Yesterday, Google released a Beta version of Google Gears, a free open source extension for Internet Explorer 7/Mozilla Firefox 2 that enables web applications to provide offline functionality through the browser using following JavaScript APIs:

-Store and serve application resources locally
-Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database
-Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness

Basically what that means is any web service provider would be able to provide offline access to their website content/services by locally caching and storing relevant data. One such extension already available is the Offline Google Web Reader. Other natural extensions might include GMail or Orkut in the future. In line with Google’s recent mobile initiatives, it won’t be long before it releases a similiar functionality in mobile devices.

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