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Cameras should capture smells as well as pictures, says Hewlett-Packard. So it has filed for a patent on a camera that is able to create photos of, for example, Far Eastern markets that smell of a variety of exotic spices, or close-ups of strawberries that smell of ripe fruit.

HP plans two ways of linking smells with a photograph. In an expensive version, a miniature gas chromatography probe could capture a distinctive whiff of the ambient air. A cheaper version will have a library of “scent pictures”, such as wet dog, for the photographer to choose from when taking a…

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