Over on Lifehacker they're talking about a new web app designed to enhance your creativity.

Coffitivity, research shows a silent office kills creativity and a loud office is distracting. But now, thanks to Coffitivity, you can create authentic coffeehouse noises whilst you work. Chances are however, your agency isn't very good at authentic coffeehouse coffee, so you'll have to improvise or get take out.

Coffitivity even links to an article in the Journal of Consumer Research, as proof. Don't bother spending 14 bucks on it. Just head on over to The Atlantic for a summary of the article: Moderate noise, good. Silence, bad. Lou noise, bad.

If your an ADD type, using an app that creates the sound effects might be a better solution than being distracted by an endless parade of people in a real coffeehouse. By the way, I'm not sure which coffeehouse Coffitivity is referring to, but they certainly can't mean Starbucks. I have yet try and get work done in a Starbucks that wasn't stupidly loud.

Coffitivity's a good concept in theory. In practice I found is distracting. I tried to use it for a few minutes but I started concentrating more on how fabricated it sounded. Dishes don't clink *that* much, do they? My mind started trying to analyze for patterns, looking for loops trying to interpret the murmurs.

This could just be me but for creativity-enhancing distractions, I still prefer the ambient music set to police scanners soundtrack known as You Are Listening To, especially the Montreal Channel, as it makes me miss that town and I'm less likely to get distracted by Quebecois French than English.