But if you’re the type who prefers your closet to smell neutral, then I think the Plasmacluster might be your best bet. It’s a system developed and sold by Daiwa of Japan that makes use of ions to get rid of odors and keep your closet smelling clean and fresh.

The negative and positive ions that it releases fasten onto clothes surfaces where the suspended microbes are, forming oxidizing hydroxide radicals. This instantly causes the removal of hydrogen from the proteins, which causes the physical breakdown of the microbes, rendering them inactive, giving you a clean, nice-smelling closet.

Unfortunately, the Plasmacluster system costs ¥45,990 (~$558 USD). We have no idea on whether or not it actually works, though, so you might end up spending close to half a grand just to see if it does. Or you could just buy a box of soap.

[via Newlaunches via Oh Gizmo!]

The SMELLIT (yes, that is seriously it’s name) is a new gadget from French company Olf-action (as in “olefaction”, get it?) and it’s designed to add “the smell dimension” to various forms of digital entertainment. And given the face that Olf-action already makes a smell-syncronization system for movie theaters called Odoravision, there’s a good chance this is going to be made into an actual product you can buy someday.

It’s certainly more stylish than the ScentScape device, but to be fair, they’re device was only a prototype when I saw it. They don’t say much about how it works, or what sort of smells it will emit, but from the picture of Kratos below, I can only imagine that they plan on offering the scents of body odor, blood and maybe death.

I’m guessing they’ll also offer more pleasant aromas like flowers, food and the ocean for other experiences. Here’s a list of fragrance cartridges they offer for their other systems I found up on their site (translated). My favorites have to be “Smell naked body” and “Bad smells”:

If you’re interested in sniffing out the SMELLIT, you can smell it for yourself at the Lisbon Design Show in Portugal show betwee October 11th and 15th.

[via Behance]

The designer of the robot armpit prototype is Kevin Grennan. He even put hair on the robot pit just to be sure we are totally grossed out. Grennan says that the pit has faux sweat glands inside and it will emit a smell to communicate with humans around them. For instance, a bomb disposal bot might emit the small of fear. I’m not sure what fear smells like, apparently it smells like dirty underarms. He says that research has proven that humans can smell fear.

The designer also says that a robot on an assembly line might have a faux armpit that emits androstadienone, which is a chemical found in male sweat. Grennan figures the smell will help females work more efficiently. Any of the women out there find anything about the scent of a smelly guy that makes you more efficient?

[via Boing Boing]

The Topland Etiquette Checker [JP] has an electro-chemical sensor which will tell your approximate blood-alcohol level. But the really useful part of this thing is the mode where it tells you if you’ve got bad breath.

The display offers 6 levels of breath stinkiness, ranging from from blue smiley face to red dead eyes. Or in laypersons terms, a “1″ means you’re ready to play kissy-face, a “4″ means it’s time for some Altoids, and a “6″ means Satan himself has curled up and died in your mouth, and not even drinking an entire bottle of Listerine will cure your breath, even though it should make you register a perfect score if you switch back to breathalyzer mode.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

So if you’re inclined to tie one one regularly, or if you just like to eat onions, you can grab the Topland Etiquette Checker over at Japanese gadget importer Japan Trend Shop for about $63 (USD).

This is called the Mini Wearable Ionizer Air Purifier for Pets and is supposed to help your pets breathe while they are going around town. It might not yet be that much of a problem in North America, but in Asia, some cities are quite polluted, thanks to the plethora of scooters.

That being said, I think that if it gets bad enough for pets to need this, we’d all be wearing gas masks! Thankfully, it won’t cost as much as stationary air purifiers, but is it just another gadget to put on the pile? It comes with different scents so that your pet can be relaxed, calm, and energized.

I don’t know and without further testing and data, there’s not much that I can say. Actually, I’d rather just buy a LED collar for my dog so that I can find him, rather than this thing. It’s available for $17.20 (USD) from Uxsight.

[via Ubergizmo]

The Antibac2k Magic Ball kills unpleasant odors, as well as removes allergens and contaminants from the air around you. The spherical gadget filters, humidifies, and disinfects stale air, and can even add a pleasant fragrance to fill your nostrils with glee. It does this all while putting on a relaxing light show with a ring of 30 green, blue and white LEDs.

Just pour a tiny drop of Antibac2k’s special purifying solution into water, fill it up, and it does the rest. Your nasty, stank air will be pulled in, scrubbed, cleaned and spewed back out smelling like a rose (or one of numerous other scents.) The makers of the device claim it can effectively remove dust, smoke, odors, bacteria, fungi and viruses from your airspace. A single Magic Ball can clean the air in rooms up to about 350-square feet.

So if you need to clean up your act, you can pick one up online from b-eshop for HKD 1,680 (about $216 USD.) The manufacturer claims to distribute these all over the globe, but I couldn’t find any for sale outside of Asia.

According to the device’s maker, e-Revolution, the Deodolight is designed to eliminate (or at least cover up) “ill-smelling” aromas while it slowly fades between an array of colors. Replaceable cartridges for the light comes in grapefruit, forest or unscented versions.

I am bummed that there’s no “new car” smell available though.