Gmail’s Goggles stop drunken e-mails

Gmail users will have to answer a variety of math questions before sending off late-night drunken rants.

Mail Goggles, a play on the phrase “beer goggles,” is set to help users think twice before sending regrettable e-mails after a night of drinking.

The new Google Labs feature, detailed in the Gmail blog this week by Jon Perlow, a Gmail engineer, will be enabled for late nights - the prime time to send drunken messages.

If an e-mail to an ex or a boss seems like a good idea after a drunken night out, a Mail Goggles box will pop up with statements such as “Are you sure you want to send this?” followed with five math problems to complete. The math problems range from addition to division and must be answered within a certain amount of seconds for the message to be sent.

After signing up for the service in Gmail settings, it will be activated from 10pm – 4am on Friday and Saturday, but Gmail users can adjust the number of hours and days the service is activated, along with the difficulty of the math quiz.

But if '448 minus 87' seems like an impossible math problem at the time, maybe it’s best that the late-night e-mail you are trying to send doesn’t go through.

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