Quitting technically

Researchers in the US are using wearable sensor technology to develop an automatic alert system to help people quit smoking, according to a story at medicalxpress.com.
The smart-phone app, initially limited to android-based operating systems, automatically texts 20- to 120-second video messages to smokers when sensors detect specific arm and body motions associated with smoking.
Recently, the story said, wearable technology had gained popularity in the fight against addiction.
But, it added, the mobile alert system researchers at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, were testing might be the first that combined:

• ‘an existing online platform with mindfulness training and a personalized plan for quitting;
• ‘two armband sensors to detect smoking motions, a technology that demonstrated more than 98-percent accuracy in differentiating “lighting up” from other similar motions. (that compares to 72-percent accuracy in systems using a single armband);
• ‘and a personalized text-messaging service that reminds the user of either their own plan to quit, or sends video messages that stress the health and financial benefits of quitting.’