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Ford's made-in-Australia Falcon sedan. Photo credit: Ford Motor Co Ford said this week that it will cease making vehicles in Australia. Ford has been making cars and trucks Down Under since 1925, but fading demand for its locally produced products - and competition from cheaper imports - has made local manufacturing untenable, executives say. Ford's two Australian factories will close in 2016, leaving about 1,200 workers unemployed. It's a tough pill to swallow for Australia, but it's a necessary move for the increasingly globalized Blue Oval. Almost 90 years Down Under, but not for much longer Ford sells a full line of vehicles in Australia, but nowadays most of them are imported from places like Thailand. That won't change. But Ford has lost about 600 million Australian dollars (about $580 million) in the country over the last five years, and major changes are needed. Those changes include an end to Ford's commitment to the vehicles it makes in and specifically for Australia. One of those is the handsome sedan pictured above, the Ford Falcon. The Australian Falcon started life as right-hand-drive sibling of the compact U.S.-market Ford of the same name over 50 years ago, but has evolved into something much different over time. Today's Falcon is a big rear-wheel-drive sedan, a family car comparable in size to Ford's U.S.-market Taurus. At times over the years, Ford has offered powerful high-performance variants of the Falcon that have had a major presence in Australia's car culture, not unlike the Mustang's presence here. The current Falcon is a unique-to-Australia product that shares its underpinnings with no other Ford anywhere, aside from the other Australia-only vehicles: a car-pickup hybrid called the Falcon Ute and an SUV called the Territory. That's a no-no under CEO Alan Mulally's One Ford approach, which allows for regional product variations - but only if they're based on one of Ford's global "platforms", or vehicle architectures. Ford had recently hinted that the Falcon could have a future under One Ford, raising the possibility of a new-generation model that might share a platform with the upcoming new Mustang. But declining sales, rising gas prices, and unfavorable exchange-rate conditions have apparently added up to make that an unworkable option. Australia's domestic car industry is now at risk Most of the global automakers sell in Australia, but Ford is just one of three companies that actually manufactures locally. The others are Toyota and local brand Holden, which is owned by General Motors . Both GM and Toyota have recently said that they will keep their Australian factories open, at least for the time being, despite the fact that both are facing the same pressures as Ford. Simply put, the increase in value of the Australian dollar has made imported vehicles much more competitive - just as rising gas prices have diminished demand for the big rear-wheel-drive cars that were Ford's (and Holden's) local bread and butter. Holden chief Mike Deveraux has committed to domestic production through 2022, but has lately been hinting that some sort of government assistance would be necessary to "help keep us competitive". The subject of government aid for automakers is being hotly debated in Australia, all the more so with Ford's announcement - even as Toyota says that it will stay with no government aid necessary. But Ford's departure could end up having a larger impact if local Australian suppliers are unable to keep their doors open without Ford's business. Leaders of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, which represents auto workers, said this week that Ford's decision could end up costing 6,000 jobs. Supplier failures could make it harder for Holden and Toyota to keep their local factories viable. The upshot: Change was inevitable for Ford It was inevitable that Ford's Australian operation would have to be brought fully into the company's globalized plan. But it wasn't inevitable that Ford would stop m

Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal must resign to take responsibility for the blackout in all 14 provinces of the South last Tuesday, according to the majority of respondents in an Abac Poll.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undertake a five-day official visit to Japan and Thailand from Monday.

[6:30pm UPDATE] Thailand News Summary for Saturday:

Jack Thammarat Martin Miller Alex Hutchings Yamaha & Laney Thailand Guitar Online Competition Promo. (in Thai/English) www.yamahabandproject.com Jack Thammarat Martin Miller Alex Hutchings Yamaha & Laney Online Competition Promo

