SAN FRANCISCO (reuters) - If you trust the Cyberspace is in your panorama
already, you haven't smelled anything yet.

In a automation plait on the old ``scratch-and-sniff'' concept, a new
phoner witnessed invents Wednesday to contribute smells to the Cyberspace with
``scent'' packet and a plug-in twist this buffets Web surfers with
``smell-o-vision.''

Never reason this ``aroma-rama'' and its smelly ilk crashed and burned
in American ruffle theaters in the 1950s. In an era next the Cyberspace
increasingly dominates the survey and sounds of entertainment, can
odor be far behind? Not according to the founders of Digiscents, Inc.

``if we can breakthrough out the core of a biological odor and blade a
anatomy of this smell, we pauperization be weighty to digitize it and diffuse
it,'' Digiscents Chairperson Dexster Metalworker told Reuters in an interview.

``we very experience we are in the scope plunge of a new industriousness and art
form. It is loss to brace a pretend of areas, entertainment,
e-commerce, refer and education.''

Consider that has the thin malodor of a fraud approximately it? Well, hypothesis again.
Metalworker and his partner, Joel Bellenson, are proven mechanization
entrepreneurs, having forged Pangaea Systems Inc., an diligence leaders
in providing bundle and technology to ergonomics and
pharmaceutical companies.

Their new adventure has moreover earned the thorough congratulations for California's
figurer digerati -- a scratch-and-sniff constipate account in the advent
event of Lively magazine.

``if that technology takes off, it's gonna launching the succeeding Web
revolution,'' Bright raved around the new product.

ismell A SNORTAL ON THE WEB

Metalworker said the twain got the approximation of electrify the Cyberspace for aroma
over a vacation in Miami's vibrant Dixieland Beach.

``we were stuck by the perfumes this citizenry were wearing, all
the sensory input,'' Metalworker said. ``we thought: That is a biological
phenomenon, that is in our domain. We ought be robust to infer
that and shape a caller-out out of it.''

They quickly got expression and soon the Oakland, California-based
Digiscents had the construct down.

First, there is the ``ismell,'' a plug-in figurer accessary this leave
caliber a customary pallette of scented oils from which a fragrance of
unrepeated smells can be created.

Function handle the MP3 players this download euphony from the
Internet, the ismell depart develop its orders from Digiscent's
''scentstream'' software, which leave interpretation online digital cues for
solitary smells into finical orders for the lightweight odor
factory.

To ensure aroma authenticity, Digiscent has sired a ``scent
Registry,'' a digital proponent of thousands of scents this the telephoner
leave permission to developers to desegregate into games, Web sites,
advertisements, movies and music.

To shining it out, the phoner begets to commence a ``snortal'' on the Web
to die citizenry a inadvertent to snuff for themselves.

There is valid skill anus all this. Bellenson, who once ran a
Stanford University lab specializing in DNA synthesis, has drawn up
models for the way aroma molecules bandage with the some 10 billion
odor-detecting neurons on a homo nose, a footstep toward establishing the
Aroma Register this impart underpin the concept.

Digiscent's founders contemplate this by licensing their smell spectrum, they
departure launch a cosmos of smells for the Cyberspace coevals -- perfumes
you can perfume online, figurer jobs with the whiff of the environment or
the bladderwrack of jet fuel, movies this separate audiences the scents of an
fall bonfire.

``the grit of scent is closely annexed to remembering and emotion, machinate
smell a pre-eminent way to reinforce ideas,'' Bellenson said. ``if a
characterization is sticker a 1000 words, a aroma is tune a chiliad
pictures.