MindMeld Review

MindMeld is both very clever and mildly terrifying in its potential. It's a voice assistant that aims to be as much like a real assistant as possible. That's conducted by the fact that the app listens to everything that one says, gleaning useful keywords and attempting to offer content that's relevant to its users. It's smart stuff that seems to border on futuristic and also a little spooky.

On a shared workspace screen, the content is displayed. Starting out it's simply a matter of offering content based upon the user's name. It gains that information because users have to connect to MindMeld via a Facebook account, which is a bit of an irritant for the privacy conscious. The promise is that other log in methods will be included soon. Once looking at the workspace, it's a matter of talking to or around MindMeld, allowing for a one-sided conversation to develop and thereby helping the app to find relevant stuff.

In each case, MindMeld is all too keen to search the internet for videos, images, articles, and basically anything possible on the subject. It's possible to enter text-based searches too if the user so wishes. It's best if one talks to MindMeld like a normal person, but bear in mind that the speed in which one speaks can affect results.

This is most noticeable when dealing with a voice conference. Up to eight people can get together in a virtual conference room and talk things out. It's a situation that's ideal for a work meeting but also simply catching up with friends or family. Making plans is simpler through MindMeld, given that one could easily discuss vacation ideas and the app will bring up results as one talks. It's possible to confuse MindMeld though, either by talking too fast or by it simply not understanding certain words.

So, MindMeld isn't perfect but it doesn't stop it from being a tantalizing glimpse into the future. The paranoid probably won't be too keen on it but as a great time saver and way in which one can consolidate so much information, it's a fantastic idea. Just one that needs tightening up in certain places.