Does Technology Stink?

Forget the iphone and fuel cell systems, some of the most important recent advances have been the many fantastic new devices in air freshener technology.

Just a few years ago, if you wanted to try to cover up the smell of tobacco smoke, cooking odors, baby pee, cat pee, or dog pee, your only options were a can of Lysol or some big clonky Glade thing.

Now we've quickly moved through the plug-in air freshener, to that thing like a CD player that "plays" different smells, to the plug-in freshener with a tiny built-in fan.

What exactly is going on that creates the need for better air freshener technology?

Well, through my in-depth research I have first found that they aren't called air fresheners any more. Now there are scents, fragrances and aromas. They are clearly not all the same thing. I don't know why, but they just aren't. I do know that we (and when I say we I mean the nut jobs who buy these things) seem to be moving beyond simply masking unpleasant odors.

Now we are being sold on creating new scents or aromas in our homes in order to - well I'm not sure what, but it has something to do with mind control, I think. We want people to come into our houses and instead of thinking, "It smells kinda funny in here" we would rather have them think, "It smells kinds funny in here, sorta like pine, cinnamon, and vanilla, but not really."

And the progression of scent technology continues. Now instead of pushing the aroma to the nose of the visitor with sprays, candles, warmers, or little fans, a Dutch company called Rikrhol is developing something better. They have taken advantage of nanotechnology and are near to producing a tiny scent module that can be discreetly placed on a visitor's clothing. This module can be programmed to emit up to 15 scents that will reach the visitor's nose as needed. They can even be set up to give each of several visitors different "scent stories" as they tour your home.

I am glad that we don't have to go to the trouble of opening doors or windows to let in all of that so called fresh air. Now we can have the scent of fresh air from Hawaii, an alpine forest, or a field of wildflowers, and even force it on our guests.

Fantastic.