Smart phones can now be equipped to tackled your olfactory perception with this whimsical Japanese gadget from Chaku Perfume. The device is a small attachment to your phone that can transfer scents wirelessly for $60. Chaku’s representative suggested that the device can be used my music idols to transmit their scents during live concert broadcasts using the device’s app – Chat Perf.

For example, suppose you want to send a message to a friend via a social network, maybe because you know your friend is tired. You can use this to send a relaxing scent along with your message. You can also use it to add scent to the notification sound whenever you get a new e-mail. We also think this device could be used with games. It could have all kinds of applications, so for example, in a shooting game, shots could be accompanied by the smell of gunpowder.

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Canadian eReading company Kobo has opened up an eBook store in Japan and will introduce its eReaders to the country on July 19th. Kobo eReaders go on presale today  through the new Japanese Kobo e-commerce site for ¥7,980 or $100 US.

The news comes as Amazon has its own plans to enter the Japanese eBook market. The company recently listed Kindles in Amazon’s Japanese store explaining that the devices are coming soon.

Kobo’s business strategy has always been to push into the global markets and already has stores in Canada, the U.S., Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, among other places. Japan is an obvious next move for the company, because in January, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten bought Kobo for $315 million in cash. Read more