"Light bulbs" are out; "heat balls" are in.
You gotta hand it to German businessman Siegfried Rotthaeuser, who came up with a brilliant run around the European Union ban on conventional incandescent light bulbs — he rebranded them as "Heat Balls" and is importing them for sale as a "small heating device."Rotthaeuser's website is in German, but Google does a passable job of translation. First, he's clear that the Heat Ball isn't for lighting, stating (in German, the following is translated) "A HEAT BALL ® is not a lamp, but it fits in the same version!"
Further down: "The use of Heat Balls avoids the lack of heat. The intended use of heat Balls is the heating."
Someone will make a fortune selling "heat balls" in California, and by 2012 they'll take over America!
(HT: Rand Simberg and Paul Hsieh.)
