Tuesday 31 March 2009

Google: saving us from our idiot selves

Slate has an article about what they call "Gmail's embarrassment reduction pack", several new features in Gmail that help us fix common mistakes made in email we send. The most recent is the "undo send" feature that gives you five seconds after you've hit "send" during which you can pull back the email and edit, delete, etc. Gmail also has a "mail goggles " feature you can choose to use - this requires you to answer math questions before sending late-night mail on the weekends, and a "forgotten attachment detector." The final element of the embarrassment-reduction pack is a built-in Gmail feature that signals when the message thread that you're reading has been updated which Slate says theoretically prevents you from being the fourth person to drop the same witticism in an officewide e-mail jokefest.

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