Mail Goggles for Gmail prevents drunk typing

We can’t say this is the most appropriate use for this kind of concept, but Google’s Gmail Labs has just introduced a new Gmail feature that is pretty funny to say the least. Dubbed “Mail Goggles”, the new service allows users to avoid sending late-night emails that they likely would think twice about sending if they were, well, sober. Mail Goggles can be enabled on the Labs tab within the Gmail settings menu and can be configured to activate during any time period the user desires, and on any number of days (configuration is done on the General settings tab). During the active period, Mail Goggles will simply add an extra step to the email sending process – users must correctly solve a series of simple math problems before the email is sent out into cyberspace. The difficulty of the problems can be configured from 1 (easiest) to 5 (most difficult) and the user has 60 seconds to solve all five problems and click Send. If time expires before send is clicked, new problems are displayed and the timer starts over. Are you thinking what we’re thinking? This little add-on is likely going to result in more smashed keyboards than drunken emails prevented. Of course if drunky is determined enough, he/she can simply hit the Labs tab and disable the service. Why not add another set of problems that must be solved before the add-on can be disabled? Mail Goggles is a very creative little Gmail enhancement but we think there are definitely more useful add-ons in Gmail Labs such as the oops I forgot to attach the attachment I mentioned in my email notifier. More useful applications of the Mail Goggles concept might be SMS goggles, mobile voice call goggles and iron underwear goggles.

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