Donncha O Caoimh

Igor the Troll? ;) - Michael Forian

How about me? - Tony Vota

Just added u so follow ChrisShouse:) - chris shouse

Shaq - Chris White

Leslie, Do'h! http://decafbad.com/blog/lifes... :) http://friendfeed.com/lmorchar... - directeur

It's me Scoble :p - Junal Rahman

Michael - NO...i don't think so! - Susan Beebe

It was a joke!!! :P (though I do find him somewhat interesting). - Michael Forian

@elliottheis :) - Elliot Theis

Michael - ok good...thought so! - Susan Beebe

my name is milad , looklike your son (Milan) :D - Mil∂d

Me :P - Yatin Vadhia

Hi! I am Arpit - ArpitNext

4000 whoaaaa - Oscar Juarez

I don't know.. I know that I'll be the 5,000th one ;-) - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Me please :-) - J.D.

how about Joy of Romance? that's me and this is my vodcast series called Intelligent Love: 411 for Men http://tinyurl.com/6k7cfv - Joy Nordenstrom

Me? - Jason R. Hunter

It could be me, but that would be hard since you already follow me. - Mathew Ballard

why not me? - Nicolas Clairembault via twhirl

Don't follow me, I'm not that interesting. - Pat Rice

Pat. I am already following you. Nice try, though! :-) - Robert Scoble

Follow the leader! - Tyson Key

رابرت بیا اینجا , رونوشت به همسر رابرت مریم :D - Mil∂d

A bit from Europe ! - Christian

ArpitNext was #4000. I am also adding everyone else on this thread. - Robert Scoble

4000 people is massive. Reminds me to organize my lists. - Tobias Verhoog

Pick a random person from the Everyone page - Outsanity

that is what I have been doing for past hour. - Robert Scoble

What's amazing about the article and the blog here is although we recognize the US auto industry is linked to massive future interests: manufacturing/merchandising during crisis/war times, US defense systems, global market share, competing with China's exponential expansion, protecting the "cool" American image and promoting the US through our greatest brand recog (US cars), labor costs and all issues involved, disassembling of unreasonable unions, nationally recognizing the transportation crisis and reciprocating with increasing gas costs...I find it odd that we face a huge butterfly effect by letting detroit crumble and most people seem to be against the bail out. Shouldn't saving Detroit be priority with so much at stake?? - Ebm

For most people I don't think the issue is whether we save Detroit or not. The issue is how. For example, I would not give money to a homeless drug addict and expect them not to use the money to support their habit instead of paying their rent. - scott anderson

The other thing that's interesting here for me is "our" reactions to Detroit failing. We blame everyone but ourselves. It's the CEO's jet setting around the country, it's poor innovation, lack of electric cars, union labor costs, production of "crappy" cars...well who will finally stand up and point at the American consumer? The consumers that made a Toyota sedan the #1 selling car in the US. What's leading now..Honda and Toyota. Bail out Detroit and then what...Americans keep buying foreign cars? - Ebm

@Scott....I see your point, but what other options do we have? Aside from long term plans like Scoble's (and I agree that restructuring needs to happen and heavy changes need to be made), is there really a viable solution that would work fast enough to save Detroit (other than the proposed google buying gm to forge g-moogle's - that's just ridiculous to me:) - Ebm

I'm in favor of Chapter 11 for the Big 3, raising the gas tax, and applying that revenue for a 21st century moonshot. Perhaps a national version of this vision ... http://www.sfgov.org/site/mayo... - scott anderson

Ebm I think you under-estimate the US auto consumer. Build me a truly world class sedan that has the performance, features and build quality to which I have become accustomed, and I'll buy it. Notice I mentioned nothing about price. Or fuel economy. Currently the domestic nameplates offer me nothing worth considering. The Camry/Accord are 1 and 2 because, just like a refridgerator, they just work. - Mark VandenBerg

