You may have seen GM’s ad during the Super Bowl. It pokes fun at Ford owners’ inability to survive the apocalypse because one’s truck model definitely changes survival odds.

The ad pokes fun at Ford, but is it enough to get angry over? Ford thinks it is.

Ford told Reuters that they have the safer pickup truck so even without the poking fun, GM is just wrong. Well, GM is not going to pull the ad because it’s a good ad. Why pull an ad even if it makes your competitor look bad? That’s the point of an advertisement.

Ford says that they are going to fight the allegations that they make an inferior truck not in court, but in the ad space. They will protect their claim of having the best-selling truck for the past 35 years.

It’s nice to see competition in the ad space. Even if both companies come out looking all the more foolish for their jabs at each other, the consumer gets the hilarious attack ads they make.

A panel of CEOs from Xerox, Ford and Verizon spoke on education and innovation during CES as reported by Vegas Inc. The executives pointed out that better education and economic diversification were the key to the United States catching up to leading businesses around the world.

“We must fundamentally improve our educational system,” Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox, said during the CES’ Innovation Power Panel session. “We need to make science and math a desirable place to be. We need great teachers. We need excited learners. We can’t complain if we don’t have them, if we don’t invest in them.”

She went on to say that a part of the solution was to make students realize that four or six more years of education after high school could change their financial outlook and success.

“Unfortunately, it’s still not cool to be that way,” Burns said. “And it’s amazing to me how few people are thinking that way.”

CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro, moderator of the panel, said that the aftermath of the death of Steve Jobs put an emphasis on his role as an innovator. It was good for the industry as it showed the importance of innovators and the need for a solid education.

Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford, said that the United States needed to get back to letting businesses grow.

“Manufacturing can be a big part of fueling U.S. growth,” Mulally said. “It’s almost like we’ve decided not to be competitive.”

John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, said that his company was fostering innovation through the opening of centers in Boston and San Francisco that invite entrepreneurs to develop phone apps and services.

Stratton blamed the government for not establishing new tax policies and putting regulatory burdens on companies as the main reasons behind their stifled innovation.

The executives praised the section on the CES show floor called Eureka! Park that features more than 100 new technologies. Shapiro said that the area featured product categories like broadband services, safe driving and sustainable technologies. It’s his hope that venture capitalists will invest in these new technologies to bring them to market.

The company announced Friday morning that it will open its first dedicated research lab on the west coast early this year. The facility will be used as a way to collaborate with all the tech firms that are in the area.

“Ford has an incredible heritage of driving innovation in the transportation and manufacturing sectors during the past 107 years,” Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer and vice president of Research and Innovation, said. “Now it’s time to prepare for the next 100 years, ushering in a new era of collaboration and finding new partners to help us transform what it means to be an automaker.”

Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally will speak more on the new research lab during Ford’s CES Innovation Power Panel keynote on January 11.

The company said that Ford Research and Innovation, the company’s engineering arm, will open the new research lab in the first quarter. Its focus will be keeping pace with consumer trends and preparing for the future by investing in technologies like cloud computing.

The lab will connect with Ford’s Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California and Ford employees working with Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.

“Silicon Valley represents a deep and dynamic technology neighborhood and is far from Dearborn,” K. Venkatesh Prasad, senior technical leader for open innovation with Ford Research and Innovation, said. “With so many opportunities and so much potential, our new lab will allow us to scout new technologies and partners in their own environment and continue our expansion beyond the traditional automaker mindset to drive innovation for a better mobility experience.”

The number of employees at the new lab will be comparable to a tech start-up. The emphasis will be placed on quality over quantity.

The new lab will not replace work already being done at Ford’s other research labs in Dearborn, Michigan, its European lab in Aachen, Germany or the recently opened technology office in Nanjing, China.

Some of the things that Ford’s R&D groups are working on right now include OpenXC, a research platform that allows developers access to Ford vehicles to connect with cloud-based apps and services, and allowing access to the cars’ sensors to develop apps that connect with their vehicles.

“Ford integrates technologies, software and electronics at the same pace as the most innovative companies in the world – our platform just happens to be the car,” Mascarenas said. “The new Silicon Valley lab will propel us further as we look at the many facets of life where mobility interacts with society and see how we can make those experiences better for millions of customers around the world.”

“Operating just like a technology company would, Ford is leveraging software to continuously update and upgrade the driver experience, a Ford spokesperson tells WebProNews. “The new upgrades to MyFord Touch will contain simpler graphics, larger font sizes, faster touch screen response, easier-to-use controls and even compatibility with tablets including the iPad.”

Some have voiced concern about the dangers of touch screens in cars. For example, there’s a comment on YouTube about the video below that says, “Touch screens don’t belong in cars, period. They’re dangerous and unreliable. Stick to knobs and buttons that can be operated without looking at them.”

“Research shows that activity that draws drivers’ eyes away from the road for an extended period of time substantially increases risk of accidents,” Ford Motor Company Technology Communications Manager Alan Hall tells WebProNews. “Therefore, we developed new technologies with intuitive, simple controls and voice commands as part of MyFord Touch to deliver a safer, smarter way to access vehicle functions and features. Drivers experience many different types of distractions on a daily basis, and our MyFord technology helps reduce some of those distractions.”

