Review: Dyson Motorlight Floor

This lamp doesn't suck — which makes it unusual for a product from the Dyson family. Jake Dyson, son of British vacuum guru James Dyson, has begun engineering uplights instead of uprights. The problem with most lamps, he says, is that "they don't do anything." Well, not anything fun, anyway. Dyson's Motorlight Floor, on the other hand, is a born performer: With the flick of a switch, the lamp's motorized crank moves a focusing lens above the light bulb that adjusts the shape of the beam — from a wide wash to an intense spotlight. Think a mechanized floor lamp is excessive? Remember that people used to believe they could clean their floors without domesticated cyclones. Can't decide where to set the beam? No problem. Put the Motorlight on autopilot and the lens rises and falls in a continuous 25-second cycle, creating a pulsating effect that makes your walls look as if they're breathing.