Adrian... and Stuff: Everything About Computer, Software, Hardware, Consumer Electronics, etc.

A lot of gadgets made their debut this year - from phones and computers to e-book readers. There are also those that were already existing before 2009 but new models were launched this year sporting new features, like the constantly growing family of iPods.

Now, year 2009 is about to end so I decided to give an award - the Best Sci-Fi-Movie Looking "Stuff" of 2009.

I ran through the new gadgets released and launched this 2009 and a lot of them looked so cool - the kind that you would never have thought ten years ago that will ever exist today. Well, that's how fast technology evolves with the help of innovative minds!

So, to which do I give the award? If you guessed that it's a smart phone or a high-end computer, you are wrong!

The award goes to...

*drum roll*

...the Dyson Air Multiplier. Yes, you heard [or read] that right. It's exactly that!

The Dyson Air Multiplier is a home fan or an electric fan, but no ordinary fan. What immediately caught my attention was that it has no rotating blades which produce the air. No blades! It's a just a ring with a cylindrical base. Imagine a desk fan without the blades and grill, just a big ring sitting atop a cylinder; if you're imagining it right, that's the Dyson Air Multiplier. Well, I posted a picture here for your reference so that you won't have to imagine so hard and get frustrated in the end.

My first thought when I first saw this on the Internet recently was that it looked like something straight out of Star Wars or Star Trek or Hannah Montana. Oops, maybe not the last one unless it's storyline went like this: an alien craft made a crash landing to California and out came Miley Cyrus who disguised herself once in a while as Hannah Montana, a famous pop star.

Anyway, back to the Dyson. (I apologize for my very short attention span. I promise not to get sidetracked again.)

The Dyson Air Multiplier provides an uninterrupted jet of air unlike a conventional fan which needs rotating blades to push a stream of air which actually results in an unsteady stream of air, primarily because of the blades (see embedded video below). The ring of the Dyson is shaped into an airfoil, much like airplane wings, which allows the machine to release that sort of stream of air that you will not get from a conventional fan. The cylindrical base takes in the surrounding air then transports the air to the ring which then accelerates the air and releases it through the aperture in the ring.

One good thing about the Dyson is that it is so easy to clean and store. Cleaning a conventional fan is more difficult because of the need to open the grill and remove the blades, among other things. With the Dyson, you just wipe the ring and detach it from the cylindrical base to store it.

Although the Dyson is a bit expensive for a fan, it's being energy efficient might prove beneficial in the long run. In the end, not only will you be able to save up on energy consumption, you will also be helping the environment.

Another good thing about it is that you can push your arm through the ring even while it is switched on (if you have an unexplainable desire to do this). Obviously, you cannot do this on a conventional fan. Try doing it without hurting yourself on a conventional fan!

The down side: You cannot create that Darth-Vader-sounding voice on a Dyson - you can do that only on a conventional fan.

That's the Dyson Air Multiplier - very innovative and it will look good in my room.