Wireless

Wireless

by Mike Masnick




Mobile Phones To Help You Stop Smoking?

from the sounds-too-good-to-be-true dept

Not quite sure what to make of this, but the BBC is claiming there's a new mobile phone application out there that will help people stop smoking. Sounds like a typical snake-oil scam to me, but the Beeb is usually pretty good at sorting through those. The application apparently throws some special "flickering dots" on the screen and voila no more nicotine craving. The dots apparently create what is called "visual noise" that interferes with the mental image you associate with the craving. Sounds a bit far-fetched, but if it does work, I imagine it would sell like crazy. Plus, of course, I'm sure there would be modifications, such as stopping any sort of craving: overeating, alcohol, surfing the internet, being gullible about snake-oil scams... oh, wait.

2 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Sep 11th, 2003 @ 12:42pm
  • I wish it were real but doubt it.

    I too think it sound a bit like snake oil ... Id would be most interested if it did work because I am a smoker that wants to quit ... however, given the plethora of optional games, applications, email, texting & web browsing that I can purchase on my phone currently, I am more apt to believe this is a scam bit of software similar to the " Magic 8 ball " application I can download for a mere 7 dollars.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Sep 11th, 2003 @ 12:48pm
  • Diversion

    The more I study this article, the dumber it is.
    Whats the difference between me watching the ( dots ) pixels of my color mobile phone while engaged in an attention diverting game such as tetris ?

    This so called " stop smoking " application is snake oil.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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