Gears is now available for Apple's Safari Web browser, making Google's bridge to the offline world more broadly accessible.Gears was born "Google Gears," but Google re-branded the project "Gears" in May to emphasize the open-source nature of the project.

Gears allows online applications like Google Docs to run offline in one's Web browser. It also helps applications provide content based on the user's geographical location.

Introduced at Google Developer Day 2007, Gears is widely seen as a key element in Google's attempt to challenge Microsoft on its home turf, the desktop.

But if it's key, it's low key: Google hasn't done much to promote it.

Gears works with Google Reader, Google Docs, YouTube, and third-party apps Buxfer, MySpace Mail Search, Remember the Milk, WordPress, and Zoho. It also works with Picasa Web Albums on Windows Mobile Phones.

With the launch of Gears for Safari, Google may be cranking up its Gears-enablement work. Google is said to be readying Gears support for Gmail and Calendar soon.

Google Gears now works with: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista with Firefox 1.5+ or Internet Explorer 6+; Apple Mac OS X 10.4+ with Firefox 1.5+; Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11 (or higher) or 10.5.3 (or higher) with Safari 3.1.1; Linux with Firefox 1.5+; and Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 or higher, with Internet Explorer 4.01+.