When I was in college I was definitely known for sending out the occasional late night email while not of sound mind or judgement. Most of them didn’t get me in trouble — most of them made absolutely no sense — but there was always that uncomfortable situation the next morning where I’d wake up and check what I had sent. Apparently, there’s a Googler out there who had the same problem — and now he’s solved it.
Mail Goggles is a new Google Labs feature, which engineer Jon Perlow unveiled tonight on the Gmail blog. Basically, the feature allows users to set a time when they know they probably shouldn’t be sending out emails (such as late at night on a weekend), and puts in place a system to prevent it.
If you try to send an email with your Gmail account during any of the times you specify through Mail Goggles, you will be presented with a series of mathematical equations that you will have to answer correctly before you can send. These problems can be set to varying difficulties on a scale of 1 to 5. You are given 60 seconds to solve the problems before it times out (though the timer does just reset saying “Oops, looks like your reflexes are a little slow. Try again.”).
I’m reminded of the Dennis Nedry (Pictured: Right.) “Nuh, uh uh, you forgot to say the magic word” safeguard he had on his system in Jurassic Park.
I’m trying to send an email on difficulty 5 right now. I’m not going to lie — it’s entirely possible I wouldn’t even get through this safeguard while 100 percent sober.
Brilliant.
This would have saved me some headaches several mornings in college. Well, maybe not the headaches, but the worry that I had sent something I shouldn’t have the night before.
[photo: flickr/s2art]
11:19 pm
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[...] MG Siegler [...]
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Gmail Goggles is fun! | lab209 said:
[...] Mail Goggles: The cure for drunken emails CrunchBase Information on GoogleGoogleInformation provided by CrunchBase Share this post: [...]
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Google needs to mind its own business — mathewingram.com/work said:
[...] you can enable or disable. It just seems a tad paternalistic. And what about the innumerate, who can’t do simple math even when sober? As far as I’m concerned, Gmail should just send the email and shut up about [...]
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[...] of the day (or night) the survey was taken, or whether drinks were allowed for respondents. Maybe a Mail Goggles test should have been run before accepting [...]
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Mosher’sUnimaginativelyEntitledBlog » Blog Archive » Could you use this GMail add-on? said:
[...] Mail Goggles: The cure for drunken emails [...]
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Roundup: IBM sees earnings rise, possible MacBook specs, RIM ripe for a takeover and more » VentureBeat said:
[...] — Gmail Labs has been pumping out new features, but now it has one that is more useful that a drunk email preventer. Advanced IMAP controls allow users to tailor which labels and boxes to send via IMAP. The Gmail [...]
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Let’s put a smile on that Gmail » VentureBeat said:
[...] These new features, which are opt-in for all Gmail users, range from very useful (Quick Links) to fairly absurd (Mail Goggles). Today, rather than create a new Gmail Labs features, the service has rolled out an update to the [...]
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Mail Goggles: The cure for drunken emails » VentureBeat said:
[...] When I was in college I was definitely known for sending out the occasional late night email while not of …Original post by unknown [...]
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mail goggles: the cure for drunken emails said:
[...] mail goggles is a new google labs feature, which engineer jon perlow unveiled tonight on the gmail blog. basically, the feature allows users to set a time when they know they probably shouldn’t be sending out emails (such as late at …Original post by MG Siegler [...]