jayd16 an hour ago

Finally some progress towards smellovision.

ftrsprvln 9 minutes ago

The year is 2032. My smart fridge started A/B testing scents to reduce snacking. I ate a carrot and felt promoted.

andrewrn 3 minutes ago

A properly bizarre and interesting blogpost. Wow.

delichon an hour ago

Kickstarter incoming for a device that induces code smells in sync with review.

  • culi an hour ago

    If we have negative code smells can we also make good code smell like cherry blossoms?

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mmulet 11 hours ago

This is exceptionally cool! It looks like this post isn’t getting much love though. I’ll see if I can get this post added to the second chance pool[1] and get it added to the front page!

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308

  • dang 3 hours ago

    Added! Thanks for requesting this.

    All: if you seen a particularly good submission that has fallen through the cracks, please email hn@ycombinator.com so we can take a look and maybe put it in the second-chance pool (https://news.ycombinator.com/pool, explained at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308), so it will get a random re-upment on HN's front page.

    (Yes, it's permissible to request this for your own stuff, but we like it better when it's something you just ran across randomly and realized was interesting—as mmulet did in this case!)

krackers 3 hours ago

I'd maybe make a hypothesis that a large portion of the space is "bad" smelling stuff: smoke or garbage. When people had covid-induced parosmia, it almost always seemed to be bad smelling stuff.

  • robrain 2 hours ago

    Still have it, intermittently. A sort of nameless-but-familiar "chemical" smell that comes and goes, along with any sense of taste. That is, I have bad days with no taste, just a chemical smell. Other days I have a pretty good sense of smell, generally with a good sense of taste.

    Intriguingly some of the really unpleasant smells never get through to me - I could probably work at a sewage works now. Worryingly I have next to no ability to smell burning, though I do now get the smell of natural gas (or the additive used to make it smell).

    • m_kos 43 minutes ago

      There has been promising work on olfactory training, which you can do very inexpensively at home. If you can, I would consider seeing any ENT first to rule out polyps, etc.

      • robrain a minute ago

        Thanks for the info. I'm on top of it (in the ways you described) but still appreciate it and maybe someone else will see your comment.

  • teuobk 2 hours ago

    That was exactly my thought when reading the article and my personal experience with Covid. For a couple weeks, I perceived a persistent smell of something burning.

comrade1234 2 hours ago

I predict a future where once again porn is the cutting edge with a cutting edge technology.

porn + vr + smell

  • netsharc 2 hours ago

    Oh god, do we really want to have the smells of sex when watching porn?

    On the other hand, I see an opportunity even without tech: porn star perfume collabs: Spray some Gukki Bloom and press play on that video to smell what the star was wearing on the day.

    But I guess high-end perfume brands don't want to be associated with actors of the flesh.

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  • amarant 2 hours ago

    You're getting downvoted, likely for prudish reasons, but in all seriousness it doesn't seem unlikely that you're right.

    The porn industry has historically been very quick to adopt new technologies, it's easy to see how this could benefit that industry, so it's a logical enough conclusion to draw. They'll very likely be the first commercial application of this, once viable.

    • arcanemachiner 43 minutes ago

      I assume the reasons are more visceral than prudish. I don't think I would want to know what a porno set would smell like.

      This is coming from a place of physical discontent, not moral discontent.

      • xboxnolifes 37 minutes ago

        It doesnt have to smell like the porno set. They could choose any smell that stimulates arousal.

msuniverse2026 2 hours ago

Reminds me of the vibration theory of olfaction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibration_theory_of_olfaction

  • dr_dshiv 2 hours ago

    Does everything come down to waves or to bits?

    Well, if it’s waves, perhaps principles of consonance and dissonance might apply.

    Robert Hooke thought so…

    “Now as we find that musical strings will be moved by Unisons and Eighths, and other harmonious chords, though not in the same degree; so do I suppose that the particles of matter will be moved principally by such motions as are Unisons, as I may call them, or of equal Velocity with their motions, and by other har∣monious motions in a less degree.

    I do further suppose, A subtil matter that incom∣passeth and pervades all other bodies, which is the Menstruum in which they swim which maintains and continues all such bodies in their motion, and which is the medium that conveys all Homogenious or Har∣monical motions from body to body.

    Further I suppose, that all such particles of matter as are of a like nature, when not separated by others of a differing nature will remain together, and strengthen the common Vibration of them all against the differing Vibrations of the ambient bodies.

    According to this Notion I suppose the whole Universe and all the particles thereof to be in a con∣tinued motion, and every one to take its share of space or room in the same, according to the bulk of its body, or according to the particular power it hath to receive, and continue this or that peculiar motion.

    Two or more of these particles joyned immediately together, and coalescing into one become of another nature, and receptive of another degree of motion and Vibration, and make a compounded particle differing in nature from each of the other par∣ticles.

    All bulky and sensible bodies whatsoever I suppose to be made up or composed of such particles which have their peculiar and appropriate motions which are kept together by the differing or dissonant Vibrations of the ambient bodies or fluid“

    Page 9: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A44322.0001.001/1:3?rgn=di...

nick__m 3 hours ago

If they achieve their goals; I don't know of any tech company I would trust with a direct write access to my brain.

  • bqmjjx0kac 2 hours ago

    I shudder to think what capability the execute bit would grant.

cellular 2 hours ago

Those few smells of extremes (garbage /clean air) make me think they are saturating the sensors.

  • withinboredom 2 hours ago

    The real question is that if you make it smell like garbage, will flys show up? Like is this a human experience, or a universal one?

  • polishdude20 2 hours ago

    I'm thinking it could be that we are very attuned to smelling bad smells because it's for safety.

efitz 3 hours ago

The angle and position of the transducer would make them leveragable by future VR headsets.

  • droideqa 3 hours ago

    After we have Smell-O-Vision[0] we should work on the next big step for the internet:

    <[SA]HatfulOfHollow> i'm going to become rich and famous after i invent a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet

    [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision

a-dub 3 hours ago

that's an interesting mix of smells. i can't help but wonder if it's resulting from stimulation or the sensing of byproducts of the process itself.

  • DrewADesign an hour ago

    If they’re using enough ultrasound energy to create a physical reaction inside the subjects head strong enough to smell like a burning camp fire, I can’t imagine they’d survive long enough to report it. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your implication?

zb3 2 hours ago

I want it the other way - I want google "search this smell" feature..

  • jayd16 an hour ago

    Ah reverse smell search? You'd need to upload the smell.