For those who think 3D is a gimmick, get ready for this one. Researchers at the University of California San Diego, in collaboration with Samsung, “have developed a compact device capable of generating on command thousands of aromas.” The device can attach to the back of TVs and/or mobile phones.

Apparently smell-o-vision TV is the next 3D. I can just imagine all the Smell-O-Vision content, and there’s probably another “Jackass” movie already in production.

Here’s more from The New York Post:

The smell comes from solutions held in 10,000 tiny chambers in the device. A small electrical charge heats the solution, turning it into a gas with the desired smell, the developers claim.

The idea of smell-o-vision has been around since at least the 1950s—when it was tried in movie theaters—but has never caught on with consumers.

But, if the new system proves practical, advertisers would likely be the first to use it—paying extra to release the aroma of, say, baking cookies during their dessert commercials.

Researchers said they tested the new device by using two commercial perfumes, Live by Jennifer Lopez and Passion by Elizabeth Taylor.

The challenge, they said, was coming up with an electrical system that was reliable enough to zap the correct tiny chamber without setting off any neighboring aromas.

Not to be confused with “Shell-O-Vision” from “Sigmund the Sea Monster”

lame. Wonka has been doing that for years.  Samsung would be taking credit for snozzberries if we let them.