[WPN XR6T]

Good article, it explains and demo's short tuned lengh intake pipes quite well. I think what Ben85 was getting at was longer length intake systems such as K&N's Typhoon system and others that seem to draw from quite a distance from the TB.
Excessive length from a draw point to an intake point (in this case, the TB) causes increased friction and excessive air buffering, alowing an increase of heat soak.

Basicly, the TB is drawing air from a space. That space is the intake pipe+the immediate area of the airfilter+the space the airfilter is drawing air from.

Place the airfilter somewhere where it can draw plenty of cold air whilst remaining protected and you will get good flow.

Have the correct sized airfilter and it wont be restrictive, or it wont be so large that the filter area is excessive, hampering good economic flow.

Intake pipe length is important. If it is too short, all it is is a ram air system which is fine if you have massive draw from a large capacity engine with multiple intakes, not so good for a 4cyl with a standard TB. Excessive length is little more than a large pipe full of air getting heated by engine bay temps and creating a larger space the already (comparitivley) small draw the TB creates has to overcome (on top of overcoming the airfilter, which is why too large a airfilter is a bad idea).

So it's about finding a happy medium. Airfilter placement, availible space, draw area, cost, distance and protection all come into play, and thats why companies spend so much on R&D and why there are so many different solutions to the same problem. There is no quick fix, just different ways to approch a solution.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Matt