Agreed, I was a bit perplexed by that too. I do like it (because I hobby in After Effects myself) but it didn't strike me as especially realistic. I presume the TNW writer was referring to the pretty degradation of the colored smoke, but I couldn't help noticing the heavy use of blur and particle systems, especially as the material got more complex on screen.

It's a very fine piece of work; maybe the blog author just got a little carried away by his emotional response to it.