As mornings after go, there are few combinations more deadly than a computer, too much alcohol and a seething sense of indignation.

But there could soon be a solution for people who cannot resist sending an ill-conceived drunken email to their boss or a former lover.

An altruistic Google employee has come up with a system that will block — or at least make people reconsider sending — the type of message they will probably regret the next day.

Mail Goggles, which can be set to spring into action late at night and at weekends, asks emailers to answer a series of short maths questions before sending a message. The basic addition and multiplication sums have to be completed within a time limit.

The idea, according to the Gmail engineer Jon Perlow, is to help those who are a little too tired and emotional to foresee the consequences of their actions.

"Sometimes I send messages I shouldn't send," Perlow confessed on the Gmail blog.

"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."

The programme, he said, was designed to establish whether "you're really sure you want to send that late-night Friday email … what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple maths problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?".

Even communications experts occasionally need a moment to take a deep breath and check what they have written and to whom they are writing.

Three years ago, Alastair Campbell was forced into what passed for an apology after accidentally using his Blackberry to tell the BBC what he thought of the corporation's journalism.

Unfortunately, he dispatched the email — which read "**** off and cover something important you twats!" — to a reporter on the BBC's Newsnight programme rather than Labour's advertising advisers.

In a later email to the journalist, the former Downing Street communications chief admitted he was "not very good at this email Blackberry malarkey", adding: "Campbell swears shock.

"Final sentence of earlier email probably a bit colourful and personal considering we have never actually met, but I'm sure you share the same sense of humour as your star presenter Mr P[axman]."


Original article here

Originally posted by Fom Read this in the Metro today! What a fantastic idea... this would really help me, i do this ALL the time, the amount of times I have told an ex I love them =/

Originally posted by Mrluvaluva As mornings after go, there are few combinations more deadly than a computer, too much alcohol and a seething sense of indignation.