Mozy has released a public beta version of Stash, a complement to the company's online backup offerings that automatically syncs files between computers, much like Dropbox. All backed up and "stashed" files are available online or through the iOS and Android apps. Whereas online backups happen on a schedule, files stored in your local Stash folder are synced in real time. The main difference from Dropbox is that there's currently no way to publicly share files, but that feature is coming later this year.

Those with a limited-storage paid account can join the beta and use any empty space for Stash, but everyone else will have to sign up for a free 2GB account. Paid subscribers who sign up for the public beta will get to keep Stash as part of their service at no extra charge. Although the change over Mozy's previous services is slight, it's good to see the company take the logical step and augment online backup with instant syncing under a single account.