Coffitivity

Basically, Coffitivity is a free website that plays the ambient sounds of cafes and coffee shops on a loop, providing a pleasant background that helps to drown out kids fighting and neighbors arguing. There's actually research that backs up the claim that the tiny distractions we here when working in the coffee shop help boost our creativity. There are several choices, everything from the busy chatter of the lunchtime rush to "the scholarly sounds of a campus cafe. My favorite is the "Brazil Bistro," but that might just be because it reminds me of my two college roommates-one from Sao Paulo, and the other from Belém. As an added plus, the website has a free iPhone app that runs without the internet. It's a solution to the only problem I've had using Coffitivity-accidentally closing the tab its playing on.