"When you think about how important the olfactive is in almost every type of communication," he has said, "its absence in global communication is sort of astounding."

He may be right. We tap on backlit screens and listen to all manner of media through headphones, but somehow scent—with its remarkable ability to tell stories and evoke emotion—still hasn't broken into the technological mainstream. Edwards hopes to change that.

This week, Edwards, co-creator of a scent-sending device called oPhone, is launching oNotes. It's an iPad app that brings together all the applications you can use with oPhone. It aims to be the home of all of your olfactory media—scent-augmented movies, books, photos and music. Edwards describes oNotes as the "iTunes of scent," the control center for a new era of sensory experience focused on making smell as integral to media consumption as sight and sound.