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Within the next two weeks, Google will release a new development version of Google Chrome that will include the ability to sync bookmarks between different computers. As Tim Steele, a software engineer on the Chrome team explained in a message to the Chrome developer group, the synchronization will be managed through a Google account. Changes in one install will be reflected in another Chrome instance in real time thanks to the Chrome team's use of the Google Talk servers as the messaging backend for this service.

In order to compete with the iPhone, you not only have to have a multi-touch interface and a slew of apps, you also have to offer the music and media that the iPhone provides thanks to its ability to sync with iTunes. For Google's Android mobile OS, the music comes courtesy of Amazon's MP3 Store which is preloaded on G1 phones. But more recently, Palm seemingly trumped Android when they revealed how their new Pre smartphone would bring music to the device: it pretends to be an iPod. Apple surely couldn't have been happy about that news and today, they're letting the world know. The Cupertino-based company has just issued a thinly veiled threat to owners of "unsupported third-party digital media players," stating that the players may not work with newer versions of iTunes. Yep, Palm Pre, they're looking at you.

Funambol, a provider of an open source mobile sync and push email service, today released the results of a study that evaluated the sync solutions from 12 top device makers, carriers, and specialists. Included in the study were Apple MobileMe, AT&T Mobile Backup, BlackBerry Internet Service (not BES), Google Sync, Microsoft My Phone, Nokia Ovi Sync, Palm Synergy, T-Mobile Mobile Backup, Verizon Wireless Backup Assistant, Vodafone Zyb, Yahoo! Mobile, and Funambol themselves.

Who came out on top? Why Funambol, of course. That alone probably makes you wonder if any of the data from the study is worthwhile or if it's all been skewed in their favor. But parsing through their report, there are some interesting tidbits about the state of mobile sync.

One of the biggest features of the highly-anticipated Palm Pre is the contact and calendar management system called "Synergy." With this new functionality, your Facebook, Google, AIM, and/or Microsoft Exchange contact data is merged together, de-duped, and made available to you within your phone's contacts.

While it's great to see a mobile device include out-of-box functionality for contact import from webmail and social networking sites, there's still a major problem with this type of syncing: no filters. You see, most people don't want their entire contact list from any online resource dumped into their phone. The reason is simple - we just don't phone all our online friends.

Collaboration tools and online storage applications offer many possibilities: online collaborative editing, synchronizing across computers, sharing multiple files and discussion boards, and sharing windows and documents on the spot, to name a few. The following review of major products in this space will help you choose the right collaboration tools for your needs.