Price

The Air Multiplier runs $299 for the 10-inch version and $329 for the 12-inch version. I tested the 10.

How a Blade-Less Fan Works

So how does a fan without blades, a hula hoop on a stick, essentially, work? The bottom grills are for the air intake, powered by what I'm assuming is an internal fan. (Oh, this fan has a fan, you just don't see it.)
Still, you just barely feel the Multiplier breathing in. As this air is transported up through the device, it makes its way through the "loop amplifier" (that big loopy part), accelerating the air 15-fold as it's squeezed through a 1.3mm aperture around the ring. Sticking your hand through the loop, you'll feel air only in front of the ring because that's where you'll find the aperture. It's a mind-bending sensation to say the least.

The Experience

I'll admit it though, even knowing how the fan works now, all I could think was that it looked like a giant magnifying glass when I first opened the box.

I tentatively plugged the all-plastic device in, hit a button I could only assume was for power, and the device roared to life like a very wussy hairdryer. My face was greeted with the same quality of air: a relentless, even stream that felt a tad more industrial than residential.
The focused breeze was surprising but not quite hurricane-worthy. (Later I found the air output to measure 119 gallons per second. That output is about on par with at least one 10-inch commercial-grade fan shy of the $200 mark, and a $30, 8-inch duct fan produced about half that. Most consumer-grade fans don't disclose air power.)

And, exploring the device more, I realized that while it didn't look like any fan I'd used before, it worked almost exactly like every fan I'd used before.

For instance, one button toggled oscillation. Another twisted to rev the air speed (a smoother gradient of the traditional low, medium and high controls). And the base could be pushed forward or back, tilting the entire device in a manner more elegant but not entirely different from my $10 job in the next room.
Indeed, the Air Multiplier was the most beautiful fan I'd ever used, but it was still, at its plebeian heart, a window fan.

The Shame

Truthfully, I'm almost embarrassed for liking the Air Multiplier. There's no doubt that any Dyson vacuum demands a price premium for its fashion-forward design. But ultimately, this premium is relatively small. All good vacuums cost a few hundred bucks, so the Dyson upsell is somewhat reasonable—tempting even.
$300 for a fan is far, far from an upsell when I can get 95% of the experience for $10 at Walmart. Even as a good fan...even as a beautiful fan...even as a clever fan that blocks less window light...even as a safe fan that your toddler or pet can examine without injury...I'm downright humiliated for liking it, especially in this economy.

But like it, I do. [Dyson]

Completely unique design

Safe (no external moving parts)

No doubt, it's great at fanning

Probably easier to knock-off than a vacuum

Not loud, but far from silent

Costs about a bajillion times more than any fan I've ever bought

The device attempts to solve a problem that doesn't exist—cooling netbooks that generally run pretty cool—while simultaneously destroying a netbook's main purpose on this earth, portability. Because the USB Mini Netbook Cooling Pad + 3-Port Hub + 2.5" HDD Dock is almost as big as the netbook itself. Almost. In this case, the USB Mini Netbook Cooling Pad + 3-Port Hub + 2.5" HDD Dock is just small enough to make the resting state of your computer into a dangerous challenge of physics.

And then it's painted pink to top it all off, a color that matches everything.

Obviously, it's just a fan—but the fact that it can be installed in the corner of a doorframe means that it will be out of the way—unless you are tall with poor eyesight and mistake it for a really thick cobweb. [Improvements Catalog via Red Ferret]

We had a chance to ask director/writer/editor Kobi Shely about his first movie. And he had some interesting things to say about Apple and the people who really, really love them.

Tell me about shooting the documentary.
MacHEADS was produced throughout 2007 and 2008; First day of shooting started with Macworld conference in January 2007 and ended in June with the first release of the iPhone. Brothers Ron and Kobi Shely, and Director of Photography Alon Grego flew from Israel to San Francisco and met up with a local production teams. The budget came independently we managed to come up with approx $200,000.

How many people did you chronicle?
We interviewed 50 people form the community and inside Apple, but naturally not all of them were included in the final cut.

Can you define "Machead" in one sentence?
(Obviously you take more time to do it in the film.)
MacHEADS starts with a definition from the Urban dictionary - a person who regularly uses and is somewhat obsessed with Apple computers; or Macs. I would add to this A person who had put the Mac (including: UI, OS, APPLE Inc. , Steve Jobs and peripheral Mac products) in the center of his day-to-day life.

Why did you pick Mac enthusiasts as the topic for a documentary?
I think Mac enthusiasts are the best topic for a documentary as an art form the investigate human phenomenon. In fact, before starting the project I was surprised to find out that this film was not done yet. Mac enthusiasts posses all the right ingredients and traits for a compelling documentary: lust,obsession, devotion, comradery and ... sex appeal

Did making this film provide any particular insights to why/how people are obsessed with the Apple brand?
We wanted to answer the core question : How is a community formed around a brand and how did this phenomenon begin? I wasn't satisfied with the usual answers about design and the "power of the brand". I knew there was something bigger. During the filmmaking process it became obvious that there is a community and there is Apple. Although they correlate, in many ways they are separated.

