Google will end Gears, an open-source plug-in project it launched two years ago to allow Web applications to function even when a computer isn't connected to the Internet, according to a statement from the company.

Google said that many of the features it has wrapped into Gears are now being incorporated into HTML5, the latest specification for the Web's mother coding tongue.

Gears was part of Google's vision to make online Web applications behave more like desktop ones. The idea is that a Web application could be used absent an Internet connection and then sync its data when the PC comes online again.

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