I recently heard about IPFS and IPNS https://ipfs.io/
seem that they are little similar to the concept of blockstack.
Are there any differences between them?
IPFS/IPNS are one of many storage systems that Blockstack supports. IPFS/IPNS is to Amazon S3 what Blockstack is to the Web, if that analogy makes sense 
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IPFS is a protocol that encrypts files (fileses being data, programs etc…) when you install IPFSit sets your comuter up as a node on the network or what ever device you set it up on. From that point files are encrypted and copied to other nodes so there is always a working copy. All files even for an application are stored locally on you device.
what makes blockstack different? say I build an app where do I host the files? are they centralized? who controls the files and data?
IPFS does not encrypt files by default, nor does it proactively copy your files to other peoples’ computers. Files are stored as given, and files are only copied to other peoples’ computers if other people choose to pin them.
You run a Gaia hub of your own, and you use it to store your files. You have unilateral and absolute control over your Gaia hub, and thus have unilateral and absolute control over how your data gets stored, replicated, and made available. Please see the Gaia readme for a feature comparison against other decentralized storage systems.
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