Google Gears: Next-Gen Web 2.0

Google introduces Gears as an open source technology enable every web application to work better offline and offer a richer experience, not just Google applications. ...

... "This new browser extension is being made available in its early stages so that everyone can test its capabilities and limitations and help improve upon it. The long-term hope is that Google Gears can help the industry as a whole move toward a single standard for offline capabilities that all developers can use. Google Gears marks an important step in the evolution of web applications because it addresses a major user concern: availability of data and applications when there's no Internet connection available, or when a connection is slow or unreliable. As application developers and users alike want to do more on the web - whether it's email or CRM or photo editing - enhancements that make the browser environment itself more powerful are increasingly important. " ...

Via Google: Gears