The upgrades will be showcased for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month, where the company will launch the new Escape. At BlogWorld a few days ago, Ford CMO Jim Farley revealed Escape Routes, an interesting promotion for the vehicle. Here’s an interview we did at the show with Ford’s Social Media Director Scott Monty:

Here’s the actual list of the MyFord Touch feature upgrades, as provided by Ford:

· Improved voice recognition experience powered by Nuance

– Quicker voice recognition upon startup and faster command prompt when the voice button is pushed

– Voice commands used in conjunction with navigation are simplified through elimination of the need to provide street direction, e.g., “Main Street” instead of “North Main Street”

– Music requests are simpler by removing the need to include the additional song, album or artist information often found at the end of a name in (parenthesis) or [brackets]

– Customers can find their favorite sports team in action via new Sirius Game Finder simply by saying a command such as “Tune to Detroit Lions game”

· Tablet device compatibility

– Music and other media content from most popular tablet computers like the Apple iPad can now be accessed through a simple USB connection

· Audible.com audiobook support

– Listen to Audible.com content using voice commands or the easy-to-use touch-screen controls

· Connected navigation powered by TeleNav features new map data by NAVTEQ

– Updated map views are richer and feature more 3D landmarks

– Views of freeway junctions and signs are enhanced through photorealistic screen images

– Smart routing options are provided based on a database of historical traffic patterns

· Phone compatibility

– Automatic Bluetooth connection upon vehicle entry has been improved

– Noise and echo cancellation during phone calls has been improved to enhance call quality

· Gracenote album cover art database

– Inclusion of the latest music metadata available enhancing the music playback experience

– Improved voice recognition for music search allowing drivers to pinpoint artists with hard-to-pronounce names or nicknames

While discussing the benefits of the new Escape model — you can apparently open the trunk with your foot — some of the details of the promotional strategy were revealed. In order to promote the vehicle, Ford is having it take part on some global adventures. It appears as if Ford is tapping into the reality television/The Amazing Race model by having teams compete while showing off the new Escape. However, instead of racing to see who comes in first, the winners will be decided by voters.

The teams will be competing in what speaker Jim Farley referred to as a “series of spontaneous adventures.”

Apparently, the social media aspect of the web is going to come into play a great deal as well, because Farley mentions using the “social media graph” in order to win. To facilitate the social aspect of Escape Routes, the teams will make short videos to promote the competition and each team will feature blogger/content creator with them.

As for the QR codes, if BlogWorld attendees activate one on their mobile device, they can track the progress of the vehicle up until its launch in two weeks.

It’s all about getting noticed, as are new approaches to marketing, which is something Ford is clearly committed to.

The tweetup took place prior to the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ spring game on Saturday. Suh had invited Nebraska (his Alma mater) fans to join him, saying, “Let’s CRUSH this world record.”

The Guinness World Records site has yet to acknowledge Suh’s claim, as it still lists Ford Motor Company Social Media guy Scott Monty as the record holder with 1,149 in December 2009. Suh says his tweetup had 1,935 attendees.

Interestingly, Suh’s NFL team, the Lions, are owned by Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford’s grandson William Clay Ford.

WebProNews spoke with Scott Monty a couple of times about Ford’s social media success. Hear what he had to say in the two interviews here.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Guiness World Records official Sarah Wilcox says Suh’s claimed record is not official yet, adding that evidence must be submitted for review, and that it oculd take a couple days to verify after the paperwork is submitted.

Meanwhile, Suh seems to have his mind on better things. His last Twitter interaction was a retweet of this:

Suh calls upon fans to join him Saturday at 10:30 AM, before the Nebraska (his Alma mater) Spring game.

“Let’s crush that Guinness World record,” he tells his followers.

Who holds the current record? None other than well-known (at least in social media marketing crowds) Ford social media guy Scott Monty. According to the Guinness World Records site, “The most attendees at a ‘Tweetup’ is 1,149 and was achieved by Ford Motor Company (USA) in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 1 December 2009.”

WebProNews has interviewed Monty a couple times about Ford’s social media success:

It’s even more interesting considering that the Lions are owned by William Clay Ford, grandson of Henry Ford and son of Edsel Ford. I would almost wonder if Monty wasn’t somehow involved with this, if it wasn’t more about Nebraska than the Lions.

Tip of the hat to the Detroit Free Press.

Full disclosure: I’m a huge fan of Suh’s and a loyal fan of the Detroit Lions.

The Electrified Vehicle Facebook page offers users links to videos and photos of Ford’s electric vehicles. Users can participate in discussions, take polls, and ask the company questions about its electric offerings.

"People who are passionate about electrified vehicles or just interested in learning more about the technology are using the Internet as the source to participate in discussions or gather information," said David Finnegan, Ford electric vehicles marketing manager.

"Launching a Ford-specific Electrified Vehicle Facebook page allows us to create a forum for discussion and a place where we can interact with fans."

Ford says it plans to launch five electric vehicles in North America by 2012 and Europe by 2013.

The campaign called “Go. Do. Adventures,” asks people what they would do and where they would go if they had a new Ford Explorer for a week.

People can submit essays, photos and videos via the Ford Explorer website and Facebook. The responses will highlight product features and unique American locations and attractions. Ford will select 10 winners to go on their own road trip, expenses paid, and it will be documented on the Explorer Facebook page.

"This provides a platform for a larger audience to experience Explorer. We started the conversation by revealing Explorer on Facebook and are continuing to advance that dialogue online," said Eric Peterson, Explorer communications manager.

"We have actively answered our fans’ questions, but now we have an opportunity to create advocates and show how Explorer can enable you to do the things you always dreamed of."

In partnership with Ford, Gogo is offering free Facebook access on American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, AirTran Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America.

"Facebook continues to be the number one website visited by travelers using Gogo at 30,000 feet," said Aircell Chief Revenue Officer, Jim Berrien.

"Our commitment is to offer great inflight experiences to our users, and unique marketing opportunities to advertisers.”

When the plane has reached 10,000 feet and people are allowed to turn on electronic devices, they can visit the Gogo wireless network, open their browser and click on the Ford/Facebook banner.

The service is available to users on all Wi-Fi enabled devices, including laptops, smartphones and PDAs.