Google has announced that a beta version of Gears is available now for Safari. The Gears open-source project began by developing JavaScript APIs that are necessary for offline access to web apps, but the broader aim is to utilize the inherent power and storage space of computers to make web-based applications as powerful as desktop apps. Gears is also available for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera.

The primary features that assist Gears include a local server to cache and serve resources, a database to store information within the browser, and a worker thread pool that processes JavaScript code in the background. The Gears team recently added geolocation capabilities, with a privacy option that will force an app to ask permission from the user before accessing location data.

Because the software is in beta, many bugs are said to persist. "Chances are it will break your browser," notes Gears team member Jeremy Moskovich. "Please proceed with caution."