It has blades: Dyson’s little white lie | Hacker News Reader

It has blades: Dyson’s little white lie

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20 pointsfogus22 comments

The author makes a point at the end alluding to a violation of the conservation of energy, By, to be fair, Dyson only says that this fan multiplies to amount of air, not the amount of energy. All fans multiply the air moved (simply by dragging adjacent air along for the ride), so I'm not sure why this claim should be a concern.

Fan death is a widely believed superstition in Korea. The idea is that"an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can cause the death of those inside (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death

Something like this could be very successful there, even if there are actually fans in it. Superstition is about appearance and intuition, not reality.

It is not the fans that cause such a supperstition it is suffocation/hypothermia caused by continuous air flow that the superstitious think is the problem.

There are a lot of different reasons for this, including the fan blades chopping the oxygen molecules in half.

My cousin had a roommate in South Korea who believed that the fan would create a vortex that sucked the air from the room, creating a fatal vacuum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death#Beliefs

"chopping the oxygen molecules in half"

The fans in Korea must have really fine blades.

or really big oxygen molecules o_O

Funnily, people in Austria seem to also believe that fans on at night make people sick. Not dangerously sick. They think it will give them colds.

I believe it about closed air conditioning systems, but not fans.

This is a bit harsh. Anyone who has a Dyson Vacuum cleaner understands the amazing attention to detail and build quality, efficiency, etc. Even if it's not a miracle fan (who said it was going to be), having a 'dyson' designed fan will be enough to make it a success. They consistently make fantastic products.

Quality engineering doesn't cover up the fact that it's a dumb idea. The fan didn't need to be reinvented.

Nor do we need blankets with sleeves, that doesn't mean it's not a good business idea.

Technically dumb is not necessarily economically dumb. I also don't agree with your assertion that it's technically dumb.

I don't see how it's really hack-a-day material. It's more of a rant, and someone using the wrong site for which to air one's grievances... but it's their site, not mine. And I'm known to rant off-topic a bit in my own little corners of the web, as puny and insignificant as they are.

Still, Dyson is a bit of a snake-oil salesman. He makes sleek, designer houseware and peddles it via the outlets frequented by those with disposable income whom are always looking out for sleek, designer houseware.

An impeller that leverages the venturi effect does not a visionary make. It just means the new, inefficiently-placed blades are going to be almost impossible to clean off once they become gunked up with allergens.

Dyson didn't pioneer vortex separation technology, either. That shit's been around for many decades, and is likely older than I am.

>> "Still, Dyson is a bit of a snake-oil salesman. He makes sleek, designer houseware and peddles it via the outlets frequented by those with disposable income whom are always looking out for sleek, designer houseware."

That's BS. Having recently bought a new Dyson Vacuum cleaner, I'm still surprised just how well thought out, well put together it is. The attachment that uses the suction to spin round a brush for cleaning stairs/cars is impressive enough - the roller brush spins fast, but it still sucks up everything. Let alone all the other unique features. There simply isn't another manufacturer close (Even though they try to copy every feature).

Just because something also looks beautiful, don't assume that's the only reason it's successful. (Also see Apple).

My Hoover ( http://www.hoover.com/product.aspx?model=U5780900&ds=fal... ) does all that stuff too. It even has the roller brush for stairs, couches, etc. Even better -- it works!

I'm consistently not impressed with Dyson's BS.

Hoover were found guilty of deliberately copying patented Dyson technology

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1368860/Dyson-cleans-...

Hoover failed to innovate for decades, then Dyson came along, and Hoover just started copying them.

I'd rather have the original than an imitation personally. (Original being the co. that invented the stuff, patented it etc).

It might be a better vacuum cleaner, but it still sucks.

It's one thing to build the best vacuum cleaner or fan, but they are still vacuum cleaners and fans and to say they are something else is disingenuous.

I have got the date for cyclonic separation back to at least 1934

http://www.buellrefinery.com/

but as it says on Wikipedia Dyson has himself said he didn't invent cyclonic separation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_(company)

"During a visit to a local sawmill, Dyson noticed how the sawdust was removed from the air by large industrial cyclones. He conjectured the same principle might work, on a smaller scale, in a vacuum cleaner."

I agree with the "snake oil salesman" sentiment, while largely good products - I don't think not quite to standard so widely proclaimed by Dyson's marketing dept. and owners value wise..

That said, the Dyson Air Blade (public restroom hand driers) are by far the best I've used.

http://www.dysonairblade.co.uk/

I first saw these at (London) Victoria Station, and see them popping up more and more in the UK..

Well that was a let-down. I didn't know about this gimmicky fan. I thought someone had put fins on a Dyson sphere. That would be way cool.

So wait, if I stick my hand in there, it will hurt it?

It's news that marketeers exagerate to the point of lying in commercials?

All they had to do was say it doesn't have CONVENTIONAL blades. But then 90% of the low IQ market this is aimed at wouldn't know what they mean, so they just left out "conventional".

The OP comes across being at the 91 percentile and saying... "hey, wait a minute, there must be blades!" He would have benefited by the addition of CONVENTIONAL.

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