Not to be left in the dust by Ford’s Sync and MyFord Touch, General Motors announced in September that it is testing verbal Facebook updates as you drive. But how well does it work?
Rick Munarriz of The Motley Fool recently test drove OnStar’s Facebook system and found it overall a “viral win” for GM.
He had some issues with OnStar reading back his news feeds in a robotic voice, however. And he found when you audibly post a Facebook update, you may need to do it haltingly to make sure the voice recognition catches your words. But then it posts a voice file of your words (not a text file!) so you are speaking robotically– kind of like Captain John Smith when he first met Pocahontas–for everyone on Facebook to hear.
If you are not proud of your car, that’s another problem because OnStar tags your posts with “Rick Munarriz has posted an audio update from his Cadillac SRX using OnStar.” Lucky for him he has a Cadillac. You don’t want to know the cars we drive around here.
Then again, what a great way for GM to advertise all over Facebook…
We asked OnStar for an update on when its Facebook feature will get a true launch, and haven’t heard back, but we expect some news at CES.
Here’s Munarriz’s review.
Source: The Motley Fool
Great! Another thing to distract the driver from what he SHOULD be doing…..piloting a 4000 pound chunk of metal down the highway at 75mph. And while I’m on the subject, Facebook is a complete waste of time. If people really want to know what I’m doing they can call or email me.