Nook - A quiet Mac browser that shows the article, not the clutter

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You open a page to read one article and get a cookie banner, a video that starts on its own, and a prompt to sign in. Nook shows the article. Ads and trackers are blocked from the first page you open, reader mode keeps the text and pictures, and focus mode hides the tabs and toolbar. Cookies and cache are cleared when you quit. No account, no sync, no telemetry. macOS 13+, Apple silicon and Intel. Free.

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Hi, I'm Arun. I make small tools for the Mac. I built Nook because browsing had stopped feeling quiet. I would open a page to read one article and get a cookie banner, a video that starts on its own, a sidebar I never opened, a prompt to sign in, a prompt to sync, a new AI button. The article was in there somewhere, under all of it. Nook is a row of tabs and an address bar with a handful of buttons. What it does: - Blocks ads and trackers with Ghostery's filter lists, built into the app. There is no extension to add. - Reader mode shows the headline, the text and the pictures, without the sidebars and sign-up boxes. - Focus mode hides the tabs and toolbar so the article gets the whole window. You can still type an address while they stay hidden. - Cookies, cache and site data are cleared every time you quit, so each session starts signed out. No account, no sync, no telemetry. It runs on Chromium, so pages render the way they do in Chrome. One limitation up front: Netflix and other DRM-protected streaming won't play. Nook is free on the Mac App Store, or as a direct download from the website, for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. I'm around all day and would like to hear what breaks or what you'd change.

i always get distracted by those autoplay videos, drives me nuts. nook sounds perfect for actually reading articles without wanting to toss my laptop out the window. might need to give it a shot the next time i dive into a long read.