What is Google Gears?

I had a friend tell me about Google Gears the other day so I did some digging. I found a page about it on Google, but honestly, I'm still not 100% sure what it is still. From what I gather, it will allow you to run web applications offline? Here is a link to Google's site - maybe if you can figure it out please leave a comment on this blog.

Link: Google Gears Examples

You must first install it on your browser/computer before you can run these demos.

Another useful link explaining Google Gears