Google recently launched an option for its email users that protects them from sending email when intoxicated with alcohol. When in this situation, people are actually more open and, usually, reveal embarrassing information about themselves or say things that should not be said.

Also, some of the ways one can hurt himself/herself is by having an email account and using it after having a few drinks. Alcohol intoxication can cause either the blues or a state of euphoria; in both cases using your email can cause embarrassing information to leak to who knows who. The chances of this happening are pretty serious as technology is spreading fast and there is access to the Internet almost anywhere you look: smart mobile phones, PDA’s, laptops, portable consoles and PCs.

Mail Goggles relies on the assumption that when a little dizzy and a little bit hazy, a person cannot solve some mathematical problems under the pressure of a countdown.

Mail Goggles also has a standard schedule, which you can modify, that places weekend nights as the most probable moments when somebody might actually “email while not sober”. So, if you go out, have a couple of drinks and feel the urge to confess something extremely personal to your boss by emailing a long and touching letter, the moment you click “send” Mail Goggles will step in and save the day. You will be faced with some mathematical problems that need to be solved in an exact number of seconds in order for the mail to be sent.

Even if this sounds silly and not very practical, it shows that the people at Google still have a sense of humor and that they are able of implementing completely new and innovative ideas in relatively old concepts. This also proves that Google is not afraid to experiment even with the strangest of ideas.