As we know Google did not unveil Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie at the Google I/O event, but it is expected to release later in the year. It has been said that Android 4.3, which will have a few minor updates is expected to come before KLP 5.0, but even this was not announced. It is not known if Android 4.3 or Android 5.0 will release first so we will report what we know so far, below we have added a few videos covering Android 4.3 including a brand new one showing Android 4.3 running on the Google Nexus 4 with featuring a new camera app. The new Android 4.3 according to reports not so long ago suggested by Bluetooth SIG informed tech bloggers that the new operating system could support low-energy ‘Bluetooth Smart’ – please read more about this here. One of the videos below shows off the Google Nexus 4 running Android 4.3 with an updated Camera UI, this was found by XDA Developers Forum members challeen” and innocent36 at the Thailand Mobile Expo 2013. The Nexus 4 in the video running Android 4.3 does not show much other than the new Camera app that features a new action area as well as toggles for contrast, white balance, HDR, rotation and a few other things. Welcome to the new Easter egg menu showing off Android 4.3 Jelly Bean – Does this mean it will be called Android 4.3 rather than being named Key Lime Pie, or is this a simple update before KLP is released? The Nexus 4 in the video shows a pre-release build JWR45B and a baseband string of m9615a-cefwmazm-2.0.1700.74, and we know for sure this has not been used anywhere, not as far as we know anyway. Please watch the videos we have provided below We also reported news covering the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 prototype running Android 4.3 in AnTuTu benchmark tests, the handset got a score of 27,914 points. The screenshot we showed did not reveal anything really other than its model name of GT-7200 and that it was running on a 1.6GHz processor – Please read more here. There is not a lot of information on Android 4.3, please do watch the videos below to get an insight of what people think around the world, thank you. We would love for you to comment if you know anymore.

The funny thing about traveling is that the idea of it is very nice and romantic and exciting but the actual experience of it can be a completely different thing. Most of the time, the experience is tiring and exhausting. That said, despite the exhaustion of not only the physical and mental self but also the bank account, the memory of it again is one of romance and nostalgia. Taiwanese politics aside, I have never thought much about Taiwan but for some movie directors which I adore, Hou Hsiao Hsien being the primary one and also Edward Yang and Tsai Ming Liang, although Tsai is technically a Malaysian. I am also aware that Taiwanese street food is quite popular but have no idea of its extent. When faced with a choice of destination for a short holiday, several places popped up but somehow or rather, we decided on Taiwan and the experience was a good one. We did not have enough time to really explore Taiwan but just a sampling of what it offers. Mostly food. Street food like depicted above that sells a variety of internal organs, blood cubes, necks and other exotic animal parts litters the streets of Taiwan. The most popular street food spot is the Shilin Market where a huge variety of street food is available, from stinky tofu to barbecued squids and many novelty food. The dish above is the famous Prince Noodle. It is very tasty and is decorated with an assortment of internal organs and such. It seems like the Taiwanese really likes to eat internal organs and necks and such weird parts. Any part except the meat. Haha. Taiwan is also getting very big in patisserie and is up neck to neck against the Japanese in making really interesting cakes and such. The more traditional cake houses is now getting an antiquated feeling, overwhelmed by these much more interesting offerings. The place above serves what is supposedly the best soya milk in the whole world. The queue can be very very long. It is hidden in a market above a supermarket. This place is called Fu Hang Dou Jiang. Besides the soya milk, it offers a variety of other food such as shown in the picture above. The food is pretty good and it is a good place for breakfast, if not for the long queue! The picture above shows perhaps the most expensive bowl of beef noodles that I have ever eaten. It costs slightly more than USD30 per bowl but the beef is really very tender and melts in the mouth and the soup really tasty. It is worth a try. However, the bowl that I had was not the most expensive one. The most expensive one cost upwards of USD300 per bowl. This place is called 688 Beef Noodles. Some more food pictures:

Hangout with Schoolkids from Thailand I don’t know if you missed this crazy event… but it was a fun one. Their teacher contacted me to see if I wanted to talk to her kids about science and photography. Some of the questions they asked me were kinda funny. I think they were trying to take another topic and bend around the questions so they had something to do with photography! Daily Photo – Lake Wakatipu in the Late Sun The colors here go a little crazy when the clouds are in the sky! I’m not what it is… I think this very cold lake also does something to the air to make it a bit… thicker… or have more moisture in the air… or something! I took this shot from atop the Skyline Gondola with the trust old 28-300mm lens! Check the Camera Lens Reviews over there on the right if you want to read more about this lens or the others. Order a Limited Edition print of this photo

Bangkok Farmers Market this morning from 8am-3pm at K-Village on Sukhumwit 26

Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean" has been spotted at the Thailand Mobile Expo.