Mozilla Labs has released a beta of a Firefox extension that turns any website application into a desktop app.

The not-for-profit outfit launched the standalone web app late on Friday. Dubbed Prism, it comes with its own site and an updated API for developers to play with.

Prism 1.0 beta comes loaded with several nifty features including tray icon support, automatic updates and application-specific settings.

As with Mozilla’s latest Firefox browser, Prism also allows users to wipe clean their web surfing history with porn private browsing mode.

Google’s Chrome browser already has the ability to run standalone web apps on any site, but it doesn’t currently offer add-ons such as those found in Prism.

“With the release of Prism 1.0 beta we are ready to start fostering an ecosystem that makes it easier for developers to create and distribute compelling web app bundles,” wrote Matthew Gertner on the Prism development team blog last Friday.

Prism supports both Mac and Windows platforms and can be downloaded here. ®

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