How about the web as a communication platform? Check out awesometalk.com for video, for example. No need to install anything, besides a compatible browser, of course :)
Afaik, that's how they explain why the Elves in some version of D&D fantasy roleplaying only need 4h of sleep/meditation :)
But seriously, I've never noticed anything like that in my own practice. Granted I don't go for stretches longer than about 45 minutes, and I do it every morning when the cleaning has just happened. Or perhaps you'd need a specific additional technique apart from just sitting focusing on breathing. Visualisation techniques can sometimes dramatically change the effect of a meditation session (sometimes, but not consistently).
Additionally, I suggest trying to meditate when you're mildly sleep deprived. You'll find it harder to do, with yourself dozing off or blinking/blacking out occasionally. And while they're both, in some sense, mental states of "no thought", they are also worlds apart: the meditative state is a state of high focus, while the dozing/blinked state is pretty much the opposite.
What I've found in the few occasions I've experienced this (I don't like being sleep deprived so I try to avoid it :) ), is that you come out of such a blink-out state with a tiny bit of a jolt. Now, say I'd apply the same technique as one would use for basic meditation practice: when your thoughts wander away, try to observe that this has happened, congratulate yourself on noticing (instead of seeing it as failure) and gently bring your thoughts back to the focus.
Now I guess (and I'd have to try it out, but I don't want to because it involved sleep-depriving myself) one of two things will happen: One, over time (weeks/months), this process will train myself not to fall asleep, setting up circuits in my brain to keep me from dozing off (hopefully only when I don't want to). Of course the cleaning thing won't happen because you're awake and focused all the time, so you just got more efficient at sleep depriving yourself. OR number two, perhaps more likely, you'll doze off anyway, at some point. I can totally see that happen, dozing off into a half-dream where I dream I bring my mind back into focus and have this amazing meditation, suddenly get weird, in my dreams, and wake up a few hours later. It's the typical kind of trick my brain would pull on me.
Also, I don't quite see meditation like this. True, after 30 mins of meditating I am usually more relaxed and focused than I was before (but not always), but the main thing about meditation for me is just like sports and exercise: it's not so much about the immediate results, but it's training. When I meditate I do it because I am training my mind to keep focus and not drift off to everywhere except here & now, to have that state at least once a day, but to also take that habit onto the rest of the day when I'm not sitting. What you're describing sounds more like meditation as a kind of "pill" to give a direct effect, I find it's not very reliable in that sense, I use it more like training one's back muscles to give more support during the day.
