Picture a racing game with high-quality graphics, eight-player multiplayer, and realistic physics. You’d probably assume that this game costs money – but it’s named Driving Speed 2, and it’s free. This isn’t an arcade-style racing game where cars fly up into the air – it’s got realistic handling. There are lots of great freeware games out there, but free racing games with high-quality graphics are a rare breed.

Android forces apps to declare the permissions they require when they install them. You can protect your privacy, security, and cell phone bill by paying attention to permissions when installing apps – although many users don’t. Malicious apps can’t send premium-rate SMS messages or snoop on your personal information without asking permission – unless there’s a security vulnerability, of course.

You’re probably familiar with browser extensions, but there are many other ways to customize your browser and tweak websites. The web isn’t a one-way, passive medium – you have the ability to remix websites you view on the fly, adding features or changing their look. Each of these methods has its own advantages and drawbacks.

Most of the time, Skype just works – but every now and then you’ll run into a snag. These six troubleshooting steps will solve most common Skype problems, whether your microphone isn’t working or the other person sounds like a robot.u
u

Google Docs contains a dragon, YouTube’s video player contains a hidden game, and zerglings are waiting to devour your search results when you challenge them to a battle. Over the years, many video game-related Easter eggs have crept into Google – several of which are playable games. These Easter eggs pay tribute to retro video game culture. Many Google employees are obviously video game fans.

Simplenote and its ecosystem of apps for every platform toss all the superfluous features found in competing note-taking programs and focus on the ones that matter. All Simplenote apps sync effortlessly, with minimal interfaces that don’t get in your way, easy searching, quick tagging, and excellent support for keyboard shortcuts.

The cloud storage scene has heated up recently, with a long-awaited entry by Google and a revamped SkyDrive from Microsoft. Dropbox has gone unchallenged by the major players for a long time, but that’s changed – both Google and Microsoft are now challenging Dropbox on its own turf, and all three services have their own compelling features. One thing’s for sure – Dropbox is no longer the one-size-fits-all solution.

Google Drive is a great service, but installing the Google Drive application and synchronizing some files is just the first step. These tricks will help you take advantage of Google Drive, both on the desktop and on the web – whether you’re looking to easily synchronize other folders with your Drive or take advantage of the features only available on Google Drive’s website.

File system fragmentation is a major cause of sluggish performance on Windows. The default Windows Disk Defragmenter does a passable job of the basics, but Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro ($29.95) goes above and beyond. We’re giving away 25 copies of Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro for Windows worth a total of $750 to 25 lucky readers this week! Read on for your chance to win.

After more than 6 years of rumors and a long-ago cancellation because “files are so 1990″, Google Drive is finally here. Coming with 5 GB of free storage space, a Dropbox-like desktop sync client, and strong integration with Google’s web apps, Google Drive has a lot to offer. Google Drive is late to the game, but it stands out from the pack with its deep search features and application integration.