News: Chrome OS Project Athena, Freemium apps “free” no more, Dell now accepting Bitcoin

Ready for your weekend adventures? We are sure you are, but first come and get all your tech and mobile news. We have stories from Google and Dell this afternoon.

Chrome OS Project Athena unveiled

Android keeps evolving, but it seems the Chrome OS design has stayed pretty consistent for some time now. It’s time for redesign and the Chromium OS team is working on it as we speak. The team is experimenting with a new UI that seems to be based on the Material Design experience.

It seems to offer an interesting window management feature, with what looks like stacked windows. This also happens to be very similar to Android L.

Opinion: This new design looks like a huge jump from what we currently know as Chrome OS. It’s in its early stages, though. We are sure everything will be cleaned out and the end result may look quite different.

Google will no longer label freemium apps as “free”

There is something really odd about the way the the Google Play Store handles apps with in-app purchases. These are labeled as “free” but really aren’t. The EU Comissions is not standing for such practices and has asked Google to change the way these apps are labeled.

To summarize, it seems like Google is being forced to no longer label freemium apps as “free”. In essence, they really aren’t, so this might be the best solution for the consumer.

Opinion: We often hear horror stories of kids spending hundreds of dollars in in-app purchases. This change could help users stop accidentally making in-app purchases, but I feel other steps would be better. Having to enter a pin or password with each purpose would be much more efficient, in my opinion.

Dell now accepts Bitcoin

Large companies have started accepting Bitcoin as a currency to pay for goods, and the largest company to accept the popular crypto currency has just jumped on the bandwagon.

Dell has partnered up with Coinbase to accept Bitcoin on theor official USA website. Got some extra Bitcoin and need a new computer? You can now purchase one with your digital cash!

Opinion: The concept of money is very abstract and complicated. We choose what we give value to, and Bitcoin is on its way to becoming a well-known currency.