Next time you look at a billboard and swear you can smell what it's selling, it might not be your imagination. NTT Communication is working on its "Kaoru Digital Signage," which emits various aromas to try to catch the attention of a nearby nose.

NTT's aromatic sign setup consists of an emitter stocked with three 450 milliliter bottles hooked up to a 19 inch LCD. The LCD receives instructions via the Internet for what it should display and what smell it should release, and then ultrasonic waves spread the vapors over an area of 5,400 square feet. Currently, NTT is testing its displays outside the Kirin City Beer Hall in Tokyo, Japan, though luckily for people walking by the ads aren't beer scented. Instead, more pleasing odors like orange and lemon are used.

Scented signs might not sound too effective at first, but NTT researchers found that releasing a hint of vanilla by pamphlets for chocolate nearly doubled how many people took one. Follow your nose, indeed. — Kevin Hall

NTT Com, via Pink Tentacle