Tech Policy

Ireland Bans the Incandescent Lightbulb

from the EE Times. 

LONDON - Ireland is to ban the traditional lightbulb with householders forced to switch to new long-life low-energy bulbs.

Legislation is being introduced to ban the sale of the normal incandescent lightbulb from January, 2009 so as the normal lightbulb breaks, householders will have to replace them with the more environmentally friendly long-life bulb which uses far less energy.

In a 'Carbon Budget', Environment Minister John Gormley, announced the ban and said "By getting rid of these bulbs we will save 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year," he added. It has been estimated that consumers will save €185million in electricity costs every year as a result of the measure.

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23andMe will decode your DNA for $999. Spit in a cup, send it in, and a month later they send you a genetic profile in the mail. You'll learn, is your daddy really your daddy. Are you susptible to any terrible genetic diseases, do you have what it takes to be an Olympic sprinter or, even better...

Are you more closely related to European royalty or American outlawry? Use 23andMe's Ancestry tools to find out whether your maternal lineage links you more closely to Marie Antoinette or Jesse James. Your 23andMe account also connects you genetically to many other celebrities and historical figures, from Bono to Ben Franklin. Read more about 23andMe's celebrity features.

Mike Arrington brings up some good policy points.

..What if this information becomes public? What if I can’t get health care because of the results? Call me a luddite, but this is a whole new class of private information that previous generations didn’t have to deal with. Our laws are waaaaay behind the curve here when it comes to protecting us. ...

23andMe has strong security features in place to keep my information fairly secure. But there’s a big hole in the plan - what if I simply send in someone else’s spit? What if it’s someone I’m thinking about marrying? What if someone does that to me? There’s no way to stop people from spending $1,000 and getting a full genetic download of ME, in all my flawed glory.

Andrew Myer's is raising money to test his DNA with 23andme. And, he's going to be blogging the whole experience. 

This service is being run by  Anne Wojcicki, Google co-founder's Sergey Brin's wife.