beer goggles for your gmail.

oh yeah, it's just what it looks like. found via techcrunch on behalf of gmail blog, it seems as though the company really wants to ahem--step up to the plate--and give you that friendly, buddy-to-buddy pat on the shoulder we sometimes need.

you know, for when that tiny voice in your head saying "maybe this can wait till morning" or "proofread?! at least proof--" just gets drowned the hell out by overwhelming streams of alcohol-induced emotion.

personally i think this would be better served on Facebook or Myspace. i'm less inclined to be stalking--i mean, checking up on--people in my gmail. what kind of trouble can i really get into there?

anyway. beside the point. kickback it's getting is that most people are saying they can do this sort of math drunk (and that if it's any more complex they couldn't do it sober--here here!)--that it should have other sorts of questions as well. that may be true, but then you get into SAT cultural type issues and no emails ever get sent after 8pm or on weekends. haha.

i think the value in this isn't so much the math question as a--SOBER--voice outside your own head, the calm logic of binary digital happiness, says "hey, uh, maybe you shouldn't be sending that right now?" that's the subliminal message being sent by those math problems, not whether you can count to 11. and that 1 step between you and send--even if it's a step making you run for the calculator--may save lives.

or at least a considerable amount of drama.

[disclosure: i have never sent a drunken text/tweet/mail/etc that i've regretted. partially cos i don't do most anything that i regret. partially cos most anything i'd do drunk i'd do just as easily sober. and also partially because when i'm drunk i'm social and nowhere near any technology that would support mail goggles. haha.]

Facebook facelift reveals a shift

well, it's official. like i said. facebook is no longer about the college age demographic. it shed that skin last night. it's leaving the 13-25 scene to Myspace with a firm kick and something like 'good riddance!'

it seems that by forcing all users to upgrade to the new, streamlined layout, the new projected image is supposed to be more professional, and as a friend pointed out, certainly more viable for marketing opportunities. add to that the new iPhone app and then tell me how many people in the 13-25 age range you know that own an iPhone--and well, you get the idea.

expanding its target to gain traction with a wider age range of users, making it more media viable, and adding support to items like the iPhone, only further go to show that Facebook isn't really interested in helping you connect to your friends any more.

you see, you only have so many friends, really, and they want more users than that. so the tag line on the new, improved home page has moved from the "people around you" controversy to "people in your life"--even that person you WoWed with 3 years ago in South Africa. i guess now it's okay to "make new friends." especially if they're out of school and make/spend money.

UPDATE 10.02 via Darryl Ohrt: now supported by stats from Matt Dickman. seems we were having similar thoughts.