Love it: Google Mail Goggles

Last week, Google launched the latest e-mail innovation sure to have the boys over at Yahoo! shaking their heads in shame: Mail Goggles. According to the Gmail blog, Mail Goggles were designed to help prevent users from sending those all-too-common “what the hell was I thinking?” e-mails that seemed so sensible at the time.

“When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday e-mail,” reads the blog, “And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you’re in the right state of mind?”

Math problems! When the clock strikes 10 on a weekend, you lose the ability to send e-mail from your Gmail account without answering a few mathematical puzzles first. Apparently, once you board the train to drunk town, your math skills are the first to go. A perfect solution to a troublesome problem—as we all know what kind of e-mails some liquid courage in your system can prompt you to send.

I myself have a particular penchant for sending out inappropriate e-mails after the sun sets and the keg is tapped. Alcohol has the (un)fortunate effect of amplifying my emotions, filling my outbox with e-mails of love (I pine for you, Nicole), lust (I want you on me, Nicole) and, of course, utter hatred (I will light you on fire, Nicole). And inevitably these e-mails lead to the sheepish apology sent out the next morning (Sorry for threatening to set you on fire, Nicole).

But with Mail Goggles, those e-mails are no more. Instead of penning verbose diatribes or Shakespearean sonnets, I struggle for hours to do elementary math problems before cursing my computer, giving up, and falling asleep in a state of frustrated, drunken bliss.