In the early days the only people who were using personal computers were hobbies and scientists. Apple was the first company to actually build a prepackaged product for the rest of us. This sparked a sense of techno- utopia, different people were getting together to change the world through technology by using a Mac. And as often in these world-changing situations these people were the underdog, the minority. They had to band together to survive, their survival mechanism was similar to those penguins who hold together and got to press tightly together and exclude all outsiders to share what ever body warmth they can manage.

This is why this community is so obsessed with Mac because it managed to tap into their survival mechanism. However there is an expanding base of Mac fans who simply follow Apple because it is cool and fashionable, these are not the die hard obsessed MacHEADS.

Is Mac obsession any different from obsession with any other hobby, person or company?
I'd have to say that there is no question that it is an obsession not like any other. In the 90s crisis Mac users went out of their ways volunteering to save the company from going down, how many brands can claim that? and it wasn't just a one time thing it was through a period of almost 3 years. This kind of loyalty in my opinion brands can only dream of. What is interesting to me is that Apple never figured out how to manage their die hard fans, in some way the Macintosh community scares Apple. And now that Apple has become an overwhelming success they want to move away as far as they can from their most loyal and create a clean image of a life style brand.

Walk me through the process of post production.
Post production took us almost 8 months to complete. We are a small production company and when I say small I really mean me and my brother and MacHEADS is our first documentary project. There are benefits of being fully independent but there are also downsides of not having a team of specializing people in the process of post. We had to rely on ourselves to figure out ways to research archives go through legal issues compose the story score the music, animate and color correct the footage...I edited at my apartment on Avid Xpress Pro (using of course a G5), the online was done on Symphony, music composed in L.A by our talented friend and composer Roy Zu Arets, and sound design was executed by Ohad Tzachar who worked in N.Y for a leading broadcast company. A lot of people we worked with were in some ways Apple fans because they come from creative fields and they were very kin to get on board and help.

What's the future for MacHEADS: The Movie?
During the filmmaking process we came to realize the promise of web 2.0 and community driven distribution. Although we are negotiating with some distributors about Television deals, we believe such a film could become a good proof for the digital independent distribution potential. MacHEADS is in general a film about the community and for the community and this is why it is best fit for web 2.0 distribution. Also we hope to be able to get onto iTunes which is also a natural platform for such a movie. Now that we are done with the post production we are planning a few special screenings in San Fransisco and NY. We will naturally be going on festival circuit tour all across the world.

So are you a Machead?
No, but like most creative we use and love Apple products. [MacHEADS]

UPDATE: You can get the lamp $70 cheaper here.

The RSD5 uses the same technology as ionic air purifiers, which create an electric current to generate a breeze. The fan uses plasma-generating live wires to release ions, which in turn creates an electric field where the ions push air molecules to an uncharged conducting plate that envelops the wires. This moving of air molecules creates a breeze, or a Corona Discharge. A mechanical fan for portable electronics moves wind at a speed of .7-1.7 meters per second, whereas the RSD5 can do 2.7 meters per second.

Lead engineers Dan Schlitz and Vishal Singhal just presented their research for the project at a symposium for thermal semiconductor research on March 17, and ultimately hope that this technology can be integrated into processors to create self-cooling chips. [Thorrn Micro via Science Blog]

That is if you can stand the awful sight, deafening sound and dust build up, which will eventually cause your CPU to short out, anyway. Then you can go back to being sweaty and miserable—might we suggest a standard desktop fan? It just seems easier. [Boing Boing]

You can get this fan in blue or white, and it's cheap, too, just $8.79 if you can afford the shipping all the way from Japan. It doesn't indicate how you're going to get your message into this fan, but we're betting it's going to take considerable patience to enter text using those two three buttons. Probably involves a lot of counting. [Strapya World]

Its flat base lets you prop it up right where you need it, and then you can point its blades to get right at the hotspots. Somebody, quick, build this thing. [iNew Idea]

There are so many situations in the summertime when a pocket cooling device would make the difference between tolerable discomfort and misery. For $9.46, you can find out if this mini fan really works, but be careful, you could put an eye out.

Product Page [Find Me a Gift, via ubergizmo]

Product Page [via Uncrate]

You say tacky, but the case-modder inside of you says uber cool. Too bad that guy's never coming out again thanks to the fact that you have a wife and you're over the age of 20. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Brando]

The other reason is because it looks like something you could stick a bird into and torture it with. No, we're not sadistic. We were sexually abused by a parakeet when we were kids. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Front Gate via Red Ferret via uber gizmo]