ReadWriteWeb

Online backup vendor Mozy, part of EMC, announces this week the addition of file synchronization services called Stash to its lineup. The idea is to have agents on various endpoints that will automatically sync your files everywhere you have Mozy running, to make it easier to grab your files when you are away from your main desktop. The endpoints initially supported include all Windows from XP SP3 and Macs from OS 10.5 and iOS and Android phones, including the Kindle Fire.

There are dozens of remote PC control apps for iOS, including Citrix Receiver, various VNC ports and LogMeIn Ignition. The latter announced an update to its $30 app today that includes the ability to send any kind of file back and forth between your PC and phone, without having first to collect them from iTunes or iPhoto.

Last Friday, just before a holiday weekend in the U.S., Dropbox made a change to its Terms of Service. Part of the updated ToS gives Dropbox a license to use your data in ways critics believe can be interpreted too broadly. The line in question read: "You grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent we think it necessary for the Service."

Despite being a holiday weekend announcement, news of the ToS change spread rapidly and Dropbox quickly updated it yet again to read: "You grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service. This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services."

But even this wording could still be cause for concern.

SugarSync is one of several companies competing these days to benefit from the disruptions in the market created by the new ways that people organize and share information from the any number of devices they use in their day.

That's a fundamental shift that is happening as people move beyond the desktop as a place to keep their documents, their media and their productivity applications.

File synchronisation and backup is a growth area - Syncplicity, SugarSync, Mozy and Microsoft's Live Mesh compete in the space to provide cross-platform, cross-device and cloud-available data.

One of the players, SugarSync (RWW review here), today announced a development that further blurs the lines between synchronisation and collaboration services. With SugarSync's new functionality users can send any file from their desktop, web or mobile SugarSync application, regardless of the size of the file or number of recipients.