Hasta La Gadget!

Back in September Panasonic introduced the Toughpad FZ-E1. The device is billed as being a rugged tablet, although given its 5-inch display we’re sure many would consider it more like a phablet rather than tablet. That being said availability stateside was not mentioned back then, but the good news is that if you liked what you saw, it looks like the device could be making its way to the US.

The tablet has recently been certified for the US market by the GCF. This means that if and when Panasonic chooses to launch the device stateside, it has the necessary clearance to go on sale. However there is no telling if Panasonic has such plans and that its certification could simply be a formality or for Panasonic to cover their bases.

That being said for those who are wondering what the fuss about the tablet is about, well safe to say that this is a tablet that can take a beating and then some, which you can see in the video above where its ruggedness gets put to the test. Along with its tough exterior, under the hood the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 packs some pretty decent hardware as well.

The tablet will feature a 5-inch 720p HD display and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2.3GHz. It will also be accompanied by 2GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage along with LTE Cat 4 connectivity. It will also come with a 6,200mAh battery and will run on Windows Embedded 8 Handheld.

Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 Certified For Sale In The US

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MANILA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit rose to 21 on Monday, the Philippine Red Cross said, after the storm tore through the country’s central islands flattening homes and toppling trees and power lines.

The capital Manila shut down as Hagupit, now downgraded to a tropical storm, took aim at the tip of the main island Luzon, just south of the city of 12 million people.

“We have confirmed reports that 21 people died in Eastern Samar, 16 of them in Borongan,” said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine Red Cross. Most of those killed were drowned in floodwaters, she said.

But despite the jump in the number of reported dead, there was relief that Hagupit had not brought destruction on the scale of super typhoon Haiyan, which last year killed thousands of people in the same areas of the central Philippines.

Hagupit roared in from the Pacific as a Category 3 typhoon on Saturday night, churning across Samar island and on to the smaller island of Masbate. Its effects were felt across the central Philippines, including Leyte island and southern Luzon.

Learning lessons from Haiyan, which left more than 7,000 dead or missing, the authorities had launched a massive evacuation operation ahead of the storm, emptying whole towns and villages in coastal and landslide prone areas.

“We saw that with preparation and being alert we prevented tragedy and harm, we took our countrymen away from harm,” Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas told a televised government disaster meeting in Samar. “It is sad to hear news of deaths, but this is very low, way below what the potential was.”

The Philippine weather bureau said Hagupit had weakened after making three landfalls, but was still packing winds of 105 kph (65 mph), with gusts of up to 135 kph (83 mph).

It was on course to hit Batangas province, around 90 km (55 miles) south of Manila, on Monday evening, and would later cross Manila Bay about 50 km west of the city.

Financial markets, schools and some public offices in the capital were closed and people in low-lying areas and near waterways were moved to shelters. Soldiers and emergency workers were put on standby to respond to any contingency.

CLEAR-UP OPERATION

Despite the relief that Hagupit had not been as devastating as was feared, a major operation remained to clear debris and get supplies to people left homeless or without power after the typhoon flattened houses and tore down power lines.

Delia Monleon, mayor of Jipapad, a town of 7,000 people in Eastern Samar province, said floodwaters were still preventing people from getting to their homes.

“Our problem is power, food is a problem because boats cannot leave,” said Monleon. “It was flooded yesterday so we can’t leave to look for food,” she said.

Proceso Alcala, the farm minister, said initial reports put crop and farm infrastructure damage at 1 billion pesos ($22 million). Rice crops were most affected, with little damage to corn.

Alcala said the state grains agency was considering importing an additional 600,000 tonnes of rice to boost buffer stocks after 48,000 tonnes of unmilled rice was damaged.

Mayor Emiliana Villacarillo of Dolores, in Eastern Samar, the area where Hagupit first made landfall, said almost 100 percent of ricelands in the town were submerged by floodwaters.

“Our farmers will have to go back to square one and plant again. We will need new seedlings,” she said.

Armed forces chief of staff General Gregorio Catapang told a news conference two C-130 planes loaded with supplies, including food and water, flew on Monday to Borongan, Eastern Samar, after soldiers had cleared three airports, including Tacloban City.

More than 48,000 residents of Tacloban had fled to shelters, but damage to the city that was devastated by Haiyan in November last year was relatively minor.

“A lot of them have begun to go home. In Tacloban this morning, the sun is shining, people just started going back,” said Orla Fagan, spokeswoman and Asia-Pacific advocacy officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

(1 US dollar = 44.6500 Philippine peso) (Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Alex Richardson)

The streets outside a Chicago-area hotel were filled with people in costume early Sunday after a furry convention was evacuated due to a chlorine gas incident that police believe may have been intentional.

Several thousand people were ordered out of the Hyatt Regency Hotel around 1 a.m. after guests reported a chlorine odor on the 9th floor, according to local media.

Many of the guests were staying at the hotel while attending the 2014 Midwest Furfest convention, an annual gathering for people who enjoy art, literature, and performance based around anthropomorphic animals, according to the group’s website. Many attendees enjoy dressing as those characters, and were in costume when the evacuation order was given.

Although 19 people were taken to local hospitals after being sickened, 18 were soon released.

A hazmat team at the scene said they found a “substance, consistent in odor and appearance to powdered chlorine” in the stairwell, according to a statement cited by Fox6.

“It was like when you walk into a pool. It was pungent,” evacuee Chris Delaney told the Chicago Tribune.

“It was shocking,” Morgan Smejkal, who was dressed as a red panda, told the paper.

The way the chlorine was found leads police to believe the incident was intentional.

“In the course of investigating the scene, the Rosemont Police Department determined that this was a criminal act and began investigating it as such,” Furfest organizers said in a statement released online.

Video from the scene showed people milling outside the hote.

“We’ve been having a grand old time and we do not know what’s going on at this time,” Anthrocon organizer Samuel Conway, a.k.a. “Uncle Kage,” told AP. “We’ve been asked to leave the hotel for unknown reasons but we have a lot of costumers out here with big fluffy costumes that’ll keep people warm so at this point we’re not at all worried.”

For those not warmed by their costumes, the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and other nearby facilities opened to offer the guests refuge.

“There was a dog-grooming trade show going on and in walk all these people dressed like dogs and foxes,” Pieter Van Hiel told AP.

The furry convention continued on Sunday without further incident.

In a statement, Furfest said:

“As we wake up today we want to continue to provide the best possible convention that we can, despite the trying circumstances. The convention will be running on a full normal programming schedule today. We ask you to continue to be patient, and remember that the volunteers who make Midwest FurFest happen intend to give 110% to make sure that the fun, friendship, and good times of Midwest FurFest 2014 overshadow last night’s unfortunate incident.”

The organization said it would not offer refunds, and the hotel would not be comping rooms, as a result of the incident.

TOKYO (AP) — Sony’s online PlayStation store was inaccessible to users for part of Monday in the latest possible cyberattack on the electronics and entertainment company.

Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo said Monday the problem lasted two hours but has been fixed globally. It said the cause is under investigation, but there is no sign of any material being stolen.

Last week, the computer systems of Sony Pictures Entertainment were disrupted by a cyberattack and confidential information including unreleased movies was leaked on the Internet.

North Korea was among the suspects, but it has denied responsibility.

The FBI is investigating threatening emails sent to some employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and trying to identify the person or group responsible.

There was no indication of a link between the PlayStation and Sony Pictures incidents.

Much of what the Moreland Commission uncovered, however troubling, will never wind up in a courtroom.