Ford Vehicles to Include Twitter App

Ford Motor is set to incorporate three free apps into its next-generation Sync in-car communication system, one of which is a Twitter-based app that reads aloud your tweets in real time.

OpenBeak, formerly called TwitterBerry, is one of the three applications-apart from online entertainment services Pandora and Stitcher-that will be integrated with Sync, which enables tech-driven drivers to operate their Bluetooth-enabled smartphones and music players with voice commands and have text messages read to them, aside from other useful functions.  Although drivers cannot compose tweets with the OpenBeak just yet, the system reads the tweets you follow as they appear.

Meanwhile, Internet radio service Pandora lets users create customized song lists that can be paused or skipped through.  The Stitcher, on the other hand, is an on-demand radio system that drivers can pick up radio stations they want to listen.  Both services may eliminate the need for expensive satellite radios.

Some observers, however, find OpenBeak alarming.  "Listening to tweets can be distracting to drivers," according to Phil Leigh of Inside Digital Media.

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