Speaking of Building Innovative Solutions, but maybe not so much about actual Beer Goggles… Google unveiled, via their Gmail blog, their latest great invention. Ok they revealed it on Monday, so maybe there are newer greater things by now, since it is already Wednesday. But back to Mail Goggles…
Its like self-imposed Parental Controls for your Gmail. You set some times when you imagine you might not be in the best frame of mind and maybe shouldn’t be sending out emails willy-nilly. Say, 12am – 5am Saturday morning. Then if you try and send email during that time, the add-on requires you to … solve Math problems! No solution, no sending!
ArsTechnica asks “how many times have you stumbled home after a long night out with friends, only to plop down in front of the computer and start sending e-mails that you would wake up regretting the next day?”
and the Gmail engineer Jon sums it all up:
Sometimes I send messages I shouldn’t send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can’t always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we’re launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.
Now I’m not admitting to “drunk-emailing”, but I will admit that is a good idea.