You’ve likely never heard of a company called Expect Labs. They make an app called “MindMeld” that takes the Google Now concept and moves it forward a few years. With Google Now, you ask a question and you get an answer. There are also cards of data that show you information Google thinks you might be interested in.

MindMeld doesn’t wait for you to ask it a question, and unlike Google Now, it’s built for a group. The app constantly listening to what you and other people are talking about. As you’re talking, cards that look eerily similar to the cards in Google Now start appearing on your screen.

http://youtu.be/XKGcvRkagmY

Today’s news is that Samsung, Intel, and Telefónica are investing in the company. Why? Starting with Samsung, they obviously want to create a competitor to Google Now so they can vertically align themselves. Intel wants to sell servers to people who will do all the data mining required to make MindMeld work smoothly. And as for Telefónica, they’re an operator who wants to find out new ways to get you to want to use more data, and thus pay them more per month.

So how much money has actually changed hands? No one is saying anything. When will MindMeld become a thing that everyone can use? Again, your guess is as good as mine.

Should you be excited? I’m going to be honest. MindMeld looks like something Google could copy in less than a month. It’s basically Google Now with concurrent searches and screen sharing.