quote of the moment

{the entirety of this is ripped off from maximum PC and is their ©.
original can be found here:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/dyson_air_multiplier_review}

Dyson Air Multiplier Review
How much can Mr. Fancy really do to reinvent the table fan?
Love him or hate him, you probably have a strong opinion of James
Dyson, he of the haughty British accent and high-tech vacuum cleaners.
When Dyson hawks his inventions on TV—explaining what was so hideously
wrong with older technology, and how his gear solves everything, and for
this you dare not look at him directly in the eyes—we sort of want to
yell at him. 'Your pie hole: Shut it! You invented a new type of vacuum
cleaner, dude, not cold fusion!'
But the fact remains that Dyson vacuum cleaners do kick ass, and their
bagless design is an innovation we happily pay for.
So what, then, can we make of the Dyson Air Multiplier, a new type of
air-blowing machine (our grandparents called them 'fans') that features
a bladeless design? We tested the 10-inch tabletop model, and found
it's a pretty good fan with some winning features, but a tough swallow
at $299.99.
If you think this 10-inch baby bear version is costly, consider that
the 40-inch papa bear tower model costs $449.99.
As you'll notice, the Air Multiplier lacks visible blades. That's
because the fan's main air driver, a motor-driven impeller similar to
a car's turbocharger unit, sits hidden in the Air Multiplier's base.
The impeller draws air upward, and over an airfoil intrinsic to the blue
hoop. The hoop not only projects air outward, but also draws air from
behind and around the device, using what Dyson calls inducement and
entrainment. According to Dyson, all this aerodynamicism multiplies the
impeller's original air push by a factor of 15. Even better, says
Dyson, the system provides 'an uninterrupted stream of smooth air' with
no buffeting or chopping, which are the twin indignities you suffer with
a traditional air-blowing device.
Have we spent our entire lifetimes waiting for the day when nasty
chopped air—oh, and all that buffering, that dirty, damned
buffering—would be but a forgotten nightmare? No, we have not. Sure,
the Air Multiplier's airflow is smoother than that of a regular fan,
and that's nice. But what really makes this gadget interesting is the
bladeless design itself. Stick your finger into the hoop, and nothing
happens. Try that with a choppy-chop fan, and the outcome will teach you
the meaning of pain. Likewise, the airfoil hoop is not a threat to pets
with tails. Even better, the hoop is immeasurably easier to clean than
the blade assembly of a traditional fan. You don't have to dust off
wire cages, or remove said cages to clean the blades.
Negatives? We have two, and they're significant. First, the Air
Multiplier is actually quite noisy compared to other fans in our office.
We didn't map decibels to cubic-feet-per-minute of air pushed, but we
definitely noticed the Dyson is louder than other fans. Second, this
sucker is expensive—like three times more expensive than some of the
comparatively sized blade blasters you'll find online. We love the Air
Multiplier's aesthetic, and dig how you can precisely attenuate
impeller power, like turning a dimmer switch. But $299.99? For that
price, we'd expect Dyson to chauffeur our Bentleys."

-- Jon Phillips