“Mail Goggles” Fights Embarrassing E-Mail Decisions

Ever “drunk e-mailed” an old flame, then regretted it the next morning? In what may be its most amusing feature yet, Google Labs has come up with a way to keep you from sending late-night, alcohol-induced messages that your more sober self would steer away from.

Gmail engineers call the program “Mail Goggles.” When activated, the app will pop up before you send any message late on a weekend night and force you to complete some basic math problems — you know, to make sure you’re really all there.

Engineer Jon Perlow isn’t shy about his personal motivation for the tool, either. “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,” he says.

The tool lets you customize for your own Goggle-requiring habits, too. You can change the days and times at which it activates, as well as the “difficulty” level.

Now if they’d only come up with a Text Goggles and Mobile Goggles tool, the world would be a far safer place.