Comics apps have been around for a couple of years, but the rise of the tablet has seen a resurgence of interest in digital comic books. Comixology, Graphicly, and the Vintage Comics Droid are three apps that bring superheroes and more to your fingertips.

Time for a pop quiz. Are you a fan of:

(A) Bank robberies?

(B) High-speed chases?

(C) Vehicular destruction?

(D) Jumps, power-ups, and coin-collecting?

All of the above? Me, too! What you'll want to do, then, is toss the sofa cushions, scrape together $2.99, deposit those coins in your PC, and buy a copy of Reckless Getaway--the single most fun racing game I've played all year.

If the "Reckless" part sounds familiar, you might be thinking of Reckless Racing, which was among my favorite games of 2010. Developer Polarbit is the shop behind both, and I'm happy to say that this unofficial sequel is even better.

You've already robbed the bank and hopped in your getaway car; now it's time to elude the police. Unlike Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, in which the main goal is to hightail it outta there, here it's all about smashing, crashing, jumping, and collecting power-ups.

Like Reckless Racing, the perspective is mostly top-down, but with gorgeous 3D graphics and a great "chase-scene" soundtrack. Because the focus here is all on the environment--running other cars off the road, smashing through barriers, picking up coins, totaling police cars, etc.--the only control is steering: left and right, via buttons on either side of the screen.

Some race-game purists might not like that, but I found it liberating not to have to worry about accelerating and braking. You just...go, focusing entirely on piloting your getaway car. (That said, there were times when I wished I could brake, if only to get a a police car off my tail.)

The game comes with 16 tracks, but they're linear, not circular, so they don't feel repetitive at all. They're not all unlocked, either; to progress, you have to collect a certain number of stars.

Polarbit promises new chapters and game modes in a future update. (A couple vehicles to choose from might be nice, too.) But even now, Reckless Getaway is a little slice of arcade-racing heaven.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

With the Web having so many interesting things to look at, it can be difficult to get work done. Since you can already use Google Chrome to check your e-mail, the weather, and news stories, why not try to get some work done in it, too? Here's a serving of five distraction-free (and free in cost) text editors available in the Chrome Web Store that you can use right inside of your browser, yet still save your work for later.

Write Space

This app offers that blank slate you often hear about. Working offline is no problem, as it saves your data locally for later use. Background color, text color and other visual details of the app can be customized, and you can also set it to open in full-screen mode. And for those who need to see their word count, the developer, Haydn Trowell, managed to squeeze that in too.

Pillarbox

An excellent choice for the typewriter lover in all of us (or not, since you can disable it). Words will move up as you type, maintaining that old-style typewriter feel. Manual saving is available, otherwise the app will save your work every 10 seconds, and at the closing of each document. If you're writing something really boring, you can entertain yourself with the live word count at the bottom of the screen--and even set word count goal alerts. There's no keyboard shortcuts since there's a menu to help you customize the app to your heart's content.

QuietWrite

Hello, zen. While not allowing you to adjust the colors of the app, the appearance is quite peaceful and easy on the eyes. Black text rests on a cool aqua background, and a strings-free editing box. There's room for a title on each post, and your content can even be posted for free on its Web site. It's kind of like LiveJournal, but without too many options to distract you. Work can be saved and reopened in the app for easy editing.

WriteKit

No colors to change, no fonts to pick, no fancy buttons at the top--this app is the premium example of a bare-bones editor. The default page offers title and body sections for each writing piece. Despite the fact that you cannot adjust the background and text colors in this app, it does have at least one saving grace: DropBox sync. Documents that you create and edit are synced to a new folder in DropBox (one created by the app). This makes sharing and editing documents from other locations a breeze.

Writeulus

Writeulus lets you adjust the background and text colors, along with the font face. After writing, you can save your work offline for easy access. You can use this app from any computer with a Google Chrome browser, making it easy to write on a plane, in a taxi, or on the train. If you want a super simplistic interface with some minor visual tweaks and you want to get started writing now, this app is the one for you. Plus the developer says it will make you sexier...and who doesn't want to be sexier?

