This Invention Translates Colors Into Smells

An innovation that is reminiscent of scratch-n-sniff stickers of yesteryear, the Bouquet is a “synesthetic olfactory device” that essentially turns colors into smells. The cone-shaped invention is an ECAL project (from the Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne in Switzerland) by Erika Marthins, Arthur Moscatelli, Pietro Alberti, and Andrea Ramìrez Aburto. The user simply points the Bouquet and the device perceives the color, then sends a …

Tesla Begins Solar Roof Sales

There are now two types of Tesla Solar Roof panels available for pre-order: smooth or textured glass tiles (both made from durable tempered glass). In the next six or so months, the other two proposed varieties, Tuscan and French Slate, should also become available for purchase. US deliveries are expected this year, and UK next. Though, the Tesla site says the panels will be available …

The Death of the MP3

A file type that all but destroyed the music industry as it had existed for decades, the MP3 has reached the end of its life. Developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in the late ’80s as a means to transmit sound information in small packages, MP3s then became a valid means to store information—until Fraunhofer started to give away a software that consumers …