... and perhaps fueled by this vision ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi... - scott anderson

@Mark, ah but isn't that the definition of loyalty? Ford will always be in my heart and regardless of what they put out, even if the competition is "better" than a Ford, I will always buy and proudly drive a Ford product. As far as world class sedans, foreign car companies have the luxury of releasing, testing, reworking, and perfecting their product for years before hitting the American market. And you'll notice their consumers were always loyal to their products. For years when American auto makers were building superior products, there was no foreign market simply because consumers were reluctant to buy foreign cars. So the real question here (maybe) is how do we determine what a "better" product is and draw the line btw this and brand loyalty? - Ebm

I'd like to think that we could generate all our power from the universe (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal) but I am repeatedly told that this is not realistic. - scott anderson

Ebm: Put another way: I have a 5 year old large sedan that I will be replacing in March/April 2009. I have become used to things like automatic shades, radar cruise control, heated washer nozzles, massive horsepower etc... Oh, and all maintenance covered by the manufacturer, is a real nice perk. It's a cash deal, no lease, no financing... What domestic product is there for me to consider? - Mark VandenBerg

Robert, I'm sorry you've had a poor experience in Ford vehicles. I'd be interested to know what you define as "crappy." The excellent Ford Flex that you noted is a crossover not an SUV, btw. :) You're wrong about Ford not innovating. Innovation comes from much more than creating an electric car, which seems to be the idea that you're fixated on. Let me see if I can enumerate the innovations at Ford that I'm aware of: - Ford's vehicle mix was about 70% trucks & SUVs (largely because we were giving people exactly what they demanded in times of cheap gas); we have restructured to produce 60% cars & crossovers. - We're changing over some of our truck & SUV manufacturing facilities to become car plants, with the flexible manufacturing capability; that is, if we need to change from car to truck or back again, it can be done in a matter of hours rather than a matter of months. - We're using our successful European & South American manufacturing models to bring the more of those outstanding small cars to the U - Scott Monty

Scott works for Ford and I think it's most awesome that he took time to answer on a Saturday. - Robert Scoble

@Scott Monty: What ever happened with Ford's experiments with hydrogen fuel cells? - scott anderson

Where does the hydrogen come from? - Chris White

Agree Robert - more "Scott"s are needed in every industry. - Bill Sanders

So true!! Hi Scott :) - Susan Beebe

Mark: Check out the Cadillac CTS or for blow your doors off power the CTS-V. I drive a bimmer but I've recently driven the CTS and I'd seriously consider one if I were in the market. Nice quality and fit and finish. That said, I think Ford is best positioned for when things turn around. It seems they're retooling faster and their CEO has a track record of success at Boeing. I'm optimistic in the long run. - Peter Simard

@Mark, buy an S80 AWD Turbo and then let me borrow it :) - Ebm

@Scott Monty...you are my new hero, thanks for the awesome post! - Ebm

Peter, agree with you all the way, CTS and STS are AMAZING sedans with power and handling that crushes any BMW, Audi, Suburu, or Mercedes in my opinion (especially with the CTS V pushing an insane almost 600 hp). If this isn't a world class sedan, I'm not sure what is. - Ebm

@Ebm and @Peter The CTS-V and the S80 are both very capable mid-size sedans, for certain. I have never owned a Cadillac but I have had good experiences with Volvo in the past. I have heard good things about the new CTS-V and also the ownership experience. I am replacing a 750iL and prefer to stay with comparable sized sedans. I share both of your enthusiasm for Ford as a company. I think by crashing before the economic correction they are in the best position of the three. - Mark VandenBerg

The problem with threads and articles like this is that they're full of anecdotes. "I drove this and it rocked." "I had this car and it sucked." Come on - look at the facts in aggregate - US auto brands have the lowest reliability and resale value of any of the other major carmakers. It's been true for a generation now. Yes, we all have a great-aunt whose 1982 Ford Escort lasted forever. But extrapolating global truths from such anecdotes? Can you be serious? - Anthony Citrano

