Family Trees 2.0

Family Trees 2.0 - BusinessWeek Online - MSNBC.com: "DNA Ancestry Project participants pay $119 to $318 for a testing kit and membership, replete with online tools such as family tree building and surname searches. Users can keep their genetic info confidential or limit access to family members. But to search for matches in the worldwide database of users, they have to make their own DNA public. So far, Wong says, the site has signed up more than 2 million participants, with as many users in their 20s as there are older ones.

Others, including Google (GOOG), also seem to see powerful potential in linking people with generations of great-great-great-great-grandparents. Google recently invested $3.9 million in 23andMe. The startup [created by Google founder Sergey Brin's new bride, Anne Wojcicki] plans to charge $1,000 for an extensive genetic profile and features to help track down lost relatives. And on June 18, the Generations Network announced that it's partnering with a lab, Sorenson Genomics, to start building its own database of cheek-swab-generated DNA reports on Ancestry.com."