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Fragrance Jet II receives video demonstration, still looks like a terrible idea (video)
Ah, those zany Keio University researchers trying to recreate Smell-O-Vision, do you want to know what they're up to these days? They're still trying, of course, but now they've taken the opportunity to demonstrate their hardware -- which uses basic inkjet printer tech to fire off very short bursts of fragrance -- to tech lovers in Japan while still tweaking and refining it. Primarily aimed at helping healthcare professionals in assessing a patient's sense of smell, the Fragrance Jet II has a high degree of control granularity, permitting the varying of both intensity and duration of a scent, which in turn can provide a very accurate measurement of a given person's olfactory acuity. A mobile prototype has also been trotted out (pictured above), hinting at the possibility of eventually shrinking these modules to fit inside cellphones and thus leading us to an awesome future of customizable "incoming call fragrances." Awesome indeed. Video after the break.
Keio University and Toshiba ready tiny 1TB SSDs for 2012
Japan's Keio University claims to have developed, in conjunction with Toshiba, the technology to shrink the size of SSDs by a spectacular 90 percent while also cutting energy consumption by 70 percent. If that's not enough mind-boggling numbers for you, the final product of this partnership is expected to yield 1TB drives with 2Gbps throughput. The details of this are still somewhat unclear, but we're told researchers stacked 128 NAND flash chips atop one another, with the breakthrough being in the way they communicate -- using short-range magnetic signals --- which results in less wiring complexity and reduced production costs. We'll take some convincing to believe they can really put these to practical use by 2012 as promised, but if they do make it to any sort of commercial launch, you can bet we'll be queuing up through the night to get one. Note: Nikkei source link requires a paid subscription to access.
