14 DAY TRIAL // Google eBooks is now making it possible to store ebooks locally and read them in Chrome even if you don't have an internet connection. You have to install the eBooks Chrome app to do it, but it's still a major improvement and it means that your books will be available to you everywhere you go.
"We’ve all been there: the Internet is suddenly down, and you can’t keep on reading your ebook to see what the character decides to do next. Or you’re about to head to the airport and want to be able to dive into a newly-purchased ebook during a long flight," Google explains the need for this feature.
"Well, here’s some much-awaited good news! Google eBooks now supports offline reading in Google Chrome," it announced.
"Whether you are flying through the air, backpacking through the European countryside, or simply facing intermittent network connections, you can always read your Google eBooks in your Chrome browser or on your Chromebook," it explained.
HTML5 comes with plenty of features to enhance the web. But a really interesting thing about it is that, couple with a few other web technologies, it can create a better experience offline as well.
Web apps can store data locally or access files from the computer, for example. Still, even as HTML5 support advances, there is still some work to be done, especially in these areas.
That's partially why Google had to build a web app for Chrome to offer this functionality. Of course, the fact that it forces users to run Chrome and use the Chrome Web Store is an added bonus.
In the end though, it means that you can still access and read your books on any computer, even if you don't have a dedicated ebook reader which supports the Google eBook store.