Barnes & Noble puts e-books on the Web

Barnes & Noble says it's giving customers a way to read e-books from its catalog in a browser rather than on a dedicated e-reader, tablet or smartphone. NOOK for Web will run in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer, with instant access to any book in a customer's NOOK library and the ability to pick up reading from where a reader leaves on a NOOK Tablet or similar device, Barnes & Noble said on its Web site. The company is offering six bestsellers free of charge for those signing up to the NOOK for Web service before July 26 Registration for the Web service is free, and will offer the same purchase option for books as a NOOK reader, the company said. Readers can adjust font and text size in the Web reader, and can share details on what they're currently reading through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.