MindMeld: A beating of minds
Oh man how I wanted to love MindMeld. This US$3.99 app basically has one of the coolest premises ever. It listens to your conversations, interprets what you are saying, and pre-emptively pulls up web-based content as you talk. Bits and bobs tied to your conversation topics appear as if by magic, providing instant gratification contextually linked to the ongoing discussion.
Or it would if it worked a damn, which sadly it does not...yet.
MindMeld in its current state has several strikes going against it. First of all, you cannot use the app at all without a Facebook account. No matter if you're sitting in a meeting or listening to a lecture, the app requires Facebook access.
An Expect Labs spokesperson told TUAW, "Right now, users can only access MindMeld by integrating with their Facebook accounts. Our plan is to introduce additional authentication methods in the future, since we know that not everyone has a Facebook account and/or wants to log in through it."
Second, the language comprehension is laughably bad. It doesn't even start to approach Siri levels of accuracy. The screenshot at the top of this post was captured during a conversation about Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Pretty good actually. The app is slick and you can already get a sense of what the app should have been -- which is terrific. Unfortunately, it's let down by technology and overhead that doesn't function as a reasonable proof of concept.
