The cross-platform browser plugin that allows not only audio and visual data to be transmitted from a remote source, but also olfactory data. A smellovision unit is required, with HP, Canon and Epson leading the way in the development of this technology for home use. HP makes the robust model, Epson makes the hi-smell-res model, and Canon makes the cheap one.

The smellovision device plugs in to your USB-III port, and requires the installation of several drivers. The hardware is straightforward; it's a small ChemGen box, with nose tubes that plug into your nostrils, with adjustable smell levels. The only problem is the the ChemCartridges need to be refilled if you've been smelling a lot of stuff, and they're damn expensive.
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If this seems ridiculous, it's for a reason. With so much visual and audio stress caused by television, radio, print and computer, people are losing touch with other senses. This is why we see a trend towards people craving unusually flavoured foods, and complex wines. The smellovision would get the computer closer to the synesthesia machine, and allow people to once again use their ignored and atrophying senses... but is that really a good thing?
Smell-O-Vision, in which movies or television shows are appropriately scented, was tried in American movie theaters as Aroma-Rama in the 1950s, pumping scents through theater vents and under seats, but failed to remain marketable. Theoretically, smell can be digitized, which researchers are presently working on. With the possible sophistication of digitized scents, Smell-O-Vision will make its way into homes everywhere accompanying advertisments, education, and entertainment.

Currently, Dexster Smith and Joel Bellenson, founders of the company DigiScents, are developing iSmell, a plug-in device for the computer that contains a palette of scented oils that can combine to create distinct smells. Like MP3 players that download music from the Internet, DigiScents take orders from "ScentStream" software, translating digitized scents to the iSmell. Smith and Bellenson have compiled thousands of scents into a standardized Scent Registry which they plan to integrate into video games and websites.

Since smell is strongly tied to memory and emotion, Smell-O-Vision will be a powerful way to reinforce ideas.

As each sense has been emulated by technology, so has a portion of our psyche.

Our visual sense has been expanded beyond all semblance of what it began, distorting the square of the senses as Marshall McLuhan has put it, hypnotizing us. In a less McLuhanesque way of speaking, we can observe on the removal of colors from what they what were.

Sound, also, has been removed from the natural world. Yes, I, too, own a synthesizer, but am aware of what it is doing to my ear.

And now, smell is to be colonized. Now, one of the last redoubts of refuge from corporate exploitation is about to be invaded.

What remaining need is there for us to experience anything. As the computer takes up its purpose, what need is there to do anything!

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