And it's not the workers - it's the companies. American workers can make a perfectly excellent Toyota in Kentucky, but for some reason we can't make a decent Ford in Detroit. Hmm... wonder where the problem lies? - Anthony Citrano

@Anthony, the beauty of this particular thread is the discussion of the auto industry crisis, global implications, and potential solutions spanning broad horizons dipping even into the future of alternative energy sources. If you read through the article, comments on the blog post, and the responses, you'll find that Robert not only discusses the issue at hand, but also potential solutions and the causes of these issues. Scott who works for Ford posed restructuring steps that Ford has taken and commented on Ford's innovations. Peter offered American sedans that easily compete with foreign sedans. Mutliple others like Chris and Scott A posed q's on add'l innovations from the big three. I didn't see the introduction of an "anecdote" until your comment. Have you read through everyone's contributions? - Ebm

I have to say I really enjoyed reading Roberts article, and all of the comments afterwards. It's a great way to engage people in understanding some of the nation's (and indeed world's) major issues, and I firmly believe that this is the way the majority of us will move forward in the future. Education and knowledge is empowering, and the more we all know and can learn about an issue, and understand it, the more we can interact in better ways to deal with it, in whatever positive way we can. - Ian May

I sure did, Ebm, but thanks for the scolding. If you missed them, sorry. - Anthony Citrano

We're watching YouTubeLive and I think it's his voice. - Robert Scoble

I think Milan is starting to shape up into a fine, discriminating little guy. I don't blame him. - Steve Isaacs

watching youtubelive ,,,, interesting - johnpiercy via twhirl

hahahaaa!~ annoying, yes - Susan Beebe

Spintoband makes him cry too. So far Milan says YouTube Live is a FAIL. - Robert Scoble

Milan is a damn cool name...hopefully he'll thank you for that one day :) - Zee.

It's a very popular name in Eastern Europe, but here in Silicon Valley it's very rare. - Robert Scoble

where did you pull it out from? - Zee.

Zee: Maryam is an English Lit graduate and Milan Candera is her favorite author. Plus I keep promising I will take her to Milan someday. - Robert Scoble

Lovely...might keep that one a potential for my kid one day :) - Zee.

Milan Kundera you mean? You did name your kid after him... - Harish V

That is so weird. I remembered the part about you promising to take her to Milan and that was a reason for the name b4 I read it. So, um, when are ya gonna pony up Papa? Anniversary? You'll have to change your story then to "plus I promised her for 5 years I'd take her to Milan and then I finally did and then...we got Fiji the puppy and...." ;) (I made that last part up for fun) - TheMacMommy

Lucky for us Lucian is past the crying part but Frank made him laugh and go all nuts in a little two year old spaz attack kind of dance. Not sure if that was good or bad. ;) - TheMacMommy

thanks Sean, I'll definitely check that out. It looks like it might do the trick. I finally got all 120,000+ of my music tracks into iTunes and now I'm hoping to be able to create a 5 star list that I can use so that I can only sync my 5 star songs on my iPhone, since I obviously can't get all 120,000 songs on a 16 gig phone. - Thomas Hawk

hmmm.. Music Bridge totally seems to be working. Scratch what I said about Microsoft caring less. :) Really appreciate the pointer Sean. - Thomas Hawk

Think I'll try that myself - Roberto Bonini

Thomas, I'm guessing these are DRM-free since you're moving them from WMP to iTunes. Check Simplify Media to stream any and all to your iPhone. Takes the 16GB factor out of play. - Kevin C. Tofel

Sounds like you need to dump them all and switch to Linux! - Trevor Carpenter

Apple doesn't believe that the truth is in the file. They insist on using a database to store music metadata. So freaking 1990s. Apple has always been weak in metadata portability. - Omar Shahine

TH: Glad I could help :) - Sean Alexander