No, not another post about politics.

We are talking about a cool new Gmail feature from Gmail Labs called Mail Goggles.

Late at night when you are a bit too sleepy or maybe had one too many adult beverages Mail Goggles steps in to make sure you really want to send that email, the one that next morning you may very much regret having sent.

How does Mail Goggles check that you are coherent? It gives you a math quiz! Yikes!

Good news is that you can set the level of difficulty to those math problems. Even if I were to set the difficulty level to remedial, my email probably never would be sent.

Enable Mail Goggles under Labs under Settings when logged into Gmail.

By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend; however, you can adjust days and times in the General settings.

A few other features under Labs include Custom keyboard shortcuts; Mark as Read Button; and one that I definitely need, Forgotten Attachment Detector.

Bottom line, your email will not be sent if you had too much to drink or you are inept at math.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

San Jose Group

Yesterday word got out about San Jose State’s foray into the digital world, of which they’re supposed to be located smack dab in the middle but still find creative ways to be behind.

A bit of that is changing now. I am talking about SJSU’s entry into iTunesU, a section of iTunes that offers podcasts and videocasts from over 100 institutions of higher learning, from Stanford to Yale to Berkeley. Professors can choose whether to publish their podcasts to the knowledge-thirsty public, or distribute their lectures to too-lazy-to-go-to-class students. And although I lovingly chide SJSU about its ironic techno-lag, credit must be given to SJSU for being the first in the California State University system to partner up with iTunesU.

Right now, SJSU doesn’t have many full lectures per se, although a physics teacher has been getting busy with the lecture podcasting. But most downloads available are more like short snippets of audio information, ranging mostly from 3-20 minutes long. Still, much of it is interesting, from the economics professor to the library grad students to counseling, recreation and career center services.

SJSU is also unique in that it is one of two universities on the iTunesU network to be fully accessible by those with disabilities. Namely, PDF transcripts are posted alongside the podcasts if you’re hearing-impaired. (Read more about it here.)

Not only can you read what’s being said, but professors can also post additional material, flyers and handouts in their virtual classrooms.

Exciting stuff. I’ve been a fan of iTunesU even before I was officially a student. I already downloaded several fantastic podcasts from the Stanford iTunes U site, so it’s great to see SJSU joining the bandwagon. Its offerings are a bit meager at first, compared to Stanford’s at least, but no one here is comparing SJSU to Stanford. I’m just excited to see the huge potential for the public who want to learn but don’t have the time or the funds.

Click here to see everything iTunesU has to offer, or click on the button below to see SJSU’s offerings for yourself. (Note: Both links will open your iTunes.)

Google, incorporated 10 years ago by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, celebrates its anniversary today.

“Google” actually began in 1996 as a research project by Larry and Sergey while students at Stanford University to create a better search engine then what was available at the time.

They determined the relevancy of a Web site by counting the number of links from other Web sites. The more links a site had determined its importance.

Google, the company, began in a house in Menlo Park on September 7, 1998. Less than a year later, the company moved to offices in Palo Alto and then in 2003 Google moved to its current location in Mountain View, the Googleplex.

Over the past ten years, Google has grown to other areas beyond search. They have a long list of products from their own Labs and from acquisitions. Products that include Gmail, instant messaging, YouTube, word processing, spreadsheets, and now an Internet browser, Chrome.

They have had a major impact on the Internet and how things are done online.

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As of tonight (August 6th 2008) we can keep an eye on the San Jose Planning Commission. Meetings will be broadcast live on Comcast Cable channel 26 and online.

Meetings are held approximately every two weeks. Check the city website for time and date.

Tonight at: 6:30 pm - San Jose City Website - Look for Upcoming Events In the yellow Currently in Session box - click Planning Commission.

My newest obsession lately is goofing around in Second Life. I’m still very much a newbie, but I’ve found some pretty spiffy places to kill time in and I’ve made a few random objects.

What I like to do is find any of the corporate-created sites. For example, Scion has some land - Scion City. You can drive around a Grand Theft Auto-Vice City-ish land. Or if you do a quick search, you can find yourself in Comcast’s themepark.

I already knew about San Jose State’s virtual campus (classes are held there, students create work, etc) and I have to admit, being able to sit on the chair that dangles from the Tower - that was kind of cool (in of course, a completely silly way.)

But I found another spot - The Tech!

When you visit The Tech in Second Life you can check out all sorts of exhibits and art. Even the IMAX works. Actually I’m not 100% sure on that one.. it says it’ll play a movie, but I have yet to get it to work. (Remember, still a newbie!)

Oh and for those that are super confused…

Second Life® is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.

That’s not nearly enough to explain what Second Life is all about - check out the link to find out more.

Links:
Second Life
The Tech Museum SLurl: (this worked earlier, hopefully it’ll work for you - if it doesn’t, just search for “The Tech”)

Sorry Mercury News but it’s time to turn you loose. Your content has been suffering and it seems as if your bill shows up in my mail almost as fast as a little red Netflix mailer. Now you have the nerve to want $8.00 more. You need $28.00 for the seven day subscription? I can’t go on. It’s over.

But then with this mornings Gmail, you try to tempt me back. For only $39.00, if I act fast enough, I can sign up for 26-Edition weeks of the Mercury News in digital form. OK, I might give you one more chance.

The Quick Tour

MetroFi, which provides free and low-cost wireless Internet access in the South Bay has told the nine cities it operates in that it will discontinue service in 30 to 60 days. MetroFi has offered to sell the services in each city to that city or any third party. MetroFi founder, Chuck Haas, says he is also exploring the sale of MetroFi itself to a third party.

MetroFi, like Earthlink, struggled to operate its networks, underestimating costs and overestimating revenue.

Milpitas will be taking over Earthlink’s Wi-Fi network there and cutting back on service. It will be interesting to see what transpires in Milpitas.

Concord, Cupertino, Foster City, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale are the MetroFi cities affected in the Bay Area. If those cities or a third party does not buy the network then it will be shut down in those locations.

San Jose’s network was only located downtown. There is larger coverage area in the other Bay Area cities.

I have tried the free service on a number of occasions and found it to be sporadic. There were times I was under an access point, had trouble connecting, and when connected there were times when it crawled. I could not image paying a monthly fee just to remove the advertising banner.

With free Wi-Fi now available in many coffee shops, cafes, and libraries along with mobile broadband (not free) there are options.

History San Jose is currently presenting “Lou’s Village Online Exhibit” that covers the 60-year history of this famous San Jose restaurant.

There is a plethora of information including the three generations involved in running Lou’s Village, devoted staff, menus, entertainment, celebrities, a photo gallery, and more. Click the photos throughout the online exhibit for a closer view.

Lou’s Village opened in 1946 by Lou Santoro and Paul Polizzi, former firefighters with the City of San Jose, along with Lou Ferro. They offered barbecued dinners and buffet style ($1.85 a plate) dinning in the early years then switched to a seafood menu in the late 1960s.

Due to the size and responsibility of managing and maintaining the business and that none of the 4th generation was interested in the restaurant business, in 2005 the decision was made to close Lou’s Village after sixty years.

Lou’s Village Online Exhibit

Lou’s Village Web Site

History San Jose

If you are not into sitting in front of the television watching the primary election results, you may want to check out Google News Elections section. There you will find results for all the participating Super Tuesday states all in one location.

In addition, Google, Twitter and Twittervision have gotten together to show instant Twitter updates on Super Tuesday. You will see Twitter texts from across the country. Check it out here.

Google News’ Elections section here.