Google Gears

For those who have been waiting so long for Google Reader to go offline, Google has finally found a solution they name as Google Gears. The open source browser extension enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs. Here are its functionalities:

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.
- Google Press Release | Entire Release

Google Gears currently works on Firefox 1.5+ and Internet Explorer 6+ under OS X, Linux, and Windows XP/Vista and is a developer-only version.

To start reading your feed offline, simply click the "Offline" link in the top right of Google Reader. As predicted by Haochi from Googlified, Google Gears is expected to be integrated with Gmail, Google Docs and Spreadsheet, Google Notebook and thousands of other web applications (not necessarily hosted by Google) that stores users' data.

Related: Download | FAQ