Word: scent
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Songwriting can be a very frightening thing. For me, the fear is about failing to follow the scent of a lyrical idea, failing to come up with the truth of something that you know is there. You've caught a glimpse of it in one line, one phrase, or the emotional idea that's come to you. The fear for me is always, "Am I going to be able to capture that? Can I build a fence around that horse?" A Lucinda Williams song always does...
When you've seen all there is to see around Chittagong, hop on a bus south to Cox's Bazar. Five hours later, the scent of salt water lets you know you've arrived at the longest beach in the world, a jungle-lined stretch of white sand that runs unbroken for 120 km. Women can forget about soaking up the rays in skimpy swimsuits unless they want to attract a whirling crowd of oglers. In Bangladesh, ladies take the surf in full sari. Muslim beach etiquette aside, Cox's Bazar has all the potential of a serene seaside getaway...
...smell the daisies without putting down your laptop, it may not be too far off. I'm at the much-hyped but financially troubled DigiScents Inc. in Oakland, California, for a click-and-sniff demonstration. When I select the cotton candy icon, a short blast from the iSmell scent synthesizer - which connects to a computer or game console - takes me back to the county fair. Some fragrances are better than others: ocean breeze tends more toward air freshener than the beaches of Bali...
Researchers from India to Massachusetts are exploring digital smell technology, add-ons that make your computer into a perfume factory. But the current atmosphere for virtual scents pretty much, well, smells. Greg Gretsch, a Silicon Valley veteran at blue-chip venture capital firm Sigma Partners, says, "Someone talks about digital scent technology and my bulls___ meter goes...
...iSmell works a bit like an ink-jet printer. You slip a scent cartridge into the shoe-box-sized device, which can mix thousands of smells using the same chemicals found in perfumes and food. It then releases a dose of the scent in short, focused spurts. Though a spokesman announced the company's demise last month, DigiScents continues to pin its hopes on the video-game market. Co-founder and chief executive officer Joel Bellenson predicts that a year from now players firing off a round of ammunition in a virtual shoot-out will be immersed in the smell...