ReadWriteWeb

On Thursday at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Yahoo's Marc Davis spoke about the mobile internet and the future of the mobile industry. As the mobile web evolves, he said, it's no longer good enough to simply port the PC experience to the phone's small screen - it's time to start building "mobile-first" products instead. What are "mobile-first" products? They're services designed to take advantage of the strengths and abilities of the mobile devices themselves, leading to entirely unique creations that can only be found on the mobile web.

European researchers working on the MOBVIS project have developed a new system that will allow camera phone users to hyperlink the real world. After taking a picture of a streetscape in an urban area, the MOBVIS technology identifies objects like buildings, infrastructure, monuments, cars, and even logos and banners. It then renders relevant information on the screen using icons that deliver text-based details about the object when clicked.

In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup, our newsletter where the top stories of the week are summarized, we present highlights from our coverage of the Web 2.0 Expo (held this week in San Francisco), review the new Skype app for iPhone, discuss the local / mobile Web with a panel of experts in our podcast show RWW Live, check out the winners of the Ribbit VOIP KillerApps Challenge, and more. Also, we look at featured stories from ReadWriteHire, our new product which tracks hires in tech and new media.

This morning at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Jason Grigsby of Cloud Four, a mobile and web development firm, presented at a session about the mobile web's future. Specifically, he focused on the different types of mobile applications we have today - native apps, mobile web apps, and hybrid apps - and the challenges of developing across multiple platforms.

First there were movies, then there was TV, now prepare for the entertainment platform of the future: the "mobile immersive experience." That's actually not it's official name, but is a term that was invented on the spot this week at a dinner gathering of Nokia execs, journalists, and oh yes - Tim Kring, the creator and executive producer of NBC's "Heroes." He was there to talk about what is the first attempt at a new entertainment experience using mobile as the platform. And it's going to be nothing like anything you've ever seen before.

One of the big trends on the web is more and more location aware / sensitive web applications. Increasingly powerful mobile devices are enabling this. In the latest episode of RWW Live, today at 3.30pm PST, we'll talk about how the Web is evolving to include more location aware applications and what barriers are still in the way. We'll also talk about privacy and other user concerns and what is being done to address them. We have special guests from Yahoo! Fire Eagle, Four Square and Outside.in on the show today.

Wait, kids have iPhones?

A new application in the iPhone App Store brings parental control mechanisms to Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. Like other types of "net nanny" software, the iWonder application lets parents filter web site traffic, monitor what sites their kids are surfing, control permissions, and even remotely disable the device.