The Weekly Round-Up: 10.10.08

You don't have to be - like the Round-Up - someone who once dropped a brand new mobile phone into a pint of stout to know that alcohol and technology are rarely a good combination.

In our always-on internet-connected, multi-device existence, sitting as we do at the heart of a network of smart phones, netbooks, laptops and PCs, emailing or text messaging your friends or colleagues is but a key stroke away, wherever you are. (Some people get too attached to their gadgets though).

Which, of course, is great during office hours when we're all busy working but not so great after a beer and tequila slammer-fuelled night. Picture the scene - stumbling back home in the early hours, switching on the PC and firing off a bunch of emails thinking you're either the funniest man in the world, or the world's leading romantic, or a strange combination of the two. When in fact you're neither.

And then: waking up fully clothed, mouth like an ashtray and suffering from a hammering hangover, with the 'email sent' notification smirking at you.

And then: it gradually starts to come back - the full horror of that typo-ridden email sent to your ex begging to get back together (and helpfully itemising the faults of their current partner). And the one to your boss explaining why he's an idiot and why you should be promoted into their job instead.

To save us all from ourselves, thankfully the boffins at Google have come up with an answer - Mail Goggles.

Not to be confused with Beer Goggles (another piece of technology extremely dangerous to the self-respect of anyone that ever wears them), the Gmail Goggles are supposed to prevent us from logging on after a night on the loud-mouth soup and firing off all manner of inappropriate and drunken emails to anyone who might be on your contact list.

Invented by Google Labs engineer Ian Perlow the Goggles are actually five maths puzzles set when you are sober and then activated between 10pm and 4am on Friday and Saturday nights. That's the default setting - school night drinkers and lunchtimes boozers can specify their own Goggle times.

If you can't solve the maths problems when drunk within the short time allowed then Gmail won't let you hit 'send', saving you from potential embarrassment.

Google even allows users to increase the difficulty of the questions for those drunkards who are really good at maths.

Perlow claims he came up with the idea after sending off one too many drunken emails himself: "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. Hopefully Mail Goggles will prevent many of you out there from sending messages you wish you hadn't. Like that late night memo - I mean mission statement - to the entire firm."

To be honest after a few beers the Round-Up has trouble with slightly more basic technology such as getting the front door open and taking off shoes. Sending email is usually very far down the list and trying to add up while the room is doing cartwheels just doesn't appeal.

So that's drunk emailing solved but with instant messaging, texting, Facebook and Tweeting on Twitter it's still a tricky world out there for the connected and tech-savvy drunk.

Apple co-founder Steve 'Woz' Wozniak took time out to talk to the Daily Telegraph this week. (In passing, congratulations to Apple's Steve Jobs who came in at number two on the silicon.com Agenda Setters list this year.

Woz came out with a few comments likely to shake up some fans of the iPhone and all things Mac, including this one:

"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like that, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while. It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much," he told the paper.

It's not the first time the comparison with the Walkman has been made (last time round it was a Dell exec of course).

Not content with arousing Apple fanboy ire with those comments, Wozniak then well and truly lit the blue touch paper by playing down the "religion" surrounding Apple and its shiny products, pointing out: "I would like to have the users influence the next generation. With a religion you're not allowed to challenge anything."

Ouch. Let's hope Woz's trusty Segway goes fast enough to outrun all those angry fanboys.

In fact silicon.com had it's own crack at upsetting the Apple cart by suggesting a few ways it might want to spruce up its product line. Among the suggestions - a handheld games console, a netbook, the long-touted iPhone nano and maybe even a tablet.

And finally this week: car-maker Ford has developed a parental control system for cars that can limit the top speed to 80mph, sound an alarm when seatbelts aren't worn and limit the volume of the stereo to 44 per cent of its maximum.

The MyKey system is a car key with an ID chip that can be programmed by the car owner. When the key is inserted into the ignition the car reads the chip and switches on the pre-set parental controls.

Susan Cischke, Ford group VP of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said: "MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seatbelt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions."

What next? The Round-Up would suggest a system to operate a sprinkler if it detects cigarette smoke and sounds a klaxon with flashing lights if the back seat gets used for anything other than sitting on.

Not surprisingly, 67 per cent of teens polled by Ford said they wouldn't want MyKey (but if using MyKey meant they were more likely to get hold of the car, only 36 per cent would object to the technology).

Unfortunately for them if they're not buying the car they won't have much say and MyKey is being rolled out with the new Ford Focus in 2010, with all other vehicles to follow.

The Round-Up wonders how long it will take today's tech-savvy teens to figure out a hack for the key and return the favour by setting equally restrictive controls for their parents.

Until next week here's some news...

Who are the top 50 Agenda Setters in the tech industry? Find out here.

silicon.com got a peek behind the scenes of the Cern Large Hadron Collider in Geneva before it swallows us all up in a giant black hole. Check out the photos here.

Apple took the technology mainstream with the iPhone and now silicon.com gives its verdict on the five hottest touchscreen smart phones.

And some photos of the RFID-tagged 'shop of the future'.

And don't forget the caption competition.