The High-TEXT Texan

Imagine texting over 28,000 in ONE MONTH. Only a teenager, right? The New York Post recently profiled ten teen texters who hopefully had an unlimited plan.

Is this dangerous? Did they hurt their thumbs? What did their parents say? I will talk with one of their parents on my Saturday show to get his opinion and thoughts when that bill came in.

No doubt we will cover other pressing matters in the tech world like Microsoft laying off 5,000 employees, Google not making as much money as they are used to (sniff, sob...) and Sony reporting an operating loss for the first time in 14 years.

But have you gone out and bought your HDTV for the Super Bowl? Lots of sales so we will help guide you to the best deals and smartest ways to hook them up.

11am-2pm on The 9-5-0

A Breathalyzer For Your Email

Yep, that's what I called the new Mail Goggles on KTRH this morning. It was an early live interview and I was trying to give an analogy of what this new Gmail feature does. I think people understood what I meant from the immediate texts and emails I received.

Comments like "I can be the Designated Mathematician" came in fast and furious. So fast, in fact, my guess is that these emailers were not alcohol impaired and didn't have to go through the extra steps of sending the emails using Mail Goggles.

No more drunk emailing, people. Here's the new trick: You're going have to answer a few math questions before you shoot your ex a "guess what I'm doing right now?" blast. Once you set it up in Gmail's Accounts tab, it will require you to answer a series of math problems before being able to send a message.

By default, the program activates on Friday and Saturday nights, though you can customize it for any day or time you might need a watchful eye. You can also set the difficulty level to control how hard the problems will be (1 = a wine cooler with dinner; 10 = eight tequila shots and several number of rum-based chasers).

The feature could prevent plenty of next morning regrets from random girls met in bars ("Who the hell is Joe, and why did he e-mail me at 3 a.m. saying, 'hey u want to hokup tonqiegt/?'").

Mail Goggles is nothing more than a gimmick, something fun you'll use three or four times before growing tired of it -- but for anybody who takes it halfway seriously, there are too many ways around it. Its biggest flaw is that the Goggles don't exist on mobile browsers. And when do we do the most drunk texting, e-mailing, and dialing? Coming home from the bar, that's when.

All that's left is for someone to invent the text messaging equivalent, and the modern day booty call will forever be silenced. Translation for the ladies: Prepare to start getting a lot more post-midnight voicemails.

Remember, a late-night "Reply All" is a dangerous thing. Nothing good ever happens if you hit Reply All after 11pm. And Mail Goggles is here for us now. Friends don't let friends email drunk. Thanks Google.

P.S. Note to genius Google guys. If we don't know the square root of 1369 all we need to do is GOOGLE the answer. Now go figure out how to get around that.

Don't Let Google Fool Ya

Set your clocks. When April 1 rolls around each year you can bet those wacky kids at Google have a few things up their sleeve.

Last year Google turned your love life into an algorithmically solvable search problem. This year it's teamed up with Virgin to give us Virgle: the adventure of not one, but many lifetimes.

Apply to become a Virgle pioneer and you could win a coveted slot on a ship to Mars. It will be dangerous. It will be uncomfortable. It will be unnecessarily expensive. "But your enriched descendants will appreciate your sacrifice, which should render worthwhile your choice to spend the rest of your (perhaps radically foreshortened) life in deprivation and uncertainty," Virgle assures you.

Save scoffs for tomorrow. Google released Gmail on April Fool's Day, and it's changed the way we email. Think about that.

Gphone and Hannah Montana

Surprise. Google is developing a free cell phone software package so users can more easily reach the ubiquitous search engine and its many services. Rumors have been everywhere for the past few months.

According to MSNBC.com:

Google will not be making the phones, nor does it plan to stamp its prized
brand on the devices. Instead, it will work with four cell phone manufacturers
who have agreed to use Google's programs in their handsets. Consumers will have
to buy a new phone to get the Google software because the bundle was not made
for existing handsets.

Because Google's software will be free, it could undercut rivals who charge
handset makers to install their operating systems. It also promises to make
smart phones less expensive since manufacturers won't have to pay for
software.

Google's system will also be based on computer code that can be openly
distributed among programmers. That, Google hopes, will encourage developers to
create new applications and other software improvements that could spawn new
uses for smart phones.

So far, Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., HTC and LG Electronics Inc.
have agreed to use Google's software in some of their phones. Both Motorola and
Samsung already buy Microsoft's Windows Mobile in some of their phones.

The list of wireless carriers that have agreed to provide service for
the Google-powered phone in the United States include Sprint Nextel Corp. and
Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in the United States. China Mobile, Telefonica in
Spain and Telecom Italia are among the carriers that have signed on to provide
service outside the United States.

Don't expect to see this app on phones until next year.

But is that bigger news - at least in Houston - to this announcement today from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo? Hannah Montana is coming to the 2008 Rodeo!!! Imagine how thrilled I would be if I had little girls to go but I'm sure almost every other parent is jockeying to snap up tickets for the March 9 show.