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @01:46PM
the wonderful smell of gipsy...
never saw that coming.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @02:11PM
20+ years ago. Get off my lawn. https://web.archive.org/web/19961231045934/http://realaroma.com/ [archive.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday January 22 2017, @05:13PM
As an alternative, buy a $1 can of tuna, sell for $5 as a "VR enhancement."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @08:33PM
Will it also contain jewish characteristic smell? So when you are watching "The Eternal Jew", you are able to smell them too.