Originally posted at How To

For years, an extension called Firebug has been a powerful tool that kept Web programmers loyal to Firefox.

But now, as browser makers add their own tools geared to attract those who build Web sites and applications, the lead Firebug programmer has taken a job with Chrome, CNET has learned.

"Monday, I start work on next-gen Web dev tools at Google on the Chrome browser team. Consequently I will no longer be contributing routinely to the development and maintenance of Firebug for Firefox," John J. Barton told members of a Firebug mailing list yesterday.

The change reflects the new rules of the browser market in which Firefox no longer holds such a central location.

Firebug was dominant in the days when Mozilla's Firefox was the dominant challenger of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but now the browser market is as competitive as it's ever been. Chrome is steadily gaining usage share at Firefox's expense. On top of that, the use of mobile browsers is exploding, and the scope of what people do with a browser has expanded tremendously.

Web programming is a hot area as the era of static Web pages gives way to the era of dynamic Web applications with animated elements, interactive user interfaces, and heavy-duty software written in the JavaScript language. That makes the task of creating developer tools harder.

Barton had been an IBM employee. IBM made Firefox its default browser a year ago, a major endorsement for the open-source browser, but evidently IBM's priorities don't extend as far as Firefox these days.

"I think our current drive to re-architect Firebug is on the right track, but I could not obtain another year of support from IBM to contribute to that work," Barton said.

Web developer tools in browsers are under rapid development as browser makers court Web programmers. Chrome has its suite of developer tools. Apple's Safari has its Web Inspector and other tools. IE has the F12 developer tools. Firefox has a developer tools group, too.

Firebug is an elaborate extension for Firefox. But it's been a lot of work at times to keep Firebug updated as new versions of Firefox arrived. That was the case two years ago when Mozilla was trying to turn the new-version crank faster, and it's even more the case now that Firefox is fully engaged in Mozilla's new rapid-release program for Firefox.

Thus, Barton described Firebug's present challenges:

Working on Firebug with this great group of contributors was fun and I believe we had a tremendous impact on the Web over the years when Firebug was the only decent Web debugger

Now all of the browsers have (or will soon have) their own debuggers. Basing next gen work on Firebug is not practical. The pace of change in browsers is too fast for our team size. Firebug hasn't really been able to keep up with Firefox, let alone compete with other tools. Moreover, the shift from desktop to mobile and from one high-tech browser (Firefox) to three or more requires additional development effort."

Dion Almaer, who had worked on developer tools at Mozilla earlier in his career, noted the significance of Barton's new job in a blog post today.

"Firebug used to be the way you debugged your sites, but that is changed," Almaer said. "It is too early to claim that Firebug is zombied, but all eyes will be on that...especially as we see other browser tools continue to blossom."

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Editors' note: Until Friday, 10 CNET personalities are showcasing their 10 personal favorite Android apps as part of the CNET 100. With each post, you can read why they hold the apps so dear and you'll get the opportunity to vote for your own favorite title. Then after the series ends, we'll collect the full list of 100 apps and announce the 10 that you, our readers, love the most.

Since she arrived at CNET five years ago, Jessica has covered just about every aspect of the mobile world. After starting in mobile software and browsers, she moved on to the big, bad world of reviewing phones. From simple handsets to smartphones, she really puts a device through its paces. Indeed if I were a cell phone and ended up on her desk, I'd be scared to death.

When she's in the office, Jessica works hard. And when she's out, she works hard at having fun, staying organized, and keeping up with her friends and family. Google Voice and Skype populate her list, along with apps for shopping, eating out, and cooking at home. She's also a fan of music and, believe it or not, is an aspiring wilderness explorer.

This week, be sure to check back each day on Android Atlas to see app choices from Jaymar Cabebe, Antuan Goodwin, Nicole Lee, and more of the CNET crew. For yesterday's list, check out the picks from Scott Webster.

Originally posted at Android Atlas