@Chesterfield If an expensive item is attainable and it makes you happier, then go for it.

I think that’s the underlying problem. We’ve been conditioned to equate buying expensive things with happiness.

“Disclaimer: This was created and executed by trained Dyson engineers under a controlled environment. Do not attempt to duplicate.”

Damn, I thought this things were just benign room fans. Now I’m putting them in the same category as Happy Fun Ball.

I’m sorry, but actually you might be alone in thinking Cory is departing from reality. Look at his history – he has posted plenty of times about neat gadgets and gear. This is hardly a departure for him, nor a continuation of some imagined trend.

Because that’s what I want out of my fans.

( http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/12/16/magnepan-36r-5400-bu.html#comment-357698 )

@Guysmiley: According to Wikipedia, it’s got an impeller in the base, so it actually has vanes and not blades. Minor distinction to be sure.

Actually, the article you linked to merely described how the “air multiplier” is supposed to work. Most consumers would be much more interested in how it actually works in the home. Does the intake clog up, and if so, is it easy to fix? Is it more comfortable than a regular fan? Can it replace an air conditioner? Is the noise so irksome that sometimes one will choose to suffer in the heat?

The portable versions usually have long megaphone-like snouts attached to the ring, but some of the permanently-mounted models don’t.

Since they have no moving parts and operate on compressed air, they’re frequently used in industrial settings to exhaust explosive gases from confined spaces.

Hollywood special effects techs stick the intakes into bags of fuller’s earth or fake foam rocks or balsa-wood chips to add blown debris to simulated explosions on movie sets.

Try Googling “air amplifiers” or “airmovers” to see examples. (They’re the ‘airmovers’ that look like narrow megaphones, not the ones that look like big plastic snails. The snail-shaped airmovers are just big powerful squirrel-cage blowers. Different machine entirely.)

The Dyson fan was priced at £200!!

Sorry Dyson – it’s a neat idea and a good design. That design is worth some premium, perhaps I’d stretch to £30 for it.

If I lived in a society where haggling was the expected norm, perhaps I’d have tried to beat them down on the price of the Dyson…. as it was I picked up the Matsui fan on sale for £12, right next to it, and I’m using it now….

Seriously, I’m astonished with Cory – this so looks like a product a person cannot sensible repair on his or her own and is much more obscenely priced like an iPad or another toy.

And while I don’t begrudge a tech blogger his gadgets, I’m not sure the baby excuse holds up. Your garden-variety plastic-bladed box fan might conceivably bruise or abrade a baby who poked it in just the right way, but it’s not a 1940′s style spinning metal deathtrap. As one of those kids who TRIED to get hurt by doing stupid things with appliances, she’ll be fine.

On the other hand, this is a neat way to use $30,000 worth of fans. :)

Was that you Cory?