Unlike the April Fool’s Day joke Google posted about post-dating and pre-dating emails, this appears to be legit. Can it be true? Gmail/Google are building Google Goggles (ok, they’re calling it Mail Goggles, which is way lamer), a function that attempts to prevent you from sending ill-advised late-night email. It’s like a breathalyzer for your phone, only it requires brainpower rather than scope to get around.
For real: (click here to go to google’s blog)
New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret
Monday, October 06, 2008 6:25 PM
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.
When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. 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?
By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you’re most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it’s active in the General settings.
Hopefully Mail Goggles will prevent many of you out there from sending messages you wish you hadn’t. Like that late night memo — I mean mission statement — to the entire firm.