I know we don’t have the least corrupt government in the world. And this helps me empathize with employees who are complaining about the government taking a significant portion of their holiday bonuses and 13th or 14th or 15th month pay.

After all, the money the government is withholding from the employees could have helped pay for food on the table, new clothes for the children, even for medicine an ill family member badly needs. And knowing that a significant portion of the taxes we ordinary citizens pay goes missing and ends up in some politicians’ pockets leaves most people seethe with rage.

We, however, cannot let this rage keep us from doing our civic responsibility of paying our taxes. Not only is it a legal requirement, it is our moral duty to do so.

Keeping our tax money safe from corrupt government officials, now, that is something else.

5M Galaxy Note II

Samsung said it has shipped more than 5 million units of the Galaxy Note II two months after the tablet-cum-smartphone’s launch.

The Android-powered smartphone comes with a 5.5-inch display and a quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos processor. The phablet also comes with an 8-megapixel camera also capable of shooting 1080p HD video.

Coming with features that make it a significant improvement over its predecessor, the Galaxy Note II further reinforces the Korean electronics company’s leadership in the smartphone market.

iOS Users Out-Use Android Counterparts

Android might have won the mobile platform wars, but its users remain a minority in terms of usage and engagement in the United States. Data from IBM showed that during the last Black Friday shopping mania, iOS users were responsible for most of related online traffic.

IBM said 77 percent of mobile traffic came from users of iOS devices. What makes this interesting is that according to market research reports Android accounts for at least 52.5 percent of smartphone subscribers while Apple’s iOS platform comes in with a much lower 34.3 percent.

The iPad, for example, has usage patterns that, considering its actual share of the market, are truly huge, even outsized.

According to data from Gartner, iPad shipments dropped to 50.4 percent in the third quarter. IBM’s data, however, shows Apple’s tablet accounted for 88 percent of the tablet traffic during the long weekend.

These bits of information would tend to reinforce some corners’ assertion that a significant portion, at least, of Android users choose to buy devices running Google’s mobile OS because they value getting a bargain more than anything else.

Or as they say it in some corners of this archipelago, Android users are allergic to spending money.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.