Two days later, I heard on the radio that a demonstration of computer smells took place at a Japanese electronics exhibition.
This afternoon, I did a search, and found several articles. Here's a taster:
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
It's one of the most often-quoted movie lines and was uttered by Robert Duvall playing Colonel Kilgore in the Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now.
But it may soon be a line spoken by computer game players with technology being developed to enable players to use their sense of smell along with their eyes and ears.
It would be possible to smell the burnt rubber and exhaust in a car racing game or burning wood and weapons fire in a shooting game.
Blog with Connect: Stephen Fench on computer technology
Researchers at Birmingham University in the Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFIDTC) developed the system to release certain smells into air using a computer simulation.
The technology has been designed to train soldiers that the presence of certain smells could signal danger.
Research director professor Bob Stone says smell is the most underrated and underused of our senses.
"If we rely only on sights and sounds, we are in danger of closing our minds to what is going on around us,'' he said.
"For a soldier that can mean the difference between life and death.''
Stone's 'scent delivery system' uses a compressed air chamber and eight different pots of wax which have been chemically treated with particular odours.
The system can already deliver the smell of cordite, burning electrical wire as well as sea and hospital smells with other odours like mildew and even cat urine soon to be added.
Computer games already play a big part in military training with the devices used to operate the latest technology resembling gaming controls.
``Within three to five years there could be games on the market with smells designed to confuse or excite the player,'' Stone said.
My racing car simulator does have an oily rag under the screen support, but having the smell change to suit the current action - WOW!
My older Brother used to refer to TV as "smellavision" before I emigrated in early 1964; a lad ahead of his time!
EricT