It feels like the dreaded web 3.0 is on its way. It will include offline apps (Google Gears), it’ll include computing as a service (Amazon S3 and EC2). Basically, we’ve altered what the browser/internet can do (the browser can go offline, the internet apps can scale using service computing), and this should allow some crazy powerful new apps to emerge. What else, I’m not sure – there should be a social aspect to it as well if it’s to be a big shift. Perhaps focusing on small groups of people?
Which brings me to a question: can the Google offline API access local files on your computer? I’m trying to grasp the strategic advantages of all these new toys.
Peter Van Dijck 
The API doesn’t ( or at least shouldn’t) allow access to local files. But the API generated SQLite databases can be accessed (read/write) by local processes. This allows for the sharing of data between the browser and non-browser apps in a relatively safe way. Interesting possibilities!
First, do you really think this is the web 3.0?
To access local files with Google Gears or similar would be easy for them with the Google Desktop…