Barnes & Noble announces ‘Nook for Web,’ a browser-based desktop reader

Barnes & Noble has one of the best-known e-readers, and it’s now hoping to expand its platform to desktop web users and make browsing a little easier for everyone. Nook for Web, announced today, gives readers access to books in any of the major browsers without requiring a Nook account, though you’ll need one to make purchases or save books in your library. This puts Barnes & Noble in the same category as Amazon and Google, both of which offer web-based access to ebooks. To read one of the sample free books (or a chapter of any ebook), click the “read instantly” icon on the book cover. So far, it’s only supported on traditional computers, but a web version for iPad may be coming soon; there’s also already a dedicated app for iOS.