Wow, I found something really useful in the otherwise disappointing 1.3 update! Free book reading! 

Here's how it worked for me.  I connected to the store network normally and I received a pop up welcome message.  It said, "Read eBooks for free. You can read many eBooks for up to one hour each day.  Find items in your nook's Shop then tap Read In Store".

Notice the word "MANY".  The first couple books I tried did not have the "read in store" option.  I then found one book and started reading it.  Every page or two it says, "Loading Page" - and pauses.  That's how they control the reading time by checking you every few page turns (smart idea).  You don't seem to have many reading options in this mode - no navigation with table of contents or footnotes.  You also can't do bookmarks, or notes until you buy the book (pretty expected). The first book locked up hard after a few pages so I cancelled and tried another book which seemed to work flawlessly.  Yes, I did try when I got home and it just hung on "Loading Page"

Interesting items:

- Store has a new menu option, "Recently Read in Store", which makes it easy to continue reading previously read books. Nice.
- The "Shop" icon has a "In Store" ribbon on it in the launcher. Cute.
- Not all books are available. I didn't see a 1:1 correlation with "Lend Me" items.

That make the 1.3 update worth it?

Yes I have the 1.3 update!  

All I can say is it seems B&N focused on the extras and not the essentials.  I have a chess game, but I still can't go to a specific page number in a book or have a "slider" for navigation.  I just want the basics many other eReaders have. Even iPhone readers can do some of this. What a huge disappointment for me.

My twelve year old thinks B&N is more worried about a checklist comparison to the iPad than making this the most serious e-book reader around. I think he may be right.

General

Scrolling Launcher (like nookdevs but with "new" icons). 
Menus slide in/out differently - smoother.
New top level icon for wi-fi (Nice)
New Audio icon, same lame MP3 player.
Single click for Airplane mode.  Nice, but still no way to run just wi-fi.

Web Browser

REQUIRES wi-fi hotspot - no free 3G browsing as I expected.
Better than the web browser with nookdevs.
Pan with the color screen.  Zoom in/out with icons.
The eInk devices just aren't great for this so...

Shop

View Promotion Menu Option.
Collections (Top 100, New Releases, etc.)
Read-in-Store! Yup, read my latest blog entry.

Games

Sudoko. Uses both screens, works pretty well I guess except my LCD stopped working in game and had to restart.
Chess, Seems nice. Dual screen.  eInk is for the big view.

My Library / Reading

No consolidation of B&N and owner content.  
Check for new items took minutes for My Documents.
Opening a book speed same or slower based on a few trials.
Page turns faster, and looks different (the way text dissolves).
Text resize seems much faster.
Holding arrow down in book browser goes to last item.
NO New Fonts.
NO go to page number.  Unbelievable.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE ---- IT'S A SLOW DOWNLOAD (note: they have password protected it but keep trying)

B&N has Alton Gansky’s The Incumbent for the Free Friday eBook selection. Check it out!

 

...Madison “Maddy” Glenn is the controversial mayor of the beautiful tourist town of Santa Rita, California. Lisa Truccoli, her friend and treasurer of her last campaign, has been abducted. The only thing left at the scene of the crime is a shocking clue—a clue with Maddy’s name on it. And the game begins. She embarks on a desperate hunt for answers, finding more shocking clues in a dangerous game the abductor wants to play—with Maddy.....

 

Enjoy!