By Patrick Avenell (Email - Twitter)

1956: That's it from me at Dyson's Hot + Cool AM04 launch here in Sydney. The product is due in stores this weekend for RRP $549.

I'll leave you with a shot of the two hottest products right now. Thanks for reading!

1926: Dessert is gingerbread with pear and caramel.

1935: We have entered the milling stage - this is where you can get some decent scoops about what's coming.

1933: The main, which is served in a classic cardbox Chinese food box, is butter chicken with jasmine and rice.

1906: I did not win one of the AM04s, so my independence remains in check. Damn you Dyson! Amusingly, if you scroll down this page to the Hot Air Balloon video and watch it now, you can pretend you're here as that's what's playing here now!

1903: Things just got real: we're doing a reverse Q & A! Andy is asking the journos questions, with a Dyson Hot + Cool as the prize. In the interest of protecting these journo's credibilities (or otherwise), I will only reveal if I win one.

1857: English Dyson designer Andy McCulloch, who is here from Japan, is currently explaining why a Modern brand heater is not very good. "Ineffective" and "a waste of electricity" have been mentioned. Andy is now onto the Dyson Hot + Cool, whcih uses Air Multiplication technology to heat a room faster, apparently. And here is Andy:

1855: I get asked a lot about the food at events, so here is a run down: canapes have included duck sausage rolls, pea and cheese croquettes, and ndentifiable avocado concoction. Drinks include James Boags beer, red, white and champagne, and soft drink.

1843: And here is a pic of Sir James plastered up on that wall:

1830: We were just interrupted (and we is my colleague Claire Reilly and some leading names in the Sydney tech journo mix) by a video promoting the engineering ethos at Dyson. It was projected onto a very large wall and voiced by two softly spoken Englishmen, one of whom was Sir James Dyson. The video is now playing on mute, with scenes from Dyson's design studio and graphics explaining why traditional table heaters are ineffective.

1826: Crowd is definitely building up here at [Venue Name Redacted] in Sydney for the launch of the Dyson Hot + Cool. The reason I have redacted the name of the venue is because I've just been told Home & Away and Packed To The Rafters cast and crew is expected and I don't want to be overwhelmed by the rush.

1820: Dyson never misses an opportunity to cross-promote:

1810: Here's a pic of the Dyson Hot + Cool walkway that guests are entering through tonight:

1800: Unfortunately Ed Cullen has been called to a board meeting in England so those quotes below will be all we hear from him.

1720: Live coverage will begin at around 1745 (Sydney time), which is in around 25 minutes.

1700: One of the interesting subplots from tonight's launch will be the presence of new Dyson Australia managing director Ed Culley. This is Culley's first local launch since arriving from the Dyson Motherland (Malmesbury) in October 2011. Here's what Culley said about the new Dyson Hot + Cool in the February issue of Appliance Retailer magazine:

“Current conventional heaters have limited settings and can’t always heat a whole room quickly, whilst central heating is sometimes wasted on the whole house – a key concern with the rising cost of electricity prices in Australia,” Culley told Appliance Retailer.

“Using patented Air Multiplier technology, air is drawn in through a mixed flow impeller, a combination of the technologies used in turbochargers and jet engines. It is then accelerated through a 2.5-millimetre aperture set within the loop amplifier. This creates a jet of hot air, which passes over an airfoil-shaped ramp channelling its direction.”

1545: There's around two hours until the launch kicks off, and you can pass 1.5 minutes of that time watching this amusing Dyson Hot Air Balloon experiment:

1430: PREVIEW

What an amazing fortnight for new products! Twelve days ago, the Dyson of the tech world, Apple, launched a new iPad, and tonight, the Apple of the appliance world, Dyson will unveil its first ever heater, the Dyson Hot + Cool.

Okay, ‘unveil’ is a bit of a misnomer – this story is already carrying an image of it – but tonight will be the night Dyson officially launches the year-round seasonal appliance that builds on the tremendous success of the Air Multiplier bladeless fan range.

To illustrate how remarkable Dyson’s transition from floorcare specialists to cooling champions has been, I’ve trawled through some back issues of the brilliant Appliance Retailer magazine to look up some sales stats, courtesy of our friends at GfK Retail & Technology.

Year Ending June 2010 vs 2009:

As we can see, the introduction of the original Dyson Air Multipliers contributed to enormous value growth in this category, which more than doubled despite only selling 17.4 per cent more units. Keeping the smiles on retailers' dials was the 1.5 times increase in average sales prices.

The Dyson Hot + Cool will be looking to have the same impact in the heating category, which has lagged recently due to mild winters in Australia main population centres. A look at Appliance Retailer's February 2012 issue shows the total value of the heating category declined by 11.3 per cent to $463.2 million, while units sold decreased by 7 per cent to just over 1.25 million (GfK Retail & Technology, Year Ending November 2011 v 2010).

The Dyson Hot + Cool AM04 is set to be available in iron/blue and white/silver tones for RRP $549. I'll be back at around 6pm to start the minute-by-minute coverage of the launch event live from the venue in Sydney's CBD.

And here is that image promised above:

The Dyson Hot + Cool AM04 in situ.